(SAN FRANCISCO) — Dozens of high school students in California contracted COVID-19 after attending their prom.
San Mateo High School held the party on April 9 at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, about 18 miles away. Following the event, however, 90 out of the 600 students who attended tested positive for the virus.
“I was not very sick. I had a sore throat for a couple of days, like two, and then congestion,” junior Parker Del Balso, one of the 90 to contract COVID, told local affiliate ABC 7.
According to San Mateo Union High School District Superintendent Kevin Skelly, all of the cases were mild.
The outbreak comes as several other superspreader events have been reported, mostly recently this month’s Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, D.C., that saw several high-profile politicians test positive for the virus including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
However, the cases were all reported to be either asymptomatic or mild, and no one required hospital care.
Experts said these outbreaks are a sign that BA.2 — a highly infectious subvariant of the original omicron variant and the predominant variant in the U.S — is not having a major impact on hospitalizations or deaths.
“These events, either among students or politicians, we are seeing signs of superspreader events,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “But they’re not severe because of widespread vaccinations and people are overall protected from severe illness and death.”
Masks were optional at the event. However, according to guidance from the Department of Public Health in San Francisco, where the prom was held, masking is only required in high-risk settings such as health care facilities and homeless shelters.
In other settings, masking is only recommended based on individual risk tolerance, where there is high levels of community spread and if someone is at high risk of severe illness.
Despite the outbreak, school leaders and students said having the prom was worth it to provide a sense of normalcy during the pandemic.
“This has been a really hard year for kids, and we need to keep having as many activities as we can,” Skelly said.
Del Baso, the junior student, agreed, telling the local station, “Overall, I think it was worth it. It was a great, fun time.”
Skelly told ABC 7 that other schools in the district will be adding more mitigation measures to their proms so they don’t experience similar outbreaks.
“We’re going to be more careful about activities,” he said. “We’re going to test more students beforehand to make sure they’re not going into the dance COVID positive.”
Dr. Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist with the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, said the timing of the test before such events is very important.
“If you are doing a rapid PCR test and the event happens within two to three hours, that’s a good idea,” he told ABC News. “The timing and quality of the test will give you a good sense of security.”
He continued: “But if you get tested 48 hours before the event, you could catch the virus within that time and spread it.”
San Mateo Union High School District did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment. The Asian Art Museum also did not reply to a request for comment.
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is slamming the Federal Aviation Administration for a plane scare that triggered a frantic evacuation of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday night.
She blamed the FAA for not notifying U.S. Capitol Police that a U.S. Army plane would be flying in restricted airspace near the Capitol — carrying parachute jumpers taking part in a demonstration at nearby Nationals Park.
“The Federal Aviation Administration’s apparent failure to notify Capitol Police of the pre-planned flyover Nationals Stadium is outrageous and inexcusable,” Pelosi said in a statement released by her office. “The unnecessary panic caused by this apparent negligence was particularly harmful for Members, staff and institutional workers still grappling with the trauma of the attack on their workplace on January 6th.”
On Jan. 6, the Capitol was breached by supporters of then President Donald Trump and poor information sharing was seen by at least one congressional committee as an intelligence failure by law enforcement.
The Capitol Police and other federal law enforcement entities have vowed to be better about information sharing and since that day every incident on Capitol Hill has been met with a large police presence and show of force.
Shortly after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Capitol Police sent an alert about an aircraft intrusion, calling for an urgent evacuation of the U.S. Capitol.
A short time later, U.S. Capitol Police sent another notice that the aircraft no longer posed a threat.
“As soon as it was determined that we were not given advanced notice of an approved flight, our officers followed USCP policies and procedures and immediately led everyone safely out of the Congressional building,” Capitol Police said in a statement on Thursday. “It is extremely unusual not to be made aware of a flight in advance.”
The agency noted the last time they had an evacuation due to an aircraft was in 2014, adding the decision to evacuate the Capitol is one they don’t take lightly.
