(CHESAPEAKE, Va.) — A gunman shot and killed six people before turning the gun on himself at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Tuesday night, according to sources and local police.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that preliminary information indicates the gunman walked into the break room and opened fire at people before shooting himself. The suspect was an employee of that store and, possibly, a manager, the sources said.
The Chesapeake Police Department confirmed seven fatalities from the shooting, including the gunman. The suspect was believed to be a current employee and appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 23, 8:52 AM EST
Four people remain hospitalized with injuries, police say
In addition to the seven fatalities, four people were wounded in Tuesday night’s shooting at a Chesapeake Walmart, according to police.
“While our investigation continues we can tell you the following: six victims have died, four victims are in area hospitals with conditions unknown at this time and the suspect is dead from what we believe is a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky said during a press conference on Wednesday morning.
While police believe the suspect was a current employee of the store, Solesky would not confirm whether the victims were all employees as well. He told reporters that it’s unclear whether the shooting was a targeted or random attack.
Nov 23, 8:42 AM EST
Gunman may have been a store manager, sources say
Preliminary information indicates a gunman walked into the break room of a Chesapeake Walmart and opened fire at people before shooting himself, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The suspect was an employee of that store and, possibly, a manager, according to the sources.
Law enforcement sources also told ABC News that authorities are investigating whether the shooting was a case of workplace violence.
Nov 23, 8:24 AM EST
Police confirm deceased suspect was an employee
The suspect in Tuesday night’s mass shooting at the Walmart on Sam’s Circle in Chesapeake is believed to be a current employee and appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky.
“We have reason to believe that there’s no risk to the public at this time,” Soleksy said during a press conference on Wednesday morning. “We cannot tell you the identity of the shooter because his next of kin has not been notified.”
Police received the initial 911 call at 10:12 p.m. local time. Officers responded to the scene within two minutes and entered the store at 10:16 p.m. local time, where they found the deceased suspect and multiple victims. The scene was declared safe by 11:20 p.m. local time, according to Soleksy, who described the shooting as “senseless violence.”
“This investigation is still ongoing, so there’s no clear motive at this time,” he told reporters. “We’ll be processing that scene for days.”
(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 23, 8:34 AM EST
Cities across Ukraine hit with missile strikes
Missile strikes have been reported in a number of cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv.
Residential buildings and an infrastructure object in Kyiv were hit with missile strikes leaving one person dead north of the city, according to Ukrainian officials.
Nov 23, 7:04 AM EST
European Parliament declares Russia a terrorist state
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Wednesday recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
“The European Parliament adopts a resolution declaring Russia a terrorist state,” Guy Verhofstadt, a member of the European Parliament from Belgium, said in a Twitter post. “Putin’s regime is a state sponsor of terrorism, complicit in war crimes [and] must face the international consequences.”
Nov 22, 4:14 PM EST
Investigation launched after claim that Russian soldiers who surrendered were killed
Ukraine’s prosecutor general launched an investigation after a video emerged on social media of the Kremlin claiming Russian soldiers were killed after surrendering to Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine claimed Russia staged the attack, but Ukrainian authorities said they will investigate.
The videos, verified by the New York Times as authentic, have been circled online and in Ukrainian and Russian media show moments before and after a group of at least 11 Russian troops were killed by Ukrainian fighters after one of their fellow fighters suddenly opened fire on Ukrainian soldiers standing nearby.
The Ukrainian prosecutor general said law enforcement opened the criminal case “after Russian occupiers pretended to give up and then opened fire on fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” according to a statement.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Nov 22, 2:27 PM EST
Ukraine liberated over 1,800 settlements from Russian occupation, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed Ukrainian forces have liberated over 1,800 settlements that were occupied by Russian forces. Zelenskyy claimed that more than 3,700 settlements have been occupied, he said in an address Tuesday.
Zelenskyy claimed that Russian soldiers mined and looted everything they could, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of buildings destroyed or damaged by shelling.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Nov 19, 12:49 PM EST
US warns Russia’s eroding situation could lead to ‘more nuclear saber-rattling’
Russia’s eroding situation could lead Russian President Vladimir Putin to “more nuclear saber-rattling,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Saturday.
“The ripples of Russia’s invasion has traveled far beyond Europe. Beijing, like Moscow, seeks a world where autocrats can stamp out the flame of freedom,” Austin said while addressing the Halifax International Security Forum.
Austin said the deadly explosion in Poland this week was the result of the “recklessness of Putin’s war of choice.”
“Russia’s invasion offers a preview of a possible world of tyranny and turmoil that none of us would want to live in. And it’s an invitation to an increasingly insecure world haunted by the shadow of nuclear proliferation,” Austin said.
He went on, “Putin’s fellow autocrats are watching and they could well conclude that getting nuclear weapons would give them a hunting license of their own. And that could drive a dangerous spiral of nuclear proliferation.”
Nov 18, 2:36 PM EST
Trace of explosives found at Nord Stream pipelines, Swedish prosecutors say
An investigation into the cause of a leak from the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea revealed “extensive damage” and several “foreign items,” some with detectable “explosive residue,” the Swedish Security Service and a prosecutor said Friday.
“The advanced analysis work is still in progress – the aim is to draw more definitive conclusions about the Nord Stream incidents. The investigation is extensive and complex and will eventually show whether anyone can be suspected of, and later prosecuted for this,” prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist and the Swedish Security Service said in a statement.
Several blasts near the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines on Sept. 26 caused leaks. Officials are still investigating the cause of the blasts. Major pipelines which supply natural gas from Russia to Europe, were shut off in September. While they were not in use at the time of the blast, the pipelines were filled with natural gas.
Nov 17, 1:53 PM EST
Russian strike on Ukraine’s Dnipro leaves 23 injured
A Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro has left 23 people injured, 15 of whom are in hospital. One person is in grave condition, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
Local officials earlier said the strike had left at least 14 people dead.
Air raid sirens went off in several Ukrainian cities including Odessa and Zaporizhzhia. Officials said four missiles were shot down in Kyiv.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Joe Simonetti and James Longman
Nov 17, 1:23 PM EST
Polish officials grant Ukrainian investigators access to site of missile explosion
Polish authorities have granted Ukrainian investigators access to site of the missile explosion, as an investigation into the origin of the missile continues, according to Jakub Kumoch, an aide to Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who denies that the missile originated from Ukrainian air defense, has been requesting access to the site.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Nov 17, 12:57 PM EST
Ukrainian officials refute US estimates on number of killed, injured soldiers
Top Ukrainian security officials are refuting U.S. estimates of how many Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured in the war. Last week, the U.S. chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, said around 100,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or injured.
Ukrainian officials are now saying that figure is “not entirely true.”
Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s secretary of National Security and Defense Council, said the casualty figures are “definitely not those.”
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Nov 17, 11:35 AM EST
Biden says Zelenskyy’s statements on Poland missile incident are ‘not evidence’
President Joe Biden was asked by reporters Thursday what his reaction was to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denying that the missile that landed in Poland was Ukrainian.
