(WASHINGTON) — The twin brother of Paul Whelan, the former U.S. Marine detained in Russia on espionage charges, said he had mixed feelings about the responses to the cases involving Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner in comparison to his brother.
Reed, another former U.S. Marine who was released from a Russian prison in April after serving nearly three years, told Good Morning America that the Biden administration is “not doing enough” for Paul Whelan and Griner, an American WNBA player and Olympic athlete that was detained in February on drug charges.
Speaking about Reed’s recent release, David Whelan described his “mixed feelings.”
“You’re thrilled for Trevor Reed, and I would be thrilled for Brittney Griner if she was able to go home too,” David Whelan told ABC News’ podcast “Start Here,” and continued “separately from whether Paul gets to go home or not.”
“It’s a devastating call to have to make to our parents for Paul,” he added, “to tell him he was left behind once, and maybe we might have to have that conversation a second time.”
David Whelan said that during the phone call, his brother was “very angry and very upset” and said “why was I left behind?”
During a press briefing Thursday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed Paul Whelan’s detainment and that of others. .
“This President is doing everything that he can to make sure that they come home safely,” said Jean-Pierre. “We’re going to use any — every means that we have.”
Paul Whelan was detained in Russia in December 2018 and accused of spying. His brother said he was in Moscow for a friend’s wedding and was given a USB drive.
“I think one of the challenges for any wrongfully detained family is what are you going to do?” David Whelan said.. “What are you going to sacrifice?”
“One of the friends that he had made in Russia visited him the night of the wedding right before the wedding happened, and gave Paul USB,” he said. “As soon as he was given the USB stick and put it in his pocket, his door was opened by the FSB. And he was arrested.”
Paul Whelan pleaded not guilty, claiming it was a sting operation and that he thought the USB drive contained holiday photos. In June 2020, he was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years of “hard labor” in a Russian prison.
Before the Biden administration, the response of the White House to his brothers’ detainment was “radio silence,” said David Whelan. “Since January or February 2021, we’ve had a huge change.”
At one point, David Whelan said that somebody in the State Department asked his family to “make more noise” about Paul Whelan’s detention.
“We mostly pointed back at them and say, ‘Why would you ask a family to have to take on this responsibility,’” said David Whelan.
Asked by ABC News’ Brad Mielke to speak about the overlaps between the three cases, David Whelan said that “each of these cases is distinct. And each of them has different requirements. And so the resources that the U.S. government brings to bear on each case is going to be different.”
Later in the interview, he added, “I would hope that the U.S. government would look deep to find out what that concession is that they could make and to make it there. There’s got to be something that they can do.”
President Biden called Paul and David Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, Friday to reaffirm his commitment to bringing the former marine home.
“Today, President Biden called Elizabeth Whelan, the sister of Paul Whelan who has been wrongfully detained by Russia since 2018,” a White House official said.
(NEW YORK) — The digital currencies have crashed as interest rates rise and investors seek less risky investments.
Can cryptocurrency become an alternative financial system for people of color who have historically faced discriminatory banking practices? Some crypto enthusiasts of color who spoke with ABC News say they believe so, even despite the crash in the price of digital currencies.
Worries about the volatile cryptocurrency market also leave some wondering whether turning to digital currency could financially hurt people of color, who generally have less net worth and generational wealth than white people, rather than help them.
Prejudice in banking
Black and brown people have a history of being “underbanked” and discriminated against by traditional financial institutions.
Many low-income Hispanic and Black households have little-to-no bank access, according to research from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
At least 40% of Black Americans are under or unbanked – 13% are without a bank account and 27% rely primarily on other financial services that do not fully meet their financial needs, according to the Federal Reserve.
An analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data also found that of all mortgage applications, Black borrowers had the highest denial rate of 27%, followed by Hispanics at almost 22%.
And several investigations about discrimination by several banks, have shown that people of color have been charged more for banking fees or higher interest rates than their white counterparts.
Teri Williams, the president, COO and owner of OneUnited Bank, one of the nation’s largest Black-owned banks, told ABC News that “banking while Black” is a phrase used to describe discriminatory banking practices.
