(NEW YORK) — Nearly three million refugees have fled Ukraine since war erupted on Feb. 24. Among them is Hassan Al-Khalaf, an 11-year-old boy from Zaporizhzhia, a southern Ukrainian city along the Dnipro River where Russia has taken control of a nuclear power plant.
Hassan is one of the estimated one million children who have made the dangerous journey out of the war-torn country.
“Reports from the border suggest that some children are arriving unaccompanied after being sent by family members who were unable to leave Ukraine but wanted their children to be safe from ground attack and aerial explosions,” the charity Save the Children said in a release. “Others have been separated from their families in the chaos of fleeing their homes. Many of the solo arrivals are under 14 and showing signs of psychological distress.”
The boy arrived in Slovakia by train and foot, traveling over 620 miles west. The 11-year-old brought with him only a plastic bag with his belongings, including his passport. A phone number was written on his hand.
Border guards in Slovakia and volunteers banded together to help Hassan during his harrowing trek, using the phone number to help reunite the boy with his older siblings including his brother, who has been studying in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.
Hassan’s mother, Pisecka Yulia Volodymyrivna, a widow, made the heartbreaking decision to send her 11-year-old out of Ukraine for his safety and stayed behind to care for her 84-year-old mother, who is unable to walk.
In a video statement, Volodymyrivna thanked the border guards and volunteers in Slovakia, saying in part, “Border guards met him, they guided him holding his hand. They helped him to cross the border and let him to the other side of Slovakia. Then Slovakian volunteers met him. They fed my child. They took him to Bratislava. I thank you very much for saving my son’s life.”
“I can’t leave my mother, who is 84 years old and who can’t walk on her own. That is why I put my son on a train to the Slovakia border where he was met by people with big hearts,” she continued. “There are people with big hearts in your small country. Please, save our children. Please protect our Ukrainian children.”
(NEW YORK) — After a weekend of cold temperatures, snowstorms and heavy winds on the East Coast, a new storm is making its way to the South.
Southern states such as Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana should be on alert for severe thunderstorms where damaging winds, hail and a few tornadoes will be possible. This storm will move across the South in the next few days with heavy rain causing a threat for more severe weather.
Meanwhile in the West, several storms will continue to move through the area with heavy rains ranging from Washington to Northern California. The San Francisco bay area may get much-needed rain Monday night into Tuesday morning.
In the Pacific Northwest, heavy snow is expected in parts of the Washington area and a few inches coming to the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Ahead of the western storms, wildfires are being fueled by the wind and dry weather from Southern California to Texas.
More than 100 firefighters were battling a brush fire Sunday night from the air and the ground in the Hansen Dam Recreation Area, near Pacoima, California.. The fire escalated to “Major Emergency” status within the 10 p.m. hour.
Just after 11 p.m., crews appeared to get the upper hand with “a well coordinated air attack combined with a relentless ground-based offense with firefighting hand lines and hand tools,” according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Firefighters contained the Hansen Fire to four acres, according to officials. Crews will continue working the fire’s perimeter with hose lines, hand tools, and heavy equipment throughout the night to extinguish hot spots.
There are no structures threatened at this time, and no injuries have been reported. Officials said there are currently no evacuations.
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon has been providing daily updates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s efforts to resist.
Here are highlights of what a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Monday:
Fallout from deadly airstrike near Polish border
On Sunday, Russian long-range bombers launched “more than a couple dozen” cruise missiles at a western Ukrainian training facility near Yavoriv, about 10 miles from the Polish border. All of the missiles were launched from Russian airspace, damaging at least seven buildings, according to the official.
The attack left at least 35 dead and 134 wounded, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russia also hit two airfields in western Ukraine on Friday in the towns of Lutsk and Ivano-Frankovsk.
During a Monday press briefing at the Pentagon, press secretary John Kirby said the strikes in western Ukraine are part of a broadening Russian assault across Ukraine.
“I wouldn’t think that that we would consider this or the other strikes in western Ukraine as some sort of turning point,” Kirby said, but adding, “The Russians clearly are expanding some of their targets sets.”
“If Mr. Putin was trying to signal his displeasure about a strong, united NATO with this war of his then he’s failed, because he’s getting exactly what he says he doesn’t want — a strong, united NATO on his Western flank,” Kirby said.
While there were 150 Florida National Guardsmen training Ukrainians on part of the base as recently as February, all U.S. troops and contractors were pulled from the country before the beginning of the invasion.