“That’s not the evidence,” Biden responded.
On Wednesday, the White House told reporters it had “seen nothing” to contradict the assessment that the explosion in Poland was likely caused by a Ukrainian defense missile.
“We will continue to assess and share any new information transparently as it becomes available. We will also continue to stay in close touch with the Ukrainians regarding any information they have to fill out the picture,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Lauren Minore
Nov 16, 3:00 PM EST
Zelenskyy disputes claim that missile blast in Poland was fired by Ukraine’s air-defense system
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed back Wednesday against claims that a Ukrainian defense missile landed in Polish territory on Tuesday, killing two.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday that the Russian-made missile likely came from Ukraine’s air-defense system.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he backs Duda’s assertion.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Matt Seyler and Tom Soufi Burridge
Nov 16, 12:48 PM EST
Ukrainian air defense missile likely caused deadly blast in Poland: US official
The U.S. believes that the missile strike was likely due to a Ukrainian air defense missile, according to a U.S. official. The missile strike killed two Polish civilians.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Nov 16, 9:08 AM EST
CIA director met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv after meeting Russian counterpart
CIA Director Bill Burns traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, following a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Turkey, according to a U.S. official.
Burns was in the Ukrainian capital during Tuesday’s widespread Russian missile strikes.
“He is safe and was safely in the U.S. embassy during the strikes,” the official said.
While in Kyiv, the official said, Burns “discussed the U.S. warning he delivered to the head of Russia’s SVR not to use nuclear weapons and reinforced the U.S. commitment to provide support to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.”
Nov 16, 7:27 AM EST
Polish police share photo of large crater from missile
Poland’s national police force posted an image on Twitter on Wednesday purportedly showing the site of Tuesday’s missile blast, which left two people dead.
The photo showed authorities collecting evidence from a large crater in the ground, alongside debris and a destroyed vehicle.
The Polish Police said in the tweet that its “officers have been securing the area” since the blast happened in the southeastern village of Przewodow, which is close to the border with Ukraine. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, but Polish President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday that the projectile was “probably a Russian-made S-300 missile” and, so far, appeared to be an “unfortunate accident.”
W #Przewodów, gdzie doszło do wybuchu policjanci od początku zdarzenia zabezpieczają teren. Policyjni eksperci m. in. z @CBSPolicji, #CLKP, Biura Kryminalnego @PolskaPolicja wspólnie z innymi służbami szczegółowo wyjaśniają okoliczności zdarzenia i zabezpieczają dowody. pic.twitter.com/ohBP0rT4u7
Nov 16, 7:10 AM EST
Kremlin notes ‘reserved and far more professional reaction’ from US to missile incident
Russia on Wednesday noted the “reserved and far more professional reaction” of the United States compared with other countries following Tuesday’s missile blast that killed two people in Poland.
“In this case, one should take note of the reserved and far more professional reaction of the American side and the American president,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a press briefing in Moscow.
Peskov said the U.S. government’s reaction “stood in contrast to the absolutely hysterical reaction of the Polish side and a whole number of other countries.”
U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that it’s “unlikely” the missile was fired from Russia but that he and other leaders of the G-7 and NATO would support Poland’s investigation into what happened. Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday that the projectile was “probably a Russian-made S-300 missile” but that, so far, it appeared to be an “unfortunate accident.”
Nov 15, 9:18 PM EST
Biden says it’s ‘unlikely’ missile that hit in Poland was fired from Russia
Following his meeting with leaders of the G-7 and NATO on Ukraine, President Joe Biden said Tuesday night that it’s “unlikely” the missile that hit Poland was fired from Russia, but that the group would support the investigation into what happened.
When asked if it’s too early to say whether the missile was fired by Russia, Biden responded: “There is preliminary information that contests that. I don’t want to say that till we completely investigate, but it’s unlikely in the minds of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we will see.”
“I’m going to make sure we find out exactly what happened,” Biden said, and then determine the next steps, adding that there was “total unanimity” among leaders today on this decision.
The president added that recent Russian missile attacks were also a point of discussion this morning.
“They have been totally unconscionable, what they are doing, totally unconscionable,” he said.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Nov 15, 7:47 PM EST
Polish president says rocket may have been Russian-made; investigation underway
Polish President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday night that a rocket that landed near the Polish-Ukrainian border, killing two Polish citizens, may have been Russian-made. Though he said that there is no conclusive evidence at this time of who launched the missile and that an investigation is underway.
Duda said he has also spoken with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and President Joe Biden.
Stoltenberg said earlier that NATO is monitoring the situation.
Nov 15, 6:41 PM EST
Biden speaks with Polish president, offers ‘full US support’
President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Polish President Andrzej Duda and “expressed deep condolences for the loss of life in Eastern Poland,” according to the White House.
Biden “offered full U.S support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation” and the two agreed “they and their teams should remain in close touch to determine appropriate next steps as the investigation proceeds,” the White House said.
Polish officials confirmed that two Polish citizens were killed in an explosion Tuesday in the area of Hrubieszów. They were the owner of a granary that was stuck and a tractor driver who was transferring corn to the facility, according to local officials.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Tomek Rolski
Nov 15, 5:21 PM EST
Biden administration asks Congress for $37.7B for Ukraine
The White House said Tuesday it has asked Congress for $37.7 billion in additional funding for Ukraine.
The funding would include defense support and humanitarian assistance and be for the rest of the current fiscal year, which runs until Sep. 30, 2023, according to the White House.
“Together, with strong, bipartisan support in the Congress, we have provided significant assistance that has been critical to Ukraine’s success on the battlefield — and we cannot let that support run dry,” Shalanda Young, the head of the White House budget office, said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Tuesday on the funding request.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Nov 15, 4:47 PM EST
State Department investigating reported strike in Poland, will determine ‘appropriate next steps’
State Department officials are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the reported strike in Poland, Principal Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.
Calling the reports “incredibly concerning,” Patel said they were in close communication with the Polish government and other NATO allies to “gather more information.”
“We can’t confirm the reports or any of the details at this time. But I can assure you we will determine what happened and what appropriate next steps would be,” he said during a briefing Tuesday afternoon.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan has spoken with Chief of the National Security Bureau of Poland Jacek Siewiera, according to White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.
“We’ve seen the reports out of Poland and are working with the Polish government to gather more information,” Watson said in a statement, also adding that the White House cannot confirm the reports or any details at this time.
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the reports and will be speaking with Polish President Andrzej Duda “shortly,” the White House said.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford and Ben Gittleson
Nov 15, 1:52 PM EST
Polish PM calls urgent meeting amid unconfirmed reports of rockets landing in Poland
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called a meeting of the Committee of the Council of Ministers for National Security and Defense Affairs amid unconfirmed reports that the NATO ally was hit with stray Russian missiles.
According to Polish media, two stray Russian rockets landed in Polish territory killing two people. The rockets reportedly landed in the Polish town of Przewodów, near the border with Ukraine. These reports have not yet been independently confirmed by ABC News.
