(WASHINGTON) — Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state, died Wednesday from cancer at age 84, according to her family.
She was nominated for secretary of state by President Bill Clinton and served in the role from 1997 to 2001.
In a State Department briefing Wednesday, spokesperson Ned Price said President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have been notified of her death.
“The impact that Secretary Albright … had on this building is felt every single day in just about every single corridor,” Price said.
Price said Albright was a mentor to Blinken, his deputy Wendy Sherman and many others.
“A tireless champion of democracy and human rights, she was at the time of her death a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, part of Dentons Global Advisors, chair of Albright Capital Management, president of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, chair of the National Democratic Institute, chair of the U.S. Defense Policy Board, and an author,” her family said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — It’s extremely rare to find a complete skeleton of a dinosaur.
It’s rarer still that such a skeleton needs to be found twice.
Such is the fate of “Stan” the T. Rex, a massive, mostly complete skeleton of one of the most legendary species of dinosaurs known to Earth.
The enormous fossil was sold in October of 2020 for more than $30 million to an unknown buyer. It subsequently vanished from public view — leaving the paleontological community and dinophiles the world over clamoring for clues as to its whereabouts and fearing its potential loss to science.
National Geographic’s Michael Greshko revealed Wednesday that Stan is bound for a museum in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi — potentially putting to rest widespread concerns that the invaluable fossil would be rendered inaccessible to study.
“Outside scientists’ biggest hopes for Stan hinge on reliable long-term access to this fossil,” Greshko told ABC News. “I know that scientists are hoping for a happy ending, not just for the fossil but for the science that depends on that fossil.”
Stan the T. Rex, an enormous T. Rex skeleton, vanished after being sold at auction two years ago.
Stan’s story begins in the early 1990s, when a nearly 40-foot long Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton was unearthed in South Dakota. The skeleton stood at a private institute in the state for two decades before a legal dispute forced its sale.
That auction in 2020 was nearly as eye-popping as Stan itself. The skeleton sold for $31.8 million to an anonymous buyer — making it the most expensive fossil auction ever.
As chronicled by Greshko, the price tag enraged scientists and scholars. They not only feared the fossil would be sealed behind closed doors, but worried its price tag would accelerate the gold rush of fossil privatization, which threatens to remove more and more bones from the realm of research and education.
“This is terrible for science and is a great boost and incentive for commercial outfits to exploit the dinosaur fossils of the American West,” one paleontologist told Greshko of the sale in 2020.
Since then, sleuths have searched for Stan’s whereabouts, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson making perhaps the strangest cameo. A giant T. Rex skull was spotted by the The Rock during a television interview earlier this year, leading to speculation that he’d purchased Stan.
“I am not the mystery buyer,” Johnson later conceded in an Instagram post. “If I was the proud owner of the real STAN, I sure as hell wouldn’t keep him in my office 🤣🦖 I’d keep him in a museum, so the world could enjoy, study and learn from him.”
Greshko spotted a clue in monthly U.S. export totals — specifically an entry for $31,847,500, Stan’s precise price, due for the United Arab Emirates.
“Because Stan is such as high value item and this is such a niche commodity, Stan casts a long financial shadow on these data sets,” Greshko said.
“I was very confident it had been exported to the United Arab Emirates, and then the UAE happened to reach out to me about this museum project … and everything fell into place from there,” he said.
BREAKING: I tracked down Stan, the T. rex that vanished after it was sold for $31.8 million in a record 2020 auction. It’s going to be in a huge natural history museum being built in Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital.https://t.co/GfUGwUNYkZ
Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi announced Wednesday it will house Stan as part of an ambitious exhibit and research program to chronicle and study the history of life on Earth.
The identity of the anonymous buyer, however, remains unknown. And the effects of Stan’s colossal price could still reverberate throughout the bone hunting world.
“It remains to be seen how Stan’s record-breaking price will affect thee global legal and illegal trade in fossils,” Greshko said. “I know that academic paleontologists around the world are watching that very closely.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time this week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 23, 12:40 pm
Putin says ‘unfriendly countries’ will only be able to buy Russian gas in rubles
Russian President Vladimir Putin told his cabinet on Wednesday that Russia will require payments for natural gas in rubles, saying he will refuse to accept payments in “compromised currencies,” including the dollar and the euro, according to Russia’s state-run news agency, TASS.
Putin said Russia will continue to supply natural gas to other countries.
“I made the decision to implement within the shortest possible time the package of measures to transfer payments — we will start with that — for our natural gas supplied to the so-called ‘unfriendly’ states to Russian rubles,” Putin said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 23, 12:07 pm
Putin blocking hundreds of ships filled with wheat in the Black Sea: von der Leyen
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday accused Russia’s President Vladimir Putin of blocking hundreds of ships filled with wheat in the Black Sea.
“Our continent is being rocked by a tectonic shift, not seen since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The consequences of this war on Europe’s security architecture will be far reaching. And I’m not just talking about security in military terms, but also energy security and even food security are at stake,” she said in a speech to the European Commission.
Von der Leyen addedd: “The effects of the Russian war go beyond energy of course, they also disrupting vital food supplies and driving food prices up.”
The consequences of this disruption will be felt from Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia to Africa and the Far East, according to von der Leyen.
“We should not forget that Ukraine alone provides more than half of the world food programs’ wheat supply. The shelling and the bumping makes it impossible for Ukrainian farmers to do so,” she said.