The strike occurred after the Kremlin claimed arms shipments to Ukraine are “legitimate targets,” but the U.S. official said no security assistance sites were hit in this case.
Kirby confirmed the training center was not being used to funnel U.S. weapons to Ukrainian forces.
“I would just tell you that we have multiple routes to get security assistance into the hands of the Ukrainians,” Kirby said.
In total, Russia has now launched more than 900 missiles against Ukraine, according to the senior U.S. defense official. This estimate is up from 810 on Friday.
Reports of Russia seeking military supplies from China
“I would just say that we’re going to watch that very, very closely. And as others in the administration have said, if China does choose to materially support Russia in this war, there will likely be consequences for China,” the official said.
Cease-fire talks
“We want to see the violence stop,” the official said. “All I can do is tell you what we’re seeing on the ground, and what we’re seeing on the ground is a continued military effort to subdue these population centers and to do it now with ever more violence using more and more long-range fires, which are increasingly indiscriminate in terms of what they’re hitting.”
Russian advance mostly stalled
“Almost all of Russia’s advances remain stalled,” the official said.
Kyiv: The Russians closest to Kyiv are still near Hostomel Airport to the northwest, about 9 miles (15km) from city center. Some troops are moving in behind those advance forces, “but not at a great pace,” the official said.
The forces approaching from the east are still about 12-19 miles from the heart of Kyiv, according to the official. This was the same estimate given by the official on Friday.
“No real progress to speak to,” the official said of these forces.
They’re facing heavy resistance from the Ukrainians. The U.S. assesses the defenders still have control of Brovary, just east of the capital, where in videos published last week we saw a column of Russian tanks hit.
Kharkiv: Significant fighting continues over Kharkiv, with Russians relying more and more on long-range missile attacks.
The U.S. sees a new line of advance with 50 to 60 vehicles moving from the southwest of Kharkiv down toward the town of Izyum.
“The assessment is that they are trying to block off the Donbass area and to prevent the flow westward of any Ukrainian armed forces that would be in the in the eastern part of the country, prevent them from coming to the assistance of other Ukrainian defenders near Kyiv,” the official said.
Mariupol: The city remains isolated and under heavy bombardment, with Russian forces to the north and east. Ukrainians continue to fight back, the official said.
Mykolayiv: Russian forces remain roughly where they were Friday, about six to nine miles northeast of the city. Ukrainians continue to resist.
It is unclear what the Russian plan is for Mykolayiv.
“It could be a left turn to move on Odessa from the ground or it could be they go north up towards Kiev,” the official said.
Odessa: The Pentagon still sees no sign of any looming amphibious assault on Odessa, according to the official.
Ukrainians going after Russian supplies
“The Ukrainians, as we’ve said all along, they’ve been quite creative here. They’re not simply going after combat capability — tanks and armored vehicles and shooting down aircraft — although they’re doing all that. They are also deliberately trying to impede and prevent the Russians’ ability to sustain themselves,” the official said, citing the long Russian convoy as one example.
(NEW YORK) — A Fox News correspondent was injured in Ukraine, a day after the death of a freelance journalist also covering the Russia invasion.
Fox News State Department correspondent Benjamin Hall was injured while newsgathering near Kyiv on Monday, according to Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media.
The circumstances were not immediately clear but Hall was hospitalized, according to Scott, who asked to “please keep Ben and his family in your prayers.” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby also confirmed he was injured.
Shaun Tandon, president of the State Department Correspondents’ Association, said in a statement, “We know Ben for his warmth, good humor and utmost professionalism. We wish Ben a quick recovery and call for utmost efforts to protect journalists who are providing an invaluable service through their coverage in Ukraine.”
Hall’s injury follows the Sunday death of freelance journalist Brent Renaud, which was confirmed by the U.S. State Department. Renaud was in Ukraine to cover the global refugee crisis for a documentary with Sugar23, Time Studios and Day Zero Productions, according to Sugar23.
“As an award-winning filmmaker and journalist, Brent tackled the toughest stories around the world often alongside his brother Craig Renaud,” Time editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal and president and COO of Time and Time Studios Ian Orefice said in a statement. “In recent weeks, Brent was in the region working on a TIME Studios project focused on the global refugee crisis. Our hearts are with all of Brent’s loved ones.”
Photojournalist Juan Arredondo said he was with Renaud when he was killed.
