(WASHINGTON) — Inflation spiked again last month, increasing 0.8 percent in February after rising 0.6 percent in January, the latest figures released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor show.
Compared to February of last year, the Consumer Price Index, which measures the change in prices customers pay for goods and services, is up 7.9%, marking a four-decade high.
The Labor Department said the biggest price hikes were for gasoline, shelter and food.
(NEW YORK) — A group of kidney donors is going to great heights to educate others about being a live organ donor.
The Kidney Donor Athletes, a national organization working to educate and change the perception around live organ donation, is doing so through their “one kidney climb.” This year, on March 10, which marks World Kidney Day, the group of 22 kidney donors are climbing to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
“The purpose of this climb is to show people around the world that it’s possible to thrive on one kidney,” Tracey Hulick, founder of Kidney Donor Athletes, told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
Hulick and the rest of the climbers are part of 22 separate donation chains. When someone donates to a stranger on behalf of someone they know, it sets off a chain reaction and an opportunity for many more lives to be saved. The donors who are taking part in the climb have different reasons for donating.
“Growing up, I had a classmate who passed away because he couldn’t find a bone marrow donor,” Samantha Carreiro of Dover, New Hampshire, said. “In that moment, I kind of just knew that given the chance to help somebody eventually in my life, I would do so.”
Carreiro eventually donated a kidney to a spin instructor at a gym she belonged to for years. She learned that he needed a kidney and knew this was something she was supposed to do.
For Steve Wilson of Katonah, New York, he was inspired to become a kidney donor after learning about his high school acquaintance’s daughter, who received a life-saving kidney transplant from a woman in their hometown.
He said he was “excited” for the recipient and her parents and was deeply moved by the “ultimate act of selflessness” from the donor. Wilson said he later donated his kidney to a 53-year-old woman in Seattle.
“It’s a way to leave an imprint on the world, to make somebody’s life better, to give somebody else a second chance at life,” Wilson added. “To see their children grow up and maybe their grandchildren.”
Patients need kidney transplants if theirs start to fail and are no longer able to rid the body of toxins, according to the University of Chicago Medicine. Patients can become tired, lose their appetite, become nauseous and wind up ill.
There are approximately 97,000 people on the National Kidney Transplant List, and more than 3,000 are added to the list each month. However, many patients spend years on the waiting list because there aren’t enough organs available, according to the University of Chicago Medicine.
The National Kidney Foundation notes that 13 people die each day while waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant.
Through their climb, the Kidney Donor Athletes are hoping to get the message out there that it’s possible to live on one kidney, and they hope to inspire others to donate, too.
“Something that’s important to all of us is to normalize kidney donations,” Patty Graham, a Kidney Donor Athlete from Boulder, Colorado, said. “We’re not heroes, we’re normal people. We lead normal lives. In fact, all the donors — I know our lives are even better and more enhanced after donation.”
“What is life if we’re not helping each other?” Carreiro added.
Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A tentative $83 million settlement has been reached in a punitive class action lawsuit brought by victims affected by the Surfside building that partially collapsed in South Florida last June, court filings show.
The lawsuit was filed against several groups and individuals, including companies that developed and maintained the property, the company responsible for the construction of the building, and engineers and inspectors of the building.
Ninety-eight people were killed in the collapse when the South Tower suffered a “catastrophic failure,” according to court documents.
While 55 condominium units were immediately destroyed, the remainder of the building, which had 136 units, had to be demolished, documents show.
The agreement provides for an $83 million Common Fund to be paid to unit owners as compensations for condominiums and contents; in exchange, unit owners will be relieved from any liability for injury and wrongful death claims, according to court documents.
Each unit owner will be paid a proportionate share of the funds based on their ownership share of the condominium, court documents show.
Once the agreement is finalized and can no longer be appealed, the victims will receive $50 million out of the first $100 million that is recovered from groups responsible for the building. The remaining $33 million of the settlement will be paid out of the money that’s first recovered after that $100 million, according to the court filing.
“All other funds recovered will inure solely for the benefit of the wrongful death claimants,” according to a court filing.
Morabito Consultants, one of the defendants in the lawsuit, said in a statement that it “denies that it is, in any way, liable for the collapse or the resulting damages.”
“But we also firmly believe that the families who have suffered from this tragedy deserve compensation so that they may focus on healing,” it added.