“I call on Putin to let those ships go otherwise he will not only be responsible for one death, but also for famine and hunger. Let these ships go,” von der Leyen added.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 23, 11:23 am
NATO allies expected to announce major increases to forces in the east
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Wednesday that he expects allies to announce major increases to forces in the eastern part of the defense alliance at Thursday’s summit.
Stoltenberg said the first step would be the deployment of four new NATO battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. With the existing forces in place, there will be eight multi-national battle groups all along the eastern flank, from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
“We face a new reality for our security, so we must reset our deterrence and defense for the longer term,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said he expects allies will agree to provide additional support to Ukraine, including cybersecurity assistance and equipment to help Ukraine protect against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.
He added that NATO has a responsibility to make sure the conflict does not escalate beyond Ukraine, as “this will cause even more death and even more destruction.”
Stoltenberg also called on Belarus to end its complicity in the war.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 23, 11:13 am
Bridge linking Chernihiv Oblast to Kyiv destroyed, governor says
The governor of Ukraine’s Chernihiv Oblast, Viacheslav Chaus, claimed Wednesday that Russian forces have destroyed the bridge linking the region to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
In a video posted on Telegram, Chaus shows the destroyed bridge over the Desna river, which he said effectively means that the road from Chernihiv to Kyiv is now severed.
-ABC News’ Fergal Gallagher
Mar 23, 10:53 am
Sending NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine would be ‘very reckless’, Russia warns
Russia warned Wednesday that sending NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine would be “a very reckless and extremely dangerous decision.”
Last week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that Poland will formally submit a proposal at the NATO summit on Thursday for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Poland’s plans while speaking to reporters Wednesday.
“It would be a very reckless and extremely dangerous decision,” Peskov said. “A special military operation is going on, and any possible contact by our troops with NATO troops can lead to quite clear consequences that would be hard to repair.”
Mar 23, 10:32 am
Russia claims US isn’t interested in progress in Ukraine
Russia claimed Wednesday that the United States isn’t interested in the rapid progress of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
During a speech to students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Russia’s capital, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Washington of wanting to keep Moscow and Kyiv “in a state of hostilities” for “as long as possible.”
“Negotiations are difficult because the Ukrainian side seems to have expressed understanding of the things that should be agreed upon during the negotiations, constantly changing its position, refusing its own proposals,” Lavrov said. “It is difficult to get rid of the impression that they are being held by the hand by their American colleagues.”
He alleged “it is unprofitable” for the U.S. “that this process be completed quickly.”
“They expect to continue pumping weapons to Ukraine. Provocative statements are being made,” he added. “Apparently they want to keep us as long as possible in a state of hostilities.”
Mar 23, 10:27 am
US military aid begins to arrive in Ukraine
The first deliveries from the $800 million-military assistance that President Joe Biden authorized for Ukraine a week ago have started to arrive, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
The military aid package includes Stinger anti-aircraft systems; Javelin anti-armor weapons; light anti-armor weapons; AT-4 anti-armor systems and tactical unmanned aerial systems.
CNN first reported the deliveries.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Mar 23, 10:11 am
Video shows entire neighborhoods destroyed in Mariupol
Video has emerged showing the devastation in Ukraine’s besieged city of Mariupol.
Drone footage recorded Wednesday and released by a Ukrainian right-wing paramilitary group that has been incorporated into Ukraine’s National Guard shows entire neighborhoods destroyed in Mariupol. Mere shells are all that remain of buildings and smoke is still rising from some of the wreckage. The video has been verified by ABC News.
Ukrainian troops are continuing to battle persistent efforts by Russian forces to seize the strategic port city in southeastern Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Fergal Gallagher
Mar 23, 9:39 am
Russia, Ukraine agree on nine humanitarian corridors for Wednesday
Russia and Ukraine have agreed on nine humanitarian corridors to try to evacuate civilians trapped in embattled Ukrainian towns and cities on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
But the agreement does not include a safe passage from the heart of Mariupol, Vereshchuk said in an address Wednesday, adding that she hopes people wishing to leave the besieged southeastern port city can make it to nearby Berdyansk, where humanitarian aid awaits them. She said 24 buses are on standby to transport people.
Some of the previous attempts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol have failed after Russian forces continued to shell the city, despite agreeing to temporary cease-fires.
Mar 23, 9:17 am
Belarus expels several Ukrainian diplomats, closes Ukrainian Consulate General
Belarus announced Wednesday its decision to expel several Ukrainian diplomats and close the Ukrainian Consulate General in Brest.
“The Ukrainian embassy will continue to work in Belarus in a 1+4 format, that is, an ambassador and four staff members,” Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anatoly Glaz said in a statement, according to the state-run news agency BelTA.
Mar 23, 8:27 am
Ukraine says 100,000 remain trapped in besieged Mariupol
Fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces continued in Mariupol on Wednesday morning, with the Ukrainian government warning that as many as 100,000 people remain trapped in the besieged port city.
One Mariupol resident, who managed to escape with her elderly parents and four cats, told ABC News her home had no electricity or heat and that she would have to scavenge for food and other supplies under Russian bombardment. She recalled seeing bodies strewn in the streets because residents had no choice but to leave them there.
“We understood anytime we might be killed by the next bomb,” she said during an interview Tuesday.
Pro-Russia separatist forces from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic in Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region said Wednesday that 562 civilians, including 110 children, were evacuated from encircled Mariupol to the occupied town of Bezymenne in the past 24 hours. A total of 4,621 civilians were evacuated from Mariupol between March 5 and March 23, according to the separatist forces.
