Sergei Chuzavkov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian troops invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Russian forces have since been met with “stiff resistance” from Ukrainians, according to U.S. officials.
In recent days, Russian forces have retreated from northern Ukraine, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv, the United States and European countries accused Russia of committing war crimes.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 18, 6:28 am
Russian missile strikes kill at least 7 in Lviv
At least seven people were killed and 11 others, including a child, were injured Monday morning in missile strikes across the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, according to local officia;s.
Lviv Oblast Gov. Maksym Kozystkiy said at a press conference that Russian missiles struck four targets — three Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities and a tire service shop — all of which suffered significant damage.
In a statement via social media, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi described the missile strikes as “powerful,” saying they damaged or destroyed about 40 cars. Emergency services were responding to the deadly blasts, according to Sadovyi.
ABC News was at the scene of the burning tire service shop on the outskirts of Lviv, where firefighters were trying to extinguish the flames.
The strike also shattered the windows of a nearby orphanage as well as a hotel, where Sadovyi said evacuated Ukrainians are sheltering.
Lviv, a strategic city close to Ukraine’s border with Poland, has been considered a safe haven for Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. The city has been largely spared from the relentless bombardment and heavy fighting seen across much of the country since Feb. 24.
-ABC News’ Brian Hartman, Max Uzol and Yuri Zaliznyak
Apr 18, 4:15 am
Mariupol besieged but not fallen, Ukrainian prime minister says
Mariupol has not yet fallen, despite Russia’s demands that Ukrainian troops defending the besieged Ukrainian port city surrender, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
“There [are] still our military forces, our soldiers, so they will fight until the end,” Shmyhal told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview Sunday on This Week.
Mariupol is a strategic city for Moscow because it would allow Russian forces in the south to connect with troops in eastern Ukraine’s contested Donbas region. It would also give Moscow a key port.
Although Mariupol remains under the Ukrainian government’s control, Shmyhal said the city’s residents are suffering.
“They have no water, no food, no heat, no electricity,” he said. “They ask all of our partners to support and help stop this humanitarian catastrophe.”
-ABC News’ Monica Dunn
Apr 18, 3:56 am
Russian commanders in Mariupol ‘will be concerned,’ UK says
Russian commanders in Mariupol “will be concerned by the time it is taking to subdue” the Ukrainian port city, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Monday in an intelligence update.
“Concerted Ukrainian resistance has severely tested Russian forces and diverted men and materiel, slowing Russia’s advance elsewhere,” the ministry said.
Mariupol, a strategic port in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, has been under heavy Russian bombardment since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24. Strong resistance from Ukrainian troops has prevented Russian forces from taking full control of the city.
Despite Russia’s claims that it would not strike Ukrainian cities or threaten civilian lives, “the targeting of populated areas within Mariupol aligns with Russia’s approach to Chechnya in 1999 and Syria in 2016,” according to the ministry.
“The effort to capture Mariupol has come at significant cost to its residents,” the ministry added. “Large areas of infrastructure have been destroyed whilst the population has suffered significant casualties.”
Apr 17, 8:25 pm
Kharkiv mayor slams Russia for attacking on religious holiday
The mayor of Kharkiv, Igor Terekhov, lashed out at Russia for continuing its onslaught on the city despite it being Orthodox Palm Sunday.
“Dear Kharkiv citizens, today is the 53rd day of war, the war in which we are defending our lives and honor fighting against the ruthless army of the aggressor,” Terekhov said in a recorded address translated from Russian by The Associated Press.
“And also today is a big Orthodox holiday, Palm Sunday. But it looks like those who wear the letter Z do not have a cross on them,” he added, referring to the omnipresent letter painted on Russian tanks.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and a key outpost in the country’s east, has been under intense shelling for days. Several people were killed in attacks on Sunday.
“Even days that are sacred to Christians are no reason for the enemy to lessen bombardments on Kharkiv,” Terekhov said.
The vast majority of people in both Russia and Ukraine are Orthodox Christians. Holy Week began on Sunday with Easter coming on April 24. Many in Ukraine, including Kharkiv, celebrated Palm Sunday in bomb-damaged churches or buildings without electricity.
“I congratulate you all, my fellow Kharkiv citizens, with Palm Sunday, and on the eve of the Holy Week, I want to wish fortitude to all of us,” Terekhov said. “The enemy is testing our resolve, let us show them that Kharkiv citizens will not be broken or intimidated.”
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — At least nine people have been shot at a South Carolina restaurant, according to police.
The shooting occurred Sunday morning at Cara’s Lounge in Furman, South Carolina, located about 50 miles northwest of Columbia, according to the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, which received a request from the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office to lead the investigation.
