(NEW YORK) — Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has closely followed what the United Kingdom had done to combat the virus from its early response to its vaccination rollout.
Outbreaks in Great Britain have been harbingers of what’s to come in the U.S., and its policies have often helped shape America’s COVID response.
Over the past several weeks, the U.K. has been lifting COVID restrictions and, on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced he was dropping the remaining rules in England including the requirement to self-isolate after testing positive, contact tracing and free administration of rapid tests.
In a speech to the House of Commons, Johnson said the country had to pivot away from preventing COVID-19 and “learn to live with this virus and continue protecting ourselves and others without restricting our freedoms.”
Seeing America’s closest ally drop its restrictions have led some to wonder if the U.S. should follow suit.
Currently, the U.K. is recording a daily average of 39,000 cases, down from a peak of 183,000 on Jan. 2 and an average of 126 deaths from a peak of 257 on Feb. 5, according to government data. Meanwhile, the U.S. is recording an average of 75,000 cases, down from a peak of 807,000 in mid-January and approximately 1,600 deaths a day compared to the peak of 2,600 on Feb. 2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Public health experts are split with some saying it’s time for the U.S. to do similarly and treat COVID-19 as an endemic disease while others say lifting rules may not work for the U.S. right now because of a lower vaccination rate and a less robust surveillance system.
COVID spread in England will be ‘minimal’ due to high rate of vaccination
The largest change to the rules in England is that people who test positive for COVID-19 will no longer be legally required to self-isolate, or avoid contact with other people for a period of time to reduce the risk of transmission.
Once approved by Parliament, the requirement ended Feb. 24, although the government will continue to recommend that COVID-positive patients self-isolate but are not required to do so.
Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, called the move a step in the right direction towards the “concept of living with COVID” and a shift from a mandate to personal responsibility.
“It’s a state where we expect people to essentially take responsibility and be accountable to doing the right thing,” she told ABC News. “This means someone who tests positive is aware of what they need to do to protect others during the period of time when they are infectious.”
She added that the U.K. government needs to communicate that “this doesn’t mean do whatever you want to do if you know you have COVID-19. It means that now we have shifted the responsibility and are giving you the tools to guide you in how we should behave.”
But other public health experts don’t think that this system can be implemented in the U.S. because it has a lower vaccination rate than England.
In England, 84.9% of those aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated and 65.7% have received a booster shot as of Thursday, according to the UK government.
By comparison, 73.3% of Americans aged 12 and up are fully vaccinated and 44.9% are boosted, according to data from the CDC.
The experts say this means, even if infected people don’t self-isolate, the virus wouldn’t have a major impact on the healthcare system in England as it would in the U.S.
“What they are doing is going to lead to more infections, but the consequences of increased transmission in the U.K. will be minimized by their very good rates of vaccination,” Dr. Bill Hanage, an associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told ABC News. “That population-level immunity is going to be maintained, so even though the virus is circulating, it doesn’t cause disproportionate damage to healthcare.”
He continued, “There are lots of places in the U.S. that are not able to do that without risking much more severe consequences” in reference to several areas in the U.S. with low vaccination rates.
Genomic surveillance is better in the U.K.
Experts said one of the reasons the U.K. may be able to drop its COVID-19 restrictions is its strong genomic surveillance system, better than that of the U.S.
Genomic surveillance allows scientists to track new mutations and variants of COVID-19 and how quickly they are spreading.
About 60,000 samples are sequenced in the U.K. each week, according to the non-profit Wellcome Sanger Institute, which is contracted by the UK Health Security Agency to sequence COVID samples.
Meanwhile, more than 48,000 samples are sequenced each week in the U.S currently, according to the CDC, despite having nearly five times the population of the U.K.
What’s more, between Feb. 14 and Feb. 20, the U.S. submitted about 1,000 samples that underwent genomic sequencing to the global database GISAID while the U.K. submitted more than 15,000 samples.
This means the U.K. would be able to detect new variants much more quickly.
“The U.K. demonstrated a really phenomenal level of surveillance for this virus,” Dr. Stuart Ray, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, told ABC News. “They were the ones that helped us recognize the alpha variant and they had a higher level of genomic surveillance for this virus than the U.S. did at many junctures.”
“I think that they have demonstrated the utility of situational awareness of monitoring and testing to try to manage this pandemic. That’s a lesson I hope we took to heart. I’m not sure if relaxing rules while case rates are high is a lesson to learn or not, but we’ll see.”
Almost all adults in England are estimated to have COVID antibodies
As of the week beginning Jan. 31, more than 98% of the adult population in England are estimated to have detectable COVID-19 antibodies either from previous infection or from vaccination, according to the UK government, which some have pointed to as a reason for why restrictions should be dropped.
But the U.S. is not very far behind, with a nationwide seroprevalence survey of blood donors conducted by the CDC estimating 94% of those aged 16 and older have antibodies to the virus from vaccination or infection.
Of those, 28% in the U.S. are believed to be from infection. It’s unclear what the U.K. level from infection is.
Ray pointed out that it’s not clear from antibody tests whether people are immune to infection, severe complication and so on and that a high percentage of people with antibodies does not equate to high levels of immunity from high vaccination levels.
“I think if we had a very high vaccination rate, a very high level of immunity in the U.S., that relaxing some restrictions would make a lot of sense, and we would just need to articulate guidance for people for voluntary protections for themselves and the people around them,” he said.
Other infectious diseases experts say even though the U.S. vaccine rate is not as high as in the U.K, there is enough immunity in the nation.
Dr. Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist with the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, told ABC News the omicron wave infected as many as 60% of all Americans, giving them some form of immunity.
“We do not have as high a vaccination rate as the U.K., but we have the combination of vaccination and infection,” Mokdad, who helps lead a model that projects COVID-19 cases around the country, said. “In our estimate at IHME, 75% of Americans have immunity against omicron so we are basically very close to the U.K. in that regard.”
Studies have indicated infection with omicron, which is the current dominant variant, among vaccinated individuals can boost previously acquired vaccine immunity against other variants.
“Even if they had higher vaccination, we had higher infections, so you add the two together and we’re in the same boat as they are. So, whatever they did, we should do here in the U.S. In my opinion we should also stop these mandates in the U.S.,” Mokdad said.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and mink breeder Peter Hindbo visit the closed and empty farm near Kolding, Denmark. – MADS NISSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A year ago, Denmark culled thousands of minks in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 in mink farms and curb any potential threat of transmission back to humans.
And just a few months ago, thousands of small animals, including hamsters in Hong Kong were culled after scientists and public health officials became concerned over cases of humans becoming infected with COVID-19 from their pets.
Pets, in particular, are problematic because there are no disease surveillance programs for them or zoo animals, said Dr. Tracey McNamara, professor of pathology at Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine.
While minks and hamsters have been the only animals believed to have transmitted the virus back to humans in some cases, scientists are increasingly concerned that the next coronavirus variant might emerge not from people, but animals, as COVID-19 likely did.
Scientists are monitoring animals both to try to identify any new pandemic-causing viruses, and to try to identify the next COVID-19 variant. If a new variant emerges that is significantly different from any of the variants we’ve seen previously, and if nobody has immunity — that’s effectively a brand-new pandemic.
“There are hundreds, thousands of coronavirus in many animal species,” said Dr. Jeff Taubenberger, deputy chief of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). “We don’t really know where they all are, we don’t know the full extent of the reservoir. We don’t know what the risks are.”
Bolstering animal surveillance
Now, scientists are hoping to shore up defenses against COVID-19 by monitoring the way the virus circulates in animals.
“Tufts University recently received $100 million for pandemic prevention work globally,” said McNamara. “There is a lot of money going into finding potential pandemic threats in animals before they spread to people internationally, but not enough domestically.”
According to McNamara, the new Tufts funding will fund teams of scientists to bolster surveillance in the Africa and Asia — testing wild animals for any virus that might cause a future pandemic, to better understand how those viruses are circulating in nature.
In North America, scientists have found more and more cases of the COVID-19 virus being transmitted among wild white tail deer. Each case of transmission increases the chances of a new variant developing.
“If the virus is able to infect other species, it will evolve differently,” said Taubenberger. “It could give us a variant that is very different from what we’ve been exposed to, and wouldn’t be covered by our current vaccines.”