Mar 23, 7:59 am
Russia claims to have swapped prisoners with Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners twice since the start of the war, according to Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
“Two prisoner exchanges have been completed between Russia and Ukraine,” Zakharova said in a statement Wednesday.
Mar 23, 7:56 am
Poland expels 45 Russian diplomats for espionage
Russia’s ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreev, said Wednesday that he has received a note from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding the expulsion of 45 Russian diplomats on charges of espionage.
The diplomats must leave Poland within five days, according to Andreev.
The news came after a spokesperson for Poland’s Internal Security Agency announced on Polish television that authorities had compiled a list of 45 Russian diplomats in the country who were suspected of spying.
Mar 23, 7:45 am
Two residential areas of Kyiv shelled overnight, officials say
Russian shelling hit two residential areas of Kyiv on Tuesday night, according to the city administration.
A shopping center and two private houses were damaged in the Sviatoshynskyi district of the Ukrainian capital, but no one was injured and the fires have been extinguished, officials said.
Several private houses and high-rise buildings were on fire in the Shevchenkivskyi district, where four people were injured. Rescuers and medics were still on the scene Wednesday, and the extent of the damage was under assessment, according to officials.
Mar 23, 7:32 am
Russia doesn’t believe claims of civilian deaths in Ukraine
Moscow doesn’t believe Kyiv’s claims of civilian deaths in Ukraine caused by Russian forces, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
“We don’t believe the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office. Russian troops are carrying out no strikes, aren’t firing on civilians,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “Russian servicemen are helping civilians and, regrettably, more and more eyewitnesses get out of the cities saying that they are being held there as human shields, and that nationalist battalions are firing — and there are plenty of such cases — on civilians.”
Mar 23, 6:42 am
Over 3.6 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than 3.6 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations refugee agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 8% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in 28 days.
More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
Mar 23, 5:45 am
Russian forces allegedly destroy Ukrainian weapons depot
Russia claimed Wednesday that its forces carried out an airstrike destroying a weapons depot of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also alleged that troops have destroyed 430 aircraft, including drones, as well as more than 1,500 tanks and other combat armoured vehicles belonging to the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the “special military operation” began Feb. 24.
Mar 23, 5:20 am
Talks with Moscow ‘are moving forward,’ Zelenskyy says
Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “very difficult” but “moving forward,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
“It’s very difficult, sometimes confrontational,” Zelenskyy said in an early morning address. “But step by step, we are moving forward.”
Zelenskyy added that he is “grateful to all international mediators who are standing up for Ukraine.”
(NEW YORK) — One of two black box recorders was found amidst the wreckage of a China Eastern Airlines flight, giving investigators hope it will shed light on why the passenger jet plummeted from the sky and crashed into a mountainside in southern China, authorities said Wednesday.
None of the 123 passengers and nine crew members aboard Flight 5735 survived when it crashed in the Guangxi region.
An official from the Civil Aviation Administration of China confirmed Wednesday that one of the recording devices was located. The official said the protective exterior of the box was seriously damaged.
During a news conference Wednesday, Chinese authorities said that they believe the recovered device is the cockpit voice recorder. It was found in the main impact point of the crash and has been sent to Beijing for repair and analysis, officials said.
Authorities publicly acknowledged for the first time that human remains were found at the crash site.
Investigators are still searching for the second recorder which stores flight data, including airspeed, altitude and wing flap positions.
Early data shows the Boeing 737-800 plunged from 29,000 feet to 8,000 feet, leveled off and then went into a freefall, exploding into a fireball that was seen and filmed by people nearby. One video showed the plane nose-diving into the ground.
The plane crashed after taking off from Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province. The flight was headed to Guangzhou, a port city northwest of Hong Kong, Chinese officials said.
Air traffic controllers made repeated attempts to radio the flight crew when they noticed the aircraft’s rapid descent but were unable to restore communications with the crew before the crash, Chinese officials said.
U.S. intelligence doesn’t have a clear theory on what led to the plane crashing. A source tells ABC News they aren’t ruling anything out, including a possible intentional downing.
As a precaution, China Eastern Airline grounded its fleet of Boeing 737-800s on Wednesday.
Members of the U.S. National Safety Transportation Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and engine-maker CFM International are all joining the probe.
(NEW YORK) — Two years into the coronavirus pandemic, children under age 6 may be one step closer to being eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Moderna said Wednesday it plans to seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its COVID-19 vaccine in young children “in the coming weeks.”
Pfizer’s vaccine is authorized in children 5 and older, but children 4 and younger don’t have access to vaccination.
Moderna released new clinical trial data showing its vaccine generated a strong immune response in children ages 6 months to 6 years old, with no significant risks.
Moderna’s vaccine in children is a two-dose, 25-microgram shot, about a quarter of the dose used for adults, given 28 days apart.
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is currently only available for people ages 18 and older.
Here are nine questions answered about the COVID-19 vaccines and kids as families seek to make the best decisions.
1. What is the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine?
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use mRNA technology, which does not enter the nucleus of the cells and doesn’t alter human DNA. Instead, it sends a genetic “instruction manual” that prompts cells to create proteins that look like the outside of the virus — a way for the body to learn and develop defenses against future infection.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses an inactivated adenovirus vector, Ad26, that cannot replicate. The Ad26 vector carries a piece of DNA with instructions to make the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that triggers an immune response.
This same type of vaccine has been authorized for Ebola and has been studied extensively for other illnesses and for how it affects women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Neither of these vaccine platforms can cause COVID-19.
2. What is the status of vaccine eligibility for kids?
Children ages 5 and older are now eligible to receive Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine.