In a video from a hospital bed, Arredondo said, “We crossed the first bridge in Irpin; we were going to film other refugees leaving and we got to a car, somebody offered to take us to the other bridge and we crossed a checkpoint and they started shooting at us. So, the driver turned around and they kept shooting. It’s two of us, my friend is Brent Renaud, and he’s been shot and left behind.”
“This kind of attack is totally unacceptable, and is a violation of international law,” Carlos Martínez de la Serna, program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. “Russian forces in Ukraine must stop all violence against journalists and other civilians at once.”
“Two examples of the dangers in covering war,” Kirby, of the Pentagon, said of Hall and Renaud during a Monday press briefing. “This is a war that didn’t need to be fought, to be sure. But just as to be sure, there are journalists from around the world on the ground trying to discover the truth and to show that truth and to tell these important stories.”
ABC News’ Christine Theodorou and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s dual promises to consider NATO’s Article 5 a “sacred obligation” but also not to have U.S. forces engage with Russia in Ukraine may be increasingly difficult as Russian President Vladimir Putin expands the scope of his attack — with a barrage of missiles striking near Ukraine’s border with NATO ally Poland over the weekend, along with intense shelling in Kyiv overnight.
The U.S. has also warned about a possible chemical weapons attack and a senior administration official told ABC News earlier Monday that Russia is “desperately” asking for Chinese help — with China “considering” giving the Russians “airstrike capabilities.”
But amid signs that Putin is escalating, it remains unclear what consequences Russia would face from the U.S.
Russian forces targeted a military training site over the weekend in western Ukraine that had housed Western volunteers and members of the Florida National Guard training Ukrainian counterparts before the invasion. At least 35 people were killed and 134 injured, according to Ukrainian officials. There were “no Americans at all working there,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Sunday.
In what some are considering a provocative message to the West, the attack — just 10 miles from Ukraine’s border with Poland — has raised the prospect of the Kremlin being increasingly likely to target Poland or other NATO allies helping to supply Ukraine. That comes on top of concerns that Russia is laying the propaganda groundwork to use chemical weapons in Ukraine and falsely accuse the Ukrainian military of doing so first.
“They are clearly expanding some of their target sets here,” Kirby said at a Pentagon briefing Monday. “I want to be careful here that we’re not reducing the kind of damage and death he’s causing to some sort of message signaling. I think that’s being way too generous to what the Kremlin is trying to do inside Ukraine.”
At Monday afternoon’s White House press briefing, a reporter presented press secretary Jen Psaki with a list of horrors witnesses in Ukraine — “maternity wards being bombed, illegal weapons being used, pediatric hospitals being targeted” — and asked where Biden draws the line on military intervention, noting former President Barack Obama drew a red line for Syria with chemical weapons.
“You have to weigh how you can lead the world, how you can make very clear that actions are horrific, that they are not acceptable, they’re not aligned with global norms — while also thinking about our own national security interests,” Psaki said. “And starting World War III is certainly not in our national security interests. Putting U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine to fight a war with Russia is not in our set national security interests.”
Pressed again later, Psaki repeated that Biden does not intend to send U.S. troops to Ukraine and would not specify what “severe consequences” Russia would face if it uses biochemical weapons. Asked then if it’s possible the White House has no consequences left to inflict on Russia, with severe actions like a no-fly zone, transporting jets and putting U.S. troops on the ground currently off the table, Psaki called that characterization “inaccurate.”
“Those are conversations that will happen continue to happen with our national security team and with our partners and allies around the world,” Psaki said.
Meanwhile Russia has repeatedly threatened to target other countries working to resupply Ukraine, declaring them parties to the conflict — and raising fears that an attack could trickle into Poland, a NATO nation, potentially prompting NATO allies to enter the war.
After the strike near the polish border over the weekend ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz asked Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on “This Week,” “If they strike in Poland, what happens?”
“We take our Article 5 commitment very seriously,” Kirby said. “An armed attack against one is considered an armed attack against all. That is why, Martha, we continue to flow and to move and to reposition forces and capabilities along NATO’s eastern flank to make sure that we can defend every inch of NATO territory if we need to.”
“Now, there’s no reason we should need to because there’s no reason that there should be war in Ukraine as it is, and we’ve made it very clear to Russia that NATO territory will be defended not just by the United States, but by our allies,” he later added.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, at a roundtable at Columbia Law School on Monday, said while he is against a no-fly zone over Ukraine, he would support one if Russia used chemical weapons — which the senator called “a war crime of monumental proportion.”