Universal vaccine and new pandemic plans
This concern for new variants arising, especially from animal populations, has scientists calling for the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine, which would address a number of coronaviruses, including COVID-19, but likely not all.
“A universal coronavirus vaccine is one that would work against multiple strains or variants,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and a medical contributor for ABC News.
Scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research have been working on developing such a universal vaccine, which is currently undergoing the first phase of human trials.
This universal vaccine would include multiple coronavirus fragments that could trigger immune responses to different strains of COVID-19, with the hopes of boosting immunity against more variants.
It would also be stable at room temperature, potentially making it more globally accessible.
“With the omicron variant, we saw a huge number of breakthrough cases, though the vaccine was holding up against severe illness from COVID-19. In the future, we would like to be providing core support instead of chasing new variants,” Brownstein said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government has launched a new Pandemic Preparedness Plan to better defend against new viruses that might cause the next pandemic.
As part of this plan, the NIAID will focus research efforts on two areas, “prototype pathogens” and “priority pathogens.”
“Prototype pathogens are viruses that could potentially cause human illness,” said Brownstein. “And priority pathogens are viruses that we know already cause human illness and death.”
By expanding knowledge of these viruses, the Pandemic Preparedness Plan hopes to shorten the time it takes to develop medicines or vaccines effective against future variants that may emerge.
Jonathan Chan, M.D., is an emergency medicine resident at St. John’s Riverside Hospital and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.
Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 25, 6:42 am
Russia says negotiations will begin after ‘democratic order’ restored
Russia will begin negotiations again once “democratic order” is restored in Ukraine, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said Friday, amid an ongoing invasion of the neighboring country.
“We are ready for negotiations, at any moment, as soon as the Armed Forces of Ukraine respond to the call of our president to cease resistance and lay down their arms. No one intends to attack them,” Lavrov said during a televised meeting in Moscow with pro-Russian separatist leaders from eastern Ukraine.
Lavrov’s comments come as Russian forces attacked Ukrainian troops in Kyiv on Friday morning, as the fighting drew closer to the capital’s city center.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 6:03 am
Russia claims to have disabled 118 Ukrainian military facilities
Russia claimed Friday that its forces have so far disabled 118 elements of Ukraine’s military infrastructure.
“These include 11 military airfields and 13 command and communication posts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
Konashenkov also alleged that more than 150 Ukrainian soldiers have “laid down their arms and surrendered during the fighting.”
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Feb 25, 5:43 am
Gunfire, explosions heard within Kyiv as fighting draws near
ABC News’ team in Kyiv saw a large explosion and heard intense gunfire in the distance early Friday afternoon.
The crackles of gunfire appeared to be several miles north of the center of the Ukrainian capital, but still well within the city limits.
Ukrainian authorities have told residents in the northern suburb of Obolon to take shelter and prepare for imminent military action. The area is a 10-minute drive from Kyiv’s center.
The capital remains on edge as Russian forces draw near. Earlier, Ukrainian troops were seen hurriedly moving with ammunition to set up positions in the city center as air-raid sirens rang out.
Thousands of people have tried to leave Kyiv and head west to the Polish border, with some spending hours stuck in long traffic jams.
The Ukrainian military said it has distributed 18,000 assault rifles to territorial defense volunteers in the capital. It has also begun handing out weapons to civilians who want to fight and has called on healthy men over the age 60 to join the defense force, if they wish.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 5:11 am
Ukrainian military claims to have killed Russian saboteurs in Kyiv
Ukraine’s military claimed Friday to have killed an advance group of Russian saboteurs disguised as Ukrainian soldiers during a gunfight in the capital, Kyiv.
The Ukrainian military released video purportedly showing the bodies of men in Ukrainian uniforms and a destroyed truck. The fighting allegedly happened in an area only 10 minutes north of the city center.
Russian forces that crossed into Ukraine from the north on Thursday have been trying to advance south toward Kyiv. Fighting was taking place near a town 20 miles north of the entrance to the capital on Friday morning, ABC News has learned.
(PRIPYAT, Ukraine) — As Russian troops continue to inch their way through its invasion of Ukraine, a secondary catastrophe to the fighting between the ex-Soviet neighbors is possible: another nuclear reaction at Chernobyl.
On Thursday afternoon, Russian armed forces entered the deserted exclusion zone around the Chernobyl power plant, where the world’s worst nuclear accident took place in 1986. By night, Russian forces had taken full control of the area, including the plant itself, according to Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The heavy fighting inside the “exclusion zone,” a vast and empty land surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant that includes the ghost city of Pripyat, is causing concern that it could spark another nuclear disaster. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano is watching the situation with “grave concern, appealing for “maximum restraint” amid the conflict to avoid putting the nuclear facility at risk.
“It is of vital importance that the safe and secure operations of the nuclear facilities in that zone should not be affected or disrupted in any way,” Mariano said in a statement.
On April 26, 1986, reactor No. 4 at the power plant, about 65 miles north of the capital Kyiv, exploded, spewing enormous amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere and causing more than 100,000 people in a 1,000-square-mile radius to evacuate.
The destroyed reactor itself was sealed in 2019 under a $2 billion arch-shaped shelter, a stadium-sized metal structure that was built over it to contain, but the other three untouched reactors remain “fully exposed,” said Tim Mousseau, a professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina who has been studying Chernobyl for more than 20 years.
“There are more than 5 million pounds of spent nuclear fuel, also uranium and plutonium and a few other nasty isotopes, sitting in the cooling ponds of the the three reactors that didn’t blow up in 1986,” Mousseau said.
The fighting represents an “existential threat” to the environment, Mousseau told ABC News.
Should missiles hit the structure over reactor No. 4, where “quite a bit” of radioactive material is left, or the facility where the spent nuclear fuel that accumulated over the decades of operation there is stored, it would cause large amounts of radioactive nuclear dust to spread throughout the region, Mousseau said.
“If this storage area were to be hit with any kind of any kind of missile, this could release vast quantities of highly radioactive material would spread far and wide, potentially causing an even larger disaster than the 1986 disaster,” he said.
In addition, the area surrounding the power plant is “absolutely the most radioactive place on the planet,” Mousseau said. That, combined with the “tinderbox” conditions left by severe forest fires in recent years, could allow a fast-sweeping wildfires to spew radio nuclides back into the atmosphere and “spread it again far and wide,” Mousseau said.
Russian forces in Chernobyl prove an additional worrying sign for Ukraine, as they are now about an hour’s drive from the capital. Russian special forces have also managed to keep hold of a key military airport just 20 miles from the very center of Kyiv, despite fierce fighting.
“Unfortunately, we are obliged to inform that as things stand the Chernobyl Zone, the so-called ‘Exclusion Zone’ and all the Chernobyl nuclear power station have been taken under the control of the Russian armed groups,” Shmyhal told UNIAN, Ukraine’s main news wire.
Russia’s decision to enter Ukraine through such a vulnerable region as Chernobyl could be emblematic of additional escalation to come, Mousseau said, describing the situation facing the disaster site as “the worst nightmare come true.”
“No one in their right mind would want to engage in warfare in that region for fear of unleashing potentially the largest nuclear disaster ever,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that Ukrainian troops were fighting and “giving their lives” to avoid another 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
“This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe,” Zelenskyy wrote of the occupation.
U.S. officials had predicted before the invasion that Russia would use special forces to land into the capital before forces from Belarus, which borders the northern side of the exclusion zone, would sweep down rapidly in an effort to back Russia’s lightning strike to seize the city.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell, Cindy Smith and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
Russian occupation forces are trying to seize the #Chornobyl_NPP. Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated. Reported this to @SwedishPM. This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe.
(NEW YORK) — Approximately 5.2 million children have lost a parent or caregiver during the pandemic, according to a new study published in The Lancet medical journal Thursday.
An analysis by the same team of researchers in July 2021 had estimated 1.5 million children were orphaned during the first 14-months of the pandemic, meaning they lost at least one parent. But with new variants and a rising death count, the researchers said they felt compelled to re-evaluate the analysis.
Between May 2021 and October 2021, deaths globally nearly doubled compared to the months prior, a jump attributed predominantly to the delta variant. This new study estimates that approximately 5.2 million children are experiencing COVID-related orphanhood.