Children ages 12 and older are also eligible to receive a Pfizer vaccine booster shot.
Pfizer is expected to have more information on the efficacy of a three-dose regimen for kids under age 5 in March or April. The company announced in February that it would postpone its application to the FDA for a vaccine for kids under 5 and instead continue with its study on the three-dose vaccine and seek authorization when that data is available.
The two other vaccines currently available in the U.S., Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, are currently available only for people 18 years and older.
Moderna said on March 23rd it plans to seek emergency use authorization from the FDA for its vaccine in children under age 6 “in the coming weeks.”
3. Why do kids need to be vaccinated against COVID-19?
While there have not been as many deaths from COVID-19 among children as adults, particularly adults in high-risk categories, kids can still get the virus and they can also transmit the virus to adults.
A total of 11.4 million children have tested positive for the virus since the onset of the pandemic. Child COVID-19 cases have “spiked dramatically” during the omicron variant surge, with more than 3.5 million child cases reported in January.
According to the CDC, unvaccinated 12- to 17-year-olds had an 11 times higher risk of hospitalization than fully vaccinated adolescents.
“We know that COVID does not spare kids,” ABC News medical contributor Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, said in December. “Maybe it’s less severe than their adult counterparts but we also know that the virus has had real significant impacts on morbidity and mortality in kids.”
“We also know that kids play an important role as vectors of spread,” he said. “And especially in light of increases we’re seeing right now, with increases of cases in kids in record numbers, infections among kids further perpetuate community transmission and further create risks for those who would be the most vulnerable of the virus.”
4. Do kids experience the same vaccine side effects as adults?
Adolescents experienced a similar range of side effects to Pfizer’s vaccine as seen in older teens and young adults — generally seen as cold-like symptoms in the two to three days after the second dose — and had an “excellent safety profile,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in August.
None of the children in Pfizer’s clinical trials of kids ages 5-11 experienced a rare heart inflammation side effect known as myocarditis, which has been associated with the mRNA vaccines in very rare cases, mostly among young men.
5. Is there data showing COVID-19 vaccines are safe for kids?
The CDC released three studies in December showing COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective for children.
One study, which evaluated the safety reports of more than 42,000 children ages 5 to 11 who received a Pfizer shot, found the side effects from the Pfizer vaccine were mostly mild and temporary. It also found that myocarditis, a heart inflammation side effect that has been associated with the mRNA vaccines in very rare cases, does not appear to be a risk.
A second study, which looked at data from 243 children ages 12 to 17 in Arizona, found the Pfizer vaccine was 92% effective at preventing infection. The study, conducted between July and December when delta was the dominant variant in the U.S., also found that adolescents who developed COVID-19 reported a lower percentage of time masked in school and time masked in the community.
The third study, also conducted when delta was dominant, found that among children ages 5 to 17 hospitalized due to COVID-19, less than 1% were fully vaccinated against the virus.
6. How effective are the vaccines in children?
Pfizer announced in late March that its clinical trials showed the vaccine was safe and 100% effective in children ages 12-15, similar to the 95% efficacy among adult clinical trial participants.
Marks confirmed on May 10 that after a trial with more than 2,000 children, Pfizer found no cases of infection among the children who had been given the vaccine and 16 cases of infection among the children who received a placebo.
No cases of COVID occurred in the 1,005 adolescents that received the vaccine, while there were 16 cases of COVID among the 978 kids who received the placebo, “thus indicating the vaccine was 100% effective in preventing COVID-19 In this trial,” said Marks.
7. Do kids get the same dose of the vaccines as adults?
In Pfizer’s clinical trial, children between 6 months and 5-years-old received two doses of 3-microgram shots, a tenth of the dose given to adults, three weeks apart.
Kids ages 5 to 11 are given a 10-micrograms dose of the Pfizer vaccine, one-third of the adolescent and adult dose. Like with adults and adolescents, the pediatric vaccine is delivered in two doses, three weeks apart.
For 12-to-15-year-olds, the FDA has authorized the same dosing as adults with the Pfizer two-dose vaccine.
The FDA and CDC have recommended the Pfizer booster shots now available for kids ages 12 and older be administered five months after the primary vaccine series.
8. Could COVID-19 vaccines impact puberty and menstruation?
There is currently no clinical evidence to suggest any of the COVID-19 vaccines can have long-term effects on puberty or fertility.
9. Where can kids get vaccinated against COVID-19?
Vaccines are accessible at pediatricians’ offices, children’s hospitals, pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid and school and community-based clinics.
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik, Anne Flaherty, Eric Strauss, Cheyenne Haslett and Jade A. Cobern, MD, a member of the ABC News Medical Unit, contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time this week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 23, 10:53 am
Sending NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine would be ‘very reckless’, Russia warns
Russia warned Wednesday that sending NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine would be “a very reckless and extremely dangerous decision.”
Last week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that Poland will formally submit a proposal at the NATO summit on Thursday for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Poland’s plans while speaking to reporters Wednesday.
“It would be a very reckless and extremely dangerous decision,” Peskov said. “A special military operation is going on, and any possible contact by our troops with NATO troops can lead to quite clear consequences that would be hard to repair.”
Mar 23, 10:32 am
Russia claims US isn’t interested in progress in Ukraine
Russia claimed Wednesday that the United States isn’t interested in the rapid progress of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
During a speech to students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Russia’s capital, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Washington of wanting to keep Moscow and Kyiv “in a state of hostilities” for “as long as possible.”