“If there’s a chemical attack by the Russians in Ukraine, that would be a war crime of monumental proportion and all the treaties we’ve tried to construct around the use of chemical weapons will be considered a joke if he doesn’t pay a price. So, I would be for a no-fly zone then,” Graham said
Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine met Monday to see if they could broker a ceasefire and a potential peace deal, but the virtual meeting was stopped due to what Ukraine’s presidential adviser called a “technical pause.” The talks are scheduled to continue Tuesday.
The fourth round of talks come as a senior U.S. official told Raddatz on Monday that Russian attacks on Ukraine will increase, with the western city of Lviv, a highly-populated area, among potential targets. Russia may target the city because “they want to create more terror,” the official said.
Over the weekend, Biden approved the shipment of $200 million in additional lethal aid to Ukraine, including antitank and antiaircraft weapons, after Congress approved a new aid package, with those materials expected to arrive in Ukraine from prepositioned U.S. military stations in Europe and the U.S.
Largely unified on the issue, Congress this week will also vote to codify Biden’s executive action taken Friday, which downgraded normal trade relations with Russia — the latest example of how lawmakers have pushed the White House to take forceful steps against Russia.
And amid fears China could supply ally Russia with weapons, national security adviser Jake Sullivan met in Rome on Monday with China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, in the first high-level, in-person meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Conor Finnegan, Matt Seyler, Shannon Crawford and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Two years after Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in her Louisville, Kentucky home, her mother met with officials at the Department of Justice, urging federal charges against the officers involved in her daughter’s death.
“The most important thing is to remember that Breonna didn’t deserve this,” her mother, Tamika Palmer, told reporters on Monday following the meeting with Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke and attorneys in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “She was at home, in her own home minding her business when these people kicked in her door and murdered her.”
A DOJ spokesperson confirmed to ABC News that Clarke and attorneys from the Civil Rights Division met with members of Taylor’s family and attorneys, saying, “This matter is currently under investigation and we have no further comment.”
Attorney Ben Crump, who represents Taylor’s family, told ABC News that the meeting at the DOJ lasted for 45 minutes and officials said that they were conducting a “thorough investigation.”
“We don’t want to have to come here next year this time and still not have decisions made,” Crump said.
“You have to think about it from the perspective of the Black community. There are charges brought against us for a lot less, so we hope that they are just as zealous in holding these police officers who killed Breonna Taylor accountable,” he added.
Following the press conference, which took place outside the National Council of Negro Women in Washington, D.C., the family, joined by advocates and leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement, walked to the DOJ to hand-deliver 18,000 signatures from people, calling for the officers to be held accountable.
The 26-year-old Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was fatally shot down on March 13, 2020, in a hail of bullets by plainclothes officers Brett Hankison, Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly. They were executing a “no knock” search warrant for Taylor’s ex-boyfriend for allegedly dealing drugs.
He was not at the residence, but her current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thought someone was breaking into the home and fired one shot from a 9 mm pistol at the officers. Mattingly was struck in the leg and three officers fired 32 shots into the apartment, killing Taylor, who was in her bedroom.
“No-knock” warrants, which are when officers don’t announce themselves before entering a home, have come under renewed scrutiny following the Feb. 2 fatal shooting of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man who was killed during a raid by Minneapolis police officers.
“For the nation, it’s been two years and one day. For me, I’m trapped in March the 13th, 2020,” Palmer said. “I don’t know how people think I should just move on; that I should just walk away from this thing. Half my life has been spent being Breonna’s mother. It’s the only thing I’ve learned to do well in my life. It’s the thing that I’ll die for – fighting to make sure she gets justice.”
ABC News reached out to the attorneys representing Hankison and Cosgrove, but requests for comment were not immediately returned.
Mattingly’s attorney Kent Wicker told ABC News they have “no comment at this time.”
Hankison and Cosgrove were ultimately fired from the police department and Mattingly retired in 2021.
Taylor’s killing gained national attention and sparked nationwide “Black Lives Matter” protests in the summer of 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in Minnesota, who died after an officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Six months after Taylor was killed, Kentucky Attorney General Cameron convened a grand jury to investigate possible charges against the officers.
The grand jury indicted former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison in September 2020 on three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree for firing into the apartment directly behind Taylor’s, where three people were inside.