“What we found was shocking,” said Dr. Susan Hillis, the study’s lead author and a senior research officer at Oxford University, who completed this work while at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number of children who lost at least one parent at the end of the first 20-months of the pandemic was greater than the total number of COVID deaths, and this gap is increasing, according to the study.
Children aged 10 through 17 were more likely to have lost a parent, with 2.1 million children affected. Still, over 490,000 children between ages 0 and 4, and 750,000 children between ages 5 and 10 lost a parent or caregiver.
Among all children, 3 out of every 4 lost a father, which is even more significant in low-income countries where the father is more likely to be the primary earner.
“COVID-related orphanhood does not come in waves,” Hillis said. “It is a steadily rising slope with the summit still out of our sight.” Although many may recover from an infection, losing a parent is not something that can be easily recovered from, she said.
“These are 5 million kids in one generation that will be living the rest of their lives in a very different way, and this affects us all,” said Dr. Natasha Burgert, a pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Burgert was not involved with the study.
As part of their work, Hillis and her team said they developed a real-time calculator to predict loss of parent or caregiver by current mortality data for every country in the world. By the end of January 2022, the estimate had risen to 6.7 million children worldwide affected by COVID orphanhood, according to the research. In the United States, the researchers estimate over 149,000 children have lost a parent or caregiver.
However, despite these staggering numbers, Hillis say there is hope.
For the last 20 years, the U.S. government has been investing in evidence-based programs to ensure orphaned and highly vulnerable children affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic could be protected and supported to reach their potential, the researchers noted.
“We actually know the models that work,” Hillis says. “We have an opportunity to lead by example.”
Experts say these findings underscore the importance of vaccinating adults across the globe.
“Vaccines are keeping people alive in the face of this terrible virus and keeping families whole,” says Burgert.
While authors continue to call for equitable access to vaccines and treatment globally, the millions of children already orphaned still need support, they said.
“We need to be supporting our childcare centers, local schools and larger university systems with the resources needed to create a cushion of support and a safe place for social-emotional learning,” says Burgert. “Educators, counselors, administrators, physicians and legislators need to be preparing for the upcoming impact, and they will need everyone’s help.”
The CDC, WHO and many top experts around the world have agreed to the importance of adding an additional pillar to the world-wide COVID response: Caring for and protecting these children.
There is currently no governmental funding in the United States aimed at acknowledging and protecting these children in their hidden pandemic, the researchers noted.
“We have an unprecedented opportunity to change the narrative in our country away from divisiveness towards shared hope,” says Hillis. “It is a moral imperative for us to do what we know works to help the ones at home and to encourage every country in the world to do the same.”
Emily Molina, MD, an internal medicine resident physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
(WASHINGTON) — Shortly after President Joe Biden on Thursday announced new sanctions on Russian banks and elites — but not on Russian President Vladimir Putin himself — a top Senate Democrat pointedly called on him to go further.
“As we seek to impose maximum costs on Putin, there is more that we can and should do. Congress and the Biden administration must not shy away from any options—including sanctioning the Russian Central Bank, removing Russian banks from the SWIFT [international banking] system, crippling Russia’s key industries, sanctioning Putin personally, and taking all steps to deprive Putin and his inner circle of their assets,” Sen. Bob Menendez, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged the administration in a statement.
The Democratic chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Adam Schiff, told reporters Thursday that he, too, would support removing Russia from the SWIFT banking system as many Republicans have called for as tensions worsened.
“We must provide Ukraine with support to defend itself. We also are going to need to, I think, dramatically escalate the sanctions that we place on Russia for this act of naked aggression by the Kremlin dictator. We need to move, I think, to sanction the largest banks in Russia, we have to cut off Russia from the International financing system and its ability to access Western capital. We need to attack its ability to gather sophisticated technology for its weapons systems,” Schiff told reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.
Asked why SWIFT was not included in his announcement, Biden argued the actions the U.S. had taken Thursday were more significant, but said it was an option that remained on the table, although allies hadn’t agreed on making the move.
“It’s always an option but right now that’s not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take,” Biden told reporters Thursday during remarks in the East Room of the White House.
Biden briefed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the evolving situation in Ukraine during a phone call Thursday afternoon.
McConnell described it as “a briefing from the president for the four of us on the events of today and the way forward” but declined to share further details. He noted that he urged the president, both publicly and privately, to “ratchet up the sanctions.”
A spokesman to Pelosi confirmed to ABC News that the call was “classified” in nature.
Across the board, Republicans and Democrats in both chambers of Congress say the administration must act boldly and with more urgency to punish Putin and Russian oligarchs as the deadly attack in Ukraine unfolds.
And while many Republicans have been critical of Biden’s steps up to this point, the actual invasion attack has seen many joining with Democrats in calls to sideline partisan squabbling in the name of NATO unity.
While agreeing to do so, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, couldn’t resist seizing an “I told you so” moment. In a statement released just moments after news of Russia’s advancement into Ukraine broke Wednesday evening. Romney harkened back to his 2012 presidential debate with President Barack Obama, who mocked Romney for citing Russia as the United States’ “number one geopolitical foe.”
At the time, Obama quipped on stage that “the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.”
Ten years later, Romney argued that Putin’s prior aggression laid the groundwork for the current conflict he’s waging in Ukraine. “The ’80s called’ and we didn’t answer,” he said.
Still, the statement ended on a unifying note, calling on America and its allies to “protect freedom” by working in tandem to impose harsh sanctions on Russia.
Many GOP lawmakers are modeling Romney’s tone, calling for unity despite disagreement with the administration.
In a statement Thursday, following Biden’s remarks, McConnell acknowledged Romney’s consistent warnings about Ukraine, but like Romney, looked ahead.
“Moving forward, how America leads the response from all freedom-loving nations will be measured carefully by our friends, by our adversaries, and by history itself,” McConnell said. “We cannot afford to fail this test.”
Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee also released a statement early Thursday going after Putin. Earlier in the week, they had been more critical of Biden.
“The last few hours have laid bare for the world to witness the true evil that is Vladimir Putin. Today, we stand resolute with the Ukrainian people and resolve to provide them with the tools they need to withstand and repel this unprovoked attack. Every drop of Ukrainian and Russian blood spilled in this conflict is on Putin’s hands, and his alone,” the Republican members said.
GOP divided on attacking Biden
But some Republicans are choosing a more divisive rhetoric, largely unseen in previous international conflicts.
Among a newer breed of Republicans, many of whom have found themselves closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, criticism is extending beyond Putin and to Biden himself.
The third-ranking House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik, slammed Biden in a statement Thursday.
“After just one year of a weak, feckless, and unfit President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief, the world is less safe. Rather than peace through strength, we are witnessing Joe Biden’s foreign policy of war through weakness. For the past year, our adversaries around the world have been assessing and measuring Joe Biden’s leadership on the world stage, and he has abysmally failed on every metric,” Stefanik said.
It was only later in her statement, Stefanik turned her ire to Putin, saying “Vladimir Putin is a war criminal and deranged thug.”
“Joe Biden has shown nothing but weakness and indecision,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said in a tweet Wednesday night. “Now is the time to show strong purpose.”
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed the Russian invasion of Ukraine entirely on Biden himself, while giving kudos to his predecessor.
“Everything happening to the poor people of Ukraine is a direct result of a WEAK America under the WEAK leadership of Joe Biden. Under President Trump, America was STRONG and the world was at PEACE,” Greene tweeted Thursday.
Top Senate Democrat Schumer said that this sort of political rhetoric from Republicans attacking Biden at this moment in time, “weakens the attempts we are making to be unified against Putin.”
“That is not the time for this rhetoric,” Schumer said. “Americans should be united as we were united at 9/11, as we have been united in the past.”
House Republican Leader McCarthy released a statement Thursday going after Putin — this time not choosing to level his attacks at the sitting U.S. president, which he often does.
“Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is reckless and evil. The United States stands with the people of Ukraine and prays for their safety and resolve. Putin’s actions must be met with serious consequence. This act of war is intended to rewrite history and more concerning, upend the balance of power in Europe. Putin must be held accountable for his actions,” McCarthy said in a statement.