“Negotiations are difficult because the Ukrainian side seems to have expressed understanding of the things that should be agreed upon during the negotiations, constantly changing its position, refusing its own proposals,” Lavrov said. “It is difficult to get rid of the impression that they are being held by the hand by their American colleagues.”
He alleged “it is unprofitable” for the U.S. “that this process be completed quickly.”
“They expect to continue pumping weapons to Ukraine. Provocative statements are being made,” he added. “Apparently they want to keep us as long as possible in a state of hostilities.”
Mar 23, 10:27 am
US military aid begins to arrive in Ukraine
The first deliveries from the $800 million-military assistance that President Joe Biden authorized for Ukraine a week ago have started to arrive, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
The military aid package includes Stinger anti-aircraft systems; Javelin anti-armor weapons; light anti-armor weapons; AT-4 anti-armor systems and tactical unmanned aerial systems.
CNN first reported the deliveries.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Mar 23, 10:11 am
Video shows entire neighborhoods destroyed in Mariupol
Video has emerged showing the devastation in Ukraine’s besieged city of Mariupol.
Drone footage recorded Wednesday and released by a Ukrainian right-wing paramilitary group that has been incorporated into Ukraine’s National Guard shows entire neighborhoods destroyed in Mariupol. Mere shells are all that remain of buildings and smoke is still rising from some of the wreckage. The video has been verified by ABC News.
Ukrainian troops are continuing to battle persistent efforts by Russian forces to seize the strategic port city in southeastern Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Fergal Gallagher
Mar 23, 9:39 am
Russia, Ukraine agree on nine humanitarian corridors for Wednesday
Russia and Ukraine have agreed on nine humanitarian corridors to try to evacuate civilians trapped in embattled Ukrainian towns and cities on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
But the agreement does not include a safe passage from the heart of Mariupol, Vereshchuk said in an address Wednesday, adding that she hopes people wishing to leave the besieged southeastern port city can make it to nearby Berdyansk, where humanitarian aid awaits them. She said 24 buses are on standby to transport people.
Some of the previous attempts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol have failed after Russian forces continued to shell the city, despite agreeing to temporary cease-fires.
Mar 23, 9:17 am
Belarus expels several Ukrainian diplomats, closes Ukrainian Consulate General
Belarus announced Wednesday its decision to expel several Ukrainian diplomats and close the Ukrainian Consulate General in Brest.
“The Ukrainian embassy will continue to work in Belarus in a 1+4 format, that is, an ambassador and four staff members,” Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anatoly Glaz said in a statement, according to the state-run news agency BelTA.
Mar 23, 8:27 am
Ukraine says 100,000 remain trapped in besieged Mariupol
Fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces continued in Mariupol on Wednesday morning, with the Ukrainian government warning that as many as 100,000 people remain trapped in the besieged port city.
One Mariupol resident, who managed to escape with her elderly parents and four cats, told ABC News her home had no electricity or heat and that she would have to scavenge for food and other supplies under Russian bombardment. She recalled seeing bodies strewn in the streets because residents had no choice but to leave them there.
“We understood anytime we might be killed by the next bomb,” she said during an interview Tuesday.
Pro-Russia separatist forces from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic in Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region said Wednesday that 562 civilians, including 110 children, were evacuated from encircled Mariupol to the occupied town of Bezymenne in the past 24 hours. A total of 4,621 civilians were evacuated from Mariupol between March 5 and March 23, according to the separatist forces.
Mar 23, 7:59 am
Russia claims to have swapped prisoners with Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners twice since the start of the war, according to Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
“Two prisoner exchanges have been completed between Russia and Ukraine,” Zakharova said in a statement Wednesday.
Mar 23, 7:56 am
Poland expels 45 Russian diplomats for espionage
Russia’s ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreev, said Wednesday that he has received a note from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding the expulsion of 45 Russian diplomats on charges of espionage.
The diplomats must leave Poland within five days, according to Andreev.
The news came after a spokesperson for Poland’s Internal Security Agency announced on Polish television that authorities had compiled a list of 45 Russian diplomats in the country who were suspected of spying.
Mar 23, 7:45 am
Two residential areas of Kyiv shelled overnight, officials say
Russian shelling hit two residential areas of Kyiv on Tuesday night, according to the city administration.
A shopping center and two private houses were damaged in the Sviatoshynskyi district of the Ukrainian capital, but no one was injured and the fires have been extinguished, officials said.
Several private houses and high-rise buildings were on fire in the Shevchenkivskyi district, where four people were injured. Rescuers and medics were still on the scene Wednesday, and the extent of the damage was under assessment, according to officials.
Mar 23, 7:32 am
Russia doesn’t believe claims of civilian deaths in Ukraine
Moscow doesn’t believe Kyiv’s claims of civilian deaths in Ukraine caused by Russian forces, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
“We don’t believe the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office. Russian troops are carrying out no strikes, aren’t firing on civilians,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “Russian servicemen are helping civilians and, regrettably, more and more eyewitnesses get out of the cities saying that they are being held there as human shields, and that nationalist battalions are firing — and there are plenty of such cases — on civilians.”
Mar 23, 6:42 am
Over 3.6 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than 3.6 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations refugee agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 8% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in 28 days.
More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
Mar 23, 5:45 am
Russian forces allegedly destroy Ukrainian weapons depot
Russia claimed Wednesday that its forces carried out an airstrike destroying a weapons depot of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also alleged that troops have destroyed 430 aircraft, including drones, as well as more than 1,500 tanks and other combat armoured vehicles belonging to the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the “special military operation” began Feb. 24.
