(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.
Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 28, 6:47 am
Russia hikes key rate to 20% as ruble tumbles
Russia’s central bank on Monday raised its key interest rate to 20% from 9.5% in an apparent effort to slow the fallout from severe international sanctions.
The rate hike came as the Russian ruble tumbled, trading down as much as 30% against the U.S. dollar on Monday, according to Bloomberg. The currency traded about 17% lower midday in Moscow.
The Russian stock market reportedly closed for the day.
-ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki
Feb 28, 6:23 am
500,000 refugees have fled Ukraine, UN says
More than 500,000 people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Thursday, the U.N. Refugee Agency said on Monday.
More than half have crossed the border into Poland, the agency said. Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, had said on Sunday that 368,000 people had fled to neighboring countries.
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
Feb 28, 5:00 am
Ukraine delegation arrives for talks with Russia
The Ukrainian delegation sent for talks with Russia arrived Monday morning at the Belarus-Ukraine border, where the meeting will be held.
Ukraine has said the key issue for the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Russia has signalled it wants to discuss Ukraine adopting “neutral status.”
The head of Russia’s delegation has said the two sides will meet within about an hour. They are meeting on the Pripyat River, north of Chernobyl.
The Ukrainian delegation includes the Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, the head of Zelenskyy’s parliamentary party, as well as advisors to the president and MPs.
Russia’s delegation includes officials from the Foreign and Defense ministries, and the presidential administration.
The talks were agreed to on Sunday in a call between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Fighting continued throughout the night, as Russia attempted to advance and bombarded Ukrainian forces.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Julia Drozd
Feb 28, 3:29 am
Russian advance slows north of Kyiv, UK military says
The U.K. Ministry of Defence said on Monday that the advance of Russian ground forces had been slowed by Ukraine’s defense of an airport in Hostomel, about 19 miles north of Kyiv.
“Logistical failures and staunch Ukrainian resistance continue to frustrate the Russian advance,” the ministry said on Twitter.
(WASHINGTON) — As the impacts of global climate change exact an increasingly dire human and economic toll, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday is considering a major challenge to the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to combat greenhouse gas emissions from thousands of American power plants.
The justices are hearing oral arguments in a case — West Virginia v. EPA — that pits major coal and mining companies and Republican-led states against the Biden administration, power utilities and public health groups that see EPA’s authority as critical for curbing the climate crisis.
The outcome of the case could determine whether the U.S. will be able to meet a government goal of cutting carbon pollution by 50% over the next eight years and shifting entirely to clean energy sources by 2035, experts say.
“We need every tool in the toolbox to address climate change,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund. “An action [by the Court] here is a real setback.”
The landmark Clean Air Act of 1970 charged the EPA with protecting human health from dangerous airborne contaminants, which the Supreme Court has twice affirmed to include greenhouse gasses.
The law lets the agency craft pollution limits based on the “best system of emission reduction” available, but there is disagreement over whether the law prohibits consideration of measures “outside the fence line” of a particular plant, such as shifting to alternative sources of power generation or emission trading programs.
The U.S. power sector is the nation’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Plaintiffs in the EPA case claim the agency is seeking to “reshape the power grids and seize control over electricity production nationwide,” according to court documents, a characterization the government disputes.
The justices will first need to decide whether there’s even a live dispute worth adjudicating. While the case originated as a challenge to the Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan, that policy was subsequently put on hold and has never taken effect.
The states and coal companies argue that a lower court decision, if allowed to stand, effectively empowers the EPA to threaten entire industries and tens of thousands of American jobs. The Biden administration says the warnings are premature, noting its emission guidelines have not yet been published, much less enforced.
“Petitioners are seeking a ruling on what EPA might do in the future, but federal courts do not have jurisdiction to decide cases on what could happen,” said Andrew Restrepo, a senior attorney with the Sierra Club. The states and coal companies “do not and cannot explain how they would be injured.”
The Supreme Court showdown comes the same day the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned in a new report of impending catastrophic harms from the unchecked rise in carbon pollution.
“What we’re arguing about is the scope of the means, or the way the [EPA emissions] standard can be constructed,” said David Doniger, an attorney with the National Resources Defense Council and former EPA lawyer. “We want EPA to be able to look at a range of measures beyond efficiency tuneups” at power plants.
A decision against the agency could also have implications for the ability of other government agencies to set health and safety regulations across entire sectors of the nation’s economy, legal analysts said.
Conservative legal scholars, including several members of the high court, have long argued that major administrative rules governing American life must be specifically approved by Congress in order to be legal.
Last month, the justices blocked the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers on those grounds, while last summer the court rolled back the CDC’s pandemic eviction moratorium as an illegal overreach.
“If there are enormous decisions that have vast political and economic significance, Congress — if they want an agency to deal with it — should speak clearly to that issue,” said Jeff Holmstead, a former EPA official who served during the George W. Bush administration and has represented clients challenging recent EPA emissions regulations.
There are more than 3,300 fossil fuel-fired power plants in the U.S., including 284 coal-fired facilities, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. An estimated 1.7 million Americans work in fossil fuel industries, from mining to pipeline construction to electricity generation.
In a landmark 2007 decision, Massachusetts v EPA, the Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote authorized the agency to regulate greenhouse gasses as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Four years later in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, the justices again affirmed that “Congress delegated to EPA the decision whether and how to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants.”
Doniger said if the Court rolls back that authority a “huge swath” of the regulatory state could potentially be upended by extension.
“Legislation that people rely on to structure their businesses or protect themselves from predatory business practices, fraud in commercial transactions, in the securities market — all of that would seem to be imperiled if this is imperiled,” he said.
In a friend-of-the-court filing in the case, a coalition of medical groups, including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians have implored the justices to take a broad view.
“Climate pollutants’ most grievous harms beset children and families, pregnant women, people over 65 and communities of color and of low income,” they wrote.
“The Court should be mindful of Congress’s decision to provide EPA regulatory authority to address this type of threat to public health. Any retrenchment in the scope of that authority would inflict further harm to the health of current and future generations.”
(NEW YORK) — Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has refused to condemn former President Donald Trump’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin amid his invasion of Ukraine.
“George, if you want to know what Donald Trump thinks about Vladimir Putin or any other topic, I’d encourage you to invite him on your show,” Cotton told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “I don’t speak on behalf of other politicians. They can speak for themselves.”
Trump called the actions of the Russian president “genius” and “savvy” during an interview with the conservative radio program “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” on Tuesday. And on Saturday night at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump finally condemned the invasion but also said, “The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he’s smart. But the real problem is that our leaders are dumb.”
Stephanopoulos pressed Cotton, who he noted has been steadfast in his opposition to Putin, to condemn the comments.
“You’re a senior member of the Republican Party. Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party,” he said, noting that Trump “suggested” Saturday night he would run for president again. “When Fox News asked him if he had a message for Vladimir Putin, he said he has no message.”
“Why can’t you condemn that? I feel quite confident that if Donald — that if Barack Obama or Joe Biden said something like that, you’d be first in line to criticize them,” Stephanopoulos said.
Cotton, who sits on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees, doubled down.
“Again, George, if you want to talk to the former president about his views or his message, you can have him on your show,” Cotton said. “My message to Vladimir Putin is quite clear: He needs to leave Ukraine unless he wants to face moms and teenagers with Molotov cocktails and grandmothers and grandfathers with AK-47s for years to come.”
Stephanopoulos followed up again.
“I simply don’t understand why you can’t condemn his praise of Vladimir Putin,” he said.
“George, again, I don’t speak on behalf of other politicians, they can all speak for themselves,” Cotton responded, again dodging Stephanopoulos’ question. “I’m delivering my message to you, which I said has been clear, whether Barack Obama was president, whether Donald Trump was president, and now whether Joe Biden was president, that Vladimir Putin has been a ruthless dictator for years. Too many people have not taken the threat seriously. And that’s why you see the images we see in Ukraine now. And where we need to focus is on stopping that aggression, supporting the Ukrainians as best we can.”
In an earlier interview on “This Week,” Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., pleaded for American businesses to stop backing Russian-owned enterprises both at home and abroad.
Cotton agreed with the ambassador, encouraging “every American company to scrub all of their operations to provide no support whatsoever to Vladimir Putin’s regime” while Russia continues carrying out an “unprovoked war of aggression.”
“But we can do more than prayers and hashtags and lighting up buildings, George. It’s time for the president and some of our European partners to quit pussyfooting around,” Cotton later added. “The financial sanctions announced last night are riddled with loopholes.”
The United States and other Western nations announced Saturday they would significantly escalate restrictions against Russia’s financial system. Sanctions against major Russian banks, members of the Russian elite and Putin had already been imposed by the United States and its allies. The U.S. and other nations have also stepped up military aid to Ukraine. The countries, however, have yet to launch crippling sanctions against Russia’s oil and gas industry, which Cotton has been advocating for. Russia provides more than a third of Europe’s natural gas.
Putin announced Sunday he had ordered his military to put Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces in a state of heightened readiness in response to what he called “aggressive statements” from NATO countries.
“It’s time to remove all Russian financial institutions from the international payment system. It’s time to impose sanctions on his oil and gas exports which he uses as his primary means of financial support,” Cotton said. “We need to rush those weapons that were announced for delivery yesterday to the front: anti-tank, anti-aircraft missiles, sniper rifles ammunition, fuel supplies, it should have been done weeks ago so better later than never but the Ukrainians have no time.”
ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Lucien Bruggeman contributed to this report.
(GAINESVILLE, Fla.) — When Murray was released from prison in July, he didn’t have a source of income. The 54-year-old, whose last name is being withheld because he fears for his safety, is no stranger to struggling financially; he grew up poor in Gainesville, Florida, and resorted to stealing or shoplifting in the past.
“When you live with something in your life for so long, such as criminal activity, you always have this lingering thought in your mind: ‘I know a way to get some money and it wouldn’t take me long to get it,’ Murray said.
He was “down and out” after prison, he said, and doing his best to make a new life for himself, but money was hard to come by.
Struggling to maintain financial stability after incarceration is something that many formerly incarcerated people face; 27% of formerly incarcerated people are unemployed and are 10 times more likely than the general population to be homeless, according to the non-profit criminal justice research organization Prison Policy Initiative.
A new guaranteed income program in Gainesville aims to solve this issue.
Guaranteed income programs across the country give direct cash payments to recipients in order to address poverty or economic inequality, They can be targeted toward a specific population or be universal.
Some critics say these initiatives have to be multifaceted to address the nuances of poverty. Others argue they will stop people from working — though such claims have been debunked — or be too expensive to maintain.
This effort is a collaboration between the guaranteed income pilot program Just Income GNV and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a national network of mayors and researchers spearheading these kinds of programs. They have selected formerly incarcerated individuals who live in the city to receive $1,000 in January, followed by $600 each month for a year.
Their spending is monitored for research purposes, but the recipients are not told how to spend their money.
One month after his first cash assistance check, Murray said he is already seeing the effects an extra monthly boost can have on his well-being and stability.
He’s disabled and needs assistance with walking, so he plans on using the money to help get a scooter and a car to make transportation and mobility easier.
“It’s a relief, which is amazing. I can plan things now and guarantee they’re gonna happen,” Murray said. “I’ve been able to help out some of my relatives with money for gas and got a couple more other relatives who were low on food and I was able to help with that. And just so many great things that this program has really introduced into my life.”
How it works
The program seeks to address the cycle of financial inequality that often affects people impacted by the criminal justice system, especially in Florida which, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, outpaces the overall U.S. incarceration rate. Florida has a rate of 795 incarcerated people per 100,000 compared to 664 in the U.S. as a whole.
Research has also shown that incarceration disproportionately creates a lasting impact on Black and brown communities, as well as impoverished people.
When people come out of prison, they can face discrimination and barriers to economic opportunities, criminal fines, debt, fees and parole that can haunt them long after their sentence is over, according to Kevin Scott, the director of Just Income GNV who is also formerly incarcerated.
For some, the experience can lead them back into the criminal justice system.
When someone can’t/won’t pay a fee or fine and can’t/won’t show up to a court date regarding the fee, it could result in more jail time or additional debt for them, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Researchers at the National Research Council Committee on Law and Justice also found links between high incarceration rates and the criminalization of poverty through policy changes.
“I see it so many times when I was in prison guys coming back to prison over and over and over again because they didn’t have enough money to stay on the street and us as a society need a better system,” said David, 54, who has asked that his name be withheld out of safety concerns. He is another formerly incarcerated man and Vietnam veteran who is receiving cash assistance.
David finished a 45-year sentence in the summer and said the monthly income has been a saving grace. He said there have been family emergencies that the money has allowed him to handle, including getting his daughter out of a dangerous domestic situation.
“Had not that money been there, I don’t know what would have happened,” said David.
David said the money has given him the extra step up that he needed to succeed coming out of a long prison sentence.
“It’s sad that it boils down to that because I’ve got a lot of education under my belt for jobs,” David said. “But if you don’t have the initial step or a little way to get moving … what it all boils down to is the almighty dollar.”
Tracking the spending
Steady, the technology firm and app that helps Mayors for Guaranteed Income programs distribute money to recipients, said it can track what recipients spend their funds as part of the research and advocacy for this project.
Adam Roseman, the CEO and co-founder of Steady, said that it’s a harmful stereotype that low-income earners spend their money irresponsibly or that guaranteed income recipients may not be financially literate with their funds.
The data the company has seen so far has disproved that, he says: “They’re spending the money on things that are important to their daily lives, food, housing, paying down debt payments, acquiring new skills through career programs.”
Cash assistance, according to Roseman and Sukhi Samra, the director of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, has been extremely helpful in getting people back on track — pointing to other forms of help like the federal Child Tax credit.
“We’ve actually seen income lifts as sizable as 40 or 50% for those individuals that received emergency cash or universal basic income,” Roseman said. “You alleviate some of that major financial stress” that is holding them back from solving bigger challenges.
She says these types of programs have changed lives.
She says she’s seen people escape abusive marriages, address their mental health and well-being, or have offered them a lifeline during times of unemployment or have given them the tools needed to find work.
The ultimate goal: “a federal policy. We are investing in pilots like the one in Gainesville to build the evidence base for a federal guaranteed income,” Samra said.
David and Murray are busy making plans for their families and futures, now that they have some relief knowing they won’t be scrounging for cash to take care of themselves.
In honor of Murray’s mother’s upcoming 75th birthday celebration in March, he says he wants to give back now that he’s got some cash to support himself.
He plans on putting together 100 bagged lunches and drinks for the homeless and for the community, knowing that he was once where they were.
“I appreciate what’s happened in my life and I want to give back and I want to share and give hope to other people,” Murray said.
(TULSA, Oklahoma) — A community of Black entrepreneurs are shaking up the tech and innovation ecosystem and forming a new hub for digital creators, developers and investors based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Founders building companies from the city say it boasts a pipeline of fresh and diverse talent, an enterprising yet collegial support system, and offers a cost of living that will make any Bay Area or New York-based startup envious.
For some, there is also the importance of building back the storied “Black Wall Street” that was violently taken from people that looked like them, in Tulsa, just a century ago. Some 300 people were killed and thousands wounded when a mob of white vigilantes, harboring resentment towards their thriving Black neighbors, eviscerated the well-to-do Greenwood district and burned down 35 acres of commercial and residential property.
The legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre, erased from many history books for generations, still looms large over Black business leaders choosing to rebuild along the streets that haunt survivors every day over what “could have been.”