-ABC News Tom Soufi Burridge and Will Gretsky
Nov 15, 11:48 AM EST
Lviv loses 80% of electricity, heating and hot water stopped, mayor says
After Russia hit critical infrastructure in the Lviv region, the area lost 80% of its electricity supply. The city’s heating and hot water supply has also stopped and there are mobile service interruptions, according to Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv.
Sadovyi warned residents to stay in shelters.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Nov 15, 11:45 AM EST
Zelenskyy lays out ‘peace formula’ to ‘G-19,’ which Lavrov calls ‘unrealistic’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday demanded that Russia end its invasion and reiterated that the territorial integrity of his country is not up for negotiation.
Appearing via video link from Kyiv, Zelenskyy addressed the leaders of the Group of 20 at a summit in Bali as the “dear G-19” — an apparent snub to Russia, whose foreign minister was attending the event.
“Apparently, one cannot trust Russia’s words and there will be no Minsk 3, which Russia would violate immediately after signing,” Zelenskyy said, referring to the Minsk 1 and 2 agreements signed in 2014 and 2015, respectively, which aimed to bring an end to fighting at that time. Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 before using Kremlin-backed proxies to seize territory in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
“I want this aggressive Russian war to end justly and on the basis of the U.N. charter and international law,” he added. “Ukraine should not be offered to conclude compromises with its conscience, sovereignty, territory and independence. We respect the rules and we are people of our word.”
The Ukrainian president called on the United Nations to dispatch a mission to assess the damages to his country’s energy infrastructure from Russian missile strikes. He said Russian forces should also withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — the largest in Ukraine and in Europe — so that the International Atomic Energy Agency — the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog — can take control of the site together with Ukrainian officials.
In addition, Zelenskyy said his country needs a framework that guarantees the long-term security of his country and he called again for a special tribunal to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine. He called this series of proposals Ukraine’s “peace formula” and all of them, he said, must be achieved before there is an end to the ongoing war.
“If Russia wants to end this war, let it show it with actions,” Zelenskyy said. “We will not allow Russia to wait us out, to grow its forces and then start a new series of terror and global destabilization. I am sure that it is necessary and possible to stop this destructive Russian war now.”
In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was attending the G-20 summit in Bali, called Zelensky’s demands “unrealistic.”
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge and Patrick Reevell
Nov 15, 10:11 AM EST
Strikes on Kyiv part of Russian strikes across Ukraine
There are reports of Russian strikes in several regions throughout Ukraine after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to G-20 leaders.
The head of the regional administration in Kharkiv confirmed strikes in that region. Ukrainian media reported that people in the Zhytomyr region are without power after strikes.
There are also unconfirmed reports of explosions in the Lviv region, Rivne and Kryvyi Rih.
-ABC News’ Tom Burridge
Nov 15, 9:22 AM EST
Kyiv hit with a series of missile strikes
There have been a series of Russian missile strikes on Kyiv, with the city’s mayor, Vitaliy Klitchko, saying two residential buildings have been hit and several missiles were shot down by air defense.
So far there are no details on casualties; however, unverified videos circulating show an apartment block engulfed in flames.
Nov 14, 3:17 PM EST
International Atomic Energy Agency to dispatch security missions to 3 nuclear plants
The International Atomic Energy Agency will send security missions to three nuclear plants in Ukraine, the agency announced Monday.
Safety and security experts will be dispatched to the South Ukraine, Khmelnytskyi and Rivne Nuclear power plants following a request from Ukraine, the IAEA said in a statement. A security mission will also be conducted at the Chernobyl site, said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
The IAEA already has a team of experts continuously present at the country’s largest such facility, the Zaporizhzhya plant, and has been carrying out safety measures and checks at three other locations in Ukraine at the request of the Ukrainian government following allegations by the Russian Federation about activities there, according to the agency.
“From the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the IAEA has been doing everything it can to prevent a nuclear accident with potentially serious consequences for public health and the environment,” Grossi said. “We have delivered nuclear safety and security equipment, produced impartial assessments of the situation, and provided technical expertise and advice.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretzky
Nov 14, 3:06 PM EST
UN General Assembly calls on Russia to pay reparations
The United Nations General Assembly has approved its fifth resolution this year that supports Ukraine and rebukes Russia, declaring that Moscow should pay for damages caused by its invasion.
The resolution, which 94 countries voted in favor of, calls for the creation of “an international mechanism for reparation for damage, loss or injury” resulting from the war.
The resolution was co-sponsored by Canada, Guatemala, Netherlands and Ukraine. China was among the 14 countries that voted against it. There were 73 absentations.
While not legally binding, General Assembly resolutions have been viewed by Western powers as a powerful messaging tool through the conflict, communicating worldwide opposition to Russia’s invasion.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Nov 14, 1:21 PM EST
US citizen among prisoners freed in liberated Kherson
A U.S. citizen has been freed from prison in Kherson, the southern city that Russia had occupied for about eight months, according to a member of Ukraine’s parliament.
Swede Merekezi was arrested in Kherson in July and had not been in contact with officials for “a long time,” Ukraine parliament member Alexandr Kovaliov said in a statement posted to Facebook on Monday.
Merekezi was in Ukraine to defend “our country’s independence” and will be heading home on Monday, Kovaliov said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State said they are aware of unconfirmed reports but declined to comment further due to privacy concerns.
“This once again proves the cohesion and hard work of our team,” Kovaliov said.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Will Gretsky
Nov 14, 6:31 AM EST
Zelenskyy visits Kherson after liberation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy on Monday visited Kherson, the southern city that Russia had occupied for about eight months.
He handed out awards and was seen speaking to soldiers and civilians. Video footage showed Zelenskyy waving to residents who waved at him from an apartment window and yelled, “Glory to Ukraine!”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the visit, other than to say that it was Russian territory.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Nov 13, 1:36 PM EST
Ukrainians celebrate Kherson liberation
Russian forces completed their retreat from the Ukrainian city of Kherson on Friday. Now, Ukrainians are celebrating the liberation.
Nov 12, 2:45 PM EST
Banksy mural unveiled in Ukraine
Renowned street artist Banksy debuted a new work in a war-torn Ukrainian town in the Kyiv region.
The anonymous British artist posted photos of a mural to Instagram on Friday in Borodyanka, which was liberated from Russian forces in April.
The piece, which depicts a young girl doing a handstand on a pile of concrete rubble, was painted onto the wall of a building destroyed by shelling.
Fans were taking photos of the work, as well as several others presumed to be by the artist, in the region on Saturday.
Nov 11, 3:15 PM EST
Satellite images show damage to bridge near Kherson
New satellite images from Maxar, a Colorado space technology company, show massive damage to Kherson’s Antonovskiy Bridge and other structures after the Russian withdrawal across the Dnipro River.
The bridge is the main way to cross over the Dnipro River near the city of Kherson.
Photos show several sections of the key bridge have been completely destroyed.
ABC News’ Stephen Wood
Nov 11, 10:54 AM EST
Russians leave Kherson Oblast, not just the city
Russian forces have retreated not just from the city of Kherson, but the rest of Kherson province that surrounds the city and lies north of the Dnipro River.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that its 30,000 troops have now crossed to the other bank of the river, a figure that is in line with how many forces U.S. officials had estimated were in Kherson.