Mar 23, 5:20 am
Talks with Moscow ‘are moving forward,’ Zelenskyy says
Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “very difficult” but “moving forward,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
“It’s very difficult, sometimes confrontational,” Zelenskyy said in an early morning address. “But step by step, we are moving forward.”
Zelenskyy added that he is “grateful to all international mediators who are standing up for Ukraine.”
(WASHINGTON) — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, faces another day of questions Wednesday after over 12 hours of grilling Tuesday on Day 2 of her four-day confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Here is how the news is developing Wednesday. Check back for updates:
Mar 23, 8:46 am
What to expect Wednesday
Judge Jackson faces another round of all-day questions on Wednesday from the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she will need a majority of senators to approve her Supreme Court nomination out of committee before it sees a full floor vote.
Because the committee did not finish its first round of questioning on Tuesday, it will pick back up at 9 a.m. with 30-minute rounds from Democratic Sen. John Ossoff and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. Notably, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., traded spots with Tillis to go Tuesday evening, when she asked the Supreme Court nominee to provide a definition for “woman.”
While Democrats have used the hearings to give Jackson a chance to defend her record and display her personal side, Republicans have so far played to long-running culture wars, with Sen. Ted Cruz asking Biden’s nominee about critical race theory and Sen. Lindsey Graham probing her faith, he said, to make a point about how Democrats scrutinized Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
For the second round of questioning, each of the committee’s 11 Republican and 11 Democratic members will then have up to 20 minutes to question Jackson one on one in order of seniority.
On Thursday, senators can ask questions of the American Bar Association and other outside witnesses.
Mar 23, 8:14 am
Key takeaways from first day of questioning
Judge Jackson took questions for nearly 13 hours Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee — where Democrats hailed her for breaking barriers and Republicans attempted to brand her as “soft on crime” — but Jackson refused to play into political fights and vowed repeatedly to “stay in my lane.”
In several tense exchanges with Republicans on the committee, Jackson defended her record as both a lawyer and a judge.
She called her service as a federal public defender — including defense of accused terrorists held without charge at Guantanamo Bay — an act of “standing up for the constitutional value of representation.” Faced with allegations she was too lenient on child pornography offenders, Jackson stressed that she followed federal sentencing guidelines set by Congress and got emotional when talking about reviewing evidence in what she called “heinous” and “egrigous” crimes.
Jackson also resisted repeated attempts to classify her “judicial philosophy,” claiming she doesn’t have one, but she did lay out a “methodology” she’s developed for approaching each case: proceed from a position of neutrality, evaluate the facts and apply the law to facts in the case.
Asked also about same-sex marriage, abortion and the right to own a gun in the home, Jackson said the Supreme Court has established those rights and that she is bound to stare decisis as a jursist.
(NEW YORK) — Moderna said it plans to seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its COVID-19 vaccine in children under age 6.
The company released clinical trial data Wednesday showing neutralizing antibody levels were similar to those seen in adults.
The vaccine in children is a two-dose, 25-microgram shot, about a quarter of the dose used for adults.
(NEW YORK) — Egg freezing — a process that involves collection, freezing and storage of a woman’s eggs with the intention to use at a later time for pregnancy — is more widely available than it was even five or 10 years ago, but it is still a complicated decision for many women.
There is the cost — often thousands of dollars — as well as the fact that a woman’s biological clock keeps ticking even amid egg freezing.
There is also the unknown for so many women around egg freezing, from what exactly it entails to how often it works to any potential side effects to what it means to keep eggs in storage for possibly years.
When Courtney Hunt, 34, of New York, decided to freeze her eggs nearly two years ago, she chose to document the process and share it on her YouTube channel.
“I wanted to document this whole process because I think it’s important to really open the conversation,” Hunt told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “By documenting it, I could help educate people, inform people, and kind of just give women in general an opportunity to see another woman kind of going through [the process].”
She continued, “I think we do often feel alone in a lot of these experiences because we don’t talk about about a lot of these [topics] in conversations, miscarriages or IVF or egg freezing.”
GMA reached out to medical experts to talk more about the egg freezing process and what women should know. Here are five questions answered by the experts:
1. Why are more and more women turning to egg freezing?
After over 30 years of advancements since the first human birth from a frozen egg was reported in 1986, egg freezing is now widely available to women who may choose to delay child-bearing.
Traditionally, women resorted to egg freezing due to medical conditions such as a cancer diagnosis requiring chemotherapy, which can damage reproductive cells, or genetic abnormalities that shorten reproductive years. In 2012, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine lifted the “experimental” label from egg freezing, allowing it to be utilized more widely.
The number of women who utilize egg freezing is expected to continue to grow as the technology becomes more accessible and better understood, experts say.
Over 22,000 egg freezing cycles were performed in the United States in 2019, up from around 18,000 in 2018 and 14,500 in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There is just more information out there now for women,” Dr. Elizabeth Sarah Ginsburg, medical director of assisted reproductive technologies at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told ABC News. “Women are now more aware of the age-related decline in fertility that women experience.”
While there are many medical reasons for egg freezing, today many women are also turning to egg freezing to focus on their careers or postpone having children until they are partnered.
“Most of the women that I see are freezing their eggs because they don’t have a partner,” Ginsburg said, also adding, “I’ve had women who are married freeze eggs to start their own companies or because they’re up for a promotion and they know their eggs are aging but can’t take time out to have a baby.”
In Hunt’s case, she said she took advantage of the opportunity to freeze her eggs when she learned the process was paid for by her then-employer. She said she did it as assurance that when she is ready to have kids, the option is there.