Earlier this month, a jury in Louisville found Hankison not guilty on all three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree.
But none of the officers were charged for their involvement in Taylor’s death – a decision that sparked widespread backlash from social justice advocates.
Amid a barrage of criticism, Cameron told ABC affiliate WBKO in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in October 2020 that the officers who opened fire were “justified” because they “returned fire after having been fired upon.”
He also defended his decision not to give the grand jury on the case surrounding the death of Breonna Taylor the option to consider murder charges.
“I fully take responsibility for the recommendation that we made,” he said at the time. “Based on the facts, that was the appropriate recommendation to make.”
Palmer said on Monday that Cameron and Kentucky “failed” her daughter and she is now asking the DOJ to “do the right thing.”
Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, reflects on her son’s legacy a decade after his death
ABC News’ Kendall Ross and Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
(HONG KONG) — China is facing its worst COVID crisis since early 2020, when the world first witnessed an entire population locked down to contain the coronavirus in Wuhan and its surrounding province.
Two years on, it’s now sending tens of millions of people into lockdown in the entire northeastern province of Jilin, where 24 million people live, and the southern cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan, with 17.5 million and 10 million, respectively.
China, the last major country to relentlessly pursue a Covid-zero policy, reported 1,437 cases across dozens of cities on Monday. That’s a fourfold jump in a week.
Although record case numbers are testing the resilience of China’s no-tolerance approach, there is no sign the country is willing to pivot to ‘living with the virus.”
The epicenter of the omicron variant outbreak is the Northeastern Jilin province, where 895 cases were recorded, but there are also outbreaks and containment measures in place Shanghai, the financial powerhouse, and Shenzhen, the southern tech hub.
Authorities announced on Monday afternoon that all 24 million people in Jilin province would go into lockdown, including the previously locked down city of Changchun. It’s the first provincial lockdown since Wuhan and Hubei in January 2020.
On Sunday, China ordered all of Shenzhen’s 17.5 million residents into a seven-day lockdown, with three rounds of testing. All public transport is halted and all businesses, except essential services, will be closed until March 20.
As a result, Apple supplier Foxconn has shut two of its plants in the area and relocated production elsewhere.
The lockdown and outbreaks threaten manufacturing and tech production in Shenzhen, known as China’s Silicon Valley. It’s home to Huawei and Tencent, and is home to one of the country’s key ports.
Professor Heiwai Tang at Hong Kong University told ABC News that he doesn’t expect these week-long lockdowns to have a significant impact on the country’s gross domestic product.
“It seems the lockdowns will be shorter this time with more tracking, which means a short disruption of work and production,” Tang said. “If it ends up lasting for weeks it’s another issue, including inflation risks.”
Professor Michael Song from Hong Kong’s Chinese University estimated that the two-month lockdown in Wuhan cost China 2% of its GDP.
There’s immense pressure on local authorities to contain the virus, with state media reporting that the Jilin City mayor and the head of the Changchun city health commission were dismissed from their roles over the weekend.
Shanghai-based virologist Zhang Wenhong called the flare-up “the most difficult moment in the past two years” of China’s efforts to stamp out the virus. Shanghai has so far avoided a full-scale lockdown.
Across the border from Shenzhen, neighboring Hong Kong is also still tackling its deadliest wave yet, driven by Omicron. Hong Kong recorded 26,908 cases and 286 more deaths on Monday, officials said. Hong Kong’s death rate is the highest in the developed world, in part because of sluggish vaccination rates among the elderly.
Mega isolation facilities are being built across the Hong Kong for people with mild cases. One facility, with 3,900 beds, was built in a week. ABC News witnessed several busloads of people arriving at the facility from all over the city.
Self-titled “Asia’s world city,” Hong Kong is undergoing strict social-distancing measures and still has strict border measures in place, leading to an expat exodus. Many businesses are closed until late April.
The mental-health strain of the strict lockdown has also becoming apparent. Last month, police reported three suicide attempts in 27 hours at one of the quarantine camps.
(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles Unified School District said it’s keeping its mask mandate in place — at least temporarily — even as California drops its requirement for masks in indoor public settings.
Several K-12 schools across the state dropped their face covering requirements Monday after the state lifted its mandate over the weekend.
Last month, Los Angeles County Public Health said it would follow the state’s move and allow the 80 school districts in the country to decide whether or not they want to keep mask mandates.