The circumstances leading up to the shooting are not clear. Police did not immediately release further information.
The shooting comes a day after a shooting incident at a mall in Columbia, South Carolina, that left 14 people were injured.
Nine people were shot and five others were injured while fleeing the scene Saturday afternoon, police said. The injured ranged in age from 15 to 73 years old.
Police said they arrested a 22-year-old on a charge of unlawful carrying of a pistol and added that more charges may be forthcoming.
(NEW YORK) — Days after the subway shooting in Brooklyn, New York City Mayor Eric Adams told ABC “This Week” Anchor George Stephanopoulos that the recent increase in crime extends beyond his city, calling it a “national issue.”
“You know, I say over and over again, there are many rivers that feed the sea of violence. This is a national issue,” Adams said when pressed by Stephanopoulos on the rise in major crimes within New York City this year. “It’s not a red state, blue state. In fact, red states are experiencing a higher murder rate than blue states.”
Frank James, 62, was charged with committing a terrorist act on a mass transportation vehicle after opening fire on a New York subway car Tuesday morning. Ten people were shot, and the shooting launched a 30-hour manhunt for James before he called Crime Stoppers on himself.
New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell told Stephanopoulos during a joint interview with Adams she thought James’ call to the tip line indicated that “we were kind of closing in around him” before he turned himself in.
“We disseminated his picture… we had a number of people looking for him, hundreds of detectives looking for him,” Sewell said. “But I think one of the key factors also is our force multiplier, which are the eyes and ears of our incredible New Yorkers.”
Stephanopoulos said James seemed to be “hiding in plain sight” before the shooting, noting he had been arrested several times and had posted videos to YouTube “packed with hate and suggestions of violence.”
“Do we need a better way to track individuals like this before they take this violent action?” Stephanopoulos asked.
Adams said social media companies “must step up” when it comes to tracking people like James.
“There’s a corporate responsibility when we are watching hate brew online,” Adams said. “We can identify using artificial intelligence and other methods to identify those who are talking about violence.”
Despite last week’s attack and transit crime rising 68% this year compared to 2021, Sewell told Stephanopoulos that crime on the subways in New York City is actually down compared to the pre-COVID numbers. Still, she is trying to make police presence on the subways more visible.
“We recognize that people need to see a visible presence of police in the subway and we’re endeavoring to make sure that that happens,” Sewell said. “There’s also security measures that we don’t see, but we understand that that reassurance is required. And we’re putting multiple officers in the subways every single day.”
Adams, a former NYPD captain who took office on Jan. 1, ran as a tough-on-crime Democrat and has rejected progressive policies around crime and policing, like the “defund the police” movement.
Last week, former New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, who served under the Giuliani and de Blasio mayoral administrations, told a Bloomberg podcast, “The scales right now are tipped very heavily in favor of the reforms of the progressive left. Well-intended, some needed, but a bit too far.”
Bratton said the result is rising crime and fear of crime “as evidenced in almost every major American city.”
“Yes, I believe he is right,” Adams responded. “Major mistakes made throughout the years that destroyed the trust that the police commissioner is talking about. We have to rebuild that trust. But we can’t rebuild that trust by allowing those who are dangerous and that have — they have a repeated history of violence to continue to be on our streets.”
Sewell agreed, saying, “We cannot lose sight of the victims of crime. We believe the system has to be fair and balanced, but when we lose sight of the victims of crime, we are not doing what public safety is intended to do.”
(NEW YORK) — The 130-ton Ever Forward cargo ship that has been mired in the mud of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland for more than a month was dislodged and refloated early Sunday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The 1,095-foot cargo ship, which ran aground in shallow water 36 days ago, was yanked from a mound of mud by seven tugboats working in tandem around 7 a.m., the Coast Guard said.
The ship was extricated after crews spent the last week using two large cranes on barges to offload around 500 of the nearly 4,900 containers aboard to make the vessel buoyant enough for the tugboats to pry it loose, officials said.
The Ever Forward, which is owned by Evergreen Marine Corp., was being towed by five tugboats to a ship parking area near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The Hong Kong-flagged ship will eventually head back to the Seagirt marine terminal in Baltimore to pick up the containers that were taken off before resuming its voyage to Norfolk, Virginia, officials said.
Two previous attempts to free the vessel were not successful. Crews had tried to move the fully loaded ship with multiple tugboats, but it wouldn’t budge. Crews also attempted dredging around the hull of the big boat, but that effort was in vain as well.
The refloating situation had gone so badly that the Evergreen Marine notified anyone with a container on board that they would need to share in the cost of freeing the ship under the law of general average, a principal of maritime law dating back to 1890.