“The Tulsa Race Massacre isn’t a footnote in a history book for us. We live with it every day and the thought of what Greenwood was and what it could have been,” massacre survivor and World War II veteran Hughes Van Ellis told lawmakers when testifying last May over the debt that America owes.
Carrying the weight of this history, a new generation of Black entrepreneurs are also looking toward the future — and seeking to build up new generational wealth.
Here are the stories of nine Black entrepreneurs reimagining the future of Tulsa through investments in tech, solving problems for consumers through innovation and blazing a trail for the next generation of Black business executives.
‘Don’t give up’: Chandler Malone, CEO, Bootup
Malone helms an app and website that launched in December 2020 called Bootup and has lived in Tulsa since December 2019.
“We do two things, we help companies solve their talent pipeline gaps by giving them access to the fastest growing talent pool of tech talent right now, and that’s the non-traditionally trained talent market,” Malone told ABC News. “But then we also help individuals increase their access to economic mobility, through access to jobs in tech, even if they don’t have a college degree or certifications like that.”
To date, Malone said they have placed over 320 people in their first jobs in tech. This is important for the community, he said, because, “At the end of the day, tech provides the most upside, economically.”
“The racial wealth gap has not gotten any better,” he said. “And there’s really no industry where someone can start a company, and have a multi-billion dollar business in just a couple years outside of tech.”
The history and spirit of “Black entrepreneurship is incredibly strong” in Tulsa specifically, according to Malone, which is why it has been so important for him and his team to show “what can be accomplished” for the next generation.
‘It’s a full community effort’: Edna Martinson, co-founder, Boddle
Martinson, the co-founder of game-ified education platform Boddle, said she hopes to use her company to “address the issues of learning gaps in elementary classrooms” and get more children “inspired to love learning.”
“I’ve seen personally, what a good education can do to help propel you in life,” Martinson said. “And I want to help kids also be inspired to learn and get that good quality education.”
Martinson moved to Tulsa in August 2020, saying she was inspired by the people she met during visits and “not only the history, but what is being done to rebuild in Tulsa, especially around resources for Black entrepreneurs.”
“I love how it’s a full community effort, from all these different organizations and entrepreneurial support systems,” she added. “Being a part of that is pretty special — when you’re in a place where there is alignment and mission, and everybody’s on the same page and realizes how a thriving Black community can help Tulsa as a whole community thrive as well.”
‘You cannot do it alone’: Chantelle Lott, CEO, Bounceless
Lott, who has been based in Tulsa for some 20 years now, creates patented activewear and sport bras for fuller-busted women — a subset of consumers often overlooked by the athletic wear industry.
“Right now, there’s not a lot on the market for us,” Lott told ABC News. “So our mission is really just to make sure that women have the support that they need, and to know that bust size is not a barrier to their physical fitness.”
“Rebuilding Tulsa, rebuilding Greenwood, that was a passion of mine since I got here,” Lott said of building her company in Tulsa. “It’s a great experience to really contribute to the history and those who came before us, and to also pass it on to future generations.”
As one of the few Black woman business leaders in the tech sector, Lott says she sees representation as crucially important.
“Because if you can’t see it, you don’t believe it, you don’t see yourself in it,” she said of representation in tech. “So I do believe that is important for Black founders or individuals, even youth, to make sure that they can see themselves in the places that they normally don’t.”
‘We still have that spirit, and it still lives on’: Jayvin Washington, founder and CEO, BiteWay
Washington, founder of the nutrition science-driven meal prep firm BiteWay, told ABC News that she grew up in Tulsa and considers it home — which is why she says it is so important for her to stay and build her business there.
“It’s important to have my business in Tulsa because of, of course, the history and the spirit of entrepreneurship that lies here,” Washington said.
“Black Wall Street was a phenomenal, like extraordinary time and place that we had here in Tulsa. And it was destroyed, but it wasn’t taken from us,” she said. “We still have that spirit, and it still lives on. We’re able to use that energy, and to rebuild and reconstruct what was always here in the first place.”
While she was initially interested in pursuing a career in the pharmaceutical industry, Washington said she felt called to the food industry as an easier way to help people in her community lead healthy lifestyles through nutrient-packed meals.
Lastly, Washington said she hopes that she can open doors for the next generation just by showing them that someone who looks like them can be a leader in corporate America.
“For me, it’s very important to be that role model or be the representation for little Black girls and Black boys that aspire to be an entrepreneur or just, even if they want to work in the corporate world,” she told ABC News. “They are able to do it, they have it in their bloodline.”
‘Access is incredible here’: Kene Onuorah, co-founder and CEO, Comme Homme
Onuorah hails from Raleigh, North Carolina, and his parents are from Nigeria. He founded Comme Homme as a tech-oriented service for men experiencing hair loss something he said he has dealt with at a relatively young age.
“We’re building Comme Homme for the two-thirds of all American men that deal with hair loss, about 50 million men to help them embrace their natural evolution,” he said.
In addition to creating an online community for men experiencing hair loss, “We use augmented reality technology to actually help men who were dealing with hair loss, visualize themselves in an authentic manner with a shaved head,” Onuorah said.
Being in Tulsa, “really helped us to continue to be revitalized and reinvigorated,” based on the city’s past, he said.
He said the city also provides resources he needs for his startup.
“It’s really easy to get access to network, it’s really easy to get access to capital, and really easy to talk to the people that can really push your business forward. There’s something special about Tulsa, the access is just incredible here,” he said.
‘Great to be in the midst’ of Tulsa’s ‘revival’: Chris Davis, founder and CEO, Fansub
After receiving a full scholarship to Duke University where he played football for four years, Davis said he pursued a professional football career before co-founding FanSub — a platform that allows creators and entertainers to engage with fans through livestream activations, marketing campaigns and other high-tech ways.
The Atlanta native said that his interest in the tech startup scene there led to his collaboration with former Miami Dolphins player Brandon King on FanSub.
He said that he, King and FanSub’s two other co-founders, Cameron Williams and Michael Lombardi were looking for a “network to help us grow the business,” and they found out about the Tulsa startup accelerator program.
“The caveat was that we would have to move to Tulsa,” to participate in the program, Davis said. Once they arrived, he said they began to learn more about the city’s history. It’s “really great to be right in the midst of history in a revival of this city,” Davis said. “There’s more to this opportunity than the accelerator program, it’s also a way for us to be a part of … this rejuvenation of Tulsa, Black Wall Street in Greenwood,” he added.
‘Get back what was taken’: Carlanda McKinney, founder and CEO, Bodify
McKinney comes from an “entrepreneurial family,” she said. So when she became frustrated after constantly receiving incorrectly sized clothes purchased online, then having to go through the hassle of sending them back, she went into “problem solver” mode, she said, and launched Bodify, a tech platform for finding the right clothes online for one’s body type and size.
And she said Tulsa is the perfect place to build her business.
“What brought me to Tulsa, really, it grew from a visit,” said McKinney and that her grandparents would bring her and her sisters to Tulsa every summer from her home in Kansas City. “I really could see myself there,” she said.
The MBA graduate said she kept hearing about the business opportunities opening up in Tulsa through networking in her hometown.
“I heard more than a few times, you should really check out what’s going on in Tulsa, that ecosystem is building up,” she said.
She said she applied for the Tulsa accelerator program for startups and was accepted. “And that sort of sealed the deal,” she said about setting up shop in Tulsa.
“More importantly though, I think what’s happening here, particularly around Black and brown founders is incredibly impactful because of everything that happened with Greenwood,” she said.
“I’m super excited to be a part of, even if it’s some small way, of sort of helping people get back what was taken,” McKinney said.
‘Didn’t see any other place that I would go’: Ambrose Midget, founder, Fresh Fabrics
Born and raised in Tulsa, Midget’s startup Fresh Fabrics is a mobile, same-day laundry service, with technology at its center.
With her business, Midget says she aims to “take laundry to the next level” and discussed her excitement at growing her business in her hometown.
“I just didn’t see any other place that I would go … to start my company,” she said.
Midget spoke about what launching a startup in Tulsa meant to her as a Black woman.
“Black women, we actually lead the entrepreneur world, as far as startups … but we’re the least funded and the least that tend to get support and resources,” she said.
The startup program in Tulsa, Midget said, is “a great opportunity” to work with a program “that believes in Black and brown people … and especially me as a Black woman,” she said.
We ‘feel all the love’: Marc LaManque, Troy Smith, Andres Gonzalez, co-founders, Cadenzo
LaManque, Smith and Gonzalez say they met at the University of Oklahoma and began working on their business while they were students there. For them, there was no question that Tulsa was an ideal place to launch their startup, Cadenzo, which is a digital booking platform for entertainers and venues.
“Being in a place where they’re providing guidance, mentorship, resources, advisers … everything that we need for three young first-time founders to start their company,” LaManque said about the Tulsa program for startups. “We just feel all the love,” he said.
Smith said these resources have helped them build Cadenzo into a “platform that enables communities to truly revel in wherever space that they occupy and enable their culture and enable their enjoyment of music and entertainment.”
And that fact that they are building their startup outside of traditional tech hub hotspots has been an advantage, Gonzalez said.
“If you think about traditional tech hubs — New York, Bay Area — you walk outside and you bump in a startup every five steps. It’s a lot easier here, and especially with the whole community, being very supportive,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to put his nation’s nuclear deterrent forces on a state of heightened alert was part of a “pattern” of “manufacturing threats that don’t exist.”
“This is really a pattern that we’ve seen from President Putin through the course of this conflict, which is manufacturing threats that don’t exist in order to justify further aggression,” Psaki told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “And the global community and the American people should look at it through that prism.”
Putin announced Sunday he had ordered his military to put Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces in a state of heightened readiness in response to what he called “aggressive statements” from NATO countries.
“We’ve seen him do this time and time again,” Psaki said. “At no point has Russia been under threat from NATO, has Russia been under threat from Ukraine. This is all a pattern from President Putin.”
The move came as Western nations rolled out waves of financial sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine that have the potential to cripple Russia’s economy. The U.S. and other nations have also stepped up military aid to Ukraine.
Observers have questioned whether Putin is acting rationally, with a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, saying this week that he did not think the Russian president was.
“I wish I could share more,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted Friday, “but for now I can say it’s pretty obvious to many that something is off with Putin.”
Pressed by Stephanopoulos on whether the U.S. government believed Putin was mentally unbalanced in some way, Psaki said the Russian leader had made clear his “ambitions beyond” solely justifying the invasion of Ukraine.
“I’m not going to make an assessment of his mental stability,” she said, “but I will tell you, certainly, the rhetoric, the actions, the justification that he’s making for his actions are certainly deeply concerning to us.”
Asked by Stephanopoulos if President Joe Biden was confident his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was safe, Psaki declined to say and instead praised the Ukrainian leader.
“He has been in close touch,” Psaki said. “While not getting into his security — the security of President Zelenskyy — I’m just going to note, George, as the American people have seen and tuned in to, he is standing up courageously against the invasion of President Putin and Russian leadership, leading his country and continuing to.”
In an earlier interview on “This Week,” Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova told Stephanopoulos that Zelenskyy is “is as safe as our country.”
“That’s the choice he made to stay in Kyiv, to stay in Ukraine and lead the nation in this very difficult moment,” she said.
The United States and its Western allies said Saturday they would target Russia’s central bank and bar some of the country’s banks from participating in a system that facilitates international transactions.
But aside from halting a Russian pipeline that had not yet started pumping gas to Europe, the countries have stopped short of launching crippling sanctions against Russia’s oil and gas industry, a major sector of its economy.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has called for the Biden administration to sanction the Russian energy sector while lifting restrictions on drilling on U.S. federal lands and reopening the Keystone Pipeline, which Biden revoked the permit for in June. Stephanopoulos pressed Psaki on those proposals.
“The Keystone Pipeline was not processing oil through the system,” Psaki said. “That does not solve any problems. That’s a misdiagnosis…of what needs to happen,” she said. “I would also note that on oil leases, what this actually justifies, in President Biden’s view, is the fact that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, on oil in general, and we need to look at other ways of processing — of having energy in our country and others.”
Much of Western Europe, especially Germany, relies on Russian gas, and the United States has stayed away from hitting Russia’s oil and gas sector in order to avoid prices spiking in Europe and the U.S.
“We want to take every step to maximize the impact and the consequences on President Putin, while minimizing the impact on the American people and the global community,” Psaki said. “And so energy sanctions are certainly on the table. We have not taken those off. But we also want to do that and make sure we’re minimizing the impact on the global marketplace and do it in a united way.”
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.
Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 27, 1:07 pm
BP exits stake in Russian oil company
Oil giant BP announced it would exit its 19.75% shareholding stake in Rosneft, the key Russian state oil company, because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
BP’s CEO Helge Lund said in a statement the invasion “represents a fundamental change” and that its involvement with Rosnef “simply cannot continue.”
“The BP board believes these decisions are in the best long-term interests of all our shareholders,” Lund said.
The two BP nominated directors will resign from Rosneft’s board immediately and the company will no longer report reserves, production or profit for Rosneft, according to the company.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 27, 12:52 pm
Zelenskyy says he doubts there will be a diplomatic breakthrough with Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy provided an update to the invasion and gave a pessimistic outlook on possible diplomatic solutions with Russia.
In a three-minute televised speech, Zelenskyy said he talked with Belarusian leader Alexandr Lukashenko for the first time in two years.
Lukashenko suggested that Russian and Ukrainian delegations meet at the Belarus-Ukraine border for negotiations– something Ukraine agreed to earlier Sunday but Zelenskyy said he told Lukashenko he does not believe there will be a breakthrough or tangible outcome in talks with Russian representatives.
Zelenskyy said he doesn’t want there to be any doubt whatsoever that as president of Ukraine he didn’t try to stop this war.
Lukashenko made assurances that troops wouldn’t move from Belarus into Ukraine and missiles wouldn’t being launched from his territory, according to Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said the government will stay and continue to fight for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and will not concede any ground.
He added that Ukraine’s military members will receive a monthly salary of 100,000 Hryvnya, roughly $3,350, until the war is over.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 27, 12:37 pm
Russian momentum slowed by ‘stiff resistance’: US official
The momentum of Russian forces in Ukraine appears to have been slowed by fuel and logistics shortages and by “stiff resistance,” according to a U.S. senior defense official.
The defense official said Russian troops appear to be having fuel and logistics shortages near Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine and with units advancing from the north to Kyiv, the capital city, but also credited the slow down of the Russian invasion to the resistance.
The official said they believe the advance was slowed in part “by resistance by the Ukrainians who have been quite creative in finding ways to attack columns.”
The official said the Russians have still not taken any cities. The main Russian advance forces designated for Kyiv are roughly 19 miles from the city center, according to the official, who added that there is fighting inside the city center due to Russian reconnaissance units there.
“We’re certainly not disputing that there’s fighting going on in Kyiv, but it is at a fairly low level,” the official said.
The officials said there is “no reason to doubt” reports of Russian reconnaissance units wearing Ukrainian uniforms to try to disguise themselves and what they’re doing.
Russia has launched 320 missiles against Ukraine since the invasion began last week, and its troops have adopted alarming “siege tactics” around the northern Ukraine city of Chernihiv.
“They’ve had trouble around Chernihiv, and it appears that they are adopting a siege mentality, which any student of military tactics and strategy in history will tell you when you adopt siege tactics, it increases the likelihood of collateral damage to civilian infrastructure as well as to civilian life because a siege basically becomes an all-out effort to take a city without regard to civilian infrastructure,” the official said. “So that’s worrying and that’s concerning. And we’re seeing the beginnings of that sort of tactical approach by the Russians.”