In a statement Tuesday to NBC 6, Becker & Poliakoff, which represents the condo association, said it “continues to deny that it is in any way responsible for the collapse… (and) this settlement is not a finding of fault against Becker…. We are pleased this matter was quickly resolved and sincerely hope the insurance settlement will bring some relief to those impacted by this terrible tragedy.”
The court will hold a final approval hearing for the agreement on March 30. Any objections to the agreement must be submitted to the court by March 23.
(NEW YORK) — Despite being among the first eligible for COVID-19 booster shots, many nursing homes are struggling to boost residents and staff, experts say.
Nationally, about 72% of residents are boosted in each nursing home, according to data from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
But in about one-third of U.S. states, booster rates for residents are less than the national average among nursing homes, and three states have yet to crack an average of 60% of residents boosted in each facility.
Booster shots have been shown to be more protective against omicron and other COVID-19 variants. And nursing home residents continue to be among the most vulnerable people in terms of potential for severe illness and death — nearly 151,000 people in nursing homes have died since the beginning of the pandemic, CMS data shows.
While significantly higher than the 44% of Americans who have received a booster, experts say levels in nursing homes are lower than they’d like to see. Ideally, they should match the rate of vaccination — currently 87% of residents fully vaccinated per facility.
When it comes to booster uptake among nursing home staff members, the numbers are even lower than residents.
Only about 39% of staff members per facility have received booster shots, the CMS data shows, and more than half of states have rates below the national average of nursing homes.
“People may feel like, ‘Well, you got two shots and there’s no value’ or even ‘You had two shots and you had COVID already,'” Dr. Cindy Prins, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, told ABC News. “I think we need to remember that our immunity can wane, especially in our older folks, and they need to keep getting that renewed protection and the booster will give them that.”
In three states, less than 60% of nursing residents are boosted on average
It’s well known that nursing home residents are among the highest at risk for severe COVID-19 complications due to their ages, likelihood of underlying conditions and the fact that they live in congregate settings.
“The other caveat to understand is that, in those that are over the age 65, sometimes it’s a little more difficult for them to develop responses to vaccines,” so getting a booster helps them mount an immune response, Dr. Katherine Baumgarten, medical director for infection prevention at Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, told ABC News.
Yet some nursing homes have been struggling to boost their residents. In three states — Florida, Arizona and Nevada — not even 60% of residents per facility on average have been boosted.
Florida has the lowest rate in the country at about 55%. By comparison, South Dakota has the highest rate at 87.56%.
The Florida Department of Health did not reply to ABC News’ request for comment on why rates are low.
“It’s absolutely something to be concerned about. That’s unacceptable,” Dr. David Grabowski, a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School, told ABC News. “With omicron and with potential new variants, having the most vulnerable individuals — these residents in nursing homes that have been the hardest hit by the pandemic — to have them not fully protected is really unfortunate.”
A February 2022 preprint study from France found nursing home residents who received a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had high levels of neutralizing antibodies against infection from the delta and omicron variants for at least three months.
Prins said she believes part of the reason booster uptake is low among the resident population in some states is because boosters were not promoted as much as the initial vaccines.
“In Florida, the initial vaccines were very much promoted for our older population,” she said. “It was very strongly put out there that seniors were first and they were going to get vaccinated.”
Prins continued, “But I didn’t see that same messaging with the booster. We haven’t placed the same emphasis on it at the state level that we did with that initial vaccine campaign for seniors.”
There are other theories for why the booster rate among nursing homes residents is lower than public health experts would like it to be.
Grabowski said the initial vaccine rollout was centralized, with the federal government partnering with CVS and Walgreens to distribute the shots to nursing homes.
“When it came time to do the booster rollout, this was really left up to the nursing homes to handle the booster clinics,” he said. “They do a flu vaccine every year for staff and residents and there was some thought that they could do this. Some did but there was also some really slow rollout that highlighted the haves and have nots across nursing homes.”
Grabowski continued, “Nursing homes were dealing with a lot during that period, and this was not something that was prioritized in those facilities and we’ve seen those low rates.”
Booster rollout has been slow among staff
Experts say it’s not just the elderly population in nursing homes who have been slow to get boosted — it’s also staff members.
According to CMS data, 12 states don’t even have an average of 30% of staff with boosters per facility. Florida is once again the state with the lowest rate at 24.52% while California has the highest rate at 68.58%.