Capitol Police confirmed that the plane was a military flight by the Golden Knights Parachute Team for Military Appreciation night at Nationals Park.
Army parachutists landed on the field just before first pitch between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Nationals.
The Army’s Recruiting Command says its initial review of Wednesday night’s incident has found that the Golden Knights parachute team filed all the appropriate FAA documentation and received proper FAA approval for their flight plan last night over Nationals Park.
“The team also confirmed the pilots established and maintained communication with the FAA prior to and throughout the operation,” says an Army spokesperson in a statement on Thursday.
The FAA has not responded to ABC News request for comment.
ABC News’ Sarah Shales, Mariam Khan and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(ATLANTA) — National vaccination coverage for kindergarteners during the 2020-2021 school year fell below the nationwide target of 95% coverage, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis.
This includes MMR, DTaP and varicella vaccines, which protect against multiple diseases including measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, whooping cough, tetanus and chickenpox. The analysis did not include COVID-19 vaccines, which were authorized for children 5 and older after the end of the 2020-2021 school year.
Although the drop was small — down to 94%, representing a 1% drop from the prior school year — the CDC says the new analysis underscores growing concerns that pandemic disruptions could inadvertently lead to a growing number of vaccine-preventable illnesses among children.
“This might not sound like much, but it amounts to at least 35,000 more children across the United States that entered kindergarten without documentation of complete vaccinations against common diseases,” said Dr. Georgina Peacock, director of the Division of Human Development and Disability at the CDC.
Researchers attributed the drop in vaccination rates to pandemic-related causes, including lower school enrollment, missed pediatrician appointments and lower data reporting from schools.
In addition to the 35,000 children who entered school without completed vaccinations, remote and in-person school enrollment was approximately 10% lower than the previous year, according to data from 48 states and Washington, D.C.
“This means around 400,00 fewer children entered kindergarten than expected. Those children also might not be up to date on their routine vaccinations,” said Peacock.
Mississippi had some of the highest vaccine coverage rates, with over 95% for MMR, DTaP, varicella, while Washington, D.C., had some of the lowest reported coverage rates, with 78-79% coverage per vaccine.
During the 2020-2021 school year, fewer states were able to report data back to the CDC due to pandemic-era capacity problems. Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia contributed to the new analysis, but Alaska, Illinois and West Virginia did not report vaccination coverage data due to the impact of COVID-19 on data collection, and were excluded from the analysis.
Some states allowed for eased vaccination requirements for remote learners and reduced submission of documentation by parents. This meant less time for school nurses to follow-up with students missing documentation or vaccines, fewer staff members to conduct kindergarten vaccination coverage assessment and reporting activities, and lower response rates from schools.
“This is further evidence of how the pandemic-related disruptions to education and health care could have lingering consequences for children. The good news is, routine vaccination coverage remains high and we can recover ground loss during the pandemic,” said Peacock.
Despite concerns about rising vaccine hesitancy, the rate of children with religious or medical exemptions remained low, at 2.2%, and the percentage of exempt children actually decreased in 37 states.
The report noted that more than half of the states’ schools are allowing under-vaccinated children to attend school under provisional enrollment, which allows a student without complete vaccination or an exemption to attend school while completing a catch up vaccination schedule or with a grace period status, which is a set number of days during which a student can be enrolled and attend school without proof of complete vaccination or exemption, according to Dr. Shannon Stokely, associate director for Science at the Immunization Services Division of the CDC.
“[With] most schools back to in-person learning, extra effort is needed to catch up children who missed vaccines and to maintain high levels of routine childhood vaccinations and equitable coverage to help protect children, their families and their communities against vaccine preventable diseases,” said Peacock.
Dr. Grace Cullen is an internal medicine resident at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and a contributor on the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — The numbers “421” have apparently eclipsed “420” at least in New Jersey, where cannabis consumers celebrated Thursday’s first day of legalized pot sales and toking up for adults.