The official said Russia has committed two-thirds of its combat power designated to the Ukraine invasion.
“They have a third of it that has not been committed,” the official said. “They have a significant amount of combined arms capabilities still at their at their beck and call.”
Feb 27, 12:30 pm
EU announces actions against Russia
The European Union announced major moves against the Russian government and businesses over the country’s invasion.
In a first, the EU will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack, officials said.
The EU will also shut down its airspace for “Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircraft.”
“They won’t be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU,” Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced.
In addition, the EU said it would ban the RT and Sputnik news agencies and would develop “tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe.”
The EU also announced it would be stopping exports of products to Belarus, including mineral fuels, tobacco, wood and timber, cement, iron and steel. It will also sanction Belarusians who are supporting the Russian war effort.
Von der Leyen also said the EU will “welcome with open arms those Ukrainians who have to flee from Putin’s bombs” and is encouraging efforts to support refugees.
“President Zelenskyy’s leadership and his bravery and the resilience of the Ukrainian people are outstanding and impressive,” von der Leyen said. “They are an inspiration to us all.”
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 27, 12:00 pm
3 killed, including child, by cluster munitions at preschool: Report
Three people were killed, including a child, and one child was injured after cluster munitions hit a preschool in northeastern Ukraine Friday, Amnesty International reported.
Civilians were taking shelter inside the Sonechko nursery and kindergarten in Okhtyrka in Sumy Oblast when the munitions were dropped, according to the NGO.
Amnesty International says the attack appears to have been carried out by nearby Russian forces.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 27, 11:57 am
Japan joins other nations in removing Russia from SWIFT
Japan announced it is joining the U.S. and other European countries to disconnect selected Russian banks from the SWIFT system and sanction President Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders.
Japan’s announcement means the entire G-7 supports removing Russia from the crucial messaging system used by large banks around the world.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki released a statement Sunday praising Japanese officials for their decision.
“Prime Minister Kishida and the government of Japan have been leaders in condemning President Putin’s attack on Ukraine and we will continue working closely together to impose further severe costs and make Putin’s war of choice a strategic failure,” she said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Feb 27, 11:22 am
Missiles hit site of a radioactive waste disposal, no damage reported
Russian missiles struck the site of a radioactive waste disposal facility in Kyiv overnight, Ukrianian officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency.
There were no reports of damage or any indications of a radioactive release, according to the IAEA.
The strike came a day after an electrical transformer at a similar disposal facility near the northeastern city of Kharkiv had been damaged. There were no reports of radioactive release at that facility.
“These two incidents highlight the very real risk that facilities with radioactive material will suffer damage during the conflict, with potentially severe consequences for human health and the environment,” IAEA Director General Mariano Grossi said in a statement.
The disposal facilities typically hold disused radioactive sources and other low-level waste from hospitals and industry, according to the IAEA.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 27, 10:56 am
US official calls Russia heightened alert status ‘escalatory’
In the first response to Russia raising the alert status of its strategic nuclear force, a senior U.S. defense official described the move as an “escalatory one.”
The official pointed out that Russia has never been under threat by NATO or Ukraine and warned that Russia’s heightened alert status is “clearly potentially putting at play forces that could if there’s a miscalculation make things much, much more dangerous.”
“We believe that this is not only an unnecessary step for him (Russian President Vladimir Putin) to take but an escalatory one,” the official said. “Russia has never been under threat by NATO. Ukraine did not threaten Russia.”
The official would not discuss the status of the U.S. nuclear force, saying “we do not talk about … specifics of our strategic deterrent posture.”
“I would just tell you that we remain confident in our ability to defend ourselves and our allies and our partners, and that includes in the strategic deterrent realm,” the official said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Feb 27, 9:16 am
Ukraine agrees to meet with Russian negotiators at Belarus border
Ukraine has agreed to send a delegation to meet with Russian negotiators for talks at the border between Belarus and Ukraine, according to a spokesman for Ukraine’s president’s office.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to the step during a phone call with Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, the spokesman said.
The spokesman said the two sides have agreed to meet at the Pripyat river on the border, north of Chernobyl. That area is currently under Russian military control.
Russia earlier sent a delegation to the city of Gomel in southern Belarus to “be ready” for talks but Ukraine refused to hold them in Belarus since it is actively taking part in the invasion.
The Russian delegation includes officials from Russia’s foreign and defense ministries as well as the presidential administration.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 27, 9:05 am
Putin orders Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on heightened readiness
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to put Russia’s strategic deterrence forces in a state of heightened readiness, saying it is a response to what he called “aggressive statements” from NATO countries.
In a televised meeting, Putin ordered his defense minister and chief of general staff to move Russia’s forces, including the nuclear triad, into a “special regime of combat duty,”
The announcement appears to be intended as rattling Russia’s nuclear saber at Western countries as they send large numbers of weapons to Ukraine and sanction Russia.
“Senior officials of the leading NATO countries allow aggressive statements against our country, therefore I order the minister of Defense and the chief of the General Staff to transfer the deterrence forces of the Russian army to a special combat duty regime,” Putin said during a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Tanya Stukalova
Feb 27, 8:44 am
US to provide $54M in humanitarian aid for Ukrainians
The United States will provide $54 million in humanitarian aid to help Ukrainians, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday.
“This assistance enables humanitarian organizations to support citizens of Ukraine already in need and those newly affected by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack,” he said on Twitter.
With the new funding, the U.S. has provided about $405 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine since 2014, Ned Price, spokesperson for the State Department, said on Twitter.
Feb 27, 6:34 am
Ukraine appeals to The Hague for ‘urgent decision’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday his government had submitted an application to the International Court of Justice, seeking to hold Russia accountable for its invasion.
“Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression,” Zelenskyy said on Twitter. “We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week.”
Feb 27, 6:18 am
UN: 368,000 refugees have fled Ukraine
About 368,000 people have fled Ukraine into neighboring countries, as the number of refugees “continues to rise,” the U.N. Refugee Agency said on Sunday.
The agency said earlier on Sunday that about 200,000 people crossed Ukraine’s borders as refugees. On Saturday, the figure had been about 150,000 people, said Filippo Grandi, U.N. high commissioner for refugees.
Feb 27, 5:25 am
Fighting intensifies in Kharkiv, with Russia claiming Ukrainian surrenders
An intense battle is being waged on Sunday for Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, with Russia overnight pounding the city with rocket barrages and videos on Sunday showing street fighting.
Authorities said some columns of Russian light armored vehicles managed to enter the city and urged residents to stay indoors.
Video published in Ukrainian media and shared by an advisor to Ukraine’s interior minister, showed Ukrainian troops firing assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades, close to what appeared to be a destroyed column of Russian vehicles. Other videos showed the Ukrainian troops, wearing yellow bands on their arms, inspecting the bullet-riddled Russian armored cars.
The mayor of Kharkiv has denied claims he is negotiating with the Russian forces, instead posting a photo of a group of heavily armed police posing with guns and promising to continue fighting.
People on the ground overnight described heavy artillery barrages, including from Russian ‘Grad’ multiple rocket launchers.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Sunday that over 450 Ukrainian service members from an anti-air unit had surrendered in the Kharkiv region. A defense ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, told a briefing the troops from a Buk M-1 missile unit from Ukraine’s 302nd Air Defense Regiment had been taken prisoner.
ABC News was unable to independently verify the claim.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell, Anastasia Bagaeva and Tanya Stukalova
Feb 27, 3:47 am
Zelenskyy says Ukraine won’t negotiate in Belarus, rebuffing Kremlin claim
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied a Kremlin suggestion his government will hold talks with Russia in Belarus.
Zelenskyy in a televised address on Sunday said Ukraine was ready to hold talks to end the fighting but not in Belarus, which is directly involved in assisting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“If from your territory there wasn’t aggressive action, we could talk in Minsk. Now we will talk, but not in Minsk. The platform can be other cities for a meeting,” he said.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine had proposed meeting in Warsaw, Budapest, Istanbul and Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital — but it appeared Russia had still insisted on Belarus.
“Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul, Baku — all these we proposed to the Russian side. And yes any other city in a country from where rockets aren’t flying. Only that way can talks be fair. And can really end the war,” he said.
Russia launched its offensive on Kyiv from Belarus, which is ruled by the Kremlin’s client, authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Thousands of Russian troops have moved south over the border there, and aircraft and missiles are taking off from Belarus.
The Kremlin on Sunday said a Russian delegation would go to Belarus and wait in the southern city of Gomel, close to Ukraine’s border, “ready to start negotiations.”
Russia has been demanding in effect that Ukraine come to negotiate its surrender and concede to Moscow’s demands to declare “neutral status.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 27, 3:24 am
Kremlin: Russian delegation in Belarus for talks with Ukraine
The Kremlin has said a Russian delegation has travelled to Belarus to hold talks with Ukraine.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday that an agreement had been reached on holding talks and that the Russian delegation would go to the southern city of Gomel, close to Ukraine, where it would “be ready to start” negotiations.
But Ukrainian officials have not confirmed they are ready to join the negotiations.
“In accordance with an agreement that has been reached, a Russian delegation, consisting of representatives of the foreign ministry, ministry of defense and other bodies, including the presidential administration, has arrived in Belarus for negotiations with the Ukrainians. We are ready to start these negotiations in Gomel,” Peskov told reporters.
On Friday, the Kremlin proposed talks in Belarus, saying Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was ready to discuss his country’s “neutral status,” which would potentially mean abandoning its NATO ambitions. Zelenskyy has not confirmed that.
Zelenskyy’s office said yesterday that Ukraine is ready to hold talks at anytime to stop the fighting, but has not spoken of concessions. His office has said it has been discussing a possible place and time to hold talks, stressing that those talks would not be between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 27, 2:12 am
At least 64 civilians killed in Ukraine, UN says
At least 64 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia began its invasion on Thursday, the United Nations said, warning the “figures could rise in the coming days.”
Another 176 civilians were injured in ground and aerial attacks, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report published Saturday.
More than 150,000 people have fled Ukraine, with about half crossing into Poland, Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said on Twitter on Saturday.
“While the scale and scope of displacement will only likely become apparent in the coming days and weeks, Ukrainian authorities estimate that as many as 5 million people could flee the country, triggering a refugee crisis that will test response capacities in neighbouring countries,” OCHA said in its report.
Displacement within Ukraine is also growing, Grandi said, “but the military situation makes it difficult to estimate numbers and provide aid.”
-ABC News’ Kirit Radia
Feb 26, 8:24 pm
Elon Musk says he’s activated Starlink in Ukraine
In response to a plea on Twitter from a Ukrainian official, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Saturday that his high-speed internet service Starlink is now active in Ukraine.
“More terminals en route,” he tweeted in a reply to Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation.
Earlier Saturday, Fedorov appealed directly to Musk and asked him to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations.
The terminals are small, portable satellite dishes on Earth that connect directly to Starlink satellites in space — providing high-speed internet to rural and hard-to-reach locations. This is especially important for areas that have already lost access and could potentially help them avoid cyberattacks.
-ABC News’ Gio Benitez
Feb 26, 7:21 pm
US, other countries to disconnect some Russian banks from SWIFT
The White House announced further sanctions on Russia Saturday evening.
The U.S., along with the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada, are disconnecting some Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) banking network and are “imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions,” the White House said.
“This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally,” the White House said in a statement.
The White House added, “We commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship — so called golden passports — that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems.”
The U.S. will also launch a trans-Atlantic task force “that will ensure the effective implementation of our financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies that exist within our jurisdictions.”
On a call with reporters Saturday night, a senior administration official said the move to sanction the central bank will show that Russia’s defense of claiming that sanctions don’t hurt their economy “is a myth.”
“The 600 billion-plus war chest of Russia’s foreign reserves is only powerful if Putin can use it,” the official said. “And without being able to buy the ruble from Western financial institutions, for example, Putin and the central bank will lose the ability to offset the impact of our sanctions. The ruble will fall even further, inflation will spike and the central bank will be left defenseless.”
The Biden administration said it’s also upping the fight against disinformation and “other forms of hybrid warfare.”
Feb 26, 5:29 pm
US, other countries to disconnect some Russian banks from SWIFT
The White House announced further sanctions on Russia Saturday evening.
The U.S., along with the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada, are disconnecting some Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) banking network and are “imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions,” the White House said.
“This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally,” the White House said in a statement.
The White House added, “We commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship — so called golden passports — that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems.”
The U.S. will also launch a trans-Atlantic task force “that will ensure the effective implementation of our financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies that exist within our jurisdictions.”
The Biden administration said it’s also upping the fight against disinformation and “other forms of hybrid warfare.”
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Feb 26, 4:47 pm
Kyiv under curfew as it braces for Russians
Kyiv, which was a bustling, relaxed city three days ago, has now transformed to a war-time city as it braces for Russian forces.
Kyiv’s mayor has imposed a 39-hour curfew beginning Saturday night, banning everyone except critical infrastructure workers from the streets. Ukrainian authorities say the curfew is to allow the city to hunt down Russian sabotage groups, get defenses organized and prevent friendly-fire incidents.
Checkpoints manned by tense, heavily armed Ukrainian soldiers are set up throughout Kyiv and authorities are setting up barricades.
The city’s lights have been dimmed, leaving an eerie silence, only punctured by the howls of air raid sirens or blasts of gunfire.
Since Friday morning there has been fighting in Kyiv’s northern neighborhoods. For two nights, missiles have struck targets around Kyiv. Hundreds of people have begun sheltering in the deep subway system, sleeping on the platforms.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 26, 3:26 pm
Russian forces: ‘We don’t know who to shoot, they all look like us’
A senior U.S. official told ABC News they’ve heard a Russian soldier on a radio call saying, “We don’t know who to shoot — they all look like us.”
The official also said some Russian forces are disoriented, realizing the battles against Ukrainians are harder than they thought.
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz
Feb 26, 3:12 pm
Germany drops opposition to sending lethal aid
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that Germany is dropping its historic position of not providing lethal military aid to conflict zones, saying Russia’s “invasion marks a turning point.”
Germany will provide 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles, he said.
The Netherlands is also announcing new lethal aid, according to its Defense Ministry.
The $350 million military aid package from the U.S. will include “anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, body armor, and related equipment in support of Ukraine’s front-line defenders facing down Russia’s unprovoked attack,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. The U.S. package also includes portable surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS) in the Pentagon’s inventory, a U.S. official told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 26, 2:56 pm
Ukrainians waiting 40 hours to cross border: UN
At a border crossing near Zosin, Poland — due west of Kyiv — Ukrainians are waiting for 40 hours to cross into Poland in a nearly 10-mile backlog, said Chris Meltzer of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Meltzer said one woman with her two children told him it took her 12 hours to get out of Kyiv and then they spent another 38 hours waiting in their car without heat or a bathroom.
He said the biggest needs are blankets, clothes and accommodations.
Meltzer said, once they cross, most Ukrainians are staying in the border region because they want to return home as soon as possible.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith
Feb 26, 1:08 pm
Biden responds to Trump calling Putin ‘genius’
President Joe Biden responded to former President Donald Trump’s comments this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine are “genius.”
“I put as much stock in Trump saying that Putin’s a genius as I do when he called himself a stable genius,” Biden said in a pre-recorded interview with Brian Tyler Cohen.