Russians claimed they are continuing to shell areas around Kherson that they’ve just left, which could be a concern for Ukrainian troops who will be in the range of Russian artillery fire while in the city.
Russia also claimed that fire damage is being inflicted on the accumulations of manpower and military equipment of the Ukrainian armed forces on the right bank of the Dnipro River.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Nov 11, 10:06 AM EST
Russia says withdrawal from Kherson complete
Russian forces have completed their retreat from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the Russian Ministry of Defense said, saying the last of its troops crossed over to the other side of the Dnipro river.
In a statement carried by Russia’s state news agencies, the ministry said the withdrawal was completed at 5 a.m. Moscow time on Friday.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Nov 10, 3:53 PM EST
Pentagon announces $400M in aid to Ukraine
The Pentagon announced a new $400 million defense package for Ukraine on Thursday.
The new aid will include four short-range Avenger air defense systems, which is a first for the packages approved for the war in Ukraine. It will also include more missiles for HAWK air defense systems, more anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, HIMARS ammunition, precision-guided artillery rounds and Humvees.
The Ukrainians will need some training on the Avengers, according to Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh, who did not give an estimate on when the systems might arrive and be ready to use.
With this latest drawdown, the U.S. has now committed more than $18.6 billion for the war since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Nov 10, 11:51 AM EST
US estimates 100,000 Russians killed or wounded in Ukraine
A new U.S. assessment estimates 100,000 Russians have been killed or wounded in the war in Ukraine, according to Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The U.S. last gave an estimate in early August that the number of Russians killed and wounded was between 70,000 and 80,000.
“There has been a tremendous amount of suffering, human suffering, you’re looking at maybe 15, 20, 30 million refugees, probably 40,000 Ukrainian innocent people who are civilians have been killed as collateral damage,” said Milley.
He added, “You’re looking at well over 100,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded, same thing probably on the Ukrainian side.”
He pointed out that Russia invaded Ukraine with a force of 170,000 troops.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Nov 09, 12:54 PM EST
Oligarch close to Putin says Russian troop retreat was necessary
Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who runs the private military company Wagner, said Wednesday that Russia’s retreat from the key Ukrainian city of Kherson was painful but necessary.
Prigozhin, nicknamed “Putin’s Chef” due to his restaurant and catering businesses, said Russian troops had to withdraw from Kherson because they were nearly surrounded by Ukrainian forces and cut off from supply lines.
“Neither I, nor Wagner abandoned Kherson,” Pigozhin said. “Without question, it is not a victorious step in this war, but it’s important not to agonize, nor to fall into paranoia, but to make conclusions and work on mistakes.”
He praised Russian Gen. Sergey Surovikin for making the decision to withdraw Russian troops and saving the lives of thousands of soldiers.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Nov 09, 11:32 AM EST
Russian troops retreat from key Ukrainian city
Russia’s defense minister and top commander in Ukraine announced Wednesday that Russian troops will pull back from the key city of Kherson in southern Ukraine.
Defense minister Sergey Shoigu said he accepted a proposal from Russian Gen. Sergey Surovikin to order Russian forces to retreat to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, in effect abandoning the city of Kherson.
Surovikin said it was a “very difficult decision” and justified it as necessary to save the lives of Russian soldiers and to preserve their capacity for future operations.
“Besides that, it frees up part of the forces and resources, which will be employed for active actions, including offensive, in other directions,” Surovikin said in the televised meeting with Shoigu.
Kherson is the only regional capital the Russians have occupied since 2014. The city and the surrounding area act as a gateway to Crimea Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Nov 09, 3:21 AM EST
White House denounces Griner transfer to penal colony
Brittney Griner, the WNBA star detained in Russia, has been transferred to a penal colony, a move decried by White House officials.
“Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement early Wednesday. “As the Administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the President has directed the Administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony.”
Griner’s lawyers said in a statement that she was transferred on Nov. 4 from a detention center in Iksha. She’s now on her way to a penal colony in an undisclosed location.
“We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination,” the lawyers, Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, said in a statement. “In accordance with the standard Russian procedure the attorneys, as well as the U.S. Embassy, should be notified upon her arrival at her destination.”
The White House said it had made a “significant offer” to Russian officials to “resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens.”
“In the subsequent weeks, despite a lack of good faith negotiation by the Russians, the U.S. Government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with the Russians through all available channels,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
She added, “The U.S. Government is unwavering in its commitment to its work on behalf of Brittney and other Americans detained in Russia — including fellow wrongful detainee Paul Whelan.”
ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Ahmad Hemingway and Tanya Stukalova
(NEW YORK) — With Americans about to celebrate a third Thanksgiving since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, infectious disease doctors say it may be safe to celebrate with slightly more relaxed rules this year.
“It’s important to just recognize we are in a very different place from two years ago. This population is getting more and more immune,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease physician at the University of California San Francisco.
“The most important thing is having balance. This is a tough time. It’s important to see our family and our loved ones if we can,” said Dr. Rupa Patel, a research associate professor at Washington University School of Medicine.
With multiple viruses circulating this fall including COVID-19, influenza and RSV, infectious disease specialists agreed that basic lessons learned during the pandemic can go a long way in preventing the spread of disease. That includes frequent hand washing, cracking a window for better circulation, staying home when sick and staying up-to-date with COVID-19 boosters and flu shots.
“What [the public] can do is balance risks and benefits. And there is no simple formula,” said Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s vaccine research group in Rochester, Minnesota.
When it comes to testing before family gatherings, infectious disease experts interviewed by ABC News universally agreed that anyone with cold and flu symptoms should seek a COVID-19 test. Even people without symptoms should consider testing if someone at their gathering is vulnerable to serious illness, including people who are unvaccinated, immune compromised or the elderly.
“Live life, but stay home if you feel sick,” said Dr. Whitney Minnock, director of pediatric emergency medicine at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital.
Always test with symptoms
Experts were split on the need for asymptomatic testing but many agreed that it’s no longer necessary to test before every single gathering, travel or major event.
For most people in most situations, “you don’t need to test unless you have symptoms,” said Dr. Jay Varma, director of the Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response. With tests no longer free through the federal government, frequent asymptomatic testing may no longer be possible for many families.
“If you are symptomatic, test obviously,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “This is a communicable disease. No one, as I say, wants to be a dreaded spreader.”
People with any symptoms of any viral illness should stay home. If staying home isn’t possible, people with symptoms should wear a high-quality mask, the experts said.
“I think the right guidance is to isolate for as long as you can, until your antigen test is negative,” Varma said. “Alternatively, wearing a high-quality mask, an N95 mask, and going about daily activities, including potentially being on a plane if you have to, are a reasonable way of minimizing harm to other people.”
Consider testing around the vulnerable
Because many people can spread COVID-19 without showing any symptoms, experts said it’s a good idea to test in situations where vulnerable people might be exposed.
“If you are going to be around people who are more vulnerable … you might want to [test] so that you can prevent that from happening,” said Chin-Hong.