“There are many reasons for the large percentage of unbanked or underbanked Black Americans, including lower median income and education, less access to banking services due to a lower concentration of bank branches and a higher concentration of check cashers in Black communities, and systemic racism,” she said.
She says many Black Americans simply feel unwelcome when they walk into most national bank branches.
Even Black-owned banks have struggled for adequate investment funding and don’t have access to the same resources as large banks.
Cryptocurrency became a space, she says, where communities of color could support and connect with one another without having the red tape of financial systems, according to Olayinka Odeniran, the founder of the Black Women Blockchain Council.
“Everybody always felt that we don’t really care about investing or budgeting,” said Odeniran, who is also a cybersecurity expert. “But in essence, we do. It’s just that historically, we have not had resources that allow us to tap in beyond risk, gaining some monetary freedom that’s beyond paycheck to paycheck.”
Crypto pitfalls
However, the recent crash of a popular stablecoin and the dramatic fall of Bitcoin from nearly $69,000 to below $22,000 in just about two years (at the time of publishing), highlights some of the hazards and risks that come from decentralized financial systems.
The cryptocurrency market crash erased billions of dollars and sent investors into a tailspin.
Even cryptocurrency’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders acknowledge the potential risks and instability that cryptocurrency can have. Its volatile marketplace and the prices of coins can change quickly and regularly, putting one’s money at stake. The market is also rife with scammers eager to take advantage of users.
Still, some say it’s not much different than the ebbs and flows of the stock market.
“Even though we’re experiencing a bear market right now, historically, Bitcoin is still on the up and up,” said Mesidor. “This is a currency that no one paid attention to and now it’s sitting at around $20,000.”
The volatility of the market is one of its major risks. When the market crashes, people of color are likely to be included in the wreckage.
Crypto is so volatile because it isn’t backed by anything intrinsically valuable besides the public interest in it, according to Forbes, whereas the U.S. dollar is backed by the government.
This means that different currencies can drop their value or soar in a day. People can lose money, or potentially owe more on their crypto-based loans, in an instant.
Another risk for those operating in the crypto space is falling prey to scammers, who have taken advantage of a decentralized market rife with a growing number of potentially uneducated newcomers.
Reported losses to crypto fraud in 2021 were up nearly sixty times the losses in 2018, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Without a third party to flag fraud or suspicious activity, or reverse payments, more than 46,000 people have lost money since the start of 2021 to crypto scammers.
An ‘alternative financial system’
A report from the Pew Research Center found that Black, Asian and Hispanic people are more likely to say they have invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ether.
“People of color sometimes have difficulty going to get a bank loan or going to get some sort of assistance from the government or a way to start their business and they’re turned down,” said cryptocurrency enthusiast Steven Bumbera. “Crypto doesn’t care.”
Cleve Mesidor, the executive director of the Blockchain Foundation, said that people of color are using crypto as “an alternative financial system to operate” without discrimination.
Enthusiasts contend the benefits of managing money on blockchain technology outweigh the risks for many people of color, and they’re sticking with it.
When using crypto, it can cost almost nothing and takes almost no time to transfer money to anyone in the world at any time, although it depends on the type of crypto.
For crypto-backed loans, borrowers can be given money from an exchange or lending agency without having to worry about racial discrimination.
“If you are on chain, and you have a wallet address, you’re a wallet address — that’s it,” said Bumbera. “Crypto doesn’t care about color, race, sexual orientation.”
Enthusiasts like Bumbera say they like that anyone with a smartphone can access cryptocurrency, without the red tape of banks or government institutions in which it takes days and costs fees or interest rates to do the same.
They also say crypto can be used to fund businesses and organizations directly without donations being penalized by a third-party to transfer the money.
However, for the wave of people of color working within the market, Williams says that this new financial frontier is bound to come with risks and challenges.
“Crypto is not a competitor to traditional banking, but a complement,” Williams said. “There will continue to be a need for traditional banking services, but crypto, in moderation, can provide opportunities for wealth building and opportunities to develop new services – such as remittance services – that can better meet the needs of the Black community.”