An estimated cost of extracting the ship has not been made public.
The Coast Guard said the Ever Forward got stuck on March 13 in about 23 feet of water off Downs Park in Pasadena, Maryland, about 20 miles south of Baltimore. The ship had just departed the Seagirt marine terminal and, for reasons that remain under investigation, was traveling outside of the deep-water shipping channel when it ran aground, the Coast Guard said.
No one was injured, and inspections showed that no fuel or pollution leaked from the ship into the Chesapeake Bay, according to the Coast Guard.
The ship did not block the shipping channel, officials said.
Evergreen is the same company that owns the Ever Given cargo ship that got stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal in March 2021, blocking the world-famous waterway for six days and causing massive delays in global shipping.
(NEW YORK) — The threat of severe weather is continuing after nearly a week of strong systems wreaking havoc on much of the country.
The North is bracing for another round of winter weather in the middle of spring after receiving several feet of snow last week.
Blizzard conditions with up to 3 feet of snow is expected in North Dakota, where temperatures reached as low as zero degrees on Saturday. Blowing snow will also be an issue in the northern plains and upper Midwest, as wind advisories are in effect for much of North and South Dakota.
That storm will move into the Great Lakes and into the Northeast on Monday and Tuesday, delivering snow to the Appalachians and upstate New York and rain in the major cities.
A cold front is sweeping through the North through Tuesday, with Chicago topping out around 40 degrees and New York in the 50s on Sunday. Unseasonably low temperatures are expected to continue into Monday.
Severe thunderstorms are expected to flare up in the South on Sunday afternoon, with large hail and damaging winds likely across states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and even as far east as the Florida panhandle. Isolated tornadoes are possible as well but are not expected to be as abundant as they were last week.
Problematic weather occurred all over the country at the start of the weekend as well.
In Baltimore, hail interrupted the Yankees vs. Orioles game at Camden Yards on Saturday afternoon, and late-season snow blanketed California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.
Damage from large hail was reported in northeastern Arkansas on Friday night after thunderstorms rolled through Arkansas to southwestern Alabama.
Conditions ripe for the formation of tornadoes has persisted since last month, which broke the record for the most tornadoes to ever occur in the U.S. in March.
At least three people died last week as a result of a tornado in Arkansas and the McBride Fire in New Mexico.
The severe weather threat is expected to subside early next week with no organized threat forecast for Monday.
(PITTSBURGH) — Two juveniles were killed and at least eight people were wounded when a barrage of 50 gunshots broke out early Sunday inside a Pittsburgh Airbnb rental house, where police said roughly 200 people were having a party. Some escaped the gunfire by jumping out of windows.
The shooting marked the third time in nine days that gunfire erupted during parties being held at Airbnb rentals, including one near Sacramento, California, which left a teenager dead, and another that rocked a suburban Houston residential neighborhood.
The Pittsburgh shooting unfolded around 12:30 a.m., when police were notified of multiple ShotSpotter gunfire-detection alerts in the East Allegheny neighborhood on the city’s North Side, the Pittsburgh Police Department said in a statement.
More gunshots were being fired as officers arrived at the scene and saw several young people running away and others fleeing in vehicles, according to the statement.
Victims suffering from bullet wounds were found near the home and taken to hospitals by ambulance, police said. Other gunshot victims were taken to area hospitals in private cars, including two juveniles who were pronounced dead upon arriving at emergency rooms, authorities said.
A total of 10 people were shot, including the two slain juveniles, police said. Several other victims suffered broken bones and cuts fleeing the chaotic scene, according to authorities.
A preliminary investigation found that the shooting occurred during a large party being held at the short-term rental property, “with as many as 200 people in attendance, many of them underage,” according to the police statement.
“As many as 50 rounds were fired inside, prompting some party-goers to jump out the windows, sustaining injuries such as broken bones and lacerations,” according to the police statement. “Several more shots were fired outside the home.”
No arrests have been made, and detectives are combing over evidence found at eight different crime scenes in a radius of several blocks around the Airbnb house. Detectives are also reviewing security video in an effort to identify suspects.
Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said at a news conference Sunday that the gunfire started after an “altercation” and confirmed that multiple shooters engaged in a gunfight. He said that in addition to the gunshot victims, five other people were injured from either jumping out of windows or falling down stairs while taking cover.
“It is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street,” Schubert said.
He said the “vast majority” of people at the party were juveniles.
“This is something that shouldn’t have happened. This goes back to having too many guns — too many illegal guns — on the streets. Too many people who have access to these illegal weapons,” Schubert said. “Innocent people were struck… We’re sick about it, and we’re gonna do everything we can to get those responsible for it.”