Weed buyers lined up before sunrise outside seven recreational cannabis dispensaries across the Garden State waiting for the doors to open and lay down some green for some green for the first time without a medical excuse or legal risk.
The first customer in line outside the RISE dispensary in Bloomfield described the moment as “Christmas morning.”
“I didn’t even sleep tonight,” Chris, who was in line before 6 a.m., told New York City ABC station WABC. “I was, like, working a later night, and I just knew I had to be here. I just want to be part of that. Today is the day that we’re just free to do it without any consequences.”
The landmark day comes 17 months after New Jersey voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to change the state constitution to allow for marijuana legalization.
State officials purposely chose April 21 for the inaugural day to legally light up to avoid dispensaries being overwhelmed with business on April 20, the traditional day pot smokers worldwide celebrate weed.
New Jersey becomes the 18th state in the nation to legalize the sale of recreational pot to consumers 21 and older. Vermont became the first state in 2018 to do so. Washington, D.C., and Guam, an unincorporated U.S. territory, also allow legal cannabis commerce.
“This is a historic step in our work to create a new cannabis industry,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said ahead of the launch.
State regulators approved permits for seven dispensaries that already sell medical marijuana to start retailing recreational weed on Thursday.
State officials said they are considering more than 300 applications for retail cannabis licenses. New Jersey is prioritizing granting licenses to dispensaries run by minorities, women and disabled veterans, especially those whose careers have been harmed by marijuana convictions on their records.
Cannabis dispensaries also opened Thursday in Patterson, Maplewood, Phillipsburg, Rochelle Park, Elizabeth and Lawrence Township. Most of the stores plan to stay open until 8 p.m. or 9 p.m.
The dispensaries are only accepting cash purchases because under federal law marijuana is still considered a Schedule 1 drug, a status that discourages banks and credit card companies from extending services to cannabis operations.
The House of Representatives voted this month to approve legislation to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and remove criminal penalties for certain cannabis-related offenses. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has vowed to make marijuana legislation a priority and is working on a separate bill with Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., expected to be introduced soon but would need all Democrats and at least 10 Republicans to pass the Senate.
Melissa Correa of Plainfield told WABC that the historic day in New Jersey was extra special because it falls on her 42nd birthday.
Waiting to make a purchase of some party favors at the RISE dispensary in Bloomfield, Correa said, “It looks great. It smells great.”
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is expected to meet with Donald Trump Jr. in the coming days, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Trump Jr.’s appearance is voluntary and comes after the committee invited him to speak with their investigators, sources told ABC News. The panel has not subpoenaed him.
Trump Jr. would become the latest member of the Trump family to meet with the committee. In recent weeks, the panel interviewed Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, both of whom served as senior White House advisers to former President Donald Trump.
An attorney for Trump Jr. did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump Jr.’s fiance, met with the committee for a second time earlier this week in an interview that sources said was contentions at times and focused in part on the fundraising efforts around Trump’s “Save America” rally on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump Jr.’s text messages are among those that former chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over to the committee, sources said.
As ABC News has previously reported, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the vice chair of the panel, quoted extensively from text messages sent to Meadows during the riot from Fox News hosts, GOP lawmakers and Donald Trump Jr.
At the time, Cheney said the messages left “no doubt” the White House “knew exactly what was happening” at the Capitol during the riot.
“He’s got to condemn [the riot] ASAP,” Trump Jr. told Meadows in a text message, according to Cheney, saying that Trump’s tweet about Capitol Police “is not enough.”
“I’m pushing it hard,” Meadows replied. “I agree.”
“We need an Oval Office address,” Trump Jr. said in a follow up message. “He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”
The committee is expected to hold public hearings in June and eventually publish a report on their findings, ABC News has previously reported.