(NEW YORK) — Oppressive heat continues to take hold of the South and West this weekend, with record heat possible for some regions Saturday.
A mix of excessive heat warnings and heat advisories are in effect across parts of 14 states, stretching from California to Alabama, as of Saturday morning.
The National Weather Service warned that there could be “dangerous heat and humidity” across parts of the South Plain to the Lower Mississippi and Tennessee valleys through Monday.
Record temperatures could be possible on Saturday in more than a dozen locations, from Utah to Mississippi. In Dallas, temperatures could reach 107 degrees, which would beat a record 106 degrees. In Houston, temperatures could exceed 105 degrees — topping a record 102 degrees.
Denver and Salt Lake City could also see record temperatures on Saturday.
Heat indices — what the temperature feels like — topped 110 degrees from Texas to Tennessee on Friday and could do so again on Saturday.
High temperatures are expected to continue throughout the weekend. Phoenix, Arizona, is forecast to hit temperatures north of 110 degrees from Saturday through Monday.
The heat follows record-setting temperatures on Friday, including in Memphis (103 degrees); Forth Smith, Arkansas (106 degrees); and Abilene, Texas (107 degrees).
Meanwhile, red flag warnings have been issued Saturday for critical fire danger in Nevada, Utah and Idaho. Winds will be gusty, up to 35 mph and the relative humidity will drop to as low as 6%.
Several fires are burning in the West, including the Washburn Fire, which has caused evacuations near Yosemite National Park and has closed the south entrance to the park. The Washburn fire has so far burned over 700 acres.
Elsewhere, flood watches have been issued for parts of Maryland and Virginia, including Washington, D.C., through this afternoon, where upwards of 7 inches of rain is possible.
(AKRON, Ohio) — Many are taking to the streets after officials released body-camera footage Sunday of Jayland Walker killed in a hail of bullets fired by eight officers while he was unarmed and running away.
Ohio officials are calling for calm in Akron, which has been rocked by protests following the fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker, after two people, including a 4-year-old girl, were killed Saturday night at a family celebration.
“This has been a very difficult week for Akron, almost two weeks for Akron. The heat is very very high, tensions are running high in this city,” Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett said at a press briefing late Friday night. “We’re asking for people to stand down for at least 48 hours, let the temperature come down.”
Mylett was joined in the message by Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan and several community pastors outside Akron Children’s Hospital, where the 4-year-old girl died earlier after suffering severe head wounds in the shooting, the chief said.
A 40-year-old man was also critically injured after multiple shots were fired into a large crowd gathered near downtown Akron around 9:15 p.m., police said. He later died from his injuries at an area hospital.
The victims were identified by the Summit County Medical Examiner Saturday morning as 4-year-old Journei Tolbert, and 40-year-old Johnny Gaiter, both from Akron.
“We don’t know exactly what happened yet but we’re going to find out and we’re going to find the people that are responsible for this,” Mylett said Friday night.
The shooting was unrelated to the ongoing protests, the chief told the Akron Beacon Journal.
As the investigation into the homicides and search for suspects is underway, officials called for the city to “deescalate.”
“There is a lot of heightened tension in the right now,” Mayor Horrigan said. “There’s a level in this community that we need to bring down.”
Pastor Bradley Reeves with Restoration Community Church was one of several religious leaders who joined the briefing outside the hospital.
“Not only does the community need to calm down, but the police need to calm down, too,” he said. “Some of this is bad emotions and is leading to bad actions. Everybody’s got to stop. There’s a baby here that won’t see 5.”
Despite the calls from city officials, protests continued Saturday in support of Walker, who was fatally shot by police on June 27 after a traffic stop turned into a pursuit. The 25-year-old Black man was unarmed and running away when eight Ohio officers opened fire on him, body-camera footage released by the city showed.
The incident is under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
On Thursday, the city instated a nightly curfew for downtown Akron that was implemented amid largely peaceful protests over Walker’s killing, after some protesters became violent with officers, the city said.