“It was never a battle in my mind of all the what-ifs and what if this doesn’t happen with a partner or what if this does,” said Hunt. “I was just doing this, selfishly, for myself to make sure that I do have an opportunity if and when I want kids, however that comes about for myself.”
2. What is the process of egg freezing?
The egg freezing process involves four main steps — ovarian stimulation, a trigger shot, egg retrieval and egg freezing.
The total time commitment for an egg freezing cycle is about two to three weeks and involves continuous monitoring with ultrasounds to time each of the steps.
Ovarian stimulation involves self-administering daily injections for about two weeks to grow multiple eggs in the ovaries to eventually collect and freeze. For many, this step may be the most physically and emotionally draining.
“Making sure you’re doing things right in such a delicate and, frankly, expensive process is something that even worried me when I knew what I was doing,” said Dr. Samantha Estevez, a clinical fellow in the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who went through the egg freezing process herself.
Most commonly, women experience mild fullness, bloating and cramping during their cycle.
“The ovaries get pretty big. A normal ovary, not stimulated, is about the size of a walnut. In women who stimulate a lot and get say 20 eggs, ovaries will be the size of an orange,” Ginsburg said.
Once the eggs reach their target size, a different injection, referred to as the “trigger shot,” is administered to make the eggs undergo their final maturation for retrieval.
The egg retrieval procedure is then typically scheduled 36 hours after this injection. This is a procedure done under sedation with vaginal ultrasound guidance to collect the matured eggs.
After the eggs are collected, they are then frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored until the person decides to come back for them.
For those who return for their eggs with the hopes of becoming pregnant, the frozen eggs are thawed and fertilized in the laboratory using donor or partner sperm to make embryos and undergo genetic testing if desired, then transferred into the uterus for pregnancy.
3. What is the cost of egg freezing?
The cost of egg freezing can be highly variable. For anyone considering egg freezing, experts recommend understanding the breakdown of the costs and the factors that can influence these costs to estimate final costs for an individual.
“There is usually a global fee that includes all the monitoring, the anesthesia, egg retrieval and freezing for that cycle of the two-week period from that first ultrasound to the egg removal and freezing of the eggs,” Ginsburg said, adding that the net cost for an individual may be higher or lower depending on insurance, employer, region and the fertility center. “Patients really need to call around to find out.”
At CCRM, a fertility clinic network with 11 locations across the U.S. and Canada, the average cost of a single egg freezing cycle is $9,232, according to Dr. Jaime Knopman, a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist at CCRM New York.
Other expenses, including medications and anesthesia, total over $6,000 on average at CCRM, according to Knopman, who added that the cost depends on each individual person.
“Older women or those with lower ovarian reserve would pay more in total, but not because the process is more expensive,” said Knopman. “The cost is higher because medication dosage is higher, and therefore the cost of medications is higher.”
People who are older may also need to do more than one cycle of egg freezing, which comes at an additional cost, Knopman explained.
After the egg retrieval, storage comes at an additional cost depending on how long a person would like to freeze their eggs. Storage can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to over $1,000 per year.
At CCRM, for example, the average annual cost of storage is $775.
If a person ultimately decides to use the eggs they have frozen, there is also additional cost involved.
“People going into egg freezing also need to recognize that this is just the first step, not the final step when it comes to fertility preservation if they end up using the eggs,” Estevez said. “The transfer cycle is less involved than egg freezing cycle but almost financially equivalent.”
Knopman said she tells patients at CCRM to expect to pay around $10,000 for a frozen embryo transfer, a total that includes medications and the process itself.
Some larger companies such as Facebook, Google and The Walt Disney Company offer egg freezing benefits to their employees, and some health systems have also started to pay for it for their employees, which can make egg freezing more affordable.
As of 2021, 15 states have laws that require insurance companies to cover infertility treatment and two states have laws that require insurance companies to offer coverage for infertility treatment, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
4. What is the right age to consider egg freezing?
Although most women who undergo egg freezing in the U.S. are in their late 30s, the younger you are, the better, data shows.
According to a study published in 2020 in the journal Human Reproduction, success rates for live births were double for women who stored their eggs at age 35 and younger.
“There is no question that pregnancy rates are higher if women are younger,” said Ginsburg, adding that, “A higher percentage of eggs in the ovaries are chromosomally abnormal the older women get, so the less likely a particular egg is to result in a pregnancy.”
Once a woman reaches the age of 30, her fertility starts to decline, according to Dr. Nita Landry, a Los Angeles-based board-certified OBGYN.
“Once she reaches her mid-30s, especially around 37, that decline becomes faster,” Landry said. “Once a woman is 45 years of age, the probability of her conceiving without any fertility intervention is going to be low.”
The risks associated with pregnancy also increase as a woman ages.
Studies show that women who become pregnant at an advanced age inherently have an increased risk for pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes, hypertension, pre-term birth and low birth weight.
Therefore, women who get pregnant in their late 30s or 40s may not have successful pregnancies regardless of how old their eggs were when they were frozen.
5. What are alternatives to egg freezing?
There are options other than egg freezing for those who are not partnered but are ready to become parents now. Women can get pregnant using their own eggs with donor sperm rather than freeze and store their eggs.
“Some women think about freezing eggs and when they realize they really want a baby and decide that a partner is not critical to their life being fulfilled, donor insemination is the other way to go,” Ginsburg said. “That tends to happen more in women in their late 30s.”
Some also choose to freeze embryos rather than eggs because of higher success rates for live births.