Prins said it is possible the low booster rates for nursing home staff are partially due to many being ineligible for a third dose because they completed their vaccine series less than five months ago.
But she believes “that does not cover the extent of that lower booster rate” and said the low numbers are “concerning.”
“When you have this kind of facility, the virus gets brought in obviously, and it’s coming in with the people who are most mobile and most often there and that’s going to be your staff members,” Prins said. “[The low number] is absolutely a worry because that puts residents at high risk.”
Since the omicron wave, weekly cases and deaths in nursing homes have declined drastically. However, during the week ending Feb. 20, 2022, there were 620 resident deaths, the highest number since the week ending Jan. 2.
Mandates may be the only way to increase booster rates
The experts say there are a few ways to try and drive booster rates up in nursing homes.
Grabowski said for residents, it would help for the booster rollout to be more centralized with clinics set up by the federal government rather than left up to individual facilities.
However, he believes it will take mandates for booster rates among staff to rise dramatically. As of Tuesday, five states require COVID boosters for nursing home workers: California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Mexico and New York.
“The mandates are important here,” he said. ‘I think with boosters, with staff, it’s probably going to take mandates to make sure they go forward with the booster.”
The doctors add that, in addition, it could help to do sit-downs with small groups of nursing home staff to address their concerns and explain why boosters are beneficial. Baumgarten suggested this could include dispelling the ideas that boosters are ineffective or that they don’t reduce the risk of breakthrough infections.
“Nursing homes are a vulnerable population and we want to protect those who are vulnerable,” she said. “Everything that we can do to prevent them from being exposed or at risk for developing COVID important for us to do. If it’s simple enough to get a booster — which it is, they’re readily available, side effects are minimal — we should do that to help protect those around us.”
(NEW YORK) — Jack Petocz, a student activist in Florida, led his peers on a school walkout last week in protest of what many call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which was passed by the state legislature on Tuesday.
The Florida bill would limit what educators in the state can teach about sexual orientation and gender identity inside some classrooms.
Under this legislation, these lessons “may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” The bill is now headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk.
“Queer people aren’t inherently not age-appropriate,” Petocz told ABC News Live on Wednesday. “Our existence fosters a more inclusive environment.”
What started as a peaceful way for young people to rally against the bill turned into a school suspension for Petocz. He said that just before the protest was about to start, he was pulled to the side by administrators voicing their opposition against students waving the pride flags that Petocz had purchased on his own for the event.
“My school district tried to prevent us from giving out pride flags and distributing them,” Petocz said. “I resisted, and I told students to not give up their pride flags, because they’re a symbol of our identity. They’re a symbol of acceptance and embrace of our queerness.”
Petocz said at least a dozen schools participated in walk-outs. Protests have also taken place across the state in the form of written letter campaigns, petitions and rallies.
Activists across the state and nation are making final pleas to DeSantis before he decides whether or not to sign the bill into law.
DeSantis has signaled his support for the bill but has not yet said whether he will sign it. Supporters of the bill say they want parents to have more control over what is being taught in the classroom.
“I call on Gov. DeSantis to have a meeting with me before he signs this into law to hear a firsthand account of how this bill will affect my community,” Petocz said.
Rep. Joe Harding, the bill’s sponsor, told ABC News, “Families are families. Let the families be families. The school district doesn’t need to insert themselves at that point when children are still learning how to read and do basic math.”
But for many of these students, political measures like these are personal attacks, according to Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Over 21% of Generation Z identifies with the LGBTQ community, a recent Gallup poll found.
“It’s becoming a war zone for them,” Ellis said in an interview with ABC News Live on Wednesday morning.
“Why are we even discussing this?” Ellis asked. “What this does at the end of the day is politicize LGBTQ people who just want to go to school, learn how to read and write, and every now and then want to see their families represented as well.”
Ellis, who is gay, is a mother to young children and told ABC News that children’s books with two moms were her children’s favorite stories to read growing up. She said that this bill would prevent children with LGBTQ parents from being able to relate lessons to their own lives at home.
She pointed to other anti-LGBTQ bills that have been proposed this year, calling it a “coordinated effort” by conservative legislators. Bills targeting the community have popped up in other iterations — including bans against gender-affirming care for trans youth being proposed in Idaho and Alabama and bans on trans participation in women’s sports in Iowa and Indiana.