(NATIONAL CITY, Calif.) — Four men have been arrested and charged with federal drug trafficking offenses after an estimated record-breaking two-and-a-half tons of methamphetamine was seized from a box truck that had just crossed the border between the United States and Mexico.
The incident occurred on Thursday, July 7, in National City, California, at approximately 4:55 p.m. when the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said a commercial 20-foot box truck reportedly crossed into the United States through the Otay Mesa Commercial Port of Entry.
“Law enforcement surveilled the box truck as it travelled to Hoover and 30th Street, in National City,” the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in their statement. “Once there, agents observed the defendants unloading dozens of cardboard boxes from the box truck and loading them into a Dodge van.”
The four men — all from Tijuana, Mexico, and ranging in ages from 37 to 44 — were apprehended and taken into custody. Upon further investigation, authorities said they discovered 148 bundles of a substance located within the seized cardboard boxes. The substance field tested positive for methamphetamine and, in total, there were more than 5,000 pounds of the drug found on the truck in what authorities believe is one of the largest methamphetamine seizures ever in San Diego County.
“This is a significant accomplishment by our law enforcement partners,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “Due to stellar work by law enforcement agents, the government stopped more than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine from being distributed on our streets.”
The defendants in the case have been named as 37-year-old Rafael Alzua, 41-year-olds Mario Contreras and Galdrino Contreras, and 44-year-old Ethgar Velazquez. They have been charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and, if found guilty, could face a maximum penalty of 10 years to life in prison and a $10 million fine.
“This monumental seizure represents another win against drug cartels that fuel addiction in the United States,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Shelly S. Howe. “Because of our great partnerships with other law enforcement agencies, we will continue to disrupt the cartels’ flow of drugs into our cities.”
The street value of the more than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine is estimated to be millions of dollars.
“I am grateful for the hard work, vigilance, and steadfast dedication of our Sheriff’s Detectives, as well as our local, state and federal partners,” said Sheriff Anthony C. Ray. “Our partnership and collaboration allow us to share information that is absolutely critical in keeping drugs from entering our streets and holding drug traffickers accountable.”
(UVALDE, Texas) — ABC News pieced together what happened the day Salvador Ramos allegedly killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School, using maps, video evidence and information from law enforcement.
The mayor of Uvalde, Texas, said in a press release Friday that he supports The Texas House special committee investigating the Robb Elementary School shooting releasing the 77-minute hallway videos.
The videos will most likely be released on Monday and will show the breach that took place on May 24 when a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers.
Mayor Don McLaughlin said that the release of these videos would “bring clarity to public, to the families, and to the survivors,” according to the press release.
It has been more than six weeks since the massacre at the elementary school and there have been questions about the response of the police before they breached the classroom where the gunman was as it took 77 minutes from the time the shooter entered the school to when he was killed by officers.
A report from the Texas State University’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training released earlier in the week said there were missed opportunities to save lives and that one officer saw the shooter outside the school but did not take action.
The “officer did not hear a response [on his radio] and turned to get confirmation from his supervisor. When he turned back to address the suspect, the suspect had already entered the west hall exterior door at 11:33:00,” according to the assessment.
McLaughlin disputed the report on Friday.
“Ultimately, it was a coach with children on the playground, not the shooter,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.
(NEW YORK) — The labor group behind the first-ever U.S. union at Amazon has thrown its support behind organizing campaigns at two additional warehouses.
Amazon Labor Union, the worker-led union behind the victory at an Amazon warehouse in New York City in April, reached agreements to provide organizing and financial assistance for workers trying to unionize warehouses in Albany, NY. and Campbellsville, KY., who will affiliate as formal chapters of the union, ALU President Chris Smalls told ABC News.
The development demonstrates the appeal of worker-led union campaigns and raises the possibility that the momentum built by the initial labor victory will foster unionization at other warehouses, experts said.
But they cautioned that the size of Amazon warehouses and well-resourced anti-union efforts from the corporation will continue to make the labor campaigns difficult.
“This shows workers are coming together,” said Jordan Flowers, a co-founder of ALU. “These workers want to see a union now, and they’re choosing ALU.”