Added Patel: “I think the responsibility of testing is … where am I going, who is the audience and where have I been?”
Similarly, people who are members of those high-risk groups should seek COVID-19 and flu testing at the first possible symptom because treatments work best when given early.
“If you’re in a high-risk group and you develop any kind of symptoms, please be tested, both for COVID and for influenza, because we have treatments for you. We can help prevent your needing to be hospitalized,” Schaffner said.
Take other steps to reduce risk
Although COVID-19 is still serious, it is a risk that many Americans are willing to adopt to resume a semi-normal way of life, according to Varma.
That said, everyone can take concrete steps to minimize risk, including vaccinations and basic prevention tips.
“I think this is the winter that people are going to get together,” said Chin-Hong.
Dr. Amy Arrington, a medical director at Texas Children’s Hospital, said it’s “important to continue the things that we have learned work,” including new COVID-19 booster shots.
“You also have to remember that your actions affect other people,” said Anne Rimoin, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “As we move further and further along out of the most acute phase of the pandemic, it doesn’t mean that risk mitigation measures aren’t worthwhile.”
Even for the vaccinated, COVID-19 infection isn’t always trivial. Many patients will go on to experience long-COVID, or lingering symptoms that can last for months after infection.
“The evidence is increasingly compelling that long COVID can present serious, long-term health consequences,” Rimoin said.
“I think there’s definitely a light at the end of the tunnel but I don’t think we’re there quite yet,” said Arrington. “I hate for us to just loosen the reins [and] go back to a totally pre-pandemic way.”
Added Minnock: “If we head into the holidays and everybody is scared, that is not good for mental health. I plan on being with my family this Thanksgiving. But some important precautions will be part of our celebration.”
(NEW YORK) — Already facing a challenging respiratory season, pediatricians in Ohio are now dealing with another foe: measles.
According to statistics provided to ABC News by the Columbus Public Health Department (CPHD), as of Tuesday afternoon, 19 children have contracted the virus.
Nearly half of these children were hospitalized due to severe symptoms of the infection. Almost half were under 5 years old.
The rate of children requiring hospitalization during this outbreak was nearly double what’s typically seen during measles outbreaks, Dr. Matthew Washam, pediatrician and chief of epidemiology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, told ABC News.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told ABC News that it is deploying a team to Ohio to assist with mitigating the outbreak.
Here’s what to know about the outbreak, why these rare cases occur and how Americans can protect themselves against the virus:
Is measles serious?
Measles is a very contagious disease with the CDC saying every individual infected by the virus can spread it to up to 10 close contacts, if they are unprotected including not wearing a mask or not being vaccinated.
Complications from measles can be relatively benign, like rashes, or they can be much more severe, like viral sepsis, pneumonia, or brain swelling.
“The impression that measles is a trivial infection akin to the common cold with a rash, that is incorrect,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News. “Measles is a very nasty virus.”
“Before we had the measles vaccine in the United States, 400 to 500 children died of measles and its complications each and every year. So, measles can make you very, very sick,” he continued.
Am I protected from measles?
The CDC says anybody who either had measles at some point in their life or who has received two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine is protected against measles.
One dose of the measles vaccine is 93% effective at preventing infection if exposed to the virus. Two doses are 97% effective.
Schaffner said there is no reason for anyone who has been vaccinated to receive a booster dose when isolated outbreaks occur.
“If you’ve had those two doses of the measles vaccine, you’re protected essentially for life,” he said.
In 2000, measles was declared eradicated from the U.S. thanks to the highly effective vaccination campaign.
Why did this outbreak occur?
The CDC team deploying to Ohio will also assist with investigating the outbreak’s origins, given that children across 12 schools/daycares have contracted the virus so far.
The fact that these infections occurred over a two-week timespan is throwing another wrench in efforts to track down the outbreak’s origins.
Recent research from the World Health Organization described the “largest continued backslide in vaccinations in three decades” due to missed routine care during the pandemic.
In the U.S., a May study found one-third of American parents reported a child with a missed vaccination due to barriers imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, according to Kelli Newman, director in the CPHD Office of Public Affairs and Communications, “our investigation so far points to vaccine hesitancy and choosing not to be vaccinated” as the driver for the outbreak.
What is vaccine hesitancy?
Vaccine hesitancy is defined as delaying or refusing vaccination despite their widespread availability.
Accordingly, CPHD’s conclusion so far fits with a troublesome trend sweeping the United States — and beyond.
Even before the pandemic, reluctance around getting vaccines was hitting a fever pitch. Vaccine hesitancy was named one of the top 10 threats to global health by the WHO in 2019.
In the U.S., vaccine hesitancy has been further stoked by politics.
A study by the Colorado Health Institute, a non-partisan research organization, found that COVID vaccination rates across the state were strongly correlated with counties’ political beliefs.
The MMR vaccine has been especially targeted by the vaccine hesitant community. Much of the controversy around the vaccine derives from a now retracted and discredited 1998 study from The Lancet that falsely drew a connection between the shot and rates of autism.
How can we encourage vaccination?
Despite research debunking the Lancet paper, many communities continue to grapple with misinformation around the MMR vaccine.
“Misinformation and disinformation related to vaccines continues and persists,” Washam told ABC News. “These are not conversations that can be had in five or 10 minutes or in a single visit.”
In Ohio, the health department has tried to combat this misinformation by offering walk-in MMR vaccine appointments that include one-to-one counseling with health providers.
Fortunately, despite the increasing frequency of measles outbreaks, vaccine hesitancy still remains the exception rather than the rule. CDC data shows that more than 90% of children were vaccinated against MMR by the age of two. By 17 years old, that share rises to 92%.
However, epidemiologists worry a 10% unvaccinated rate in children is the bare minimum required to stem future outbreaks. They are even more concerned about communities, like that in Ohio, where the vaccination rate is even lower.
“That 90% is not evenly distributed across the country — there are pockets of under vaccinated areas, and those are the areas that are susceptible,” Washam told ABC News. “Measles anywhere in the world is a risk for measles everywhere in the world.”
Schaffner said it is important for local public health authorities to bring trusted leaders, be they political or religious, to speak about the importance of vaccination.
“They can provide them not only information, but a sense of reassurance, a sense of comfort, letting them know that it is the appropriate thing to do for their own children’s benefit, but also for the benefit of the entire community,” Schaffner noted.
Additionally, this winter amid a so-called “tripledemic” of flu, RSV and COVID-19, experts are urging families to ensure their children are vaccinated against the flu to reduce the burden on health systems and prevent any undue harm. Vaccination rates for the flu historically hover around 60%.
“Some families say, I’m going to wait until X or Y or Z date to get the vaccine,” Washam told ABC News. “Well, this might be the year to get it a little sooner.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is spending Thanksgiving with his family in Nantucket, Massachusetts, as is their tradition, but the talk around the dinner table this year could turn to his political future.
Biden told reporters after the midterm elections he’d be conferring with his family over the holidays, and that while it’s his intention to run again in 2024, he has yet to make a final decision.