While Republicans have condemned Putin, one major player in the Republican Party has refused to do so — the former president of the United States.
He called Putin’s actions “genius” during a radio interview Tuesday.
“I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. So Putin is now saying it’s independent, a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper,” Trump said on the “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.”
At a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser Wednesday, he continued his praise of Putin, calling him “pretty smart” in “taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions.”
How will Congress respond to Russia?
Whether and how to further punish Russia and supply aid for Ukraine will be some of the first challenges Congress will have to attend to when it returns from its week-long recess on Monday.
They say they are united in their resolve.
“Our Congress is united that we will reply to this with both standing firm by NATO continuing to provide armaments to the Ukrainians to defend itself,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said Thursday. “We will launch the most unprecedented level of economic sanctions targeting oligarchs, people close to Putin, the banking system, the ability to get technology into the Russian defense industry.”
But differences in policy will be laid bare when members return next week and it’s not yet clear if Congress will act separately from the administration to impose additional sanctions.
Negotiations on a bipartisan sanctions bill stalled last week, and Republicans, led by the Foreign Relations Committee top Republican Jim Risch, proposed a separate partisan bill they still hope will go forward.
“Diplomacy has failed. Those of us who called for more definitive action from the Biden Administration and our allies have unfortunately been proven right,” Risch said Thursday. “We cannot afford to wait any longer, we must take more decisive action.”
(ST. PAUL, Minn.) — A federal jury has convicted all three former Minneapolis police officers on all charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights by failing to intervene or provide medical aid as their senior officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on the back of the handcuffed Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes.
The all-white U.S. District Court panel of eight women and four men announced its decision Thursday afternoon after roughly 13 hours of deliberations over two days.
Former Minneapolis police officers Thomas Lane, 38, J. Alexander Kueng, 28, and Tou Thao, 35, are all convicted of using the “color of the law,” or their positions as police officers, to deprive Floyd of his civil rights by willfully being indifferent to his serious medical needs.
Thao and Kueng were also convicted of violating Floyd’s right to be free of unreasonable seizure by willfully failing to intervene to prevent Chauvin from applying bodily injury to Floyd.
They had all pleaded not guilty. They face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Kueng and Lane were rookie police officers under the tutelage of Chauvin, who was their field training officer.
During the trial, which began on Jan. 24 with opening statements, the three defendants took the witness stand and each attempted to shift the blame to Chauvin, who was a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department.
“I would trust a 19-year veteran to figure it out,” Thao testified. Lane told the jury that Chauvin “deflected” all his suggestions to help Floyd and Kueng testified that Chauvin “was my senior officer and I trusted his advice.”
In her closing argument, U.S. Assistant Attorney Manda Sertich told the jury that Chauvin barely spoke to Lane, Kueng and Thao during the incident and certainly wasn’t “ordering them around.”
“No one did a thing to help,” Sertich told the jury.
Chauvin was convicted in state court last year of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
Chauvin later pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges stemming from Floyd’s death and the physical abuse of a handcuffed 14-year-old boy in 2017.
The legal battles of Lane, Kueng and Thao aren’t over. They face a joint state trial in June on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter for their alleged roles in Floyd’s May 25, 2020, death.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.
Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 24, 4:02 pm
US believes Russia has launched more than 160 missiles
The U.S. believes Russia has launched more than 160 missiles, mostly short-range ballistic missiles, but some medium-range and cruise missiles, as well, a senior defense official told reporters.
The official said the U.S. believes Russian troops have gotten closer to Kyiv.
“We also have seen indications since we last talked of additional airborne troops into Kharkiv” in northeast Ukraine, the official said in a briefing. “And our assessment is still that there’s active fighting going on there.”
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Feb 24, 3:53 pm
Putin spoke with France’s president by phone: Kremlin
France set up a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron during which they had a serious discussion on Ukraine, the Kremlin press service reported.
“Vladimir Putin gave an exhaustive explanation of the reasons and circumstances for the decision to conduct a special military operation,” the report said.
Feb 24, 3:50 pm
Biden to participate in virtual NATO conference Friday
President Joe Biden will participate in a NATO conference virtually from the Situation Room beginning at 9 a.m. ET Friday, a White House official confirmed.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will offer public opening remarks and a press conference after the meeting.
Feb 24, 2:58 pm
US sanctions Belarus for role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
The U.S. is not only sanctioning Russia, but sanctioning 24 Belarusian officials, business people, defense agencies and firms, state-owned companies, and banks and financial institutions for “Belarus’s support for, and facilitation of” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
“The Lukashenka regime has continued to erode democracy in Belarus and has become increasingly subservient to Russia in the process,” the Treasury Department claimed.
The targets include two state-owned banks which the department says are “among the most important banks in Belarus.” Along with sanctioning Russia’s banks, which are very involved in Belarus’s economy, “a significant portion of the Belarusian financial sector is now subject to U.S. sanctions,” the department said.
The other major target is Belarus’ defense industry, with defense firms, defense business leaders, the defense secretary and the State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus all hit.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 24, 2:44 pm
FAA banning US airlines from operating over Ukraine, Belarus, parts of western Russia
The Federal Aviation Administration said it’s now prohibiting U.S. airlines from operating over Ukraine, Belarus and parts of western Russia.
Previously the FAA was only prohibiting U.S. airlines from operating over eastern Ukraine.
This ban does not apply to the military.
-ABC News’ Mina Kaji, Amanda Maile
Feb 24, 2:58 pm
US sanctions Belarus for role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
The U.S. is not only sanctioning Russia, but sanctioning 24 Belarusian officials, business people, defense agencies and firms, state-owned companies, and banks and financial institutions for “Belarus’s support for, and facilitation of” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
“The Lukashenka regime has continued to erode democracy in Belarus and has become increasingly subservient to Russia in the process,” the Treasury Department claimed.
The targets include two state-owned banks which the department says are “among the most important banks in Belarus.” Along with sanctioning Russia’s banks, which are very involved in Belarus’s economy, “a significant portion of the Belarusian financial sector is now subject to U.S. sanctions,” the department said.
The other major target is Belarus’ defense industry, with defense firms, defense business leaders, the defense secretary and the State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus all hit.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 24, 2:44 pm
FAA banning US airlines from operating over Ukraine, Belarus, parts of western Russia
The Federal Aviation Administration said it’s now prohibiting U.S. airlines from operating over Ukraine, Belarus and parts of western Russia.
Previously the FAA was only prohibiting U.S. airlines from operating over eastern Ukraine.
This ban does not apply to the military.
-ABC News’ Mina Kaji, Amanda Maile
Feb 24, 2:18 pm
7,000 more US troops deploying to Europe to reassure NATO allies
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, at the direction of the president, has ordered 7,000 more U.S. troops to Germany “to reassure NATO Allies, deter Russian aggression and be prepared to support a range of requirements,” a senior defense official said.
The troops are expected to deploy in the coming days, the official said.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Feb 24, 2:16 pm
Biden authorizes ‘additional strong sanctions’ against Russia
President Joe Biden on Thursday authorized “additional strong sanctions” against Russia.
“This is going to impose severe cost on the Russian economy both immediately and overtime,” Biden said in an address. “We have purposefully designed these sanctions to maximize the long-term impact on Russia and to minimize the impact on the United States and our allies.”
Biden said he and the other G-7 leaders are in agreement and vowed to “limit Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen to be part of the global economy.”
BREAKING: Pres. Biden authorizes “additional strong sanctions” against Russia.
“We have purposefully designed these sanctions to maximize the long-term impact on Russia and to minimize the impact on the United States and our allies.” https://t.co/1c4zPiKUgapic.twitter.com/cmyi5dGEIg
Biden said the administration was imposing sanctions on four more major banks, meaning “every asset they have in America will be frozen,” he said.
“This includes VTB, the second largest bank in Russia, which has $250 billion in assets,” he said.
Biden said they’re adding names to the list of Russian elites and family members the U.S. is sanctioning, as well.
“Between our actions and those of our allies and partners, we estimate that we’ll cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports,” Biden said. “We’ll strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize their military. It will degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program. It will hurt their ability to build ships, reducing their ability to compete economically. And it will be a major hit to Putin’s long-term strategic ambitions.”.
Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine was premeditated and had been planned for months.