The two organizing partnerships with ALU were first reported by More Perfect Union.
Workers organizing at a third facility in Garner, North Carolina are in discussions with ALU about partnering with the union, Ryan Brown, an Amazon warehouse worker involved in the labor campaign at the facility, told ABC News.
“We’re going to assist them 100%,” said Smalls, the ALU president and former Amazon warehouse worker. “Whatever they need: Resources, money, going out there.”
He acknowledged that the labor campaigns in Albany and Campbellsville remain in the “infancy stage.”
In a statement to ABC News, Amazon expressed its general opposition to union campaigns.
“Our employees have the choice of whether or not to join a union. They always have,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said. “As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees. Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”
ALU, an independent union initially fueled by fundraising on a GoFundMe page, carried out a monthslong organizing campaign at the 6,000-employee warehouse on Staten Island that proved one of the most significant labor victories in the U.S. in recent decades.
After the union victory, Amazon filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to overturn the outcome, including allegations that NLRB officials showed a favorable bias toward the workers and that union leaders bribed colleagues in an effort to win their support. The ALU has rejected those claims. The NLRB hearings are ongoing.
In May, ALU lost a second union election at a neighboring warehouse on Staten Island. The partnerships with workers in Albany and Campbellsville mark the first labor campaigns announced by the ALU since the two union drives on Staten Island.
Matt Littrell, a warehouse worker involved in organizing at the warehouse in Campbellsville, told ABC News that employees want the company to address the grueling pace of the work and uncomfortable heat inside the building.
“The same issues come up time and time again, and they have for many years, yet management is very apathetic toward those,” he said.
The workers, who began organizing several months ago, were drawn to the worker-led nature of the ALU, he added.
“We wanted to go with a union made up of workers and people who understand our unique environment,” he said.
The organizing partnerships with ALU highlight the significance of the union’s victory, Rebecca Givan, a labor studies professor at Rutgers University, told ABC News.
“To prove that success is possible is huge,” she said. “The inspiration to stay and organize and fight to improve things is really significant.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jul 08, 3:27 pm
US announces new $400M aid package for Ukraine, including more HIMARS
The Biden administration announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday that includes four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.
Ukraine will now have a total of 12 of these precision rocket launcher systems, which have been “especially important and effective in assisting Ukraine in coping with the Russian artillery battle in the Donbas,” a senior defense official told reporters Friday.
The rockets have a range of 43 miles. The official said that Ukraine has been striking at Russian targets deep behind enemy lines but has not used them to strike inside Russia.
The new aid package also includes 1,000 new “greater precision” artillery. The name of the system was not shared for security purposes, the official said.
The new aid package is the 15th use of the presidential drawdown authority to give existing U.S. military stocks to Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jul 07, 9:26 am
Moscow views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, Russian official says
Russia considers nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, according to Valentina Matviyenko, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council.
“Russia views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent,” Matviyenko said Thursday at a press conference.
The official noted that Russia has “clearly and strictly prescribed those exceptional cases when [nuclear weapons] can only be used in response to — God forbid that this never happens — a nuclear attack.”
“We behave like a civilized country, and we do it openly,” Matviyenko added.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko
Jul 07, 8:16 am
Russia claims no new ground for first time since invasion’s start
Russia claimed no territorial gains in Ukraine on Wednesday for the first time since the beginning of its invasion in late February, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest report.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed territorial gains every day from the start of the war but has not done so since completing the encirclement of the eastern town Lysychansk on July 3, the ISW said.
The Washington-based think tank said the lull in Russian ground force movements supports its assessment that Russian forces “have largely initiated an operational pause.”
The break in operations is not equal to a complete ceasefire, however, as Russian troops still conducted a number of unsuccessful attacks on all frontlines, the experts added.
Russian troops are instead trying to set up conditions for a bigger offensive as they rebuild their combat power, the ISW report said.
Russia has already increased its fleet in the Black Sea on the shores of Ukraine, local media reported on Wednesday. The Russian naval presence grew by several missile carriers, as well as submarines and an amphibious assault ship.