In a radio interview this week, Trump said it was “genius” that Putin declared a portion of Ukraine independent.
“Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s strongest peace force … We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen,” Trump said on the conservative talk radio program “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.”
“Here’s a guy who’s very savvy,” Trump said. “I know him very well. Very, very well.”
Biden in the interview defended his sanctions on Russia as “nothing like” what the U.S. has done before and weighed what the other option could have been.
“You have two options: start a third World War, go to war with Russia physically. Or two, make sure that a country that acts so contrary to international law ends up paying the price,” he said.
“There’s no sanction that is immediate. It’s not like you can sanction someone and say, ‘You no longer are going to be able to be president of Russia,'” he continued. “But I think the sanctions — I know — I know the sanctions are the broadest sanctions in history.”
“Russia will pay a serious price for this short term and long term, particularly long term,” Biden said.
Biden held a secure call with his national security team Saturday morning on the latest developments, according to a White House official.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Feb 26, 12:19 pm
What US will provide Ukraine in new $350M military aid package
The new package of $350 million in assistance to Ukraine will include “anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, body armor, and related equipment in support of Ukraine’s front-line defenders facing down Russia’s unprovoked attack,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
It also includes portable surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS) in the Pentagon’s inventory, a U.S. official told ABC News.
It’s not clear how the equipment will be provided to the Ukrainian military. The U.S. official said they can’t speak to logistics or timing, but said, “Time is clearly of the essence, so we expect deliveries to start very soon.”
This brings total U.S. security assistance approved for Ukraine in the last year to $1 billion.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Conor Finnegan
Feb 26, 11:54 am
Over 150,000 have crossed from Ukraine to neighboring countries
Over 150,000 Ukrainians have crossed into neighboring countries, according to Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Poland’s Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker told reporters 100,000 people have crossed from Ukraine into Poland.
For those still in Ukraine, a stricter curfew has been enacted in Kyiv, instructing residents to stay home from 5 p.m. Saturday until 8 a.m. Monday.
Feb 26, 11:26 am
Russians frustrated by lack of momentum: US official
The Russians have launched more than 250 missiles, mostly short-range ballistic type, a senior defense official told reporters Saturday.
“We continue to see civilian infrastructure and residential areas impacted and damaged by these missile strikes,” the official said.
Though Russian troops are about 30 kilometers north of Kyiv, Russian forces continue to meet more Ukrainian resistance than expected and have failed to take any cities so far, the official said
“We have indications that the Russians are increasingly frustrated by their lack of momentum over the last 24 hours, particularly in the north parts of Ukraine,” the official said. “We continue to see indications of viable Ukrainian resistance.”
“We still believe that Russia has yet to achieve air superiority. Ukrainian air defenses, including aircraft do continue to be operable and continue to engage and deny access to Russian aircraft in places over the country,” the official said.
The official said Russian forces are meeting less resistance in the south and are having more success there than the north.
The official said several thousand Russian troops went ashore in Friday’s amphibious assault from the Sea of Azov to the west of Mariupol, and they’re now heading northeast toward Donbas.
“The Russians are continuing to try to advance on Kherson” in southern Ukraine, the official added.
The mayor of the southern city of Mykolayiv warned on live TV of an immediate fall of the city to Russian forces.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Matt Seyler
Feb 26, 10:09 am
Biden responds to Trump calling Putin ‘genius’
President Joe Biden responded to former President Donald Trump’s comments this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine are “genius.”
“I put as much stock in Trump saying that Putin’s a genius as I do when he called himself a stable genius,” Biden said in a pre-recorded interview with Brian Tyler Cohen.
In a radio interview this week, Trump said it was “genius” that Putin declared a portion of Ukraine independent.
“Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s strongest peace force … We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen,” Trump said on the conservative talk radio program “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.”
“Here’s a guy who’s very savvy,” Trump said. “I know him very well. Very, very well.”
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Feb 26, 8:21 am
Ukraine ‘successfully repelling’ Russia, Zelenskyy says
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday Ukraine is “successfully repelling” Russia’s attacks and that Kyiv and its outskirts are under the control of the Ukrainian military.
In a televised address, Zelenskyy said Russia had hoped to install a puppet government in Kyiv but that “we broke their plans.”
“The fighting goes on in many cities of our state, but we know we are defending our country, our land, and our childrens’ future,” he said.
Zelenskyy said the Russian forces are being “severely repulsed” in every city under attack and that in fighting around Kyiv Russia “didn’t gain any advantage,” despite attacking with missiles, fighter jets, drones, artillery, armored vehicles, saboteurs and paratroopers.
So far Ukrainian troops do appear to have managed to hold the Russian forces at bay in intense fighting near Kyiv and in cities in the north, east and south of the country. Russian forces have advanced close to several cities but except for the southern city of Melitopol do not yet appear to have advanced into them.
Zelensky also said that the international “anti-war coalition is working,” saying Ukraine now has the support of most EU countries to cut Russia off from the SWIFT banking system. He then said he hopes Germany and Hungary will agree, suggesting for now they still have not.
He also again called on ordinary Russians, seeking their help in stopping the war.
“Now I want to be heard in Russia. By absolutely everyone. Thousands of deaths, hundreds of captured, who just can’t grasp what they have been sent to Ukraine for to die and to kill others,” Zelenskyy said. “The faster you tell your authority that the war must be stopped immediately, the more your people will stay alive.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 26, 7:09 am
Russian attack on Kyiv slows, blunted by resistance, Ukraine says
Ukrainian military officials on Saturday said Russia’s attempt to encircle Kyiv has been slowed after two days of resistance by Ukrainian forces.
“The units of the Russian occupiers are losing their offensive tempo, they are expecting additional units to join the fight and are forced to stop to replenish supplies,” the statement from the general staff read.
Officials said Russia’s goal is to try to impose “demilitarization” on Ukraine by blockading the capital and forcing Ukraine’s political leadership to “change its political course on Russian terms.”
The statement said seven Russian battalion tactical groups, totalling 4,000 to 7,000 troops, have tried to push into Kyiv from the northwest and north, but have been forced to regroup.
A main force of around 8,000 to 14,000 Russian troops is trying to also push down from the northeast of the city, but have so far been stopped by Ukraine’s forces, officials said. In total, Russia sent in 17 battalion tactical groups from the northeast, totalling up to 17,000 troops, Ukraine said.
The statement said Russia also tried to land paratroopers at an airbase in Vassylkiv, a town about 20 miles south of Kyiv, but that the airborne units had been killed. Ukraine has said it shot down two IL-76 transport planes with paratroopers onboard last night.
In Kyiv on Saturday, fighting was taking place in a northwestern suburb, near the Beresteiska subway station, about 4 miles from the central Maidan square. Occasional booms and the sound of intense gunfire could be heard in some areas.
Ukrainian officials have said the Russian troops in the city are special forces and advance units, with the main force of tanks and artillery still further away. Shelling was reported near the town of Dymer, about 20 miles north of Kyiv.
Ukraine’s general staff says Russia has not had success “in any direction.” meaning they have not yet succeeded in taking any cities across the country.
Russia has claimed to have captured the southern city of Melitopol.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 26, 6:41 am
Russian media watchdog demands 10 local outlets delete ‘false’ news
Russia’s media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, told 10 media outlets to remove content that described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a war.
The notifications were “necessary to restrict access to false information” from the 10 outlets, Roskomnadzor said on Saturday.
The outlets published “false socially important information which is not true about the attacks of Ukrainian cities by the Russian Armed Forces and deaths of civilians in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian army, as well as materials describing the operation as an attack, invasion or a war,” the watchdog said.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova
Feb 26, 3:23 am
Residential building in Kyiv hit overnight, official says
A residential building in Kyiv was damaged overnight, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said on Saturday.
“Kyiv, our splendid, peaceful city, survived another night under attacks by Russian ground forces, missiles,” Kuleba said on Twitter. “One of them has hit a residential apartment in Kyiv.”
Kuleba added: “I demand the world: fully isolate Russia, expel ambassadors, oil embargo, ruin its economy. Stop Russian war criminals!”
Feb 26, 2:08 am
Ukrainians will ‘defend our country,’ Zelenskyy says in new video from Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a new video from the capital, Kyiv, on Saturday morning, saying Ukrainians “won’t lay down weapons, we will defend our country.
“Good morning everyone, Ukrainians! There are a lot of fakes circulating that I’m calling upon to lay down weapons and evacuation is under way. Here’s the situation. I’m here,” Zelenskyy said in the video, using his official residence as a background. “We won’t lay down weapons, we will defend our country. Because our weapon is our truth. The truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of it. This is it. This is what I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine!”
Zelenskyy in a separate tweet said he spoke on Saturday to French President Emmanuel Macron, marking a “new day in the diplomatic frontline.”
“Weapons and equipment from our partners are on the way to Ukraine,” he said. “The anti-war coalition is working!”
-ABC News’ Katie den Daas and Julia Drozd
Feb 26, 12:52 am
Biden authorizes $350M in additional security assistance for Ukraine
President Joe Biden authorized up to $350 million in additional security assistance “to provide immediate military assistance to Ukraine,” according to a memo released Friday night.
A White House official said this brings the total security assistance the U.S. has approved for Ukraine to $1 billion in the past year.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Feb 25, 10:32 pm
‘We will not surrender our capital to the enemy’: Ukrainian ambassador to US
Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, thanked President Joe Biden for support and said her country will not surrender to Vladimir Putin in an interview with ABC News Live Friday night.
“Even though for the past 48 hours we have been under brutal attack from the air, from east, from north, from everywhere, by the enemy, by a neighboring country that attacked a sovereign country … we remain committed to defend our home,” Markarova said. “We resist. We will not surrender our capital to the enemy.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier in the evening local time that Russian forces were planning to “storm” the capital of Kyiv overnight. Fighting was already taking place in the northern suburbs of the city late Friday. Zelenskyy called for citizens to arm themselves and fight for the city.
“We actually admire every man and woman that today is defending our homes again,” Markarova said. “Ukraine is a very peaceful country. We never attacked anyone. It was Ukraine that was attacked by Russia in 2014, when they illegally occupied Crimea, when they illegally occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk territory. … We defended our choice to be not only sovereign, not only independent, but also European and democratic.”
Markarova added, of the invasion, “We still didn’t think that, again, in the 21st century, when we have all the cameras and information and transparency that they would actually authorize to start a war on a sovereign country and war in this most brutal way.”
-ABC News’ Penelope Lopez
Feb 25, 9:28 pm
Russia, Ukraine exchange barbs after UN Security Council vote
Following the U.N. Security Council’s vote Friday on the resolution to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the ambassadors for Russia and Ukraine had harsh words for their U.N. counterparts.
In a fiery speech against the resolution, Russian envoy Vasily Nebenzya said countries were purposefully ignoring Ukraine’s alleged crimes against people in its eastern Donbas region, denied Russian troops have bombed Ukrainian cities and accused Western media of using fake videos.
Nebenzya claimed the 11 countries that voted yes on the measure have “made Ukraine a pawn in your geopolitical game with no concern whatsoever about the interest of the Ukrainian people.”
“Your draft resolution is nothing other than yet another brutal inhumane move in this Ukrainian chessboard,” he added.
Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said he would not “dignify the Russian diabolical script that is rather a letter of obligation for an upscale seat in hell.”
That was the first of many personal attacks on Nebenzya, whose words he said “have less value than a hole in a New York pretzel.” He later added it must be “so painful to think what your family thinks about you when you lie every day.”
Kyslytsya asked to hold a moment of silence for those killed so far in the conflict, adding, “I invite the Russian ambassador to pray for salvation.”
When the moment began, the Russian envoy interrupted to add they should also pray for those killed in the Donbas — repeating the baseless claim that the Ukrainian government is responsible for a genocide in the region.
Kyslytsya scolded the three countries that abstained and called on all of Ukraine’s partners to break diplomatic relations with Russia — something no one else has done yet.
Nebenzya then took a moment to dismiss Kyslytsya’s “boorishness” before gaveling out the meeting.
And with that, a week of high-level diplomacy did nothing to change the war on the ground.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 25, 8:45 pm
White House seeks $6.4B in funding for Ukraine response: Source
The White House is seeking $6.4 billion in new funding to respond to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, a source confirmed to ABC News Friday.
The aid package will likely “evolve,” the source said, but currently includes $3.5 billion for Pentagon costs and $2.9 billion for humanitarian assistance to support Ukraine and Eastern European allies.
The funding will likely be included as part of the omnibus package Congress intends to pass by March 11, the source said.
The resources are in addition to the $650 million in security assistance and $52 million in humanitarian assistance the U.S. has committed to Ukraine over the past year.
“As the President and bipartisan members of Congress have made clear, the United States is committed to supporting the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and democracy,” a White House official said in a statement Friday. “In a recent conversation with lawmakers, the Administration identified the need for additional U.S. humanitarian, security, and economic assistance to Ukraine and Central European partners due to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion.”
-ABC News’ Mariam Khan
Feb 25, 6:13 pm
UN Security Council holds vote to condemn Russia
The U.N. Security Council held a vote Friday evening on the U.S.- and Albania-led resolution to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Eleven countries voted in favor of the measure while three — China, India and the United Arab Emirates — abstained. Russia predictably vetoed it.
In a speech prior to the vote, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield laid out a stark choice for the council’s members: Vote yes to uphold the U.N. charter and defend any country’s rights, or vote no or abstain and “align yourself with aggressive and unprovoked actions of Russia.”
“History will judge us for our actions or lack thereof, and so long as we have a Security Council, I believe we are to strive to ensure it lives up to the highest purposes — to prevent conflict and avert unnecessary war,” she said. “Russia has already subverted that mission. But at a minimum — at the very minimum — the rest of us have an obligation to object and to stand up for the U.N. charter.”
The resolution condemned Russia’s aggression; reaffirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity; and demanded that Russia immediately withdraw its forces.
In brief remarks after the vote, Thomas-Greenfield said that while Russia can veto a resolution, “you cannot veto our voices.”
She confirmed they will bring the resolution to the U.N. General Assembly, where all countries have a vote and there is no veto power — but where resolutions are nonbinding.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 25, 5:55 pm
Ukraine says it is in ‘initial stage’ of talks with Russia
Ukraine is in the “initial stage of contacts” for possible negotiations with Russia to end the fighting, a spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News.
The two governments are discussing details such as the time and place of the talks, the spokesman, Sergiy Nykyforov, said. The meeting would take place between advisers and aides and not Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, he added.
The Kremlin said earlier Friday it was ready to send a delegation for talks to Belarus’ capital, Minsk, and claimed Zelenskyy was ready to discuss “neutral status” for Ukraine. Russia’s foreign ministry later claimed Zelenskyy’s administration had said to postpone any more discussion of talks until Saturday.
The discussions come as Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians in a televised address that Russia will attempt to storm Kyiv tonight.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Fidel Pavlenko
Feb 25, 5:23 pm
Zelenskyy warns Russia will try to ‘storm’ Kyiv tonight
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in a televised address moments ago that he believes Russian forces will “storm” the capital of Kyiv overnight.
“The night will be more difficult than the day,” he said, as the sound of shelling and loud booms from airstrikes could be heard over Kyiv.
“We cannot lose Kyiv,” he said.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 5:13 pm
Proposed talks of diplomacy come ‘at the barrel of a gun’: State Dept.
The State Department expressed doubts Friday that Moscow-led efforts to set up talks between Kyiv and the Kremlin in Minsk, Belarus, could yield any meaningful results against the backdrop of an ongoing invasion.