Shell casings collected at the scene indicate multiple weapons were fired, including rifles, a police commander told ABC affiliate station WTAE in Pittsburgh.
“We share the Pittsburgh community’s outrage regarding this tragic gun violence. Our hearts go out to all who were impacted — including loved ones of those who lost their lives, injured victims and neighbors,” Airbnb said Sunday in a statement to ABC News. “Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence.”
Airbnb said the person who booked the house has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb. The company confirmed that an “unauthorized party” was thrown without the knowledge or consent of the house host, who specifically stated in the listing page that no parties were allowed and that any evidence of a party would result in a $500 fee.
“We will be considering all legal options to hold this person accountable,” Airbnb’s statement said, adding that the company is cooperating with the Pittsburgh Police Department’s investigation.
Addressing allegations that many of those attending the party were minors, the company said, “we can confirm that users must be 18 or above to create an Airbnb account.”
The company also noted that its CEO, Brian Chesky, has joined a coalition of CEOs nationwide calling for stricter gun control measures to get illegal firearms off the streets.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement on Sunday that police were using all available resources to find those responsible for the shooting and added that members of the community had contacted the investigators with information on the episode.
Gainey said the shooting came as Pittsburgh police and city leaders have been been working on a plan in the past several weeks to address gun violence in the city. He said a special meeting of public safety and key community members is being scheduled to discuss a citywide effort to combat gun violence.
“The time is now for us to move with a sense of urgency to bring justice to the victims and peace to our city,” Gainey said in his statement. “It is critical that we come together now to help reduce the violence currently happening while we begin to do the long-term work of ending the culture of violence that is enabling the senseless loss of life we are experiencing today. We must say no more and never again.”
Anyone with information about the shooting can call the Pittsburgh Police Department’s Major Crimes unit at (412) 323-7161.
(NEW YORK) — Inflation in the U.S. rose 8.5% in March, compared with the prior 12 months, marking the highest increase since 1981, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index.
Between February and March, inflation rose 1.2%, making for the biggest month-to-month jump since 2005.
According to several economists and other financial experts, high consumer demand in the economy — met with low supply — is the main factor driving inflation. The war in Ukraine is also driving up prices, specifically on oil and food, they said.
And the government is limited on intervening, according to experts who spoke with ABC News.
Experts also told ABC News that inflation is likely to be an issue in the coming months, one even saying they expect it to last for years.
Factors driving inflation
Consumers traditionally spend the bulk of their money on services, but during the pandemic, demand shifted toward goods, Stacy Tisdale, financial journalist and founder of Mind Money Media told ABC News.
“You saw that breakdown, you saw manufacturers not be able to keep up with that demand, you saw the challenges that manufacturers were having, because of COVID, then you saw the supply chain disruptions. And that’s kind of what’s underpinning all of this,” Tisdale said.
Strong consumer demand unmet with enough supply, makes for a main driver of inflation, experts said.
“The biggest factor driving up inflation has been extraordinarily strong demand, as consumers have more money in their bank accounts, lower interest rates to borrow at stronger stock prices and a lot of money they saved up because they didn’t spend much in 2020,” Jason Furman, a professor of practice at Harvard and a former top economic advisor to President Barack Obama who served as a chief economist and member of the cabinet, said.
“That’s been exacerbated more recently by things like the higher oil prices due to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” Furman added.
Some experts think stimulus money exacerbated the increased demand.
“We pumped a lot of demand into the economy, particularly the American Rescue Plan in early 2021, giving everybody $1,400,” said David Wessel, the director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings.
“And with the benefit of hindsight, we probably put too much money in people’s pockets — they want to spend it, but the supply side of the economy is unable to accommodate the rapid increase in demand that comes both from the fiscal stimulus and from the fact that people are beginning to relax about the pandemic,” Wessel said.
Furman said inflation in the U.S. is worse than in other developed nations, in part, because of stimulus funds from the government.
“The United States has more inflation than any other major advanced economy. Probably because we’ve had a larger fiscal response. No other countries sent out checks on the scale that we did,” Furman said.
Other experts agree that stimulus payments contributed to inflation, but say the mass distributed payouts are not the cause. The government handed out three rounds of checks to Americans during the pandemic as financial relief, in hopes of boosting the economy.
“You could certainly make the case … that the stimulus package definitely contributed to the inflation rate, but you didn’t have big stimulus packages in Europe. And they’re still looking at 7.5% inflation,” Dean Baker, a senior economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told ABC News.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is driving gas prices “through the roof” and creating concerns about crops coming out of Ukraine, which is a major global exporter of wheat, Baker said.