“These politicians are taking this opportunity to raise money for themselves and using our children and classrooms to create divisions,” Ellis said.
Equality Florida, a local organization that has been organizing many of the protests against the bill, said that it will “not allow this bill to harm LGBTQ Floridians.” The organization argues that removing LGBTQ content from classrooms creates an environment of exclusion and oppression against queer youth.
“Lawmakers rejected the voices of tens of thousands who sent emails and made phone calls asking for them to put a stop to this bill, thousands of courageous students who walked out of class, hundreds of people who testified before their bodies, dozens of child welfare organizations and leaders who spoke up to name the harms of the bill and their own Republican colleagues who refused to support it,” the organization said in a statement.
“Instead, they locked arms with the angry mobs hurling anti-LGBTQ slurs at those asking for nothing more than a safe place to go to school without having to hide who they are,” the statement read. “Our fight for full equality continues.”
(WASHINGTON) — The House on Wednesday approved measures to ban Russian energy products, provide billions in assistance to Ukraine and fund the government through the fall — but only after Democratic infighting forced party leaders to remove more than $15 billion in COVID aid from the package.
With the federal government set to run out of funding as soon as Friday, the $1.5 trillion package will avert a shutdown through September, while also adding billions in humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. The House also passed a four-day stopgap measure to give the Senate time to approve the larger package.
The bill, which includes $13.6 billion in humanitarian and defense aid to Ukraine, received bipartisan support and passed 361-69. The House approved the non-defense portion of the package 260-171, with one member voting present. Later, the House approved a proposal to ban Russian oil and energy imports in a 414-17 vote.
The new aid to Ukraine, billions more than initially requested by the Biden administration, is evenly split between humanitarian and military aid, includes millions to help feed and resettle displaced Ukrainians and nearly $2 billion in potential economic relief for Ukraine and neighboring countries.
Of the $6.5 billion in emergency defense assistance, the package directs $3.5 billion to help arm Ukrainians and allied forces in the region with U.S. military stocks, and another $3 billion to support the deployment of additional U.S. troops and materials to Europe.
In a setback for the Biden administration’s COVID strategy, House Democrats were forced to scrap $15 billion in COVID-19 funding for therapeutics and research in the spending package after an internal revolt from members who objected to repurposing unspent relief Congress had previously approved for states to use at their discretion.
Pelosi, who called the removal of COVID-19 funds “heartbreaking,” told reporters the change was necessary in order for the package to clear the Senate, where a 50-50 split forces Democrats to rely on the votes of at least 10 Republicans.
“We’re in a legislative process. We have a deadline. We’re keeping government open,” she said. “We had a lively negotiation.”
“Some of the members are disappointed,” Pelosi continued. “‘I didn’t get what I wanted in the bill’ — you’re telling Noah about the flood.”
Pelosi, however, said the House would take up a standalone COVID funding bill Wednesday with a plan for the bill to be debated and voted on next week.
Separately, the chamber also approved a measure to ban the import of Russian oil and energy products one day after President Joe Biden signed an executive order to the same effect.
The bill would also direct the administration to consider taking steps to suspend Russia from the World Trade Organization and expand on language in the Magnitsky Act — a sanctions law approved by Congress in 2012 — to allow the Biden administration to impose additional sanctions on Russian officials and individuals linked to the war in Ukraine.
Democratic leaders made changes to that legislation — initially crafted with Republicans in both chambers — after the White House raised concerns that it would make it harder for Biden to ease sanctions on Russia if the Kremlin deescalated in Ukraine.
Another provision to suspend trade relations with Russia and Belarus was adjusted at the White House’s request, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Wednesday.
“It was taken out because the president rightfully wants to talk to our allies about that action, which I think was appropriate,” he said.
Democrats were expected to pass the measures earlier than expected Wednesday night, allowing them to salvage their caucus retreat in Philadelphia that was initially slated to begin Wednesday afternoon.
Biden will address the caucus in Philadelphia on Friday.
(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, don’t appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least 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 10, 5:49 am
At least four killed by airstrikes in Kharkiv overnight, authorities say
Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, was hit with several powerful airstrikes overnight that killed at least four people, local authorities said Thursday.
Russian bombardment have destroyed 280 civilian buildings in Kharkiv, including schools and kindergartens, since Russia began invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to the regional interior ministry department in Kharkiv.
Kharkiv has come under heavy attacks as Russian forces try to seize the city.