(NEW YORK) — A New York City mother found stabbed to death inside a duffel bag was allegedly killed by a handyman she’d been having an off-and-on affair with for two years, the NYPD said.
The suspect, David Bonola, was arrested just before 1 a.m. Thursday, days after he allegedly dumped Orsolya Gaal’s body in her son’s hockey bag, police said at a news conference Thursday.
Bonola, 44, allegedly stabbed 51-year-old Gaal dozens of times at her Queens home early Saturday morning while her 13-year-old son was upstairs, according to police sources.
Police described it as a domestic dispute, saying “their relationship was considered at an end.”
After the murder, police believe Bonola sent a text message to Gaal’s husband from her phone that referenced a previous crime and indicated the rest of the family was in danger. Police said there was no past crime and no danger to Gaal’s husband and two children.
Authorities said Bonola was seen on video rolling the duffel bag, leaving a bloody trail behind him.
After disposing of the body, Bonola allegedly fled through a park, where police said they found his jacket.
Gaal’s body was found Saturday morning.
Bonola turned himself in Wednesday night after officers canvassed his Queens neighborhood, according to police sources. He’s charged with murder, criminal tampering and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the NYPD.
NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said Bonola “made incriminating statements” but he didn’t elaborate.
(NEW YORK) — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will have rippling effects in populations far outside the two countries in conflict — especially in the global food supply, experts are warning.
The war in Ukraine could plunge millions into malnutrition if governments, donors and funders do not act now to prevent a shortage of the nutritional staples typically exported out of the region, according to an op-ed published Thursday in Nature.
Women and children in low- and middle-income countries are particularly vulnerable, according to the op-ed, which was authored by 10 nutrition and food supply experts from all over the world. The nutritional needs of children are high, relative to their body size, and women’s nutritional needs are especially high when pregnant and breastfeeding.
“Impacts of malnutrition might be less immediately visible than those of hunger. But left untreated, they can be multi-generational and irreversible,” the authors wrote.
The biggest concern is the long-term implications malnutrition will have on children, Saskia Osendarp, executive director of the Micronutrient Forum and co-coordinator of Standing Together for Nutrition, a consortium of nutrition, economics, food and health system experts, told ABC News. This could include cognitive development, school performance, and, later in life, social capital and the increased risk of chronic diseases, she said.
Nutrient deficiencies, particularly in the first 1,000 days in a child’s life — beginning from conception and lasting until the child’s second birthday — can have “irreversible, lifelong consequences,” Osendarp said.
Existing gender inequality and power imbalances — which are often exacerbated during crises — result in women having less agency to direct resources toward feeding themselves and their children, the experts said. Increased prices, the reduced availability of food or difficulties accessing it will directly affect the quality of people’s diets, and increased prices and trade problems will reduce the reach of humanitarian services that prevent and treat acute malnutrition, the experts said.
When food prices increase, households switch to cheaper staple foods and processed foods instead of buying more nutritious — and generally more expensive– foods, such as fruits, vegetables, dairy meat, decreasing the quality of their diets, Osendarp, one of the authors of the op-ed, said.
“So they may be able to cope and to to keep their caloric intakes at a level to some point, but then they will suffer from nutrient deficiencies,” she said.
In addition, budgets currently devoted to improving people’s nutritional status could be redirected to other, more urgent needs as a result of the war, according to the op-ed.
The World Food Programme estimated that in 2022, 323 million people would be in urgent need of assistance when it comes to obtaining sufficient food and nutrients.
Ukraine is considered on one of the breadbaskets of the world and is a top 10 global exporter of a number of key agricultural products, including wheat, barley, corn, sunflower oil, soybeans and poultry. An estimated 70% of the country is used for farmland — land that is currently being devastated by assaults by Russian forces.
Countries in Africa and the Middle East are particularly vulnerable, while Somalia and Benin have a total dependence on imports of mostly Russian and Ukrainian wheat, according to a rapid assessment by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Several countries rely on Russia and Ukraine for more than half their wheat imports.