“There’s real concerns that a lot of that isn’t going to be planted or isn’t able to be exported. And we’ve seen a big rise in the price of wheat, a number of other farm commodities in the last two months or so since the war,” Baker said.
What the government can do
With increased consumer demand being the main driver of inflation, experts said there is not much the government can do to fight inflation, but they agree that the Federal Reserve should raise interest rates.
“The main thing is for the Fed to raise interest rates, and to start selling off assets. The goal of that is to make it more expensive to borrow money to buy a house or to buy a car, or for a business to buy plants and equipment. And that will cool off demand in the economy, slow economic growth and slow inflation,” Furman said.
“How much it does any of those is incredibly uncertain,” he added.
Baker agreed and said that “having a zero interest didn’t make sense given the strength of the labor market.”
To help bring down oil prices, Baker said if the government commits to supporting the oil market to some effect, it could encourage oil companies, who were burned by the 2014 collapse of oil prices, to drive up production faster.
“That’s fresh enough in people’s minds that they’re reluctant to go headfirst into drilling. So one way to try to counter that is the Biden administration … could make a commitment that they’ll support the market,” Baker said.
Such a commitment could be that if oil prices fall below a certain amount, the government would buy barrels to restock the strategic reserve, and therefore support oil prices, Baker said.
Wessel suggested that the Biden administration could also repeal Trump-era tariffs, which could drive down the price of imports; raise taxes; or cut spending to drive demand out of the economy.
What is to come?
Inflation could remain an issue for the coming months, but experts disagree on how long it could last.
“I saw some signs in the [Consumer Price Index] that suggests that we may be past the worse, but I expect inflation to be high at least for another 18 to 24 months,” Wessel said.
Furman said that inflation could last for years.
“Some of the inflation is probably transitory. I don’t think the underlying true inflation rate in the economy is 8%. But it probably isn’t 2%, either. And so inflation should start to come down a bit, but it’s unlikely to come anywhere near where the Fed wants it to come,” Furman said.
“It easily could remain high for years to come. We could get lucky and it could just all magically disappear. [Or] we could have a recession, which could make it disappear. I think the most likely scenario though, is that it persists for several years,” Furman said.
“People should be planning for interest rates going higher, so things like mortgages and car loans getting more expensive. They should plan on prices staying high. They should, though, understand that it’s still a very, very strong labor market. So there’s a lot of job options out there,” Furman said.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian troops invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Russian forces have since been met with “stiff resistance” from Ukrainians, according to U.S. officials.
In recent days, Russian forces have retreated from northern Ukraine, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv, the United States and European countries accused Russia of committing war crimes.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 16, 9:59 am
Ukraine alleges Russia calling on additional units to storm Mariupol
Russian forces have not completely captured Mariupol, but the army is constantly calling on additional units to storm the city, Ukrainian defense ministry spokesperson Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said in a press conference.
“The situation in Mariupol is difficult and hard. Fighting is happening right now. The Russian army is constantly calling on additional units to storm the city,” Motuzyanyk said.
Russian forces intend to totally close the city for entry and exit and prohibit movement between the districts and they are filtering out the men left in the city, advisor to the mayor Petro Andriushchenko alleged in a post on Telegram.
“After standard filtration bullying (interrogation, checking gadgets, examining the body) the men are separated from others and are subjected to separate interrogations, including an imitation of an execution,” Andriushchenko claimed.
He added: “In general, we can say that from 5 up to 10% do not pass the filtration and after that are exported to Dokuchaevsk and Donetsk. Their further fate is not known.”
Russian warships, armed with “Caliber” naval cruise missiles, in the Black Sea pose a threat against Ukrainian defense industry and logistics infrastructure, spokesman of the general staff of Ukraine Armed Forces, Alexandra Stupun said.
Stupun added: “In the waters of the Sea of Azov, the enemy’s naval group continues to carry out tasks to block the port of Mariupol and provide fire support in the coastal direction.”
Apr 16, 9:12 am
Romania bans Russian-flagged ships from its ports
The Romanian Naval Administration announced it has banned Russian-flagged ships from entering its ports.
The ban will take effect on Sunday.
Apr 16, 8:53 am
Russia bans UK’s Boris Johnson, members of cabinet from entering its territory
Russia announced it has banned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and several members of his cabinet from entering its territory in response to what it claims are the British government’s hostilities, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
Russia said the ban was in response to sanctions placed on Russian senior officials by the British government.
In addition to Johnson, Russia banned the U.K.’s secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs; its secretary of state for defense; the deputy prime minister and secretary of state for justice; and several other members of the British government.