“You’ve heard us say before that over the course of several weeks leading up to the events that we’ve seen recently in Ukraine — the assault on Ukraine, its sovereignty, its territorial integrity, and really, its people — that Moscow engaged in a pretense of diplomacy,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing. “Now, we see Moscow suggesting that diplomacy take place at the barrel of a gun, or as Moscow’s rockets, mortars, artillery, target the Ukrainian people. This is not real diplomacy. Those are not the conditions for real diplomacy.”
Price added that if Putin were serious about diplomacy, “He should immediately stop the bombing campaign against civilians, order the withdrawal of his forces from Ukraine, and indicate very clearly — unambiguously to the world — that Moscow is prepared to de-escalate. We have not seen that yet.”
When pressed on if the U.S. would still support Ukraine entering into such talks, or if the State Department had specifically advised Ukraine against engaging with Russia, Price largely demurred, but said that the countries were “operating in pure lockstep.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Zoha Qamar
Feb 25, 4:13 pm
Ukraine Railway Company adds evacuation trains from Kyiv to western cities
The Ukraine Railway Company said it’s adding a number of evacuation trains running from Kyiv to cities in western Ukraine.
The company said the trains can hold about 10,000 people per day.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 25, 3:52 pm
US to sanction Putin, Lavrov
The U.S. will join the European Union in sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and members of the Russian national security team, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.
BREAKING: U.S. will sanction Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, and members of the Russian national security team, White House press sec. Jen Psaki says.
Sanctions on Putin and Lavrov were announced earlier Friday by the EU and the United Kingdom.
Feb 25, 3:42 pm
Biden ‘commended the brave actions of the Ukrainian people’ during call with Zelensky
President Joe Biden said during his Friday phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he “commended the brave actions of the Ukrainian people” who are defending their country against the Russian military.
On the call Biden said he “also conveyed ongoing economic, humanitarian, and security support being provided by the United States as well as our continued efforts to rally other countries to provide similar assistance.”
Biden, who met with NATO leaders earlier in the day, said in a statement, “Putin has failed in his goal of dividing the West. NATO is as united and resolute as it’s ever been, and NATO will maintain its Open Door to those European states who share our values and who one day may seek to join our Alliance.”
“I have ordered the deployment of additional forces to augment our capabilities in Europe to support our NATO Allies,” Biden said. “And I strongly welcome the decision to activate NATO’s defensive plans and elements of the NATO Response Force to strengthen our collective posture, as well as the commitments by our Allies to deploy additional land and air forces to the eastern flank and maritime forces from the High North to the Mediterranean.”
Feb 25, 3:08 pm
Classified all-member House briefing set for Monday
Administration officials will provide a classified in-person briefing on the Ukraine crisis to all House members on Monday evening following their return from recess, a senior Capitol Hill official confirmed to ABC News.
Members have had unclassified virtual briefings throughout the week.
-ABC News’ Mariam Khan
Feb 25, 3:01 pm
Ukrainian cyber agency reports mass phishing attempts
The Computer Emergency Response Team for Ukraine said it has seen mass phishing emails targeting government websites.
“Mass phishing emails have recently been observed targeting private ‘’ and ‘’ accounts of Ukrainian military personnel and related individuals,” the agency said in a Facebook post Friday. “After the account is compromised, the attackers, by the IMAP protocol, get access to all the messages. Later, the attackers use contact details from the victim’s address book to send the phishing emails.”
They attribute the emails to officers of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Feb 25, 2:57 pm
Over 50,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled
More than 50,000 Ukrainians have fled their country in less than 48 hours, mostly to to Poland and Moldova, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted.
The U.S. is coordinating with its European allies and partners who will be on the front lines receiving refugees, a spokesperson for the State Department told ABC News. That includes diplomatic engagements “to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection,” the spokesperson said.
U.N. Relief Chief Martin Griffiths said Friday that over $1 billion will be required for humanitarian efforts over the next three months.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Conor Finnegan
Feb 25, 2:39 pm
EU to sanction Putin, Lavrov: Latvian government
The European Union announced Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be included on its second round of sanctions, according to the Latvian and French governments.
It’s unclear what, if any, financial impact these asset freezes have on either figure.
Hours before the decision was made, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell diplomat said even these EU sanctions on Putin and Lavrov would “certainly” not be enough.
“We are facing a full-fledged invasion of a country by another. It’s not a special forces operations like Russia pretends us to believe — it’s a fully-fledged invasion with bombing, with killing of civilians, with confrontations among two armies,” he told reporters. “This is the worst thing that has happened in Europe, if I may say, since the end of the Cold War, and nobody knows what’s happening afterwards. Nobody knows which are the real intention of Putin.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 25, 2:24 pm
Russia restricts Facebook
Russia is restricting its use of Facebook, according to its parent company, Meta.
Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs at Meta, said in a statement Friday, “Yesterday, Russian authorities ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labelling of content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. We refused. As a result, they have announced they will be restricting the use of our services.”
“Ordinary Russians are using our apps to express themselves and organize for action,” he continued. “We want them to continue to make their voices heard.”
Feb 25, 2:19 pm
Czech Republic, Poland ban Russian carriers from airspace
Poland and the Czech Republic said Friday they are banning Russian carriers from their airspace.
The United Kingdom on Thursday suspended the foreign carrier permit held by Russian airline Aeroflot.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 25, 1:40 pm
Zelenskyy says, ‘We are all here’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has posted a selfie-style video showing himself standing outside the president’s office in central Kyiv Friday night along his defense minister, prime minister and parliamentary leader.
Zelenskyy, in combat fatigues, said to the camera that Ukraine’s army is there and will win.
“We are all here. Our military are here, as are our people and whole society. We’re all here defending our independence and our country. And we’ll go on doing that,” he said.
President Joe Biden held a secure call with Zelenskyy on Friday, according to a White House official.
Feb 25, 1:32 pm
NATO allies must stand ready to do more, NATO SG says
Russia is demanding legally binding agreements to remove troops and infrastructure from NATO allies that joined after 1997, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.
In addition to the significant sanctions imposed against Russia, NATO allies must stand ready to do more, Stoltenberg said, even if it means “we have to pay a price — because we are in this for the long haul.”
The U.S., Canada and European allies have deployed thousands of more troops to the eastern part of the alliance, Stolentenberg said. Over 100 jets and more than 120 ships are operating on high alert in more than 30 locations, he said.
Feb 25, 1:16 pm
UK’s Boris Johnson announces Putin, Lavrov sanctions
United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson will introduce sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on top of the sanctions package announced Thursday, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
The announcement was made during a Friday call with NATO leaders.
“The Prime Minister told the group that a catastrophe was engulfing Ukraine, and President Putin was engaging in a revanchist mission to over-turn post-Cold War order. He warned the group that the Russian President’s ambitions might not stop there and that this was a Euro-Atlantic crisis with global consequences,” the Downing Street spokesperson said.
“The Prime Minister urged leaders to take immediate action against SWIFT to inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime,” the spokesperson added.
If Russia was cut off from the SWIFT — the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication international banking system — it would significantly hinder Russia’s participation in global markets.
Feb 25, 12:55 pm
Russia deploying disinformation campaign to damage Ukraine’s morale: US official
A U.S. official alleges that Russia is deploying a disinformation campaign to damage Ukrainians’ morale through false reports about Ukrainian troops surrendering or through planned threats to kill the family members of Ukraine’s military troops.
“We commend the Ukrainian people for showing strength and determination in response to an unprovoked attack by a significantly larger military,” the official said. “We are concerned, however, that Russia plans to discourage them and induce surrender through disinformation.”
Earlier Friday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that more than 150 Ukrainian service members “laid down their arms and surrendered,” even providing names and figures for where they say these surrenders took place.
“After the stabilization of the situation in the combat area, all surrendered Ukrainian servicemen will be released home,” the Ministry of Defense said.
Feb 25, 12:41 pm
NATO activates NATO Response Force
NATO has activated its NATO Response Force, marking the first time the alliance has activated the potentially 40,000-person force for “a deterrence and defence” role, according to a NATO spokesperson. This means that the 8,500 American troops put on heightened alert in late January for this mission could soon be ordered to Europe.
The decision follows a meeting of NATO ministers Friday morning in Brussels.
To be activated, the 30 members of NATO must all agree to activate the force, which is under the command of Gen. Told Wolters, the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
Feb 25, 12:19 pm
Over 50,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled
More than 50,000 Ukrainians have fled their country in less than 48 hours, mostly to Poland and Moldova, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted.
The U.S. is coordinating with its European allies and partners who will be on the front lines receiving refugees, a spokesperson for the State Department told ABC News. That includes diplomatic engagements “to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection,” the spokesperson said.
Feb 25, 11:54 am
Russians planning multiple simultaneous entrance points into Kyiv: Official
Officials are seeing more signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t interested in a diplomatic solution, a senior U.S. official said.
Russian troops are now resupplied and are planning multiple entrance points into Kyiv that will likely be carried out at once, the official said.
Feb 25, 11:34 am
Chernobyl seeing slightly higher levels of radiation but no threat
After Russian forces seized the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power station, the facilities continue “to operate safely and securely,” Ukraine’s regulatory agency informed the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. Nuclear watchdog said Friday.
There were slightly higher levels of radiation, but they are still “low and remain within the operational range measured in the Exclusion Zone since it was established, and therefore do not pose any danger to the public,” the IAEA said.
One theory why the levels could have ticked up, according to the IAEA, is “heavy military vehicles stirring up soil still contaminated from the 1986 accident.”
The Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, is located about 60 miles north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The Chernobyl exclusion zone begins almost immediately below Ukraine’s border with Belarus.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said Friday that Russian troops took full control of the Chernobyl plant area on Thursday.
Feb 25, 11:14 am
Russians going ashore in ‘amphibious assault’
A senior defense official confirms that there is a Russian “amphibious assault” underway along the Ukrainian coast from the Sea of Azov. The attack is to the west of Mariupol, which is a coastal city in southeastern Ukraine.
“Indications are right now that they are putting potentially thousands of naval infantry ashore there,” the official said.
The push toward Kyiv is going slower than the Russians expected as they’re meeting more resistance from Ukrainians than they thought, the official said.
“In general the Russians have lost a little bit of their momentum,” the official said.
The official pointed out that no population centers have been taken and the Russians do not have air superiority over Ukraine as Ukrainian air defenses are still working.
The official said more than 200 ballistic and cruise missiles have been fired at targets in Ukraine, adding some have “impacted civilian residential areas.”
The U.S. assesses that “a third of the combat power ” of the 150,000 Russian troops that were amassed on the border are actually dedicated to the fighting in Ukraine, according to the official.
“They have not they have not committed the majority of their forces inside Ukraine,” the official said.
Fighting is also underway at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and dam on the Dnieper River that controls a lot of electrical power to Crimea and southern Ukraine, the official said, adding that there have been cyberattacks against power plants.
Feb 25, 10:31 am
EU moving toward sanctioning Putin, Lavrov: Top diplomat
The European Union is moving toward sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Russia’s war against Ukraine, the EU’s top diplomat confirmed.
But the decision has not been made and requires unanimous approval by the 27 member states, diplomat Josep Borrell told reporters Friday.
“If there is no surprises and nobody objects — because we require unanimity — yes, Putin and Lavrov will be on the list,” Borrell said.
He said even these EU sanctions on Putin and Lavrov would “certainly” not be enough.
“We are facing a full-fledged invasion of a country by another. It’s not a special forces operations like Russia pretends us to believe — it’s a fully-fledged invasion with bombing, with killing of civilians, with confrontations among two armies,” he said. “This is the worst thing that has happened in Europe, if I may say, since the end of the Cold War, and nobody knows what’s happening afterwards. Nobody knows which are the real intention of Putin.”
Feb 25, 8:57 am
Russia may be reinforcing, resupplying before moving in on Kyiv
There was an eerie quietness across Kyiv on Friday afternoon, as Russian forces closed in on the Ukrainian capital.
A senior U.S. official told ABC News that he believes the pause around Kyiv was due to the Russian military reinforcing troops and resupplying ammunition and food, and that Russia still wants a stranglehold on the city over the next 24 to 48 hours.
The official also expressed great concern about civilian causalities if Russian forces do move in. While there appeared to be a renewed effort at diplomacy on Friday, the United States believes any noise Russia makes about negotiations is simply stalling, the official said.
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz
Feb 25, 8:35 am
Kremlin claims Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality
Russia claimed Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality for his country.
“Zelenskyy stated his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “From the beginning, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about how the goal of the operation to the [separatist regions], including a path to the demilitarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine. But that is actually also an essential component of neutral status.”
Peskov added that Putin is prepared to send a delegation to neighboring Belarus to hold talks with Ukrainian officials in Minsk.
If the Kremlin’s claims are true, it would amount to Zelenskyy surrendering to Russia’s demand that Ukraine pledges to never join NATO.
Earlier Friday, Zelenskyy called on Putin to hold talks “to stop people dying.” But he did not mention neutral status.
The comments came as Russian troops reached the center of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and engaged in fighting with Ukrainian troops.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 8:35 am
Kremlin claims Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality
Russia claimed Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality for his country.
“Zelenskyy stated his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “From the beginning, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about how the goal of the operation to the [separatist regions], including a path to the demilitarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine. But that is actually also an essential component of neutral status.”
Peskov added that Putin is prepared to send a delegation to neighboring Belarus to hold talks with Ukrainian officials in Minsk.
If the Kremlin’s claims are true, it would amount to Zelenskyy surrendering to Russia’s demand that Ukraine pledges to never join NATO.
Earlier Friday, Zelenskyy called on Putin to hold talks “to stop people dying.” But he did not mention neutral status.
The comments came as Russian troops reached the center of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and engaged in fighting with Ukrainian troops.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 8:13 am
Russia claims to have blocked Kyiv from west
Russia claimed on Friday afternoon that its forces have blocked Kyiv from the west, which would begin a partial encirclement of the Ukrainian capital.
According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian forces also have completely blocked the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, about 90 miles north of Kyiv, and now have full control of a key Ukrainian military airport in Hostomel, a town on the edge of the capital. Some 200 Russian helicopters were allegedly used in the attack on the airport.
While ABC News could not independently verify Russia’s claims, the Ukrainian military has acknowledged that it does not have full control of the airport in Hostomel.
The Russian Ministry of Defense alleged that Russian forces are “doing everything possible to prevent civilian casualties” and “will not deliver any strikes on residential areas of Kyiv.” However, fighting is already taking place in residential areas and Ukrainian authorities said homes have been bombed in and around Kyiv.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 7:47 am
Zelenskyy warns Russian invasion is start of ‘war against all Europe’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold negotiations and cease the deadly attacks on his country.
“Fighting is ongoing all over Ukraine. Let’s sit at the table for negotiations to stop people dying,” Zelenskyy said in a televised address Friday afternoon.
But he did not order Ukrainian troops to stop defending their country, instead telling them: “Stand tough. You’re everything we have. You’re everything that is defending us.”
Zelenskyy criticized Europe’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it too slow and noting divisions. He also issued a dire warning to the rest of Europe.
“It’s not just Russian invasion in Ukraine, it’s the beginning of the war against all Europe, against its unity, all human rights, against all the rules of coexistence on the continent, against European countries’ refusal to change the borders by force,” he said.