Ukrainian officials refuted Russian claims on Wednesday according to which Russian troops destroyed two HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems supplied by the U.S.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added that the Western supplied artillery “started working very powerfully” and at full capacity.
“Finally, it is felt that the Western artillery, the weapons we received from our partners, started working very powerfully,” Zelenskyy said in his Wednesday evening address. “Its accuracy is exactly as needed,” the president added.
Zelenskyy said the Western weapons have carried out strikes on depots and areas of logistical importance to Russian troops. “And this significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army,” Zelenskyy noted, adding that Russian losses “will only increase every week, as will the difficulty of supplying [Russian troops].”
Ukrainian forces celebrated another symbolic victory on Thursday when they raised their national flag on Snake Island, a recaptured Black Sea isle located 90 miles south of the Ukrainian port of Odesa that became a symbol of defiance against Moscow, according to local reports.
Images released by Ukraine’s interior ministry on Thursday showed three Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue and yellow national flag on a patch of ground on Snake Island next to the remains of a flattened building.
But Russia responded to the flag-raising ceremony fast. It said one of its warplanes had struck Snake Island shortly afterwards and destroyed part of the Ukrainian detachment there.
Russia abandoned Snake Island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill, raising Ukrainian hopes of unblocking local ports shut off by Russia.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko
Jul 06, 10:02 am
Blinken to urge G20 to press Russia on grain deliveries
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to appeal to G20 countries to put pressure on Russia to make it support the U.N. initiative on unblocking the sea lanes for Ukraine and allow grain exports, according to local media reports.
“G20 countries should hold Russia accountable and insist that it supports ongoing U.N. efforts to reopen the sea lanes for grain delivery,” said Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs.
Toloui referred to a U.N. campaign aiming to expedite Ukrainian and Russian exports of harvest and fertilizer to global markets.
Around 22 million tons of grain remain blocked in Ukrainian ports due to the threat of Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.
Ukraine is in active negotiations with Turkey and the U.N. to solve the grain export stalemate, Zelenskyy added.
Blinken is also expected to once again warn China against backing Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
“[The upcoming G20 summit] will be another opportunity … to convey our expectations about what we would expect China to do and not to do in the context of Ukraine,” the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir
Jul 06, 8:42 am
Russia aims to seize territory far beyond the Donbas, Putin’s ally suggests
Russia’s main objective in its invasion of Ukraine is still regime change in Kyiv and the dismantling of Ukrainian sovereignty, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev suggested in a speech on Tuesday.
Patrushev said the Russian “military operation” in Ukraine will continue until Russia achieves its goals of protecting civilians from “genocide,” “denazifying” and demilitarizing Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The Russian official added that Ukraine must remain permanently neutral between Russia and NATO. Petrushev’s remarks nearly mirrored the goals Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at the onset of the war to justify the military invasion.
Patrushev, a close Putin ally, repeated the Russian President’s stated ambitions despite Russia’s military setbacks in Ukraine and previous hints at a reduction in war aims following those defeats, the ISW pointed out.
Patrushev’s explicit restatement of Putin’s initial objectives “strongly indicates” that Russia does not consider its recent territorial gains in the Luhansk region to be sufficient, the ISW experts said.
Russia “has significant territorial aspirations beyond the Donbas” and “is preparing for a protracted war with the intention of taking much larger portions of Ukraine,” the observers added.
Patrushev’s comments dampened hopes for a “compromise ceasefire or even peace based on limited additional Russian territorial gains,” the experts concluded.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir
(NEW YORK) — Excessive heat warnings are in effect across much of the southern U.S. heading into a weekend with potentially record-breaking temperatures.
As of Friday morning, 13 states are on heat alert and temperatures will reach triple digits in parts of the south, with feel-like temperatures as high as 115 degrees, ABC News weather team reports.