“I’m a great respecter of fate,” he said. “And this is, ultimately, a family decision. I think everybody wants me to run, but … we’re going to have discussions about it.”
“I hope Jill and I get a little time to actually sneak away for a week around — between Christmas and Thanksgiving,” he continued. “And my guess is it would be early next year when we make that judgment.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was tight-lipped Tuesday when pressed during a briefing whether the Biden family Thanksgiving would include discussions about 2024.
“He’s going to have a private conversation with his family. I am certainly not going to lay out what that conversation could look like or potentially be,” she said.
The Bidens will be in Nantucket until Sunday, continuing their Thanksgiving tradition that dates back to 1975.
In 2020 Biden’s family decided together about his run, with his eldest granddaughter Naomi calling a family meeting to urge him to challenge then-President Donald Trump.
Biden’s predecessor has already announced that he is running for the Republican nomination. An ABC News/Washington Post poll from September found Biden and Trump to be essentially tied in a hypothetical rematch, with 48% of Americans backing Biden and 46% backing Trump.
Biden’s been boosted after a better-than-expected performance by Democrats in the midterm elections. The party avoided a complete Republican takeover of Congress, managing to keep control of the Senate and limit their losses in the House.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said after the midterms showing that she believed Biden should seek a second term.
“He has been a great president and he has a great record to run on,” she told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on This Week on Nov. 13.
Vice President Kamala Harris, asked about 2024 plans while visiting the Philippines, said Tuesday that if Biden runs again, “I will be running with him.”
“And I have no doubt about the strength that we have done over these past two years,” Harris said.
But questions are also mounting about his age. Biden recently celebrated his 80th birthday, making him the first octogenarian to serve as commander-in-chief in the nation’s history. If he were to seek reelection, and win, he would be 86 by the end of his second term.
As Biden considers his next move, Pelosi and other long-reigning Democratic leaders have announced they are stepping down from their roles. In her farewell speech on the House floor, Pelosi, 82, nodded to passing the torch to rising Democratic stars.
“For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect,” Pelosi said. “And I am grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility.”
Before departing for Nantucket, the Bidens rang in some of the holiday cheer in Washington with the annual pardoning of Thanksgiving turkeys and the arrival of the official White House Christmas tree.
President Biden and Jill Biden also shared a Thanksgiving meal with military members and their families at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point in North Carolina.
“You are literally, not figuratively, the greatest fighting force, the best fighting force in the history of the world,” Biden told service members. “That’s not hyperbole — in the history of the world. It’s not a joke. And you really are an incredible group of women and men. And again, I want to thank the spouses as well, because they put up with an awful lot because of your service.”
(JERUSALEM) — Twin blasts near bus stops in Jerusalem on Wednesday morning killed at least one person and injured 15 others in what Israeli police described as a suspected “coordinated terror attack.”
“Not an easy morning,” Israel Police Commissioner R.N. Yaakov Shabtai said. “This kind of attack has not been seen for many years — two attacks in a row. The main effort of the Israel Police is currently scanning all areas — bus stops, transportation and crowd gatherings — at the same time as the manhunt to get hold of the perpetrator of the attack. We will do everything in our power together with all the other security forces to reach this cell.”
Both explosions went off near separate bus stops during rush hour — the first on the edge of Jerusalem and the second in the city’s northern Ramot neighborhood. Four of the wounded were hospitalized in serious condition, according to police.
“It is a rolling terror incident,” Jerusalem District Commander Superintendent Doron Turgeman said. “We are currently still in the stages of scanning and activity at the scene of the incident and in the wider scope. The investigation is in its infancy with all the force, both the district forces and national reinforcements.”
A manhunt for the perpetrators is underway, with hundreds of police officers and border guards working with security forces to conduct searches on the ground and in the air, according to police.
Members of the public were asked to avoid the areas of the blasts, where investigators and bomb squads remain on scene, police said.
The apparent attacks came amid heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians as well as an uptick in deadly violence. For the past several months, Israeli security forces have been conducting nightly raids in the occupied West Bank, prompted by a string of attacks against Israelis that have left 19 people dead.
(NEW YORK) — Elon Musk, who admitted to overpaying for Twitter, cut workers at the social media platform almost immediately. In response, some of the axed employees want their day in court.
Within days of the acquisition, Musk fired top executives and cut the company’s 7,500-person workforce in half. Soon after, he posed an ultimatum to employees asking that they commit to being, in Musk’s words, “extremely hardcore” and “work long hours of high intensity” or resign. The move sent more workers out the door.
These personnel changes provoked several lawsuits from former workers alleging that the moves violated workers’ rights because the company allegedly did not provide ample notice for laid-off workers or accommodations for disabled employees.
Musk, who also runs Tesla and SpaceX, may have exposed Twitter to serious legal liability that could wreak financial damage on the company, two labor experts told ABC News. The experts were reluctant to comment on the specifics of the cases, but said the former workers carry legitimate grievances that the courts will have to assess.
The combined lawsuits could cost Twitter “many millions of dollars,” Michael LeRoy, a professor of labor and employment relations at University Of Illinois, told ABC News.
However, the legal proceedings could take more than five years to resolve, affording the company leverage if it were to pursue settlements with former employees, LeRoy added.
Sharon Block, executive director of the labor and worklife program at Harvard University Law School and a former member of the Obama administration, said the personnel moves demonstrate “reckless disregard for workers’ wellbeing.”
Twitter has not responded to a request for comment.
In one class-action lawsuit, departed workers allege that the company failed to provide the 60-day notice of layoffs required by federal law under the WARN Act, which mandates large businesses give notice when undertaking a mass layoff, Shannon Liss-Riordan, the attorney for the workers, told ABC News.
Twitter plans to keep many, but not all, of the laid-off workers on the payroll for two months as a means of complying with the law, Liss-Riordan said. However, the company does not intend to pay full severance beyond those months as previously promised, she added.
In a separate class-action lawsuit — also overseen by Liss-Riordan — a disabled former employee is suing the company over allegations the ultimatum that workers be “extremely hardcore” forced disabled workers to resign because they could not meet the elevated standard for work performance.
Federal labor law affords companies wide latitude to terminate workers without explanation under a measure called at-will employment. But businesses face some limits on the type or execution of layoffs, including prohibitions against discrimination and requirements that employees at some firms be alerted in advance of large layoffs.
“We completely understand that business leaders and owners of companies get to make decisions about how they think the company will best operate going forward,” Liss-Riordan told ABC News. “But we do have laws in place to protect workers and laws to protect workers subject to layoffs.”
“If Elon Musk thinks it’s best for Twitter and its shareholders to slash workers, he’s within his rights to do that,” she added. “But if he tries to violate workers’ rights, he’s got to expect pushback.”
LeRoy, of the University of Illinois, said the breakneck speed of Musk’s personnel decisions has placed his company on precarious legal ground.
“Haste makes waste,” LeRoy said. “Hasty terminations often have legal consequences.”
Still, the company could make arguments focused on exemptions in relevant law, LeRoy said. For example, the federal statute that mandates large companies provide notice ahead of mass layoffs excludes companies suffering financial hardship, he added.