“For weeks we have been warning that this would happen, and now, it’s unfolding largely as we predicted,” he said.
“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences,” Biden said.
Feb 24, 2:08 pm
US official says this is ‘initial phases of a large-scale invasion’
There are movements of Russian military and special forces coming into Ukraine from many directions, according to the officials: from the northeast via Russia; from the south via Moscow-annexed Crimea; and from the north via both Belarus and Russia.
U.S. intelligence believe these three axes were “designed to take key population centers” and that the early moves from the north toward Kyiv indicate an intention to remove the Ukrainian government, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters at the Pentagon.
“What we’re seeing are initial phases of a large-scale invasion,” the official said.
The initial attack included an estimate of more than 100 Russian-launched missiles — mostly short-range ballistic missiles but also some medium-range ones — and about 75 fixed-wing heavy and medium bombers. So far, the targets are mostly Ukrainian military infrastructure and air defense systems, the official said, adding that U.S. intelligence does not yet have a good sense of total damages or casualties.
The official could not give an exact estimate of how many Russian troops have crossed into Ukraine thus far but said that, at this early stage, it is certainly a minority of the 150,000 troops that were massed near the borders.
U.S. intelligence have seen indications that Ukrainian troops “are resisting and fighting back,” the official said. Some fighting has been seen around the airport in Kyiv. But the heaviest fighting is currently occurring in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, some 300 miles east of Kyiv, according to the official.
“We have not seen the Russians thus far move into the western part of Ukraine,” the official said. “We don’t know exactly where things are going to unfold.”
The U.S. official said Russia has conducted “ground incursion from Belarus to the northwest of Kyiv, and we have seen at least some indications of air assault incursions into Kharkiv.”
“So missile, long range fires, and then there has been some insertion of troops both from the air and on the ground in the north,” the official summarized.
“We haven’t seen a conventional move like this, nation state to nation state [in Europe], since World War II,” the official said, “It has every potential to be very bloody, very costly and very impactful on European security writ large.”
The official said he did not have a number on casualties.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Feb 24, 1:45 pm
Chernobyl taken by Russian forces, Ukraine says
Russian troops have reportedly taken full control of the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power station, including the plant itself, according to Ukraine’s prime minister.
“Unfortunately, we are obliged to inform that as things stand the Chernobyl Zone, the so-called ‘Exclusion Zone’ and all the Chernobyl nuclear power station have been taken under the control of the Russian armed groups,” prime minister Denis Schmygal told UNIAN, Ukraine’s main news wire.
The Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, is located about 60 miles north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The Chernobyl exclusion zone begins almost immediately below Ukraine’s border with Belarus.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 24, 1:36 pm
US intelligence says this is ‘initial phases of a large-scale invasion’
There are movements of Russian military and special forces coming into Ukraine from every direction, according to the officials: from the northeast via Russia; from the south via Moscow-annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist areas in Ukraine’s Donbas region Crimea; and from the north via both Belarus and Russia.
U.S. intelligence believe these three axes were “designed to take key population centers” and that the early moves from the north toward Kyiv indicate an intention to remove the Ukrainian government, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters at the Pentagon.
“What we’re seeing are initial phases of a large-scale invasion,” the official said.
The initial attack included an estimate of more than 100 Russian-launched missiles — mostly short-range ballistic missiles but also some medium-range ones — and about 75 fixed-wing heavy and medium bombers. So far, the targets are mostly Ukrainian military infrastructure and air defense systems, the official said, adding that U.S. intelligence does not yet have a good sense of total damages or casualties.
The official could not give an exact estimate of how many Russian troops have crossed into Ukraine thus far but said that, at this early stage, it is certainly a minority of the 150,000 troops that were massed near the borders.
U.S. intelligence have seen indications that Ukrainian troops “are resisting and fighting back,” the official said. Some fighting has been seen around the airport in Kyiv. But the heaviest fighting is currently occurring in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, some 300 miles east of Kyiv, according to the official.
“We have not seen the Russians thus far move into the western part of Ukraine,” the official said. “We don’t know exactly where things are going to unfold.”
The U.S. official said Russia has conducted “ground incursion from Belarus to the northwest of Kyiv, and we have seen at least some indications of air assault incursions into Kharkiv.”
“So missile, long range fires, and then there has been some insertion of troops both from the air and on the ground in the north,” the official summarized.
“We haven’t seen a conventional move like this, nation state to nation state [in Europe], since World War II,” the official said, “It has every potential to be very bloody, very costly and very impactful on European security writ large.”
The official said he did not have a number on casualties.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Feb 24, 1:13 pm
Ukraine loses control of key airport on edge of Kyiv: Ukraine official
Ukraine has lost control of a key military airport that is located less than 20 miles from the center of the capital Kyiv, according to Ukraine’s deputy interior minister.
Russian special forces landed at the Hostomel airport just on the edge of Kyiv earlier Thursday and after fierce fighting the base remains in Russian hands, deputy minister Anton Gerashchenko said.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 24, 12:47 pm
UK announces new package of sanctions
The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has announced a new package of sanctions in the House of Commons targeting over 100 Russian entities and individuals.
Johnson said this would totally exclude Russian banks from the U.K. financial system, adding, “oligarchs in London will have nowhere to hide.”
He vowed, “We will continue on a relentless mission to squeeze Russia from the global economy” as Putin seeks to “redraw the map of Europe in blood.”
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Feb 24, 12:34 pm
All US diplomats in Poland
All U.S. diplomats from the mission to Ukraine are in Poland and will remain there, with no plans to travel to Ukraine for now, the State Department confirmed.
“We will continually assess the security situation to determine when it may be safe for U.S. government personnel to return to Ukraine to conduct diplomacy on the ground and provide in-person consular services,” a State Department spokesperson told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 24, 12:26 pm
UN Security Council to vote Friday on resolution condemning Russia, calling for withdrawal
The U.S. and its allies and partners on the United Nations Security Council are circulating a draft resolution that would condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and impose “legally binding” obligations for Moscow to “immediately, unconditionally, and completely” withdraw its forces, a senior U.S. administration official said.
The U.S. fully expects Russia to veto the resolution during a vote Friday, but the official said the world must act to hold Russia accountable.
The U.S. mission, led by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, is beginning “urgent diplomacy” now with every Security Council member to lobby support for this resolution, the official said, declining to comment on whether they think they can win support from veto-wielding China or partners like India and the United Arab Emirates who Thursday night did not condemn Russia.
While Russia may successfully block this resolution, the senior administration official said they would take action at the U.N. General Assembly, too, where Russia doesn’t have a veto and all 193 members get a vote.
The official provided a brief preview of the resolution itself, saying it “would impose legally binding Chapter 7 obligations on Russia in response to its aggression against Ukraine” and “condemns in the strongest terms possible Russia’s aggression, invasion, and violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. It reaffirms the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and it requires the Russian Federation immediately, completely, and unconditionally to withdraw its forces.”
It also calls for unhindered humanitarian assistance to those in need in Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 24, 12:17 pm
Ukraine’s president address nation on latest with Russian invasion
On Thursday Ukrainians heard “not just rocket explosions, battles, the roar of aircraft,” but the “sound of a new Iron Curtain lowering and closing Russia away from the civilized world,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation.
He said Ukraine has had “losses” and has captured Russian soldiers.
In eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, where Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas, Ukraine’s military is “doing great,” Zelenskyy said.
Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine “is very difficult,” he said, adding, “The most problematic situation today is in the south — our troops are fighting fierce battles in the suburbs of [the southern city of] Kherson. The enemy is pushing out of the occupied Crimea, trying to advance towards Melitopol [a city in southeast Ukraine].”
“In the north of the country, the enemy is slowly advancing in the Chernihiv region, but there are forces to hold it,” he said.
Zelenskyy said, “Ukraine did not choose the path of war — but Ukraine offers to return to peace.”
He said Ukrainians can help by joining the armed forces, saying, “Any citizen with combat experience will now be useful. It is up to you and all of us whether the enemy will be able to advance further into the territory of our independent state.”
Others can contributed by donating blood, he said, while politicians and community leaders should help “ensure normal life on the ground as much as possible.”