“Often when someone is married, they will freeze part eggs and part embryos because of the fact that if a man gives his sperm and embryos are frozen, he has a say in whether they can be used or not later,” Ginsburg said. “So I think egg freezing is favored from a reproductive autonomy standpoint.”
Women now have many options in reproductive technologies. Although costs remain a barrier for many, these technologies may become more affordable as they continue to grow in popularity.
“I think insurance companies are doing better and better about paying for egg freezing that is medically indicated,” Ginsburg said. “I think it’s also going to increasingly be a benefit of employment especially in firms that are trying to increase the number of women in their ranks.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden planned to depart for Europe Wednesday as he tries to keep NATO allies and other European partners united against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
With fighting lasting nearly a month — and Ukrainian forces unexpectedly holding Russia to a standoff — Biden and other world leaders will seek to speed an end to the conflict.
They’ll face pressure to make announcements about new sanctions on Russia, humanitarian assistance for refugees and additional support for Ukraine’s military.
Putin and China will be watching, with the fate of Ukraine — and Russia’s place in the world — hanging in the balance.
And while Biden will command much of the attention this week, his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also plans to speak to — and potentially pressure — Biden and other NATO leaders.
Whirlwind diplomacy on display
Biden will spend much of Wednesday traveling from Washington to Brussels, ahead of a whirlwind day of diplomacy in the Belgian capital the next day.
On Thursday, he plans to attend a summit of all 30 NATO leaders, where he will discuss deterrence against Russia and “reaffirm our ironclad commitment to our NATO allies,” according to the White House.
Biden will also participate in a pre-scheduled meeting of the European Council — the political body of the European Union — and meet with leaders of the Group of Seven, or G-7, major industrial nations.
Throughout the meetings, Biden hopes to achieve “continued coordination and a unified response” to Russia, the White House said.
Biden has made working in lockstep with Europe a top priority, at times holding back sanctions — such as on Russian energy — to maintain that show of unity.
He has also fastidiously tried to avoid a wider conflict, declining to send American troops to Ukraine or support a NATO-enforced no-fly zone over the country.
Whether he’ll push allies to more directly confront Russia — by committing more troops to the region, providing even more provocative military assistance to Ukraine or otherwise directly assisting Kyiv — remains to be seen.
One challenge he may face Thursday, though, is responding to Zelenskyy’s remarks to NATO leaders.
The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly commanded the world’s attention with moving, sometimes blunt addresses to national and international bodies. His direct demands sometimes go beyond Biden and other leaders’ comfort levels, and he has not held back from naming and shaming those who he does not believe are doing enough to support Ukraine.
New sanctions and aid expected
The president “will have the opportunity to coordinate on the next phase of military assistance to Ukraine,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday.
Biden and other leaders will announce a new “package of sanctions” on Russia, too, including “tightening the existing sanctions to crack down on evasion and to ensure robust enforcement,” Sullivan said.
“One of the key elements of that announcement will focus not just on adding new sanctions,” Sullivan said, “but on ensuring that there is a joint effort to crack down on evasion, on sanctions-busting, on any attempt by any country to help Russia, basically, undermine, weaken or get around the sanctions.”
Biden will also speak with leaders about “longer-term adjustments to NATO force posture on the eastern flank,” Sullivan said, referring to the United States and other NATO countries deploying additional troops to countries that border Russia, like Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.
And he will announce a “joint action on enhancing European energy security and reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian gas,” Sullivan added, without elaborating.
Focus on millions of displaced Ukrainians, US troops
In Brussels, Biden “will announce further American contributions” to help the 3.5 million Ukrainians who have fled the country and for the millions more who have become internally displaced, according to Sullivan.
On Friday, the president will travel to Poland, where he’ll “engage with U.S. troops” — he has deployed thousands there in response to the invasion — and on Saturday, meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Poland has taken in more than two million Ukrainian refugees.
“It is the right place for him to go to be able to see troops, to be able to see humanitarian experts, and to be able to meet with the frontline and very vulnerable allies,” Sullivan said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this week that there were “no plans” for Biden to travel into Ukraine and that the White House had “not explored that option.”
Putin, China watching
Biden said Monday that “the one thing I’m confident, knowing Putin fairly well — as well as, I guess, another leader could know one another — is that he was counting on being able to split NATO. He never thought NATO would stay resolved — stay totally, thoroughly united.”
“And I can assure you,” he told a group of chief executives, “NATO has never been stronger or more united in its entire history than it is today, in large part because of Vladimir Putin.”
In fact, Russia’s invasion has united NATO against it. And a month of crushing sanctions have crippled Russia’s economy and largely isolated Putin.
Whether world leaders in Brussels decide to ramp up the pressure on Putin in a way that could further change Putin’s calculus — and bring an end to war, perhaps by offering him a clear off-ramp — could determine the length and course of the conflict.
But it’s not clear the decreasing number of options they have left could fundamentally sway Putin. Russian troops continue to pummel Ukrainian cities and kill civilians even as the Ukrainians have prevented them from claiming major wins and toppling the government in Kyiv.
And it’s not clear what that off-ramp could be.
“Putin’s back is against the wall,” Biden said Monday.
And China’s President Xi Jinping will be watching, too. In a call last week, according to the White House, Biden warned him of the consequences of providing aid to Russia.
Sullivan told ABC News’ Elizabeth Schulze on Tuesday that, since last week, the U.S. had “not seen” China provide military equipment to Russia, as it had feared China may do.
The degree to which Biden is able to get European leaders on board with potential punishments for China could also determine whether Xi decides to support Putin or stay out of the fight.