“That adds some degree of ambiguity to the situation,” he said.
In addition, the legal proceedings could take many years, giving the upper hand to Twitter as it fights the lawsuits or pursues a favorable settlement, LeRoy said.
Liss-Riordan acknowledged the challenge posed by a potentially lengthy legal proceeding, but said the cases against Twitter could be resolved with relative ease.
“Cases can take a long time,” she said. “In this case, I’m hopeful perhaps we might be able to get this resolved sooner.”
“Paying laid-off workers what they’re owed should be the easiest of Musk’s current problems to address,” she added.
Since he acquired Twitter late last month, Musk has imposed major changes at the social media platform.
He revamped the company’s subscription product Twitter Blue, by allowing users to access verification through a monthly $8 fee, but halted the rollout after a rise of impersonations on the platform, including impersonations of Musk himself.
More recently, he reinstated the account of former President Donald Trump, reversing a previous announcement that said major account reinstatement decisions would await the formation of a content moderation council. Trump had been permanently suspended “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” in the wake of Jan. 6.
Musk, who acquired Twitter at the purchasing price of $44 billion, faces pressure to boost the company’s profits. Earlier this month, he said the company was losing $4 million each day.
(NEW YORK) — Luxury brand Balenciaga has issued an apology for its recent advertisements featuring children with sexualized teddy bears.
“We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms,” the company wrote in a statement posted to its Instagram story on Tuesday.
The advertisements, which were originally posted earlier this week, were for the brand’s new holiday gifting campaign. The photos featured children posing with the company’s plush bear bags, which wear BDSM-inspired harnesses.
One photo featured a child standing on a bed with one of the plush bear bags, surrounded by other purses and accessories that include what appears to be a chain leash as well as a Balenciaga branded dog collar choker.
Social media users immediately called out the brand’s latest campaign on Twitter, with some also denouncing a promotional photo for a purse that included what appears to be an excerpt from the U.S. Supreme Court opinion on United States vs. Williams (2008), which upheld part of a federal child pornography law.
“We apologize for displaying unsettling documents in our campaign. We take this matter very seriously and are taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved items for our Spring 23 campaign photoshoot. We strongly condemn abuse of children in any form. We stand for children’s safety and well-being,” the company said in its statement on Tuesday.
Balenciaga’s ad campaign featured its Spring/Summer 2023 collection, which debuted this fall at Paris Fashion Week.
The Spanish luxury label made headlines last month for cutting ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, after he made antisemitic comments on social media and in several interviews. Ye had walked in Balenciaga’s Paris Fashion Week show just weeks earlier.
The brand left Twitter on Nov. 15, shortly after billionaire Elon Musk bought the company for $44 billion in October, but remains on Instagram.
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — The alleged gunman in a deadly shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado is scheduled to make his first court appearance virtually on Wednesday, court records show.
Five people were killed and 17 others wounded by gunfire in the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs late Saturday night. Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
The suspect, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, is being held without bond on 10 “arrest only” charges: five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, according to online court records.
Aldrich is expected to have his first court appearance on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. local time, court records show. The hearing is to let him know the charges he’s facing and advise him on the no-bond status, Colorado’s Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen, who serves El Paso and Teller counties, told ABC News.
The appearance will be done via video link from jail, according to the district attorney.
The district attorney’s office expects to file formal charges with the court within a few days of this first court appearance, Allen told reporters earlier this week. There may be more charges than what was initially included in the arrest warrant, he said.
“Very customary that final charges may be different than what’s in the arrest affidavit. Typically, there will be more charges than what is listed in the arrest affidavit. So don’t be surprised when you see a different list of charges when we finally file formal charges with the court,” he said.
The El Paso County District Court has sealed the arrest warrant and supporting documentation connected with Aldrich’s arrest. According to the motion by prosecutors, if the records were released, “it could jeopardize the ongoing case investigation.”
The gunman used a long rifle and was injured in the shooting, according to police. Two “heroes” — identified as Thomas James and Richard Fierro — confronted and fought with him, stopping him from shooting more people, police have said. Officers responded to the scene and detained Aldrich just after midnight and transported him to a local hospital, where he had been in custody in the days following the incident.
On Tuesday, the Colorado Springs Police Department said it had turned over custody of the suspect to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office at the jail.
Colorado Springs police said Tuesday they do not expect to provide additional updates on the case until Monday.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers told ABC News that the suspect “had considerable ammo” and “was extremely well armed.” While a motive remains under investigation, Suthers said “it has the trappings of a hate crime.”
The Colorado state public defender wrote in court filings released Tuesday that Aldrich is nonbinary.
In June 2021, Aldrich was arrested in an alleged bomb threat incident after their mother alerted authorities that they were “threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons and ammunition,” according to a press release posted online last year by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. While no explosives were found in his possession, Aldrich was booked into the El Paso County Jail on two counts of felony menacing and three counts of first-degree kidnapping, according to the sheriff’s office.
Aldrich’s 2021 arrest may not have appeared on background checks because the case does not appear to have been adjudicated, officials briefed on the investigation have told ABC News.
ABC News and other news organizations have petitioned the court in Colorado to unseal the records regarding Aldrich’s 2021 arrest.
Allen told ABC News on Tuesday that after the suspect has their first court appearance, the DA will appeal to have Aldrich’s sealed 2021 records opened next week.
(WASHINGTON) — A Washington, D.C., jury began deliberations Tuesday in the seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and four other associates in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Rhodes and his alleged co-conspirators are charged with disrupting the peaceful transfer of power by conspiring to oppose by force the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, among multiple other felonies.
Rhodes himself did not enter the U.S. Capitol that day and maintains that his group only intended to provide security and medical aid to those attending multiple pro-Trump demonstrations around the city.
Prosecutors have spent months putting on their case, documenting what they said were the conversations, messages and actions of the defendants leading up to their involvement with the events of Jan. 6, and alleged efforts to cover up their criminal activity afterward.
Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate who founded the Oath Keepers militia in 2009, sent increasingly frantic messages to members of the group, following the 2020 election, about their need to be prepared to prevent Biden from taking office, the government said.
“We aren’t getting through this without a civil war,” Rhodes said in a Nov. 5 message shown by prosecutors.
Rhodes took the rare step of testifying on his own behalf during the trial, and told the court he continues to believe that the 2020 election was illegitimate, citing an unfounded theory that pandemic safety measures unconstitutionally affected voting.
Relying on testimony from the FBI, prosecutors allege that Rhodes worked between the election and Jan. 6 to rally his troops — many of them former law enforcement and military service members — and spent thousands of dollars on weapons and equipment as he traveled across the country toward Washington.
“It will be a bloody and desperate fight,” Rhodes wrote in a Dec. 11 message to other Oath Keepers, prosecutors said. “We are going to have a fight. That can’t be avoided.”