-ABC News’ Julia Drozd and Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 7:15 am
UN refugee agency estimates 100,000 Ukrainians are displaced
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates some 100,000 Ukrainians have already been forced from their homes due to the ongoing Russian invasion, spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told ABC News on Friday.
Mantoo cautioned that the agency has not confirmed any exact numbers.
“But there clearly has been significant displacement inside the country and some movements towards and across the borders,” she said.
The news was first reported by AFP.
The United States is coordinating with its European allies and partners who will be on the front lines receiving refugees, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State told ABC News. That includes diplomatic engagements “to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection,” the spokesperson said.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 25, 6:42 am
Russia says negotiations will begin after ‘democratic order’ restored
Russia will begin negotiations again once “democratic order” is restored in Ukraine, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said Friday, amid an ongoing invasion of the neighboring country.
“We are ready for negotiations, at any moment, as soon as the Armed Forces of Ukraine respond to the call of our president to cease resistance and lay down their arms. No one intends to attack them,” Lavrov said during a televised meeting in Moscow with pro-Russian separatist leaders from eastern Ukraine.
Lavrov’s comments come as Russian forces attacked Ukrainian troops in Kyiv on Friday morning, as the fighting drew closer to the capital’s city center.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 6:03 am
Russia claims to have disabled 118 Ukrainian military facilities
Russia claimed Friday that its forces have so far disabled 118 elements of Ukraine’s military infrastructure.
“These include 11 military airfields and 13 command and communication posts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
Konashenkov also alleged that more than 150 Ukrainian soldiers have “laid down their arms and surrendered during the fighting.”
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Feb 25, 5:43 am
Gunfire, explosions heard within Kyiv as fighting draws near
ABC News’ team in Kyiv saw a large explosion and heard intense gunfire in the distance early Friday afternoon.
The crackles of gunfire appeared to be several miles north of the center of the Ukrainian capital, but still well within the city limits.
Ukrainian authorities have told residents in the northern suburb of Obolon to take shelter and prepare for imminent military action. The area is a 10-minute drive from Kyiv’s center.
The capital remains on edge as Russian forces draw near. Earlier, Ukrainian troops were seen hurriedly moving with ammunition to set up positions in the city center as air-raid sirens rang out.
Thousands of people have tried to leave Kyiv and head west to the Polish border, with some spending hours stuck in long traffic jams.
The Ukrainian military said it has distributed 18,000 assault rifles to territorial defense volunteers in the capital. It has also begun handing out weapons to civilians who want to fight and has called on healthy men over the age 60 to join the defense force, if they wish.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 5:11 am
Ukrainian military claims to have killed Russian saboteurs in Kyiv
Ukraine’s military claimed Friday to have killed an advance group of Russian saboteurs disguised as Ukrainian soldiers during a gunfight in the capital, Kyiv.
The Ukrainian military released video purportedly showing the bodies of men in Ukrainian uniforms and a destroyed truck. The fighting allegedly happened in an area only 10 minutes north of the city center.
Russian forces that crossed into Ukraine from the north on Thursday have been trying to advance south toward Kyiv. Fighting was taking place near a town 20 miles north of the entrance to the capital on Friday morning, ABC News has learned.
(NEW YORK) — Economic discontent is hurting President Joe Biden and his party’s midterm election prospects, with six in 10 Americans reporting inflation hardships, three-quarters saying the economy’s in bad shape and a nearly 20-point lead for the Republican Party in trust to handle it.
Biden has other problems, with underwater ratings for his handling of the invasion of Ukraine, a split on the pandemic and weak scores on personal attributes including leadership, handling a crisis and mental sharpness.
But 40-year-high inflation leads his headaches: Americans are twice as likely to say they’re worse off than better off under his presidency, by 35-17%
The result: A career-low 37% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance overall, with 55% disapproving. That includes just 30% approval among political independents and 10% from Republicans. Even in his own party, nearly a quarter of Democrats either disapprove of Biden (19%) or are withholding judgment (4%).
Analyzing data going back to Harry Truman’s administration, only two presidents have had approval ratings this low heading into their first State of the Union address, which Biden delivers Tuesday. Those two were Donald Trump, at 36%, and Gerald Ford, at 37%. Disapproval has been higher, by a nonsignificant 3 percentage points, only for Trump. (More were undecided about Ford, then just five months in office.)
Biden’s fortunes in turn spell trouble for his party in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates. Republican congressional candidates have a 49-42% advantage over Democrats among registered voters, widening to 54-41% among those who say they both are registered and certain to vote in November.
The result among registered voters is very similar to what it was in November, 51-41% — as reported at the time, the largest Republican lead in midterm election vote preferences in ABC/Post polls dating back 40 years. In the new data, among independents who are registered to vote — often swing voters — GOP candidates lead by 14 points.
These results are buttressed by a shift in partisan self-identification. In four ABC/Post polls from January through September last year, Democrats outnumbered Republicans by an average of 7 points. In November and again in this poll, by contrast, it’s a nonsignificant 1 point.
In line with vote preferences, Americans by 50-40% say they’d rather see the next Congress controlled by the Republicans, to act as a check on Biden, than by the Democrats, to support Biden’s agenda. The Democrats led by 16 points on this measure going into Trump’s midterm in 2018, when they won 40 seats. It looks more now like it did under Barack Obama in 2014 and 2010, when the Republicans won 13 and 63 seats, respectively.
Economy
Seventy-five percent of Americans rate the economy’s condition as not so good or poor, the most in ABC/Post polls since 2013. The public by a 3-1 margin says it’s gotten worse rather than better since Biden took office, 54-17% (with the rest saying it’s stayed the same). That “gotten worse” number is more than double what it was when measured during Trump’s presidency in 2019 (22%) and 11 points higher than under Obama in 2012.
Personal impacts are apparent as well. As noted, just 17% report being better off financially now than when Biden took office; twice as many, 35%, are worse off. A negative score on this measure has reliably indicated political trouble since Ronald Reagan popularized the concept in his successful 1980 presidential campaign. Among other notable instances, it was negative for George H.W. Bush on his way to losing re-election in 1992, and damaging to Obama early in his presidency as the country struggled out of the Great Recession.
To be sure, there’s a political aspect to economic attitudes, particularly when the president is mentioned by name. Fifty-four percent of Republicans say they’ve gotten worse off under Biden; only 9% of Democrats go there. But it’s 42% among independents, and among Democrats, just 33% say they’re better off.
Even with the comparatively robust job market, inflation is a singular irritant. Fifty-nine percent say it’s caused hardship for their household; 30% of those call it a serious hardship, rising to 43% of those with annual household incomes less than $50,000, a group that encompasses four in 10 adults. Tellingly, Biden’s approval rating is down 24 points among these lower-income earners since last June, compared with an 8-point drop among those with higher incomes. (In other groups, Biden’s lost 21 points among young adults and 18 points among moderates.)
He has a 37% approval rating among all adults for handling the economy, matching his overall job approval; 58% disapprove, a steep 21-point hole. More troubling for his party, Americans trust the Republican Party over the Democrats to handle the economy by 54-35%.
Notably, Biden doesn’t take all the heat for inflation. Fifty percent assign him a great deal or good amount of direct blame for it; more blame corporations trying to increase their profits — 68% — and disruptions from the pandemic, 73%. Nonetheless, with 7.5% annual inflation on his watch, even if indirectly, Biden gets blowback.
Other Issues and Attributes
The economy is the big issue, but not the only one, and on others the Democrats fare less poorly. Americans divide 43-37% between the parties in trust to handle the pandemic, a slight 6-point Democratic lead, and 44-41% in trust to handle education and schools, not a significant difference.
There’s also the matter of Biden’s personal attributes, which track generally with his approval overall. Forty-three percent say he can be trusted in a crisis; 52% think not. Just 36% call him a strong leader, down 7 points since last measured during the 2020 campaign; 59% don’t see him this way. And 40% think he has the mental sharpness it takes to serve effectively, down 11 points from spring 2020; 54% think not.
Finally, given his problematic ratings, just 14% of Americans say they’d be more likely to vote for a congressional candidate Biden has endorsed, compared to 32% less likely. That 18-point net negative score almost exactly matches the net negative impact (19 points, 18 vs. 37%) of an endorsement from another political figure — Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.
Methodology
This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone Feb. 20-24, 2022, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,011 adults, including 904 registered voters. Results have a margin of sampling error of 4.0 percentage points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 27-26-40% for the full sample, Democrats-Republicans-independents, and 27-27-39% for registered voters.
The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y., with sampling and data collection by Abt Associates of Rockville, Md. See details on the survey’s methodology here.
(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.
Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 26, 5:29 pm
US, other countries to disconnect some Russian banks from SWIFT
The White House announced further sanctions on Russia Saturday evening.
The U.S., along with the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada, are disconnecting some Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) banking network and are “imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions,” the White House said.
“This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally,” the White House said in a statement.
The White House added, “We commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship — so called golden passports — that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems.”
The U.S. will also launch a trans-Atlantic task force “that will ensure the effective implementation of our financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies that exist within our jurisdictions.”
The Biden administration said it’s also upping the fight against disinformation and “other forms of hybrid warfare.”
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Feb 26, 4:47 pm
Kyiv under curfew as it braces for Russians
Kyiv, which was a bustling, relaxed city three days ago, has now transformed to a war-time city as it braces for Russian forces.
Kyiv’s mayor has imposed a 39-hour curfew beginning Saturday night, banning everyone except critical infrastructure workers from the streets. Ukrainian authorities say the curfew is to allow the city to hunt down Russian sabotage groups, get defenses organized and prevent friendly-fire incidents.
Checkpoints manned by tense, heavily armed Ukrainian soldiers are set up throughout Kyiv and authorities are setting up barricades.
The city’s lights have been dimmed, leaving an eerie silence, only punctured by the howls of air raid sirens or blasts of gunfire.
Since Friday morning there has been fighting in Kyiv’s northern neighborhoods. For two nights, missiles have struck targets around Kyiv. Hundreds of people have begun sheltering in the deep subway system, sleeping on the platforms.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 26, 3:26 pm
Russian forces: ‘We don’t know who to shoot, they all look like us’
A senior U.S. official told ABC News they’ve heard a Russian soldier on a radio call saying, “We don’t know who to shoot — they all look like us.”
The official also said some Russian forces are disoriented, realizing the battles against Ukrainians are harder than they thought.
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz
Feb 26, 3:12 pm
Germany drops opposition to sending lethal aid
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that Germany is dropping its historic position of not providing lethal military aid to conflict zones, saying Russia’s “invasion marks a turning point.”
Germany will provide 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles, he said.
The Netherlands is also announcing new lethal aid, according to its Defense Ministry.
The $350 million military aid package from the U.S. will include “anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, body armor, and related equipment in support of Ukraine’s front-line defenders facing down Russia’s unprovoked attack,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. The U.S. package also includes portable surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS) in the Pentagon’s inventory, a U.S. official told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 26, 2:56 pm
Ukrainians waiting 40 hours to cross border: UN
At a border crossing near Zosin, Poland — due west of Kyiv — Ukrainians are waiting for 40 hours to cross into Poland in a nearly 10-mile backlog, said Chris Meltzer of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Meltzer said one woman with her two children told him it took her 12 hours to get out of Kyiv and then they spent another 38 hours waiting in their car without heat or a bathroom.
He said the biggest needs are blankets, clothes and accommodations.
Meltzer said, once they cross, most Ukrainians are staying in the border region because they want to return home as soon as possible.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith
Feb 26, 1:08 pm
Biden responds to Trump calling Putin ‘genius’
President Joe Biden responded to former President Donald Trump’s comments this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine are “genius.”
“I put as much stock in Trump saying that Putin’s a genius as I do when he called himself a stable genius,” Biden said in a pre-recorded interview with Brian Tyler Cohen.
In a radio interview this week, Trump said it was “genius” that Putin declared a portion of Ukraine independent.
“Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s strongest peace force … We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen,” Trump said on the conservative talk radio program “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.”
“Here’s a guy who’s very savvy,” Trump said. “I know him very well. Very, very well.”
Biden in the interview defended his sanctions on Russia as “nothing like” what the U.S. has done before and weighed what the other option could have been.
“You have two options: start a third World War, go to war with Russia physically. Or two, make sure that a country that acts so contrary to international law ends up paying the price,” he said.
“There’s no sanction that is immediate. It’s not like you can sanction someone and say, ‘You no longer are going to be able to be president of Russia,'” he continued. “But I think the sanctions — I know — I know the sanctions are the broadest sanctions in history.”
“Russia will pay a serious price for this short term and long term, particularly long term,” Biden said.
Biden held a secure call with his national security team Saturday morning on the latest developments, according to a White House official.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Feb 26, 12:19 pm
What US will provide Ukraine in new $350M military aid package
The new package of $350 million in assistance to Ukraine will include “anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, body armor, and related equipment in support of Ukraine’s front-line defenders facing down Russia’s unprovoked attack,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
It also includes portable surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS) in the Pentagon’s inventory, a U.S. official told ABC News.
It’s not clear how the equipment will be provided to the Ukrainian military. The U.S. official said they can’t speak to logistics or timing, but said, “Time is clearly of the essence, so we expect deliveries to start very soon.”
This brings total U.S. security assistance approved for Ukraine in the last year to $1 billion.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Conor Finnegan
Feb 26, 11:54 am
Over 150,000 have crossed from Ukraine to neighboring countries
Over 150,000 Ukrainians have crossed into neighboring countries, according to Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Poland’s Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker told reporters 100,000 people have crossed from Ukraine into Poland.
For those still in Ukraine, a stricter curfew has been enacted in Kyiv, instructing residents to stay home from 5 p.m. Saturday until 8 a.m. Monday.
Feb 26, 11:26 am
Russians frustrated by lack of momentum: US official
The Russians have launched more than 250 missiles, mostly short-range ballistic type, a senior defense official told reporters Saturday.
“We continue to see civilian infrastructure and residential areas impacted and damaged by these missile strikes,” the official said.
Though Russian troops are about 30 kilometers north of Kyiv, Russian forces continue to meet more Ukrainian resistance than expected and have failed to take any cities so far, the official said
“We have indications that the Russians are increasingly frustrated by their lack of momentum over the last 24 hours, particularly in the north parts of Ukraine,” the official said. “We continue to see indications of viable Ukrainian resistance.”
“We still believe that Russia has yet to achieve air superiority. Ukrainian air defenses, including aircraft do continue to be operable and continue to engage and deny access to Russian aircraft in places over the country,” the official said.
The official said Russian forces are meeting less resistance in the south and are having more success there than the north.
The official said several thousand Russian troops went ashore in Friday’s amphibious assault from the Sea of Azov to the west of Mariupol, and they’re now heading northeast toward Donbas.
“The Russians are continuing to try to advance on Kherson” in southern Ukraine, the official added.
The mayor of the southern city of Mykolayiv warned on live TV of an immediate fall of the city to Russian forces.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Matt Seyler
Feb 26, 10:09 am
Biden responds to Trump calling Putin ‘genius’
President Joe Biden responded to former President Donald Trump’s comments this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine are “genius.”
“I put as much stock in Trump saying that Putin’s a genius as I do when he called himself a stable genius,” Biden said in a pre-recorded interview with Brian Tyler Cohen.
In a radio interview this week, Trump said it was “genius” that Putin declared a portion of Ukraine independent.
“Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s strongest peace force … We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen,” Trump said on the conservative talk radio program “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.”
“Here’s a guy who’s very savvy,” Trump said. “I know him very well. Very, very well.”