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 24, 12:05 pm
G-7 leaders bringing ‘severe’ coordinated sanctions
The leaders of the G-7 countries — the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — condemned Russia’s attack in a joint statement, vowing to bring “severe and coordinated economic and financial sanctions.”
The statement followed the leaders’ Thursday morning meeting.
The group called on the Russians “to immediately de-escalate and to withdraw its forces from Ukraine,” adding, “We also condemn the involvement of Belarus in this aggression against Ukraine and call on Belarus to abide by its international obligations.”
The G-7 leaders asked the leaders of other nations to also come forwarding condemning the violence.
The leaders said they condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region — the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk — and urged “other states not to follow Russia’s illegal decision to recognise the proclaimed independence of these entities.”
“We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and territorial waters as well as the right of any sovereign state to determine its own future and security arrangements,” the G-7 leaders said.
They continued: “We condemn President Putin for his consistent refusal to engage in a diplomatic process to address questions pertaining to European security, despite our repeated offers. We stand united with partners, including NATO, the EU and their member states as well as Ukraine and remain determined to do what is necessary to preserve the integrity of the rules-based international order. In this regard, we are also closely monitoring global oil and gas market conditions, including in the context of Russia’s further military aggression against Ukraine. We support consistent and constructive engagement and coordination among major energy producers and consumers toward our collective interest in the stability of global energy supplies, and stand ready to act as needed to address potential disruptions.”
Feb 24, 11:09 am
Overnight curfew issued in Kyiv
An overnight curfew will be imposed in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Residents must stay home between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., with only workers involved in critical infrastructure and services allowed out.
Kyiv’s metro is also now being used as a bomb shelter.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 24, 10:19 am
Biden expected to announce new sanctions at 12:30
President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak at 12:30 p.m. ET, when he’s expected to announce new sanctions against Russia, the White House said.
-ABC News’ Mary Bruce
Feb 24, 10:09 am
Russian forces enter Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukrainian official says
Ukraine’s deputy interior minister, Anton Gerashchenko, warned on Thursday afternoon that Russian and Belarusian troops have entered the deserted exclusion zone around the Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, located about 60 miles north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv
In a statement posted on his official Facebook page, Gerashchenko said Ukrainian forces are putting up an intense resistance. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone begins almost immediately below Ukraine’s border with Belarus.
Gerashchenko expressed concerns that artillery could hit the reactor if fighting were to approach it, causing radioactive nuclear dust to spread over the region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces “are trying to seize” the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
“Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated,” Zelenskyy said in a post on his official Twitter account Thursday. “This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 24, 10:04 am
Russia claims it’s destroyed 74 Ukrainian military facilities
Russian airstrikes have destroyed 74 ground targets belonging to the Ukrainian military thus far, including 11 airfields, three command centers and a naval base, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said Thursday.
Some 18 radio-locating stations for anti-aircraft missile systems were also destroyed, according to Konashenkov.
However, Konashenkov noted that the strikes are not being carried out against social facilities at Ukrainian military garrisons, such as homes, residential buildings and barracks, in order to avoid casualties among servicemen and their families.
Meanwhile, he said a Russian assault aircraft crashed due to a “pilot error” in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
“The pilot safely ejected and is at his military garrison now,” Konashenkov added.
Pro-Russian separatist militias in Donbas continue a counteroffensive on the Ukrainian Armed Forces with fire support from the Russian army, according to Konashenkov.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova
Feb 24, 9:15 am
Biden convenes National Security Council
U.S. President Joe Biden met with the National Security Council on Thursday morning in the Situation Room to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine, according to a White House official.
Biden was already scheduled this week to participate in a virtual meeting of the G7 leaders to discuss the ongoing situation as well as priorities of the German G7 presidency year.
In the early afternoon Thursday, Biden will address the nation directly on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and announce “further consequences” that the United States and its allies will impose on Russia “for its unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine,” according to the White House.
Feb 24, 8:33 am
US troops in Poland will be deployed to border checkpoints with Ukraine, source says
U.S. Army soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division in Poland will be deployed to the checkpoints at the border with Ukraine to help with a possible surge in the flow of traffic, a military source with direct knowledge told ABC News on Thursday.
Their new mission is a change from their previous one of solely to “deter and assure,” as a full-scale Russian invasion is now underway in neighboring Ukraine.
With Ukraine’s airspace shut down, the source said they expect traffic at border checkpoints to increase significantly, including citizens of NATO member states. However, estimates on the number of potential refugees was unclear.
There are currently 5,200 U.S. troops currently in Poland, with another 300 en route from Germany. Although they are on slightly higher alert, there was no expectation of any engagement with the Russian forces attacking Ukraine.
Feb 24, 8:05 am
At least five killed in Ukrainian military aircraft crash, officials say
A Ukrainian military aircraft carrying 14 people crashed in the Kyiv region on Thursday, killing at least five of them, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The crash sparked a fire that has since been extinguished. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, the ministry said in a statement posted to its official Facebook page.
Feb 24, 7:52 am
US oil tops $100 a barrel
U.S. crude oil prices topped $100 a barrel on Thursday morning, sending gasoline prices to an average of $3.54 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures plunged. Dow futures were down more than 700 points ahead of the opening bell.
The developments came amid ongoing attacks on Ukraine by Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer.
Feb 24, 7:31 am
Ukraine temporarily disconnects from Russian, Belarusian energy systems
Ukraine’s energy system has temporarily cut itself off from the power grids of neighboring Russia and Belarus, according to Ukrainian transmission system operator Ukrenergo.
Ukrenergo said in a statement Thursday that the country’s system is now functioning independently and will continue to do so for the coming days as it tests for a future connection to the European network of transmission system operators.
The European Union’s ambassador to Ukraine, Matti Maasikas, took to Twitter to say the “controlled disconnection” was “perfect timing” and that the system is “operating autonomously under normal conditions.”
“The assets of the main network are currently functioning without interruptions,” Maasikas tweeted.
Feb 24, 6:52 am
At least 40 killed, several dozen injured in Ukraine, official says
At least 40 people have been killed Thursday in Russia’s attack on Ukraine, according to Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Arestovich told ABC News that several dozen others have been injured so far.
Feb 24, 6:37 am
Russia says it’s establishing military censorship of media
Russia appears to be establishing military censorship of media coverage of its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
The Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, or Roskomnadzor, warned Thursday that all Russian media outlets are required to use information exclusively from official Russian sources while covering the military operations in eastern Ukraine.
“Roskomnadzor informs media outlets and information resources that they are required to use information received exclusively from official Russian sources in their materials and reports covering the special operation in the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics,” the agency said in a statement.
Roskomnadzor warned that publishing knowingly false information will result in an administrative fine of up to 5 million rubles (about $60,000).
“The number of unverified and untrue reports published by media outlets and other online information resources has considerably grown in recent hours,” the agency added.
Feb 24, 6:04 am
Russia tells Ukraine it’s ‘never been an enemy’
Russia’s parliament speaker claimed Thursday that the “sole purpose” of the country’s invasion of Ukraine “is to secure peace,” saying “Russia has never been an enemy.”
“I am calling on Ukrainian citizens: We have always deemed you to be a fraternal people. The sole purpose of what our country is doing is to secure peace,” State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said in a statement. “We are asking you to step aside and do not take part in any mobilization campaigns proposed by the Kyiv authorities. They are not independent, all orders come from Washington and Brussels.”
Volodin also urged Ukrainian Armed Forces to lay down their weapons, saying the orders given from Kyiv are criminal and serve the interests of NATO and the United States. He noted that Russia and Ukraine share history, culture and religion.
Feb 24, 5:41 am
Russia attacking Ukraine from north, east, south, Zelenskyy says
Russian forces are attacking Ukraine “from the north, east and south,” according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Our soldiers are heavily fighting, the aggressor suffered heavy losses,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the Ukrainian public from Kyiv on Thursday morning. “We have wounded soldiers.”
He added that the Ukrainian military “is giving and will give weapons to everyone who is able to defend out country.”
The Ukrainian president also announced that his country has “cut diplomatic ties with Russia.”
“Ukraine is defending its freedom,” he said. “Citizens of Russia will choose today their own way. Time for you to come out and protest this war with Ukraine.”