The number of malnourished people, especially women and children, is expected to increase as a result of record-high price hikes and disruptions in the trade of food, fertilizer and fuel, according to the paper.
Cities such as Odessa and Mariupol, where about 70% of Ukraine’s exports are moved from, have now been blocked due to incessant Russian shelling, according to USAID.
This is not an isolated crisis, Osendarp said. Two years into the pandemic, governments are still recovering from the global economic stressors of the virus as well as climate change-related events, such as severe droughts in the Horn of Africa, as well as increased conflict in other war-torn regions, such as Ethiopia and in Yemen, she said.
The authors called for the cessation of trade restrictions that affect access to nutrition and for the use of social protection measures, such as food or cash transfers, specifically tailored to address malnutrition. Protection of financial commitments already made for nutrition, both within nations and globally, and increased investment in humanitarian resources beyond the promises already made will also be necessary, they said.
Without an immediate humanitarian response, it is almost guaranteed that the numbers of malnourished children and mothers will increase and will affect generations to come, Osendarp said.
“It will affect millions and millions of mothers and children, and we can just simply not afford to lose that generation,” she said.
ABC News’ Guy Davies and Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.
(DURBAN, South Africa) — Communities in Durban, South Africa, are still sifting through debris, trying to salvage the little they can save after devastating floods killed almost 450 people and destroyed millions of dollars in infrastructure.
The weekend weather forecast is predicting more rain in Durban, adding a sense of urgency to the cleanup operations.
ABC News visited several sites where landslides swept through homes, taking everything in its path.
Torrential rains last week — the worst in recorded history — triggered record floods and mudslides, killing 448 people and injuring hundreds more.
At least 40,00 people have been left homeless after the KwaZulu-Natal province received the equivalent of four months of rain in 24 hours, prompting the government to put the country back into a national state of disaster — only a few weeks after suspending a two year COVID-19 related state of national disaster.
“These are the worst floods we’ve ever seen. In over 24 hours, there was 300 to 400 mm of rain,” Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said at a news conference on Tuesday, crediting climate change as a catalyst for the extreme weather. At the high end of the range, that would equal about 15 inches of rainfall.
While the government has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, South Africans have also opened their hearts, with donations and help streaming in from across the country.
(SAINT-DENIS, France) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, his far-right rival in the presidential elections, faced off in a highly anticipated televised debate Wednesday, clashing on topics from the cost of living to Le Pen’s softer stance on Russia.
Macron and Le Pen took the top two spots in the preliminary round of voting earlier this month, just as they did in 2017. The debate of that year proved disastrous for Le Pen, who struggled under questioning. That year Macron ultimately won a sweeping victory in 2017, winning 66% of the vote.
During the two-and-a-half hour long debate on Wednesday, Le Pen’s performance under pressure was much improved. Even so, Le Pen faced a string of attacks from Macron regarding her stance on Russia. Macron criticized Le Pen’s stance on the Russian annexation of Crimea, which she previously spoke out in favor of and which led her to being banned from entering Ukraine in 2017.
“Why did you do it?” he said. “And I say this with great gravity tonight. Because for our country, this is bad news, because you depend on the Russian power and you depend on Mr. Putin.”
Macron described Russia as Le Pen’s “banker” because of a loan her party received in 2014 from a Czech-Russian bank. Le Pen said Macron’s allegations were false.
Le Pen has sought to soften her National Rally party’s image and ease voters’ concerns about a far-right president. Macron, meanwhile, has been a notably absent figure on the campaign trail.
Le Pen described herself as the “common sense” candidate during Wednesday night’s debate.
“I truly want to make purchasing power the priority of my next five-year term, if the French have confidence in me,” she said. Macron, known for his strong grasp of policy detail, but also a tendency to patronize, attempted to dismantle Le Pen’s claims that if elected she would immediately develop France’s nuclear power production and boost wages by 10%.