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Feb 26, 8:21 am
Ukraine ‘successfully repelling’ Russia, Zelenskyy says
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday Ukraine is “successfully repelling” Russia’s attacks and that Kyiv and its outskirts are under the control of the Ukrainian military.
In a televised address, Zelenskyy said Russia had hoped to install a puppet government in Kyiv but that “we broke their plans.”
“The fighting goes on in many cities of our state, but we know we are defending our country, our land, and our childrens’ future,” he said.
Zelenskyy said the Russian forces are being “severely repulsed” in every city under attack and that in fighting around Kyiv Russia “didn’t gain any advantage,” despite attacking with missiles, fighter jets, drones, artillery, armored vehicles, saboteurs and paratroopers.
So far Ukrainian troops do appear to have managed to hold the Russian forces at bay in intense fighting near Kyiv and in cities in the north, east and south of the country. Russian forces have advanced close to several cities but except for the southern city of Melitopol do not yet appear to have advanced into them.
Zelensky also said that the international “anti-war coalition is working,” saying Ukraine now has the support of most EU countries to cut Russia off from the SWIFT banking system. He then said he hopes Germany and Hungary will agree, suggesting for now they still have not.
He also again called on ordinary Russians, seeking their help in stopping the war.
“Now I want to be heard in Russia. By absolutely everyone. Thousands of deaths, hundreds of captured, who just can’t grasp what they have been sent to Ukraine for to die and to kill others,” Zelenskyy said. “The faster you tell your authority that the war must be stopped immediately, the more your people will stay alive.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 26, 7:09 am
Russian attack on Kyiv slows, blunted by resistance, Ukraine says
Ukrainian military officials on Saturday said Russia’s attempt to encircle Kyiv has been slowed after two days of resistance by Ukrainian forces.
“The units of the Russian occupiers are losing their offensive tempo, they are expecting additional units to join the fight and are forced to stop to replenish supplies,” the statement from the general staff read.
Officials said Russia’s goal is to try to impose “demilitarization” on Ukraine by blockading the capital and forcing Ukraine’s political leadership to “change its political course on Russian terms.”
The statement said seven Russian battalion tactical groups, totalling 4,000 to 7,000 troops, have tried to push into Kyiv from the northwest and north, but have been forced to regroup.
A main force of around 8,000 to 14,000 Russian troops is trying to also push down from the northeast of the city, but have so far been stopped by Ukraine’s forces, officials said. In total, Russia sent in 17 battalion tactical groups from the northeast, totalling up to 17,000 troops, Ukraine said.
The statement said Russia also tried to land paratroopers at an airbase in Vassylkiv, a town about 20 miles south of Kyiv, but that the airborne units had been killed. Ukraine has said it shot down two IL-76 transport planes with paratroopers onboard last night.
In Kyiv on Saturday, fighting was taking place in a northwestern suburb, near the Beresteiska subway station, about 4 miles from the central Maidan square. Occasional booms and the sound of intense gunfire could be heard in some areas.
Ukrainian officials have said the Russian troops in the city are special forces and advance units, with the main force of tanks and artillery still further away. Shelling was reported near the town of Dymer, about 20 miles north of Kyiv.
Ukraine’s general staff says Russia has not had success “in any direction.” meaning they have not yet succeeded in taking any cities across the country.
Russia has claimed to have captured the southern city of Melitopol.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 26, 6:41 am
Russian media watchdog demands 10 local outlets delete ‘false’ news
Russia’s media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, told 10 media outlets to remove content that described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a war.
The notifications were “necessary to restrict access to false information” from the 10 outlets, Roskomnadzor said on Saturday.
The outlets published “false socially important information which is not true about the attacks of Ukrainian cities by the Russian Armed Forces and deaths of civilians in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian army, as well as materials describing the operation as an attack, invasion or a war,” the watchdog said.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova
Feb 26, 3:23 am
Residential building in Kyiv hit overnight, official says
A residential building in Kyiv was damaged overnight, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said on Saturday.
“Kyiv, our splendid, peaceful city, survived another night under attacks by Russian ground forces, missiles,” Kuleba said on Twitter. “One of them has hit a residential apartment in Kyiv.”
Kuleba added: “I demand the world: fully isolate Russia, expel ambassadors, oil embargo, ruin its economy. Stop Russian war criminals!”
Feb 26, 2:08 am
Ukrainians will ‘defend our country,’ Zelenskyy says in new video from Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a new video from the capital, Kyiv, on Saturday morning, saying Ukrainians “won’t lay down weapons, we will defend our country.
“Good morning everyone, Ukrainians! There are a lot of fakes circulating that I’m calling upon to lay down weapons and evacuation is under way. Here’s the situation. I’m here,” Zelenskyy said in the video, using his official residence as a background. “We won’t lay down weapons, we will defend our country. Because our weapon is our truth. The truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of it. This is it. This is what I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine!”
Zelenskyy in a separate tweet said he spoke on Saturday to French President Emmanuel Macron, marking a “new day in the diplomatic frontline.”
“Weapons and equipment from our partners are on the way to Ukraine,” he said. “The anti-war coalition is working!”
-ABC News’ Katie den Daas and Julia Drozd
Feb 26, 12:52 am
Biden authorizes $350M in additional security assistance for Ukraine
President Joe Biden authorized up to $350 million in additional security assistance “to provide immediate military assistance to Ukraine,” according to a memo released Friday night.
A White House official said this brings the total security assistance the U.S. has approved for Ukraine to $1 billion in the past year.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Feb 25, 10:32 pm
‘We will not surrender our capital to the enemy’: Ukrainian ambassador to US
Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, thanked President Joe Biden for support and said her country will not surrender to Vladimir Putin in an interview with ABC News Live Friday night.
“Even though for the past 48 hours we have been under brutal attack from the air, from east, from north, from everywhere, by the enemy, by a neighboring country that attacked a sovereign country … we remain committed to defend our home,” Markarova said. “We resist. We will not surrender our capital to the enemy.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier in the evening local time that Russian forces were planning to “storm” the capital of Kyiv overnight. Fighting was already taking place in the northern suburbs of the city late Friday. Zelenskyy called for citizens to arm themselves and fight for the city.
“We actually admire every man and woman that today is defending our homes again,” Markarova said. “Ukraine is a very peaceful country. We never attacked anyone. It was Ukraine that was attacked by Russia in 2014, when they illegally occupied Crimea, when they illegally occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk territory. … We defended our choice to be not only sovereign, not only independent, but also European and democratic.”
Markarova added, of the invasion, “We still didn’t think that, again, in the 21st century, when we have all the cameras and information and transparency that they would actually authorize to start a war on a sovereign country and war in this most brutal way.”
-ABC News’ Penelope Lopez
Feb 25, 9:28 pm
Russia, Ukraine exchange barbs after UN Security Council vote
Following the U.N. Security Council’s vote Friday on the resolution to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the ambassadors for Russia and Ukraine had harsh words for their U.N. counterparts.
In a fiery speech against the resolution, Russian envoy Vasily Nebenzya said countries were purposefully ignoring Ukraine’s alleged crimes against people in its eastern Donbas region, denied Russian troops have bombed Ukrainian cities and accused Western media of using fake videos.
Nebenzya claimed the 11 countries that voted yes on the measure have “made Ukraine a pawn in your geopolitical game with no concern whatsoever about the interest of the Ukrainian people.”
“Your draft resolution is nothing other than yet another brutal inhumane move in this Ukrainian chessboard,” he added.
Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said he would not “dignify the Russian diabolical script that is rather a letter of obligation for an upscale seat in hell.”
That was the first of many personal attacks on Nebenzya, whose words he said “have less value than a hole in a New York pretzel.” He later added it must be “so painful to think what your family thinks about you when you lie every day.”
Kyslytsya asked to hold a moment of silence for those killed so far in the conflict, adding, “I invite the Russian ambassador to pray for salvation.”
When the moment began, the Russian envoy interrupted to add they should also pray for those killed in the Donbas — repeating the baseless claim that the Ukrainian government is responsible for a genocide in the region.
Kyslytsya scolded the three countries that abstained and called on all of Ukraine’s partners to break diplomatic relations with Russia — something no one else has done yet.
Nebenzya then took a moment to dismiss Kyslytsya’s “boorishness” before gaveling out the meeting.
And with that, a week of high-level diplomacy did nothing to change the war on the ground.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 25, 8:45 pm
White House seeks $6.4B in funding for Ukraine response: Source
The White House is seeking $6.4 billion in new funding to respond to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, a source confirmed to ABC News Friday.
The aid package will likely “evolve,” the source said, but currently includes $3.5 billion for Pentagon costs and $2.9 billion for humanitarian assistance to support Ukraine and Eastern European allies.
The funding will likely be included as part of the omnibus package Congress intends to pass by March 11, the source said.
The resources are in addition to the $650 million in security assistance and $52 million in humanitarian assistance the U.S. has committed to Ukraine over the past year.
“As the President and bipartisan members of Congress have made clear, the United States is committed to supporting the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and democracy,” a White House official said in a statement Friday. “In a recent conversation with lawmakers, the Administration identified the need for additional U.S. humanitarian, security, and economic assistance to Ukraine and Central European partners due to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion.”
-ABC News’ Mariam Khan
Feb 25, 6:13 pm
UN Security Council holds vote to condemn Russia
The U.N. Security Council held a vote Friday evening on the U.S.- and Albania-led resolution to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Eleven countries voted in favor of the measure while three — China, India and the United Arab Emirates — abstained. Russia predictably vetoed it.
In a speech prior to the vote, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield laid out a stark choice for the council’s members: Vote yes to uphold the U.N. charter and defend any country’s rights, or vote no or abstain and “align yourself with aggressive and unprovoked actions of Russia.”
“History will judge us for our actions or lack thereof, and so long as we have a Security Council, I believe we are to strive to ensure it lives up to the highest purposes — to prevent conflict and avert unnecessary war,” she said. “Russia has already subverted that mission. But at a minimum — at the very minimum — the rest of us have an obligation to object and to stand up for the U.N. charter.”
The resolution condemned Russia’s aggression; reaffirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity; and demanded that Russia immediately withdraw its forces.
In brief remarks after the vote, Thomas-Greenfield said that while Russia can veto a resolution, “you cannot veto our voices.”
She confirmed they will bring the resolution to the U.N. General Assembly, where all countries have a vote and there is no veto power — but where resolutions are nonbinding.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 25, 5:55 pm
Ukraine says it is in ‘initial stage’ of talks with Russia
Ukraine is in the “initial stage of contacts” for possible negotiations with Russia to end the fighting, a spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News.
The two governments are discussing details such as the time and place of the talks, the spokesman, Sergiy Nykyforov, said. The meeting would take place between advisers and aides and not Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, he added.
The Kremlin said earlier Friday it was ready to send a delegation for talks to Belarus’ capital, Minsk, and claimed Zelenskyy was ready to discuss “neutral status” for Ukraine. Russia’s foreign ministry later claimed Zelenskyy’s administration had said to postpone any more discussion of talks until Saturday.
The discussions come as Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians in a televised address that Russia will attempt to storm Kyiv tonight.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Fidel Pavlenko
Feb 25, 5:23 pm
Zelenskyy warns Russia will try to ‘storm’ Kyiv tonight
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in a televised address moments ago that he believes Russian forces will “storm” the capital of Kyiv overnight.
“The night will be more difficult than the day,” he said, as the sound of shelling and loud booms from airstrikes could be heard over Kyiv.
“We cannot lose Kyiv,” he said.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 5:13 pm
Proposed talks of diplomacy come ‘at the barrel of a gun’: State Dept.
The State Department expressed doubts Friday that Moscow-led efforts to set up talks between Kyiv and the Kremlin in Minsk, Belarus, could yield any meaningful results against the backdrop of an ongoing invasion.
“You’ve heard us say before that over the course of several weeks leading up to the events that we’ve seen recently in Ukraine — the assault on Ukraine, its sovereignty, its territorial integrity, and really, its people — that Moscow engaged in a pretense of diplomacy,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing. “Now, we see Moscow suggesting that diplomacy take place at the barrel of a gun, or as Moscow’s rockets, mortars, artillery, target the Ukrainian people. This is not real diplomacy. Those are not the conditions for real diplomacy.”
Price added that if Putin were serious about diplomacy, “He should immediately stop the bombing campaign against civilians, order the withdrawal of his forces from Ukraine, and indicate very clearly — unambiguously to the world — that Moscow is prepared to de-escalate. We have not seen that yet.”
When pressed on if the U.S. would still support Ukraine entering into such talks, or if the State Department had specifically advised Ukraine against engaging with Russia, Price largely demurred, but said that the countries were “operating in pure lockstep.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Zoha Qamar
Feb 25, 4:13 pm
Ukraine Railway Company adds evacuation trains from Kyiv to western cities
The Ukraine Railway Company said it’s adding a number of evacuation trains running from Kyiv to cities in western Ukraine.
The company said the trains can hold about 10,000 people per day.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 25, 3:52 pm
US to sanction Putin, Lavrov
The U.S. will join the European Union in sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and members of the Russian national security team, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.
BREAKING: U.S. will sanction Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, and members of the Russian national security team, White House press sec. Jen Psaki says.
Sanctions on Putin and Lavrov were announced earlier Friday by the EU and the United Kingdom.
Feb 25, 3:42 pm
Biden ‘commended the brave actions of the Ukrainian people’ during call with Zelensky
President Joe Biden said during his Friday phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he “commended the brave actions of the Ukrainian people” who are defending their country against the Russian military.
On the call Biden said he “also conveyed ongoing economic, humanitarian, and security support being provided by the United States as well as our continued efforts to rally other countries to provide similar assistance.”
Biden, who met with NATO leaders earlier in the day, said in a statement, “Putin has failed in his goal of dividing the West. NATO is as united and resolute as it’s ever been, and NATO will maintain its Open Door to those European states who share our values and who one day may seek to join our Alliance.”
“I have ordered the deployment of additional forces to augment our capabilities in Europe to support our NATO Allies,” Biden said. “And I strongly welcome the decision to activate NATO’s defensive plans and elements of the NATO Response Force to strengthen our collective posture, as well as the commitments by our Allies to deploy additional land and air forces to the eastern flank and maritime forces from the High North to the Mediterranean.”
Feb 25, 3:08 pm
Classified all-member House briefing set for Monday
Administration officials will provide a classified in-person briefing on the Ukraine crisis to all House members on Monday evening following their return from recess, a senior Capitol Hill official confirmed to ABC News.
Members have had unclassified virtual briefings throughout the week.
-ABC News’ Mariam Khan
Feb 25, 3:01 pm
Ukrainian cyber agency reports mass phishing attempts
The Computer Emergency Response Team for Ukraine said it has seen mass phishing emails targeting government websites.
“Mass phishing emails have recently been observed targeting private ‘’ and ‘’ accounts of Ukrainian military personnel and related individuals,” the agency said in a Facebook post Friday. “After the account is compromised, the attackers, by the IMAP protocol, get access to all the messages. Later, the attackers use contact details from the victim’s address book to send the phishing emails.”
They attribute the emails to officers of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Feb 25, 2:57 pm
Over 50,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled
More than 50,000 Ukrainians have fled their country in less than 48 hours, mostly to to Poland and Moldova, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted.
The U.S. is coordinating with its European allies and partners who will be on the front lines receiving refugees, a spokesperson for the State Department told ABC News. That includes diplomatic engagements “to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection,” the spokesperson said.