LAUSD, the second-largest school district in the country, said it does not want to drop the mask requirement yet as it works towards a plan with partners, including teachers’ unions, to move away from mandates and towards “strongly recommending” masks indoors.
“The science that informed the on-ramp to the protective protocols currently in place, which have ensured the well-being of our students and workforce, must, too, inform the off-ramp as health conditions improve,” LAUSD said in a statement on Twitter Friday.
“Los Angeles Unified continues to take a science-based approach to COVID-19 policy and is currently working with labor partners and other stakeholders to transition from required indoor masking to a strong recommendation for indoor masking,” the statement continued.
LAUSD did not indicate when its mask mandate might be lifted.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in California have been declining for several weeks as the omicron wave tapers off.
As of March 11, the seven-day rolling average for cases was 4,625, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the lowest number recorded since Dec. 1, 2021, before the omicron wave.
Similarly, the seven-day average for virus-related hospitalizations in The Golden State sits at 319, a figure not recorded since July 19, 2021, CDC data shows.
However, parents are divided on the mandate with some saying it’s time for masks to be removed and others still worried about a potential rise in cases.
“I think it’s time,” one parent, Elisa Smith, told ABC News affiliate KABC-TV. “If it’s time for us adults to take them off, I think it’s time for the children to take them off.”
“I want them to keep it on. I do, personally,’ another parent, Claudia Angulo, told KABC. “Why? Because it’s still out there, the virus, just to be safe.”
Ending mask mandates have received some pushback from teachers’ unions.
L.A. County public health officials made the announcement last month regarding the end of mask mandates, United Teachers Los Angeles said in a statement it would be “premature” to drop such requirements.
“The district has requested to bargain with UTLA over health and safety protocols currently in place at LAUSD schools,” a spokesperson for the union told ABC News in a statement. “We met with the district on Friday for an initial discussion over their proposed changes, and a follow-up session is scheduled for Wednesday, March 16.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 14, 12:45 pm
Pfizer still delivering medicine to Russia but donating profits to Ukraine
Pfizer said it won’t stop delivering medicine to Russia, but will donate all profits from Russia to humanitarian support for Ukraine.
Pfizer also said it won’t hold new trials in Russia and will stop recruiting new patients for its ongoing trials in the country.
Additionally, Pfizer said it “will cease all planned investments with local suppliers intended to build manufacturing capacity in the country.”
Mar 14, 12:05 pm
At least 636 civilians killed in Ukraine
At least 636 civilians have been killed and another 1,125 injured in Ukraine since the attack began last month, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
These numbers are the verified deaths and injuries; actual death and injury figures are expected to be much higher, the OHCHR said.
Most of the casualties were due to explosive weapons impacting a wide area, including shelling, missiles and air strikes, the OHCHR said.
Mar 14, 10:20 am
Fourth round of Ukraine-Russia talks paused until Tuesday
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has tweeted that Ukraine and Russia are taking a “technical pause” in negotiations until Tuesday.
While the first three rounds of talks were held in Belarus, this fourth round is being held remotely.
“Negotiations continue,” Podolyak tweeted.
Mar 14, 10:04 am
Zelenskyy to address Congress virtually on Wednesday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address U.S. lawmakers virtually at 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to a letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Only members of Congress will be allowed in the auditorium where Zelenskyy’s remarks will be broadcast, but the event will be livestreamed.
“The Congress remains unwavering in our commitment to supporting Ukraine as they face Putin’s cruel and diabolical aggression, and to passing legislation to cripple and isolate the Russian economy as well as deliver humanitarian, security and economic assistance to Ukraine,” the letter said. “We look forward to the privilege of welcoming President Zelenskyy’s address to the House and Senate and to convey our support to the people of Ukraine as they bravely defend democracy.”
Mar 14, 6:47 am
More than 2.8 million have fled Ukraine: UN
More than 2.8 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded, the U.N. Refugee Agency said on Monday.
Monday’s update said more than 1.72 million people have crossed the border into Poland, but didn’t include updated figures for crossings into all the other countries that border Ukraine.
Rafal Trzaskowski, mayor of Warsaw, Poland, told The Telegraph on Saturday that his city’s ability to absorb refugees fleeing the Ukraine war was “at an end” and that the city would be overwhelmed unless an international relocation system was created.