Just hours before Russia launched the early morning invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor, a senior Pentagon official told ABC News: “You are likely in the last few hours of peace on the European continent for a long time to come. Be careful.”
Feb 24, 4:49 am
Three Ukrainian border guards are first reported deaths from Russian attack
At least three Ukrainian border guards were killed near the southern port city of Skadovsk on Thursday morning after a commandant’s headquarters was shelled by a Russian helicopter, according to Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service.
They are the first reported deaths after Russia launched military operations in Ukraine early Thursday.
An unknown number of personnel were also wounded, Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service said in a statement on its official Facebook page, noting that the border guards in the area were still fighting.
Feb 24, 3:26 am
EU urges Russia to ‘immediately cease’ attack on Ukraine
Leaders of the European Union are urging Russia to “immediately cease” its attack on Ukraine, saying “such use of force and coercion has no place in the 21st century.”
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s unprecedented military aggression against Ukraine,” European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a joint statement Thursday. “By its unprovoked and unjustified military actions, Russia is grossly violating international law and undermining European and global security and stability. We call on Russia to immediately cease the hostilities, withdraw its military from Ukraine and fully respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.”
They noted that EU leaders will meet later Thursday “to discuss the crisis and further restrictive measures that will impose massive and severe consequences on Russia for its action.” They said von der Leyen “will outline a further sanctions package being finalized by the European Commission and which the Council will swiftly adopt.”
In on-camera statements Thursday, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, pledged to “adopt a stronger package, the harshest package of sanctions we have ever implemented.”
Von der Leyen added that the EU “will not let President Putin tear down the security architecture that has given Europe peace and stability over the past decades.”
“Ukraine will prevail,” she said.
Feb 24, 2:41 am
Pro-Russian separatists claim to be taking territories in eastern Ukraine
Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region claimed Thursday that their forces are taking over Ukrainian government-controlled territories amid a Russian invasion.
Ivan Filiponenko, a representative of the military department of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, said in a statement that militia units have begun “artillery preparation and an operation to liberate the temporarily occupied territories.”
Meanwhile, Eduard Basurin, a spokesman for the militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, told Russia’s Interfax news agency that “forces are delivering strikes on positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces along the entire line of contact, using all weapons that are available to them.”
Separatist leaders want to control all of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Donbas. But they currently only have about a third, with the rest controlled by Ukraine.
Feb 24, 2:03 am
Russia claims to have neutralized some of Ukraine’s military infrastructure
Russia claimed Thursday to have neutralized some of Ukraine’s military infrastructure amid an attack on the country.
“The military infrastructure of air bases of Ukraine’s Armed Forces has been rendered inoperable,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement. “Air defense systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been suppressed.”
The Russian defense ministry further alleged that Ukrainian forces on the border “are offering no resistance to Russian units.”
Meanwhile, a statement from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed that five Russian planes and a helicopter had been shot down.
“Reports of foreign media on a Russian aircraft allegedly downed on the Ukrainian territory have nothing to do with the reality,” the Russian defense ministry said Thursday.
ABC News could not independently verify the claims on either side.
Feb 24, 1:28 am
State Department suspends consular operations in Lviv
In a new security alert, the State Department said it has suspended its consular operations in Lviv in western Ukraine amid “reports of Russian attacks on targets in a number of major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Mariupol and others.”
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv previously suspended operations on Feb. 12.
“The U.S. government will not be able to evacuate U.S. citizens from Ukraine,” the warning stated.
The State Department advised U.S. citizens to shelter in place and issued instructions on actions to take if a loud explosion is heard or if sirens are activated.
“Further Russian military action can occur at any time without warning. U.S. citizens throughout Ukraine are strongly encouraged to remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness,” the warning read. “Know the location of your closest shelter or protected space. In the event of mortar and/or rocket fire, follow the instructions from local authorities and seek shelter immediately. If you feel that your current location is no longer safe, you should carefully assess the potential risks involved in moving to a different location.”
Feb 24, 1:11 am
Russian, Belarusian troops attacking Ukraine from Belarus
Ukraine’s border service said Russian and Belarusian troops are now attacking from Belarus.
Ukraine’s border came under attack from artillery, tanks and small arms around 5 a.m. local time from Russian troops “with the support of Belarus,” the border service said in a statement.
The attack is happening along much of Ukraine’s northeast border, including the Chernigiv and Zhitomirsky regions that are directly north of Kyiv.
There are reports of casualties.
Feb 24, 1:00 am
Ukrainian president declares martial law
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared martial law in the country Thursday, saying Russia has launched an “unjustified, false and cynical invasion.”
“There are strikes on military and other important defense facilities, attacked border units, the situation in the Donbas has degraded,” Zelenskyy said in a statement Thursday morning. “The Armed Forces, all special and law enforcement agencies of the state are on alert. The National Security and Defense Council is working in an emergency mode.”
“Civilian citizens of Ukraine should stay at home,” he added. “Warn your loved ones about what is happening. Take care of those who need help. All thoughts and prayers with our soldiers.”
Martial law allows military authorities to temporarily take over government functions, generally during a time of emergency.
The announcement came as reports of explosions and air raid sirens in cities across Ukraine rolled in and as Russian-controlled separatists, in a breakaway region of eastern Ukraine known as Donbas, say they have launched a full-scale offensive to retake what they claim is their territory there.
Feb 24, 12:44 am
Zelenskyy asks for global response, talks to Biden
In a new video statement denouncing the Russian attacks on his country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it’s not only the fate of Ukraine that’s being decided.
“Ukrainians will never give their freedom and independence to anyone. Only we, all citizens of Ukraine, have been determining our future since 1991,” Zelenskyy said. “But now the fate of not only our state is being decided, but also what life in Europe will be like.”
The Ukrainian president stressed the need for a global response, stating that what remains of international law “depends on the world’s honest and just response to this aggression.”
President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy spoke over the phone around midnight ET, when Zelenskyy asked Biden to “call on the leaders of the world to speak out clearly against President Putin’s flagrant aggression and to stand with the people of Ukraine,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden said he told Zelenskyy that the U.S. condemned the attack, and he also briefed him on the steps the U.S. is taking “to rally international condemnation.”
Biden also reiterated in the statement that he will meet with G-7 leaders Thursday and plans to impose “severe” sanctions on Russia.
“We will continue to provide support and assistance to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” he said.
In the video, Zelenskyy implored citizens to stay home.
“Warn your loved ones about what is happening,” he said. “Take care of those who need help.”
Feb 24, 12:11 am
US senators call for harsher sanctions following Russian attack
Senators on both sides of the aisle are calling on the administration to turn up the pressure on Russia following its attack on Ukraine.
“President Biden has already imposed an initial tranche of sanctions, and it is now time for us to up the pain level for the Russian government,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a statement.
“I urge the Biden administration to respond swiftly and in concert with our allies to impose crushing economic sanctions on Kremlin officials, Russian entities and other actors involved int his attack on Ukraine,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said.
“America and our allies must answer the call to protect freedom by subjecting Putin and Russia to the harshest economic penalties, by expelling them from global institutions, and by committing ourselves to the expansion and modernization of our national defense,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said.
While a handful of Republicans knocked the administration for not imposing pre-invasion sanctions, those jabs are largely being overwhelmed by calls for unity among NATO allies.
“There is no justification for this assault and I call for the administration to lead the world in a unified response,” Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman said.
Feb 24, 12:00 am
Reports of Russian troops crossing border into Ukraine, ballistic missiles
There are reports that Russian troops have now crossed the border in eastern Ukraine, close to the city of Kharkiv, as explosions in the area continue.
Ukraine’s deputy interior minister, Anton Gerashchenko, told media the troops crossed near Kharkiv. A former senior adviser to Ukraine’s government also confirmed the reports, saying he was informed by the president’s office, while Ukraine’s main newswire agency, UNIAN, has also reported the news.
Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second largest city and is only about 20 miles from the border with Russia. However, it is not next to the separatist-controlled areas.
Ukrainian authorities also said that Kyiv and multiple cities east of it have been stuck by ballistic missiles. Gerashchenko said at least seven cruise missiles or ballistic missiles hit a military aerodrome near Kyiv that is home to fighter jets. It appears that the missiles have largely struck targets on the outskirts of the city so far.