Mar 10, 4:56 am
Russia says operation to ‘liberate’ Mariupol ongoing
The Russian military alleged Thursday that its forces have managed to capture more of the outer neighborhoods of Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine, saying the operation to “liberate” the strategic port city is ongoing.
The claim came a day after a Russian airstrike destroyed a children’s hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol, where heavy fighting has been taking place in recent days.
Local authorities in the besieged city have accused Russian forces of waging a “medieval siege” against them.
Mar 10, 4:14 am
Foreign ministers from Russia and Ukraine meet in Turkey
The top diplomats from Russia and Ukraine are meeting now in Antalya, Turkey.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in the southern Turkish resort on Thursday morning ahead of the meeting — the highest level talks between their two countries since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Both officials first met separately with their Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, upon arrival. Cavusoglu is expected to attend their talks.
Lavrov and Kuleba are expected to talk for about 90 minutes. They will hold separate press conferences afterwards.
(MARIUPOL, Ukraine) — A children’s hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, was destroyed Wednesday in what Ukrainian officials said was a targeted attack by Russian airstrikes, as the deputy mayor warned the hard-hit city is on the “brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video on social media Wednesday that 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?”
Pavlo Kirilenko, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, claimed in a post on Facebook that a Russian aircraft deliberately targeted the 600-bed hospital.
“City center maternity hospital, hospital, children’s ward and therapy — all destroyed during a Russian aviation flight to Mariupol,” he said. “The Russians! You have not only crossed the border of unacceptable relations between states and peoples. You have crossed the line of humanity.”
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed during a daily briefing Wednesday that Ukraine had put firing positions inside the children’s hospital in Mariupol, though there is currently no evidence to support that allegation. The comment, however, appears to be an implicit acknowledgment that Russia deliberately targeted the hospital, as Kirilenko had claimed.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said she was “horrified” by the reported attack on the hospital.
“We do not yet know the number of casualties but fear the worst,” she said in a statement. “This attack, if confirmed, underscores the horrific toll this war is exacting on Ukraine’s children and families. In less than two weeks, at least 37 children have been killed and 50 injured, while more than 1 million children have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries.”
The besieged city, which sits on the Sea of Azov, has been without power or water amid steady Russian bombardments.
In a video conference Wednesday, Mariupol deputy mayor Serhiy Orlov said the city is on the “brink of a humanitarian catastrophe” and that “‘Russia is trying to wipe Mariupol from the face of the earth.”
Orlov reported that 1,207 have died in the city because of shelling and aerial attacks — and that half of those killed were ethnic Russians. Among the casualties was a child who died from dehydration, according to Zelenskyy.
The city has been burying its dead in a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol as its endures heavy shelling.
New satellite imagery collected by commercial satellite company Maxar Technologies on Wednesday morning, before the reported shelling of the hospital, showed extensive damage to civilian infrastructure in and around the city, including residential homes, high-rise apartment buildings, grocery stores and shopping centers.
Orlov accused Russia of indiscriminately bombarding the city because its forces were unable to break through its defenses, but he said that Mariupol would not surrender. He also called on the international community to impose a no-fly zone, an escalation that the White House and NATO allies have opposed.
“The Russian army cannot break our defenses and win on the ground, and this is why they are just bombing us relentlessly to break our spirit,” he said. “Our spirit is strong but we need help. To the outside world we say: Help us save our city! Close the skies! Impose a no-fly zone!”‘
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.
To kick things off, the company will debut its Blissfeel shoes, which have an upper panel that supports movement and underfoot foam cushioning technology. The shoe will be available in 10 spring-ready shades.
Lululemon will also introduce three other shoes, including Chargefeel for cross-training; Restfeel, a slide-style shoe for post-workout; and Strongfeel, which is an all-around training shoe.
“Footwear is the natural next step for us to expand and apply our long history of innovation in fit, feel and performance, and it represents an exciting moment for our brand,” Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald said in a statement. “We are entering the footwear category the same way we built our apparel business — with products designed to solve unmet needs, made for women first.”
Lululemon’s chief product officer Sun Choe also shared in a statement that the brand started with women’s shoes first as a result of noticing that they are often designed for men and later adapted for women. “That didn’t sit well with us,” said Choe.
She continued, “Innovating for women is in lululemon’s DNA — now we’re bringing that same expertise to footwear, and women were part of this journey every step of the way.”