Here are the high temperature records to watch on Saturday:
Salt Lake City, UT: 102º (1994)
Denver, CO: 98º (2021)
Scottsbluff, NE: 104º (2017)
Corpus Christi, TX: 100º (2005)
Austin, TX: 104º (2009)
Houston, TX: 102º (1980)
Waco, TX: 104º (1978)
Dallas, TX: 106º (1980)
Shreveport, LA: 104º (1884)
Tupelo, MS: 100º (1936)
Severe weather is also expected to continue across parts of the North, including Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota where large hail and damaging winds are possible, and a tornado cannot be ruled out. Golf ball size hail was reported in Montana and record flooding was reported in North Carolina and Missouri on Thursday.
Flash flooding due to heavy rain is possible through the weekend in parts of the Southeast, especially coastal regions from Georgia through the Carolinas where more than 3” is possible.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Friday touted falling gas prices, robust new jobs numbers and a low unemployment rate to make the case that his economic program and fight to bring inflation down is “working.”
“The unemployment rate is near a historic low of 3.6%. The private sector jobs are at a record high,” he said at a White House event about abortion. “Gas prices are still way too high, and have fallen 25 days in a row. And this week we saw the second largest single day decrease in gas prices in a decade. We still have a lot of work to do … But I am suggesting we are making significant progress. The program is working.”
The national average for a gallon of gas stood at $4.72 Friday, down three cents from Thursday and about 12 cents since this time last week, according to AAA.
The average cost for gas peaked at $5.01 per gallon on June 14, according to AAA, and the price of crude oil fell below $100 per barrel this week for the first time since May 11.
Relief at the pump comes as global demand for commodities slows, resulting in lower prices for crude oil copper, cotton, and lumber.
“I think the reason why oil prices are going down now is because the prospect that we do see an economic slowdown,” GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan told ABC News Thursday.
If that trend continues, a potential recession could prove politically problematic for Biden and fellow Democrats ahead of the midterm elections in November. Building a strong economy was a priority in the Democratic party’s 2020 platform.
“But, if all of a sudden, the worries over the recession fade, we can see oil prices go right back up,” De Haan said.
A hurricane making landfall near a refinery, such as one in Louisiana, could also cause prices to rise.
In the coming weeks, what Americans pay at the pump in some states could fall another 25 to 50 cents per gallon on average, De Haan said.
Some stations around the country have already lowered prices to the mid-three-dollar range.
The president’s remarks Friday are the latest in a largely unsuccessful White House effort to counter damaging daily headlines about skyrocketing prices at the pump.
What began with attributing the rise in prices to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine became a proposal to suspend the federal gas tax for three months. But that plan found little support among Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Some Republican senators called the proposal to halt the 18-cent tax a gimmick, while some Democrats said it might not work.
The president also floated offering rebate cards to Americans in June, but the Washington Post reported a chip shortage would make it challenging to produce the cards.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm then met with top oil executives late last month to discuss how their companies might help ease pain at the pump, but some analysts say it is unlikely the current price drop is related to the administration’s lobbying efforts.
The falling price of crude oil and weakened demand have driven the cost of gas down and the industry is also working through higher-cost inventory, according to investment research firm Third Bridge’s global lead for energy Peter McNally.
“That is bringing prices at the pump down, not the president telling the corner gas station to do it,” McNally said Thursday.
The White House doubled down this week, again calling for Congress to suspend the federal gas tax Thursday and blaming Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Friday.
“Wholesale gas prices are down by $1 per gallon,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday. “Retail gas prices have only come down by about 20 cents over the same period. More work needs to be done.”
But gas stations are slowly lowering their prices as they try to recapture some of their margins from when prices rose, De Haan said. Stations are behind the curve when their costs rise for up to five days, as raising prices is difficult if other stations do not adjust theirs, he said.
The White House and the Federal Reserve deserve some credit for recognizing inflation as a serious challenge, University of Houston petroleum engineering professor Ramanan Krishnamoorti said Thursday.
The FED raising interest rates last month “certainly slowed down some of the price exuberance we’ve seen with inflation,” he said.
The government’s release of 100 million oil barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve year-to-date has also helped. Releasing oil has added supply to the market, likely preventing prices from going higher, McNally said.