Russia’s defense ministry said it is striking Ukrainian air bases, military infrastructure and air defenses across the country but said it will not target Ukrainian cities themselves.
The ministry said “high-precision” missiles are being used.
Reports of explosions also continue to come in from Odessa, Dnipro and Mariupol.
Ana Ceballos/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — The Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by LGBTQ activists, has been passed by the Florida House of Representatives. The bill would limit what classrooms can teach about sexual orientation and gender identity.
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 would also allow parents to sue schools or teachers that engage in these topics.
The bill is now on the Senate agenda for Feb. 28. If the bill is ultimately signed into law, it would go into effect on July 1. Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he supports the bill though he hasn’t explicitly said he will sign it if it crosses his desk.
LGBTQ activists and advocates slammed the decision to move the legislation forward, saying it will harm queer youth by shunning representation and inclusion from classrooms.
“Lawmakers should be supporting LGBTQ students and their families and encouraging schools to be inclusive, not pitting parents against teachers and erasing the LGBTQ community from public education,” Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of The Trevor Project, said in a statement.
He added, “When lawmakers treat LGBTQ topics as taboo and brand our community as unfit for the classroom, it only adds to the existing stigma and discrimination, which puts LGBTQ young people at greater risk for bullying, depression, and suicide.”
Activists say erasing LGBTQ presence from lessons implies students should be ashamed or suppress their gender identity or sexual orientation.
The Biden administration has denounced the bill as anti-LGBTQI+.
“I want every member of the LGBTQI+ community — especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill — to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are,” President Joe Biden said in a Feb. 8 Twitter post.
In a recent interview on ABC News’ podcast “Start Here,” Rep. Joe Harding defended the bill, saying the bill would not prohibit people from talking about gender identity and sexual orientation, it would ban curriculum and lessons.
“What we’re preventing is a school district deciding they’re going to create a curriculum to insert themselves,” Harding said.
He said the decision to talk about these topics should be left to the parents.
“Families are families,” Harding said. “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.”
(WASHINGTON) — After weeks of warning of “severe” sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine, President Joe Biden addressed the nation and the world from the White House Thursday in what’s unfolding as a defining moment in his presidency as President Vladimir Putin pressed a large-scale attack.
Biden announced escalated sanctions to correspond with the escalated Russian aggression, but not the full economic punishment Ukraine and others have called for and none yet on Putin himself, although he did say that option was “not a bluff. It’s on the table.”
“The Russian military has begun a brutal assault on Ukraine without provocation, without justification, without necessity,” Biden said firmly. “This is a premeditated attack.”
Biden announced new sanctions on four large Russian banks including VTB and SberBank, additional Russian elites and family members, and applying the restriction of Russia’s sovereign debt to state-owned enterprises, companies whose assets exceed $1.4 trillion.
“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences,” Biden said. “Today, I am authorizing additional strong sanctions and new limitations on what can be exported to Russia. This is going to impose severe costs on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.”
However, Biden stopped short not only of sanctioning Putin himself also of cutting Russia off from the SWIFT international banking system.
Pressed by reporters why not sanction Putin directly now, Biden deflected.
“Sir, sanctions clearly have not been enough to deter Vladimir Putin to this point,” said ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega. “What is going to stop him? How and when does this end? And do you see him trying to go beyond Ukraine?”
“No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening,” Biden replied. “It has to — it’s going to take time, and we have to show resolve. So, he knows what is coming. And so the people of Russia know what he’s brought on them.”
“Between our actions and those of our allies and partners, we estimate that we’ll cut off more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports,” Biden said in his prepared remarks. “We’ll strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize their military. It will degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program. It will hurt their ability to build ships, reducing their ability to compete economically. And it will be a major hit to Putin’s long-term strategic ambitions.”
But it’s still unclear whether the sanctions will make any difference in what Putin claimed overnight would be a “special military operation” in eastern Ukraine, which is proving to be much more widespread.
“To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside, if you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history,” Putin warned the world.
While it was also still unclear just how far Putin would go beyond eastern Ukraine, Russian forces attacked near the capital city Kyiv — raising new fears he would try to topple Ukraine’s government.
Biden has maintained that U.S. forces will not fight Russians on the ground but announced he was authorizing additional U.S. force capabilities to deploy to Germany as part of NATO’s response force — including the 8,500 troops put on “heightened alert” last month.
“Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine but to defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the East. As I made crystal clear, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power,” Biden said.
“I’ve also spoken with Defense Secretary Austin and Chairman of Joint Chiefs General Milly about preparations for additional moves, should they become necessary, to protect our NATO allies and support the greatest military alliance in the history of the world — NATO,” he added later on.
Biden also said that NATO would convene a summit Friday.
“This aggression cannot go unanswered,” Biden added. “If it did, the consequences would be much worse.”
Will Biden sanction Putin personally?
The Biden administration had threatened further sanctions on major Russian financial institutions and banks and to take steps to restrict Russian access to technology — as it did Thursday — but it had also weighed cutting Russia off from SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) — which would hinder Russia’s participation in global markets, and to directly sanction Putin’s inner circle — or the Russian president himself.
Biden told reporters late last month that he would consider personally sanctioning Putin if Russia invaded Ukraine — a day after 8,500 American forces were put on “heightened alert” in the region — but those efforts did not appear to deter the Russian leader, nor did economic sanctions imposed this week by the U.S. and European allies, including halting the certification of Nord Stream 2, a major natural gas pipeline running from Russia to Germany.
But Biden has not gone that far.
The administration has begun to roll out a “first tranche” of sanctions, related to Russian banks, oligarchs and the natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, as some lawmakers have criticized Biden of not going far enough on sanctions, which haven’t resulted in Russia reversing course.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell at a press event in Kentucky ahead of Biden’s remarks called on the administration to “ratchet the sanctions all the way up” on Russia.
“Don’t hold any back. Every single available tough sanction should be employed and should be employed now,” McConnell said.
He said “we honestly don’t know” if sanctions would be enough to deter Putin but argued harsher ones were still necessary.
As of Thursday morning, Russian forces had advanced from three directions — from the south heading north, from Belarus heading south to Kyiv and from northeast of Ukraine heading to the south — as Ukrainian woke up to a nation at war.
US military assessment, diplomatic moves
U.S. intelligence believes these three axes were “designed to take key population centers,” a senior defense official said Thursday.
The White House has said the sanctions will be “united and decisive,” but it remains to be seen how the West can punish Putin, who seems intent on moving ahead with his plans, despite weeks of attempted diplomacy from the international community and a set of sanctions already imposed.
With the U.S. condemning what’s it calling an “unprovoked and unjustified” attack on Ukraine, Biden met with his National Security Council in the Situation Room early Thursday ahead of a virtual video call with G-7 leaders to discuss a united response to the Russian attack.
Notably, Russia was a part of the G-7 until its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 — where it is now closing in further on Ukrainian borders.
Biden was at the White House overnight as the attack unfolded.
Within minutes, Biden was on the phone with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had reached out to him after receiving “silence,” he said, on a phone call to Putin. Russia has two tactical goals in Ukraine, according to Zelenskyy’s office: seizing territory and toppling Ukrainian leadership.
Consequences — for Americans
After their call, Biden released a statement saying that Putin “has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.”
“The prayers of the world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” Biden said.
The American president has acknowledged that there will be “consequences at home” — particularly at the gas pump and in energy prices — as a result of the Russian invasion and subsequent sanctions but has vowed to mitigate those costs.
However, ahead of his Thursday remarks, U.S. crude oil prices topped $100 a barrel, sending gasoline prices to an average of $3.54 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. At least three states had average gas prices of $4 or higher. Meanwhile, U.S. stock and dow futures also plunged.
“We’re taking active steps to bring down the cost, and American oil and gas companies should not — should not — exploit this moment to hike their respect prices to raise profits,” Biden said Thursday. “In our sanctions package, we specifically designed to allow energy payments to continue.”
Throughout the crisis, Biden has reminded Americans that the U.S. has a responsibility to defend its NATO allies — and democracy around the world.
“America stands up to bullies,” Biden said Thursday. “We stand up for freedom. This is who we are.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Patrick Reevell, Allison Pecorin, Zunaira Zaki, Sarah Kolinovsky and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