The pair also clashed on France’s relationship with the EU and Le Pen’s hard-line stance on immigration, with Macron saying she would ban the right of Muslim women to wear headscarfs in public.
Overall, however, there appeared to be no losers in Wednesday night’s debate, with neither side landing a knockout blow ahead of the final round of voting this weekend.
Polling in France has shown an upswing in Le Pen’s popularity and decline in Macron’s, though the French president — who has been accused of arrogance by pundits and voters in the past — retains a narrow lead in most reported opinion polls.
The war in Ukraine has dominated the headlines this campaign cycle, and Le Pen has faced criticism in France for a softer approach to Russia and past support for President Vladimir Putin. While she has said she is in favor of the broad package of sanctions announced by the French government, she has publicly opposed restrictions on oil and gas imports from Russia, citing concerns about the rising cost of living in France that has become a critical issue in the campaign.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an interview with French television channel BFMTV ahead of the debate on Wednesday, went as far as to urge Le Pen to reconsider her position on Russia.
“If the candidate were to understand that she was wrong, our relationship could change,” Zelenskyy said. While ensuring not “to have the right to influence” the French electoral campaign, Zelenskyy recognized that “obviously, I have relations with Emmanuel Macron and I would not want to lose them.”
Ultimately the final outcome of the election may well be decided by matters closer to home, however, with Macron’s team touting his experience in power at a time of stability, while Le Pen’s campaign has targeted the incumbent for, they say, being out of touch with ordinary people.
The far-right candidate focused her campaign on purchasing power, a topic expected to be one of the main factors in deciding the outcome of the election. Le Pen’s project, however, still centers on the fight against immigration. The National Rally candidate has presented several flagship proposals, including a bill to drastically limit immigration, the abolition of the right of soil, and restricting the routes for people to claim asylum in France.
“Fear is the only argument that the current president has to try and stay in power at all cost,” Le Pen said in a clip posted by her campaign Tuesday.
Much will depend on which candidate the supporters of far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon turn to in the final round. Mélenchon secured 22% of the first round of voting in third place, and while he publicly told his supporters not to vote for Le Pen, her populist vision may prove more enticing to a base dissatisfied with Macron, a centrist with a background in the financial sector.
The debate was the first and only time voters will have a chance to see the candidates face off ahead of the final round of voting on April 24.
ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced an additional $800 million package in military assistance to Ukraine — as well as a ban on all Russian-affiliated ships from U.S. ports — as Russian forces launch a long-expected, large-scale campaign to seize the country’s east.
“We’re in a critical window now of time where — they’re going to set the stage for the next phase of this war,” Biden said from the White House Roosevelt Room, adding the U.S. and allies will continue to provide Ukraine with “equipment they need — their forces need — to defend their nation.”
Biden said the new aid package will include “heavy artillery weapons, dozens of howitzers, and 144,000 rounds of ammunition to go with those howitzers,” as well as tactical drones.
It follows another of similar size, which Biden announced last week, but focuses more on artillery and ammunition, U.S. officials told ABC News earlier this week.
Biden said the U.S. has sent “equipment that is responsive to Ukraine’s needs and tailored to support the intensified fighting in the Donbas region, which is a different war than in other places because both topographically, it’s different — it’s flat, it’s not in the mountains — and it requires different kinds of weapons to be more effective.”
“Every American taxpayer, every member of our armed forces can be proud of the fact that our country’s generosity — and the skill and service of our military — helped arm and repel Russia’s aggression in Ukraine to beat back Putin’s savagery that tried to seize Ukraine’s capital and wipe out Ukraine’s government,” Biden added.
With this latest package, the U.S. is on track to having announced about $3 billion in military aid since the start started in late February. In particular, this is the eighth tranche of U.S. assistance from the Pentagon’s existing stockpile, using what’s known as presidential drawdown authority to expedite delivery.