The charges: seditious conspiracy, obstructing government, aiding and abetting
Over dozens of hours in the D.C. federal courthouse, prosecutors have worked to reach the high bar of proving to the jury that the five defendants, Rhodes, Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Kelly Meggs, all engaged in a conspiracy to forcibly oppose the execution of laws governing the transfer of presidential power.
The government attempted to preempt innocent explanations for the defendant’s actions with evidence they said shows Rhodes and his associates would continue plans to disrupt government operations following Jan. 6.
“We aren’t quitting,” alleged co-conspirator Meggs wrote the night of Jan. 6 in a message presented by the government. “We’re reloading.”
Rhodes continued posting about a violent revolution and spent thousands on firearms and related equipment in the days after Jan. 6, records presented by the government showed.
If convicted on the seditious conspiracy charge, they could face a maximum of 20 years in prison, though all five members face a range of other felonies that could carry hefty prison sentences as well.
Alleged Oath Keeper co-conspirator Jessica Watkins said in testimony last week she accepted responsibility and regretted some of her actions inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, despite claiming credit for storming the building and calling it a “patriot movement” on social media after the fact.
After making her way through the crowd at the grand double doors on the Capitol building’s eastern side — which she described as similar to being at a Black Friday sale — Watkins found herself in the middle of a mob, crammed into a hallway leading further into the Capitol building. Metropolitan Police Department officer Christopher Owens, who testified earlier in the trial, was at the other end of the hallway with fellow officers physically keeping the mob from advancing.
Watkins admitted to yelling “push!” and testified that she now regrets it and didn’t realize what was happening at the front of the group.
“I take full responsibility for what happened in this hallway,” Watkins said. “I know it opens me up to criminal liability. I’m going to get charged for it — I get it.”
The officers ultimately held the line, but Watkins and others remained inside the Capitol building before she left to help carry out someone who had been hit in the face with pepper spray.
Watkins described being “excited” upon entering the capitol. Even after the incident in the hallway, she can be seen on Capitol security camera footage smoking some sort of pen-sized item. She later told the FBI that she had smoked marijuana inside the building.
“It felt like a historic moment,” Watkins said. “We were making history and I wasn’t absorbing the fact that we are not only trespassing but we’re trespassing in one of the most secure buildings in the world.”
But prosecutors circled back to the political nature of Watkins’ views, especially as they concerned the 2020 election, suggesting Biden’s victory may have been threatening to her and her alleged co-conspirators.
“The election itself wasn’t a threat,” Watkins said, adding that she was more concerned about what might happen “after the inauguration.”
Watkins said she maintained a “steady diet of InfoWars and Alex Jones” in the months before Jan. 6, watching the conspiracy theorist’s rants and interviews several hours a day, which she testified informed her world view and concerns about the government.
Watkins became concerned about a variety of conspiracy theories promoted in far-right circles around the time of the 2020 election. She testified that she became worried about the United Nations deploying to Washington, D.C., to ensure Joe Biden took office, then forcibly taking guns from Americans, mandating COVID-19 vaccinations and allowing a possible Chinese invasion from Canada.
“In hindsight I feel like I was gullible,” Watkins told the court.
Defendants contend they were there to provide security
Defense attorneys have sought to dispute the government’s arguments that the group ever engaged in plans to disrupt the Electoral college certification — arguing prosecutors are selectively quoting their messages and conversations to cast their intentions as seditious in nature.
They have also vigorously disputed the government’s narrative about the so-called “Quick Reaction Force” of heavily armed Oath Keepers members stationed at a hotel just outside the city on Jan. 6, which prosecutors have argued were in place as part of the plan to potentially use force to prevent Donald Trump’s removal from office.
Defense attorneys note that at no point has the government alleged that any of the firearms at the hotel were brought into D.C. on Jan. 6 or afterward, and that Rhodes never called them to come to the Capitol in the midst of the riot. In his own testimony, Rhodes denied having any knowledge about the specifics of the so-called Virginia QRF, even though he did acknowledge recommending members who decided to bring their firearms to keep them out of Washington.
Rhodes, in particular, has leaned heavily into his defense that he was never calling for anything unlawful in his public and private pleadings to have Trump mobilize the militia by invoking the Insurrection Act.
Attorneys for the defendants attempted to break the line prosecutors drew between the election and the Capitol siege, regardless of their clients’ far-right political views.
“Yes, things were said,” Stewart Rhodes’ attorney, James Bright, said. “It was heated rhetoric. Horribly heated rhetoric. Bombast. Inappropriate.”
But Bright contended none of this talk amounted to any sort of Jan. 6 plan to stop official government proceedings.
Kelly Meggs attorney, Stanley Woodward, similarly sought to undermine the idea that a coordinated effort took place between the defendants on Jan. 6 while arguing that any coordination that was done involved providing security to VIPs who were speaking at events that day.
“We don’t take lightly the events of Jan. 6, but we do take issue with the government’s characterization of what happened that day,” Woodward said.
Both Bright and Woodward condemned the violence and destruction that happened in and around the Capitol on Jan. 6, while maintaining it was not at the fault of their clients.
Woodward showed security camera footage from inside the Capitol of Meggs and other Oath Keepers entering double doors on the eastern side of the building after they had been forced open by rioters. Video from outside shows the Oath Keepers advancing through the crowd, but not making it all the way to the front before entering the building.
During his closing arguments, Harrelson defense attorney Brad Geyer focused on the government’s video evidence where rioters on the Capitol’s eastern steps were singing the national anthem while officers were being attacked with chemical spray and the defendants were further behind, walking up the steps through the massive crowd.
“If the video doesn’t fit you must acquit,” Geyer said repeatedly during closing arguments, channeling a famous refrain from the O.J.Simpson murder trial.
Geyer drew the jury’s attention to part of the crowd that was in front of the Oath Keepers and the rioters who broke open the doors before Harrelson and the others made it up to that level. Upon entering, Harrelson spent about 20 minutes in the building before leaving.
“They want you to turn this man’s life upside down for 17 minutes,” Geyer said. “The absurdity boggles the mind.”
What is seditious conspiracy?
Prosecutors provided a specific roadmap for the jury to reach its judgments, breaking down the meaning of seditious conspiracy in plain terms: an agreement to oppose the government by force. There does not need to be a specific start or end date and all the defendants did not need to join the conspiracy at the same time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy said last week.
The rarely-used seditious conspiracy statute was signed into law following the Civil War with the aim of prosecuting Southerners who might still have wanted to fight against the government.
The Justice Department hasn’t brought seditious conspiracy charges since 2010, when prosecutors indicted several Michigan residents and members of the Hutaree militia with conspiring to oppose by force the authority of the U.S. government. But the defendants were all acquitted after a judge determined that prosecutors had hinged too much of their case on statements that were First Amendment protected speech.
The last successful seditious conspiracy conviction was in 1995, when a jury found an Egyptian cleric and his followers guilty in a plot to bomb the United Nations, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and a building housing an FBI office.
The Oath Keepers now on trial are not charged with seeking to overthrow the U.S. government — instead prosecutors argue their conduct falls within the portion of the seditious conspiracy statute related to conspiring to oppose the government’s authority and forcibly blocking the execution of laws.