Apr 15, 7:19 pm
Zelenskyy details recovery in hundreds of ‘de-occupied’ settlements
During his latest national address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy detailed the recovery of “normal life” in areas that have been rid of Russian occupiers.
“The restoration of normal life in those areas and districts where the occupiers were expelled continues,” Zelenskyy said, noting that 918 settlements “have already been de-occupied.”
“We carry out demining. We restore the supply of electricity, water and gas. We restore the work of the police, post office, state and local authorities,” he continued.
Other work includes restoring the railways, including the connection between Chernihiv and Nizhyn and in the Sumy region, and resuming medical care and education. Across Ukraine, 1,018 educational institutions have been destroyed or damaged, according to Zelenskyy.
Four-fifths of Ukrainian businesses have also returned to work “in a safe area,” in particular heavy industry enterprises, the president said.
Southern and eastern Ukraine, however, are “far from talking about recovery,” he said.
“In the occupied districts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, the Russian military continue to terrorize civilian residents of our country,” Zelenskyy said.
Apr 15, 6:35 pm
Zelenskyy asked Biden to designate Russia a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’, official says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked President Joe Biden to designate Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism” during their call earlier this week, a U.S. official confirmed.
The White House and State Department have not responded to questions about Zelenskyy’s appeal or the designation, but last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed an openness to it.
“In terms of other designations based on actions that Russia’s taking, we are and we will look at everything,” he told reporters during a press conference.
The designation, which is normally reserved for states that are arming and funding terror groups, carries some of the most severe sanctions under U.S. law — although Russia is already under many of them.
Currently there are four countries on the list: Syria, Iran, North Korea and Cuba. The latter two were added by the Trump administration.
Apr 15, 3:26 pm
Russia claims it intercepted Ukrainian missile strike targeting power station
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed it prevented an attempt by the Ukrainians to hit Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station with two Tochka-U tactical missiles on Friday morning.
Russia claimed the missiles were shot down in mid-air and shrapnel from one of them fell on Novaya Kakhovka, Kherson region, damaging Kindergarten and residential buildings.
The facility regulates the flow of the Dnepr River, supplies electricity to Kherson region, and supplies water to agricultural areas in southern Ukraine and northern Crimea, according to Russia.
Russia claimed if the station was hit, it would have caused the release of Dnepr water and caused flooding of Kherson region settlements.
Apr 15, 2:35 pm
Over 900 civilian bodies allegedly found in Kyiv region, Ukrainian police say
More than 900 bodies of civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, Kyiv region Police Chief Andriy Nebytov said in a press briefing.
“I want to say that the number of killed civilians has surpassed 900 – and I emphasize, these are civilians, whose bodies we have discovered and handed over for forensic examination,” Nebytov said.
He later said, “Bucha has the most significant number of victims. This suggests that the occupiers, the units, that operated in Bucha, were the most brutal. The most victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 corpses.”
Nebytov claimed Russian forces were forcing Ukrainians to work for Russia.
“We understand that during the occupation, the Russian army established a certain modus operandi, trying to find people who have influence over the community and force them to work for Russia,” Nebytov said.
Nebytov said the bodies had been abandoned in the streets or were buried in temporary graves.
“There were two mass graves, if we can say so. There was a person, a communal worker, who worked before the war in Bucha. He stayed in the city and actually asked the occupiers to allow him to take away the people’s bodies from the streets. He buried them in two graves. The first was for 40 dead people, the second for 57 dead people,” Nebytov said.
He added: “Among them was one of our policemen, a criminal investigation officer, who unfortunately was also shot with a small weapon. Most of these bodies have been examined, and I want to say that 95% of the people were killed by sniper rifles or small arms. That is, we understand that during the occupation, people were shot in the streets.”
Senior U.S. defense officials believe Russia’s sunken Moskva cruiser was hit by two Ukrainian-launched Neptune missiles, bolstering claims from Ukrainian officials on Thursday.
The officials could not confirm how many Russian crew members were injured or killed in the attack or subsequent fire and eventual sinking.
Apr 15, 1:24 pm
Russia sent US diplomatic note protesting aid to Ukraine
The U.S. received a formal diplomatic note from Russia protesting U.S. and NATO military aid to Ukraine and accused them of violating principles and potentially risking weapons falling into bad actors’ hands, a U.S. official briefed on the note confirmed to ABC News.
The Russian government previously warned the U.S. and NATO against providing weapons and other military equipment. Both Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and one of his deputies, Sergei Ryabkov, also warned that Western convoys providing military aid were “legitimate targets” for Russian attack.