While the brand is initially launching for women, there are plans to create a men’s footwear collection in 2023.
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon has been providing daily updates on the Russian invasion and Ukraine’s efforts to resist.
Here are highlights of what defense officials told reporters on Wednesday:
Pentagon against rejects sending fighter jets to Ukraine
On Tuesday evening, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby dismissed a surprise offer from Poland to send all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. air base in Germany “and place them at the disposal” of the U.S. government.
“The prospect of fighter jets ‘at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America’ departing from a U.S./NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance,” Kirby said in a statement, adding that “we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one.”
On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Polish counterpart about the MiG-29 offer, thanking him for Poland’s willingness to help Ukraine, but rejecting the notion of using the U.S. as an intermediary for any aircraft transfer.
“He stressed that we do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian air force at this time, and therefore have no desire to see them in our custody either,” Kirby said during a press conference at the Pentagon.
Kirby characterized the idea as high risk, low reward — the risk being possible escalation by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The intelligence community has assessed the transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of military escalation with NATO,” he said.
In addition to that risk, the U.S. believes other forms of military support are more effective.
“We believe the best way to support Ukrainian defense is by providing them the weapons and the systems that they need most to defeat Russian aggression,” Kirby said. “In particular, anti-armor and air defense.”
The U.S. has sent hundreds of millions of dollars worth of military aid into Ukraine, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons such as the Javelin and Stinger systems.
Earlier on Wednesday, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Russian anti-air capability now spans much of Ukrainian airspace, which also makes aircraft less viable in the fight against the invaders.
Kirby added that the Ukrainian air force still has several squadrons of “fully mission-capable” aircraft of its own.
“We assess that adding aircraft to the Ukrainian inventory is not likely to significantly change the effectiveness of Ukrainian Air Force relative to Russian capabilities.
While the U.S. has rejected the idea for now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has continued to call for more aircraft.
“This is about people’s lives. We ask again: make the decision faster. Don’t throw the responsibility — send us the jets,” Zelenskyy said in a Wednesday speech.
And the skies above Ukraine are not yet dominated by Russia.
On Wednesday morning, the U.K. Ministry of Defense tweeted an intelligence update saying “Ukrainian air defenses appear to have enjoyed considerable success against Russia’s modern combat aircraft, probably preventing them from achieving any degree of control of the air.”
“Although Russian air capabilities are significant, their effectiveness has been limited due to Ukrainian … air-defense systems, surface-to-air missiles, and MANPADS,” Kirby said.
Patriot batteries arrive in Poland
Late on Tuesday evening, U.S. European Command confirmed that two Patriot anti-missile systems already in Europe would be moved to Poland. By Wednesday they had arrived, according to the senior U.S. defense official.
“We’re not going to talk about where they are, I’m not going to talk about their operational status, but they are in Poland and they are manned,” the official said.
The Patriot systems are capable of detecting and intercepting incoming ballistic missiles.
Russian missiles and ‘dumb’ munitions
Russia has now fired more than 710 missiles against Ukraine, with about half launched from within Ukraine using mobile platforms, according to the official.
The U.S. has also seen indications Russia is using “dumb” munitions. meaning ordinance that is not precision-guided. The official said it is not clear if these imprecise weapons are being used as part of the original Russian plan or due to problems with their guided missile targeting process.
“What we see manifested is increasing damage to civilian infrastructure and civilian casualties,” the official said.
Russian combat power
Russia has about 90% of its invading combat power still intact, the official said. On Tuesday, the estimate was 95%, but the official emphasized that these numbers are rough estimates, so it doesn’t necessarily mean 5% of Russian forces were taken out of the fight overnight.
No sign Putin preparing reserve forces
The U.S. still sees no indications Putin is trying to gather any more troops in addition to the more than 150,000 originally designated for the invasion, the official said.
Russia’s ground effort
Since Tuesday, Russians have further closed in on Kharkiv, gaining about 12 miles ground.
“It’s still heavy, heavy fighting there,” the official said. “We don’t assess that they’ve taken the city by any means.”
The U.S. has not seen any significant Russian movement toward Kyiv or Chernihiv in the last 24 hours, and there is still no sign of an an immanent amphibious assault on Odessa. Ukrainians have mounted a strong resistance in Mariupol, but Russians continue to surround and bombard the city.