As more than 5 million have fled Ukraine since the war began, Biden also announced a new program dubbed “Unite for Ukraine” to fast-track Ukrainian refugees coming to the U.S.
“This new humanitarian parole program will complement the existing legal pathways available to Ukrainians, including immigrant visas and refugees processing” and “provide an expedient channel for secure legal migration from Europe to the United States for Ukrainians, who have a U.S. sponsor such as a family or an NGO,” Biden said.
Beginning April 25, the administration says U.S.-based individuals and entities can apply to the Department of Homeland Security to sponsor Ukrainian citizens. Those who apply to sponsor Ukrainians will be required to declare their financial support and pass a background check, according to administration officials, and there is no limit on how many Ukrainians a person or entity can sponsor.
“This program will be fast, it will be streamlined, and will ensure the United States honors its commitment to go to the people of Ukraine and need not go through our southern border,” Biden added.
“That means no ship, no ship that sails on the Russian flag or that is owned or operated by Russian interest would be allowed to dock on the united States port or access our shores. None,” he said.
After meeting with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal ahead of his remarks, Biden again called on Congress to provide more funding for weapons and ammunition because existing money is “almost exhausted,” he said, even with an additional $500 million in economic aid to Ukraine’s government the Treasury Department also announced Thursday, separate from the latest $800 million military package.
Russia offered another ultimatum Wednesday to allow Ukrainian fighters to leave a steel plant in Mariupol — but those fighters, for days, have refused to surrender. Finally seizing the strategic port city after weeks of besiegement and bombardment would help give Russian forces a land bridge between Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014, and the eastern provinces known as the Donbas, where Russian-led separatists have battled the Ukrainian government since 2014, too.
The Donbas is expected to be Russia’s focus now, but the U.S. remains concerned that Russian forces will target the paths in western Ukraine being used to ship Western military aid into the country, a defense official told ABC News.
While they have not done so yet, cutting off those supply routes will help the Kremlin isolate Ukrainian forces in the east, the official added.
The U.S. believes Russians will target the paths in western Ukraine being used to ship in Western military aid in order to isolate Ukrainian forces in the east, a defense official told ABC News.
“Right now, we know from our discussions with the Ukrainians that they are getting this material,” a defense official said Tuesday. “It’s getting into the hands of their fighters.”
The U.S. and other Western countries have now provided Ukraine with close to 70,000 anti-tank weapons, including several varieties of shoulder-fired missiles. The number of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles that the U.S. and other countries have sent to Ukraine is nearing 30,000.
Those missiles have been used by Ukrainian forces to great effect, but as the battle shifts from Ukraine’s major cities and suburbs to the more flat eastern provinces, Kyiv’s troops will need more artillery and ammunition instead.
Four flights carrying military aid from the $800 million drawdown package Biden announced last week arrived in Ukraine over the last 24 hours, some of them carrying U.S. howitzers and 155mm ammunition for them, a senior defense official said Wednesday, adding more equipment will arrive over the next 24 hours.
ABC News asked the official why the U.S. decided to send U.S. artillery to the Ukrainians.
“We’re mindful of the importance of artillery in the fight that they’re in right now and in the fighting in the days to come because of the terrain, and because of what we think they’re going to be up against with Russian forces,” the official responded. Another reason was “the fact that it wouldn’t require an onerous amount of training for the Ukrainians to know how to use them” and the ability to ship them quickly, according to the official.
After Biden called Russia’s actions in Ukraine “genocide” for the first time last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Wednesday that the same horrors witnessed in Bucha — “death, destruction, atrocities” — may take place in the eastern city of Mariupol “at some point,” even as Russian forces seem already poised to fully capture the strategic city.
“We can only anticipate that when this tide also at some point recedes from Mariupol, we’re going to see far worse — if that’s possible to imagine,” Blinken said. “So the conditions there, the situation there as a result of this Russian aggression are truly horrific.”