The White House referred questions to the State Department, but a State Department spokesperson declined to comment on “any private diplomatic correspondence.”
State Department spokesperson Ned Price also declined to confirm the report, but during an interview with CNN, said, “The Russians have said some things privately. They have said some things publicly. Nothing will dissuade us from the strategy that we’ve embarked on.”
Another source said it shows the effectiveness of U.S. weapon deliveries and security assistance, that Russia is upset is happening.
Price also told CNN that the war in Ukraine could drag on through the end of this year into next year, something other U.S. officials, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, have warned about as well.
“It is possible … but what we’re trying to do is to shorten this conflict,” Price told CNN, by providing Ukraine with “unprecedented amount of security assistance” and applying pressure on Russia.
The Washington Post first reported on the diplomatic note.
Apr 15, 5:55 am
Ukrainian commander issues urgent plea in Mariupol
Serhiy Volyna, commander of Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade, which is engaged in a brutal fight to defend Mariupol against invading Russian forces, has issued an urgent plea for military reinforcements or a political solution — anything to break Russia’s siege of the Ukrainian port city.
In an interview Friday with Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda, the commander said the situation is critical and the fighting is fierce.
“It can be done and it must be done as soon as possible,” Volyna added.
Despite Russia’s relentless bombardment for more than a month, the 36th Marine Brigade along with units of the Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian military, have held down Mariupol. They have refused to surrender, vowing to fight until the end.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Apr 14, 9:06 pm
Zelenskyy remarks on 50 days of war: ‘Ukraine became a hero’
During his latest daily address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy observed that Ukraine has withstood 50 days of the Russian invasion.
“During the 50 days of this war, Ukraine became a hero for the whole free world,” he said.
Zelenskyy said he was grateful to those who have supported the country, though said that during the last 50 days he’s started to view world leaders in a different light.
“I have seen politicians behaving as if they had no power, and I have seen non-politicians who did more in these 50 days than some statesmen who claimed leadership,” he said.
Zelenskyy praised how Ukraine has defended itself, including those “who have shown that Russian ships can go … to the bottom only” — a nod to the sinking of the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship vessel, Moskva.
Ukrainian government officials had claimed on Wednesday its armed forces fired missiles that damaged the vessel.
-ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko
Apr 14, 5:46 pm
US says its assessment could conclude Russia committed genocide
The U.S. Department of State’s s ongoing review of atrocities in Ukraine could conclude with a determination that genocide has been committed by Russian forces, spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday.
The comments come after President Joe Biden described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine as genocide.
Price told reporters during a briefing Thursday that there was some “misimpression” about the process, but that the department’s effort to document, compile and analyze evidence of atrocities, which determined last month that Russian forces were committing war crimes, could include a determination on genocide.
“That same broader process the process to collect, analyze, share, document evidence of atrocities and potential atrocity crimes is the very same one that could ultimately inform other potential atrocity crime determinations, including the atrocity crime of genocide,” Price said.
Price reiterated that the U.S. is working with the Ukrainian prosecutor-general, whose office has clear jurisdiction for potential war crimes trials.
The U.S. has been providing the Ukrainian prosecutor-general’s office with the evidence it has collected, though it has not yet provided that information to the International Criminal Court, of which it’s not a member.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court’s chief, Karim A.A. Khan, currently is in Ukraine surveying scenes of atrocities in the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Borodyanka.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Conor Finnegan
Apr 14, 5:12 pm
France moving its Ukraine embassy back to Kyiv
France is planning to move its embassy back to Kyiv “very soon” after relocating it more than 500 miles away in Lviv in western Ukraine when hostilities began to heat up around the capital city in March, the French foreign minister said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian made the announcement in a phone call Thursday with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba.
“This redeployment will take place very soon and will make it possible to further deepen the support provided by France to Ukraine in all areas to deal with the war launched by Russia on February 24,” Le Drian said in a statement.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price was asked at a briefing if the United States was considering a similar move now that the bulk of the fighting has shifted in Ukraine from the south of the country to the east. The U.S. embassy in Ukraine was also moved from Kyiv to Lviv following the start of the Russian invasion, but embassy staff has been working from Poland in recent days, Price said.
Price told reporters that the State Department is “always reviewing” the possibility of moving the embassy back to Kyiv, but the embassy team remains in Poland and is not crossing the border into Lviv as they had been.
“Obviously, our goal is to have a functioning diplomatic presence in Ukraine as soon as it is safe and practical for us to do so,” Price said.
(RUIDOSO DOWNS, N.M.) — High fire danger continues in New Mexico, as very dry weather and gusty winds are leading to an increased risk while firefighters continue to battle a deadly blaze.