“We are doing all we can but we cannot rely on improvisation anymore,” Trzaskowski told the newspaper. “We coordinate our work with other mayors in Poland and in Europe, and through this we send buses of refugees to other cities. But we are doing this on our own. We need a European relocation system which will organise it because it is a huge logistical enterprise. We can’t improvise anymore.”
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
Mar 14, 6:12 am
Russian attacks will increase, may strike Lviv: US official
Russian attacks on Ukraine will increase, with the western city of Lviv among potential targets, a senior U.S. official told ABC News.
Russian officials are convinced the city is being used to stage military operations and that some high ranking people are present. Russia may target the city, since “they want to create more terror,” an official said.
Russians have warned that anyone who supplies weapons to Ukraine, or offers safe haven, could be targeted.
After Sunday’s attack near the Polish border, concern is growing over a possible strike in Poland, an official said. There are several areas in Poland where weapons are currently being staged or stored.
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz
Mar 14, 5:51 am
Ukraine, Russia to begin 4th round of talks
A fourth round of talks between Russia and Ukraine are due to begin on Monday, following optimistic comments from both sides over the weekend that they are moving towards a compromise.
Both sides have confirmed the latest round of the talks will take place today — the previous three rounds were held in Belarus, but these will take place remotely.
On Sunday, one of Russia’s negotiators, an MP Leonid Slutsky told Russian media that he believed “substantial progress” had been made and that he believed that progress could even “grow into a unified position” in documents for signing in the next few days.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, in interviews and videos posted on Twitter on Sunday also said that Russia “looks at the situation far more properly” and has stopped throwing out “ultimatums.”
Podolyak told the Russian newspaper Kommersant the sides were discussing concrete proposals and that the key issue was “security guarantees” for both Russia and Ukraine. He said the sides were discussing a cease-fire, as well as compensation to Ukraine’s infrastructure destroyed during the war. But he did say that “some time is still needed” for Russia to understand the reality of its situation.
The comments have raised hopes Russia may be lowering its war aims as a result of the fierce Ukrainian resistance and tough response from Western countries.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told Fox News on Sunday that the U.S. also sees Russia is showing signs of a “willingness to have real, serious negotiations.”
But is unclear where the compromise might be found.
Last week, Russia was insisting that Ukraine change is constitution to guarantee it will not join NATO or the European Union. Ukraine had signalled that was not possible but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hinted there might be some negotiating space around NATO, which he has acknowledged Ukraine is not close to joining.
In a video posted to Twitter Monday morning before the start of the talks, Podolyak said Ukraine’s positions were “unchanged”: it was demanding an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian troops. He said only after that could any political settlements be discussed.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 13, 9:41 pm
Russia asks China for military support, US official says
Russia has asked China for military support and other aid in the time since it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, a senior U.S. official told ABC News.
China and Russia recently strengthened their partnership, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has stood by Russian President Vladimir Putin as he’s bombarded Ukraine.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden’s top national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said during an interview with CNN that the U.S. was “watching closely to see the extent to which China actually does provide any form of support, material support or economic support, to Russia.”
“It is a concern of ours,” Sullivan said, adding that the U.S. has communicated to Beijing that it will “not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions.”
Sullivan is planning to meet a top Chinese official in Rome on Monday.
The Financial Times, The Washington Post and The New York Times first reported on this development.
(NEW YORK) — A pregnant woman and her unborn child who were evacuated from a bombed children’s hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol, Ukraine, has died, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She was captured in a photo taken by an Associated Press photographer after a Russian airstrike destroyed the hospital. She was carried out from the rubble of the hospital on a stretcher.
In the now internationally known photo, the woman can be seen covered in dust, holding her lower abdomen as she was carried through the wreckage.
She died after medics at a nearby hospital attempted to save her and her baby’s life.
Another pregnant woman evacuated from the wreckage, Marianna Podgurskaya, gave birth to a girl Sunday, Voice of America reporter Asya Dolina said.
Ukrainian officials said the attack initially killed at least three people, including a child, and wounded at least 17 people. Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov said that at least 1,207 people have died in the city because of shelling and aerial attacks since the Russian invasion began.
Half of those killed were ethnic Russians. Among the casualties was a child who died from dehydration, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy had posted a video on social media last Wednesday, which he said showed the heavily damaged children’s hospital and maternity ward in the southeastern Ukrainian port city.
“Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital,” he said, calling on the international community again to impose a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine. “People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror?”
The city has been burying its dead in a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol as it endures heavy shelling, officials said.