U.N. Relief Chief Martin Griffiths said Friday that over $1 billion will be required for humanitarian efforts over the next three months.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Conor Finnegan
Feb 25, 2:39 pm
EU to sanction Putin, Lavrov: Latvian government
The European Union announced Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be included on its second round of sanctions, according to the Latvian and French governments.
It’s unclear what, if any, financial impact these asset freezes have on either figure.
Hours before the decision was made, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell diplomat said even these EU sanctions on Putin and Lavrov would “certainly” not be enough.
“We are facing a full-fledged invasion of a country by another. It’s not a special forces operations like Russia pretends us to believe — it’s a fully-fledged invasion with bombing, with killing of civilians, with confrontations among two armies,” he told reporters. “This is the worst thing that has happened in Europe, if I may say, since the end of the Cold War, and nobody knows what’s happening afterwards. Nobody knows which are the real intention of Putin.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 25, 2:24 pm
Russia restricts Facebook
Russia is restricting its use of Facebook, according to its parent company, Meta.
Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs at Meta, said in a statement Friday, “Yesterday, Russian authorities ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labelling of content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. We refused. As a result, they have announced they will be restricting the use of our services.”
“Ordinary Russians are using our apps to express themselves and organize for action,” he continued. “We want them to continue to make their voices heard.”
Feb 25, 2:19 pm
Czech Republic, Poland ban Russian carriers from airspace
Poland and the Czech Republic said Friday they are banning Russian carriers from their airspace.
The United Kingdom on Thursday suspended the foreign carrier permit held by Russian airline Aeroflot.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 25, 1:40 pm
Zelenskyy says, ‘We are all here’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has posted a selfie-style video showing himself standing outside the president’s office in central Kyiv Friday night along his defense minister, prime minister and parliamentary leader.
Zelenskyy, in combat fatigues, said to the camera that Ukraine’s army is there and will win.
“We are all here. Our military are here, as are our people and whole society. We’re all here defending our independence and our country. And we’ll go on doing that,” he said.
President Joe Biden held a secure call with Zelenskyy on Friday, according to a White House official.
Feb 25, 1:32 pm
NATO allies must stand ready to do more, NATO SG says
Russia is demanding legally binding agreements to remove troops and infrastructure from NATO allies that joined after 1997, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.
In addition to the significant sanctions imposed against Russia, NATO allies must stand ready to do more, Stoltenberg said, even if it means “we have to pay a price — because we are in this for the long haul.”
The U.S., Canada and European allies have deployed thousands of more troops to the eastern part of the alliance, Stolentenberg said. Over 100 jets and more than 120 ships are operating on high alert in more than 30 locations, he said.
Feb 25, 1:16 pm
UK’s Boris Johnson announces Putin, Lavrov sanctions
United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson will introduce sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on top of the sanctions package announced Thursday, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
The announcement was made during a Friday call with NATO leaders.
“The Prime Minister told the group that a catastrophe was engulfing Ukraine, and President Putin was engaging in a revanchist mission to over-turn post-Cold War order. He warned the group that the Russian President’s ambitions might not stop there and that this was a Euro-Atlantic crisis with global consequences,” the Downing Street spokesperson said.
“The Prime Minister urged leaders to take immediate action against SWIFT to inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime,” the spokesperson added.
If Russia was cut off from the SWIFT — the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication international banking system — it would significantly hinder Russia’s participation in global markets.
Feb 25, 12:55 pm
Russia deploying disinformation campaign to damage Ukraine’s morale: US official
A U.S. official alleges that Russia is deploying a disinformation campaign to damage Ukrainians’ morale through false reports about Ukrainian troops surrendering or through planned threats to kill the family members of Ukraine’s military troops.
“We commend the Ukrainian people for showing strength and determination in response to an unprovoked attack by a significantly larger military,” the official said. “We are concerned, however, that Russia plans to discourage them and induce surrender through disinformation.”
Earlier Friday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that more than 150 Ukrainian service members “laid down their arms and surrendered,” even providing names and figures for where they say these surrenders took place.
“After the stabilization of the situation in the combat area, all surrendered Ukrainian servicemen will be released home,” the Ministry of Defense said.
Feb 25, 12:41 pm
NATO activates NATO Response Force
NATO has activated its NATO Response Force, marking the first time the alliance has activated the potentially 40,000-person force for “a deterrence and defence” role, according to a NATO spokesperson. This means that the 8,500 American troops put on heightened alert in late January for this mission could soon be ordered to Europe.
The decision follows a meeting of NATO ministers Friday morning in Brussels.
To be activated, the 30 members of NATO must all agree to activate the force, which is under the command of Gen. Told Wolters, the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
Feb 25, 12:19 pm
Over 50,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled
More than 50,000 Ukrainians have fled their country in less than 48 hours, mostly to Poland and Moldova, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted.
The U.S. is coordinating with its European allies and partners who will be on the front lines receiving refugees, a spokesperson for the State Department told ABC News. That includes diplomatic engagements “to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection,” the spokesperson said.
Feb 25, 11:54 am
Russians planning multiple simultaneous entrance points into Kyiv: Official
Officials are seeing more signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t interested in a diplomatic solution, a senior U.S. official said.
Russian troops are now resupplied and are planning multiple entrance points into Kyiv that will likely be carried out at once, the official said.
Feb 25, 11:34 am
Chernobyl seeing slightly higher levels of radiation but no threat
After Russian forces seized the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power station, the facilities continue “to operate safely and securely,” Ukraine’s regulatory agency informed the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. Nuclear watchdog said Friday.
There were slightly higher levels of radiation, but they are still “low and remain within the operational range measured in the Exclusion Zone since it was established, and therefore do not pose any danger to the public,” the IAEA said.
One theory why the levels could have ticked up, according to the IAEA, is “heavy military vehicles stirring up soil still contaminated from the 1986 accident.”
The Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, is located about 60 miles north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The Chernobyl exclusion zone begins almost immediately below Ukraine’s border with Belarus.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said Friday that Russian troops took full control of the Chernobyl plant area on Thursday.
Feb 25, 11:14 am
Russians going ashore in ‘amphibious assault’
A senior defense official confirms that there is a Russian “amphibious assault” underway along the Ukrainian coast from the Sea of Azov. The attack is to the west of Mariupol, which is a coastal city in southeastern Ukraine.
“Indications are right now that they are putting potentially thousands of naval infantry ashore there,” the official said.
The push toward Kyiv is going slower than the Russians expected as they’re meeting more resistance from Ukrainians than they thought, the official said.
“In general the Russians have lost a little bit of their momentum,” the official said.
The official pointed out that no population centers have been taken and the Russians do not have air superiority over Ukraine as Ukrainian air defenses are still working.
The official said more than 200 ballistic and cruise missiles have been fired at targets in Ukraine, adding some have “impacted civilian residential areas.”
The U.S. assesses that “a third of the combat power ” of the 150,000 Russian troops that were amassed on the border are actually dedicated to the fighting in Ukraine, according to the official.
“They have not they have not committed the majority of their forces inside Ukraine,” the official said.
Fighting is also underway at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and dam on the Dnieper River that controls a lot of electrical power to Crimea and southern Ukraine, the official said, adding that there have been cyberattacks against power plants.
Feb 25, 10:31 am
EU moving toward sanctioning Putin, Lavrov: Top diplomat
The European Union is moving toward sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Russia’s war against Ukraine, the EU’s top diplomat confirmed.
But the decision has not been made and requires unanimous approval by the 27 member states, diplomat Josep Borrell told reporters Friday.
“If there is no surprises and nobody objects — because we require unanimity — yes, Putin and Lavrov will be on the list,” Borrell said.
He said even these EU sanctions on Putin and Lavrov would “certainly” not be enough.
“We are facing a full-fledged invasion of a country by another. It’s not a special forces operations like Russia pretends us to believe — it’s a fully-fledged invasion with bombing, with killing of civilians, with confrontations among two armies,” he said. “This is the worst thing that has happened in Europe, if I may say, since the end of the Cold War, and nobody knows what’s happening afterwards. Nobody knows which are the real intention of Putin.”
Feb 25, 8:57 am
Russia may be reinforcing, resupplying before moving in on Kyiv
There was an eerie quietness across Kyiv on Friday afternoon, as Russian forces closed in on the Ukrainian capital.
A senior U.S. official told ABC News that he believes the pause around Kyiv was due to the Russian military reinforcing troops and resupplying ammunition and food, and that Russia still wants a stranglehold on the city over the next 24 to 48 hours.
The official also expressed great concern about civilian causalities if Russian forces do move in. While there appeared to be a renewed effort at diplomacy on Friday, the United States believes any noise Russia makes about negotiations is simply stalling, the official said.
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz
Feb 25, 8:35 am
Kremlin claims Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality
Russia claimed Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality for his country.
“Zelenskyy stated his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “From the beginning, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about how the goal of the operation to the [separatist regions], including a path to the demilitarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine. But that is actually also an essential component of neutral status.”
Peskov added that Putin is prepared to send a delegation to neighboring Belarus to hold talks with Ukrainian officials in Minsk.
If the Kremlin’s claims are true, it would amount to Zelenskyy surrendering to Russia’s demand that Ukraine pledges to never join NATO.
Earlier Friday, Zelenskyy called on Putin to hold talks “to stop people dying.” But he did not mention neutral status.
The comments came as Russian troops reached the center of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and engaged in fighting with Ukrainian troops.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 8:35 am
Kremlin claims Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality
Russia claimed Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality for his country.
“Zelenskyy stated his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “From the beginning, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about how the goal of the operation to the [separatist regions], including a path to the demilitarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine. But that is actually also an essential component of neutral status.”
Peskov added that Putin is prepared to send a delegation to neighboring Belarus to hold talks with Ukrainian officials in Minsk.
If the Kremlin’s claims are true, it would amount to Zelenskyy surrendering to Russia’s demand that Ukraine pledges to never join NATO.
Earlier Friday, Zelenskyy called on Putin to hold talks “to stop people dying.” But he did not mention neutral status.
The comments came as Russian troops reached the center of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and engaged in fighting with Ukrainian troops.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 8:13 am
Russia claims to have blocked Kyiv from west
Russia claimed on Friday afternoon that its forces have blocked Kyiv from the west, which would begin a partial encirclement of the Ukrainian capital.
According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian forces also have completely blocked the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, about 90 miles north of Kyiv, and now have full control of a key Ukrainian military airport in Hostomel, a town on the edge of the capital. Some 200 Russian helicopters were allegedly used in the attack on the airport.
While ABC News could not independently verify Russia’s claims, the Ukrainian military has acknowledged that it does not have full control of the airport in Hostomel.
The Russian Ministry of Defense alleged that Russian forces are “doing everything possible to prevent civilian casualties” and “will not deliver any strikes on residential areas of Kyiv.” However, fighting is already taking place in residential areas and Ukrainian authorities said homes have been bombed in and around Kyiv.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 7:47 am
Zelenskyy warns Russian invasion is start of ‘war against all Europe’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold negotiations and cease the deadly attacks on his country.
“Fighting is ongoing all over Ukraine. Let’s sit at the table for negotiations to stop people dying,” Zelenskyy said in a televised address Friday afternoon.
But he did not order Ukrainian troops to stop defending their country, instead telling them: “Stand tough. You’re everything we have. You’re everything that is defending us.”
Zelenskyy criticized Europe’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it too slow and noting divisions. He also issued a dire warning to the rest of Europe.
“It’s not just Russian invasion in Ukraine, it’s the beginning of the war against all Europe, against its unity, all human rights, against all the rules of coexistence on the continent, against European countries’ refusal to change the borders by force,” he said.
-ABC News’ Julia Drozd and Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 7:15 am
UN refugee agency estimates 100,000 Ukrainians are displaced
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates some 100,000 Ukrainians have already been forced from their homes due to the ongoing Russian invasion, spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told ABC News on Friday.
Mantoo cautioned that the agency has not confirmed any exact numbers.
“But there clearly has been significant displacement inside the country and some movements towards and across the borders,” she said.
The news was first reported by AFP.
The United States is coordinating with its European allies and partners who will be on the front lines receiving refugees, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State told ABC News. That includes diplomatic engagements “to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection,” the spokesperson said.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 25, 6:42 am
Russia says negotiations will begin after ‘democratic order’ restored
Russia will begin negotiations again once “democratic order” is restored in Ukraine, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said Friday, amid an ongoing invasion of the neighboring country.
“We are ready for negotiations, at any moment, as soon as the Armed Forces of Ukraine respond to the call of our president to cease resistance and lay down their arms. No one intends to attack them,” Lavrov said during a televised meeting in Moscow with pro-Russian separatist leaders from eastern Ukraine.
Lavrov’s comments come as Russian forces attacked Ukrainian troops in Kyiv on Friday morning, as the fighting drew closer to the capital’s city center.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 6:03 am
Russia claims to have disabled 118 Ukrainian military facilities
Russia claimed Friday that its forces have so far disabled 118 elements of Ukraine’s military infrastructure.
“These include 11 military airfields and 13 command and communication posts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
Konashenkov also alleged that more than 150 Ukrainian soldiers have “laid down their arms and surrendered during the fighting.”
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Feb 25, 5:43 am
Gunfire, explosions heard within Kyiv as fighting draws near
ABC News’ team in Kyiv saw a large explosion and heard intense gunfire in the distance early Friday afternoon.
The crackles of gunfire appeared to be several miles north of the center of the Ukrainian capital, but still well within the city limits.
Ukrainian authorities have told residents in the northern suburb of Obolon to take shelter and prepare for imminent military action. The area is a 10-minute drive from Kyiv’s center.
The capital remains on edge as Russian forces draw near. Earlier, Ukrainian troops were seen hurriedly moving with ammunition to set up positions in the city center as air-raid sirens rang out.
Thousands of people have tried to leave Kyiv and head west to the Polish border, with some spending hours stuck in long traffic jams.
The Ukrainian military said it has distributed 18,000 assault rifles to territorial defense volunteers in the capital. It has also begun handing out weapons to civilians who want to fight and has called on healthy men over the age 60 to join the defense force, if they wish.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 5:11 am
Ukrainian military claims to have killed Russian saboteurs in Kyiv
Ukraine’s military claimed Friday to have killed an advance group of Russian saboteurs disguised as Ukrainian soldiers during a gunfight in the capital, Kyiv.
The Ukrainian military released video purportedly showing the bodies of men in Ukrainian uniforms and a destroyed truck. The fighting allegedly happened in an area only 10 minutes north of the city center.
Russian forces that crossed into Ukraine from the north on Thursday have been trying to advance south toward Kyiv. Fighting was taking place near a town 20 miles north of the entrance to the capital on Friday morning, ABC News has learned.
(LAS VEGAS) — Fourteen people suffered gunshot wounds, one of whom died, after two people exchanged gunshots at a Las Vegas hookah lounge on Saturday, according to a statement from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Police received multiple reports of a shooting at a hookah lounge around 3:15 a.m. When officers responded, they found 14 victims suffering from gunshot wounds, Las Vegas police said.
One man was pronounced dead and two other people are in critical condition, according to police.
The rest of the victims are in stable condition, according to police. Medical personnel transported the victims to UMC and Sunrise hospitals.
Preliminary investigation by police indicated that there was a party at the lounge where the shooting occurred when at least two individuals got into an altercation. They exchanged gunfire during the altercation, striking multiple people, police said.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