For days, hundreds of firefighters have been battling the McBride Fire in the village of Ruidoso in central New Mexico.
As of Saturday morning, the McBride Fire has burned through 6,195 acres in the Gavilan Canyon within Ruidoso and remains 0% contained, according to fire officials. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Fueled by timber downed by a significant wind storm, as well as brush and dry grasses on an arid landscape, the wildfire has burned 207 primary structures and multiple outbuildings since sparking Tuesday, officials said.
The bodies of two people were found in a home in Ruidoso on Wednesday, a day after the McBride Fire scorched the area, according to authorities. First responders located the bodies after family members noted that an elderly couple attempting to evacuate had been unaccounted for, police said. The couple has not yet been publicly identified.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she is “very proud” as residents have been reaching out to see what they can do to help amid the destruction.
“But there are no words to express — that’s a total loss,” she told the Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT. “Can you live back there again, where will you go?”
She said the state will be an “active partner” in the recovery process.
A second, smaller fire in Nogal Canyon north of Ruidoso has burned 433 acres as of Saturday morning since sparking Tuesday and is 4% contained, fire officials said.
Fire officials were optimistic Saturday about containment efforts with both fires, after being challenged by warm weather and high winds the previous day.
“Currently, you know, we’re 4% on Nogal, 0% on McBride, but you’ll see those numbers increasing today,” Dave Bales, incident commander for the McBride and Nogal Canyon fires, said during a briefing Saturday. “Today we expect a real successful day.”
Dangerous fire conditions persist Saturday for portions of western and central New Mexico up into the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado, with a red flag warning in effect due to strong winds and low relative humidity. Wind gusts up to 50 mph are forecasted.
A voluntary evacuation order also has been issued in Larimer County in northern Colorado, as a wildfire has burned 114 acres and is 30% contained as of Saturday morning.
ABC News’ Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.
(RICHMOND, Calif.) — Celebrations are in order Saturday at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park located in Richmond, California, for former National Park Service ranger Betty Reid Soskin.
Prior to her retirement just weeks ago, Soskin, at age 100, was the oldest active National Park Ranger serving the United States.
“To be a part of helping to mark the place where that dramatic trajectory of my own life, combined with others of my generation, will influence the future by the footprints we’ve left behind has been incredible,” said Soskin in a prepared statement and announcement from the NPS.
Soskin first joined the NPS in her 80s. In the early 2000s she was actively involved and participated in the planning effort to bring the Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park to the city of Richmond. She’s also credited with working to help uncover untold stories of African Americans on the home front during WWII.
“If we don’t know where we started, we have no conception of where we are or how we got here. Only if we go back and retrace our steps. And that’s what the park became for me,” Soskin said during a speech at the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Education Center, explaining what drove her to get involved with the park’s planning.
It was those efforts that led her to a temporary position with the NPS at age 84, and eventually a permanent role.
For more than a decade-and-a half she had led public programs at the park, providing broader context of the WWII war effort, and the backdrop of racism and segregation through her own life experiences. Her great-grandmother, born in 1846, was a slave until she was 19, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Soskin said she was 27 when her slave ancestor died at 102, during her speech.
“The National Park Service is grateful to Ranger Betty for sharing her thoughts and first-person accounts in ways that span across generations,” said Naomi Torres, acting superintendent of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park. “She has used stories of her life on the Home Front, drawing meaning from those experiences in ways that make that history truly impactful for those of us living today.”
Soskin was born in Detroit in 1921 to African American parents. She spent her early years in New Orleans before “The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927” drove her family to relocate West to Oakland, California.
As a young woman during World War II, Soskin worked as a shipyard clerk for an all-Black auxiliary lodge of the segregated Boilermakers union. At the time, the union did not allow people of color and women to become union members.
In 1945, Soskin along with her husband founded one of the first Black-owned music stores, “Reid’s Records,” which shut its doors in 2019.
She would also later get involved in local politics, having served as a Berkeley city council member and as a field representative serving two members of the California State Assembly.
In 2015, Soskin introduced President Barack Obama during the national tree-lighting ceremony in Washington, D.C.
I heard Betty Reid Soskin is retiring at 100, and want to congratulate her for more than a decade of service as a National Park Ranger.
Betty, I hope you realize just how many people appreciate everything you’ve done—myself included. pic.twitter.com/lElFYwxVMg
It’s an experience, that she said, was “probably one of the greatest things I’ve ever done.”
“I was able to introduce the president, on the stage, to all of America,” Soskin recounted to CBS’s San Francisco news station.
On Saturday, the NPS will host a retirement ceremony for Soskin at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park, which will be open to the public.
