(WASHINGTON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a historic, virtual address to Congress on Wednesday to plead with the U.S. to do more to help stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a speech to Ukrainians earlier Wednesday, Zelenskyy called his upcoming address to Congress “a speech from all of us, from each of our defenders, from each of our citizens, for the most powerful democracy in the world — for the state and the people, who can do a lot to stop Russian aggression, to restore peace on our land,” he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced the Ukrainian president and led members in chanting, “Slava Ukraini” or “Glory to heroes” in Ukrainian.
“Glory to heroes,” Zelenskyy repeated. “Thank you very much, madam speaker, members of the Congress, ladies and gentlemen, Americans, friends, I’m proud to greet you from Ukraine from our capital city of Kyiv, a city that is under missile and air strikes from Russian troops every day, but it doesn’t give up — and we have not even thought about it for a second.”
In an emotional appeal, Zelenskyy asked Americans to put themselves in the shoes of Ukrainians by remembering Pearl Harbor “when your sky was black from the planes attacking you” and the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Remember September the 11th, a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories on battlefields, when innocent people were attacked from air, yes, just like no one else expected it, you could not stop it,” he said. “Our country experiences the same thing every day, right now at this moment, every night for three weeks now various Ukrainian cities — Mariupol and Kharkiv — Russia has turned the Ukrainian skies into a source of death for thousands of people.”
President Joe Biden would be watching Zelenskyy’s address to the degree his schedules allows, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, and will also give an address of his own afterward, detailing what the U.S. is doing for “Ukrainian security assistance.”
He gave something of a preemptive response in remarks to reporters on Tuesday while signing a $1.5 trillion government funding bill, which includes $13.6 billion in supplemental aid to Ukraine.
“We’ve been providing anti-armor — taking out tanks, anti-air capabilities, directly — directly to the Ukrainian forces. And we’re also facilitating significant shipments of security assistance from our Allied partners to Ukraine,” Biden said. “With this new security funding … we’re moving urgently to further augment the support to the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their country.”
While the U.S. has imposed a slate of economic and trade sanctions to isolate Putin, the Biden administration has flatly and repeatedly rejected a no-fly zone, as well as U.S. troops fighting Russia in Ukraine and any help delivering MiG-29 fighter jets that Poland wants to get to the Ukrainians. It’s also unclear whether Congress might try to move to act unilaterally if the White House doesn’t take more action.
(WASHINGTON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to deliver a historic, virtual address to Congress on Wednesday to plead with the U.S. to do more to help stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a speech to Ukrainians earlier Wednesday, Zelenskyy called his upcoming address to Congress “an important speech.”
“A speech from all of us, from each of our defenders, from each of our citizens, for the most powerful democracy in the world — for the state and the people, who can do a lot to stop Russian aggression, to restore peace on our land,” he said.
Although it’s unclear whether Zelenskyy will pressure President Joe Biden by name to have NATO impose a no-fly zone, Biden will be watching Zelenskyy’s address at 9 a.m., White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, and will also give an address of his own afterward, detailing what the U.S. is doing for “Ukrainian security assistance.”
He gave something of a preemptive response in remarks to reporters on Tuesday while signing a $1.5 trillion government funding bill, which includes $13.6 billion in supplemental aid to Ukraine.
“We’ve been providing anti-armor — taking out and air capabilities — directly, directly to the Ukrainian forces. We’re also facilitating significant shipments of security assistance from our allied partners to Ukraine,” Biden said. “With this new security funding … we’re moving urgently to further augment the support to the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their country.”
While the U.S. has imposed a slate of economic and trade sanctions to isolate Putin, the Biden administration has flatly and repeatedly rejected a no-fly zone, as well as U.S. troops fighting Russia in Ukraine and any help delivering MiG-29 fighter jets that Poland wants to get to the Ukrainians. It’s also unclear whether Congress might try to move to act unilaterally if the White House doesn’t take more action.
Zelenskyy’s virtual address will air at 9 a.m. on ABC News Live.
What Zelenskyy’s remarks might look like
Zelenskyy’s address to Congress is expected to be similar to the one he made to Canada’s Parliament on Tuesday, according to a Ukrainian official familiar with the remarks.
Addressing those lawmakers, Zelenskyy, in an emotional appeal for a no-fly zone, said that at least 97 Ukrainian children have been killed in the last 20 days in onslaught ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We are not asking for much,” he said. “We’re asking for justice, for real support, which will help us to prevail, to defend, to save lives.”
He called for more sanctions on Russia and for businesses to end their operations there and repeated his pleas for “aerial support.”
“Close the sky, close the airspace,” he continued. “Please understand how important it is for us to close our airspace from Russian missiles and Russian aircraft.”
Zelenskyy received a standing ovation, both before and after his remarks, but his central plea — for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine — has met with no success not just with the U.S. but with other NATO nations as well. He seized the chance to get personal with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday, calling on Canadians to imagine they were under attack — something he may do as well speaking to Congress, with Americans watching a live stream of his remarks.
“How much more cruise missiles have to fall on our cities until you make this happen?” he asked. “We’re asking for more of your leadership and, please, take more, greater part in these efforts, Justin, and all of our friends of Ukraine.”
Pleas for a no-fly zone
Given Zelenskyy’s pleas, Psaki was pressed Tuesday on how the administration planned to deal with the likely request for measures like closing the airspace above Ukraine.
“I would say that without knowing what he’s going to say tomorrow, we certainly are familiar with what the asks have been. We have provided our own assessment of what does make sense and doesn’t make sense,” Psaki said, noting the additional funding to Ukraine Biden was signing.
Another reporter followed up, “Is Zelenskyy wasting his time tomorrow asking for these things?”
“Because of the passion and the courage and the bravery of President Zelenskyy, there has been support for expediting the delivery of a historic amount of military and security assistance and weapons that have helped him and his military fight back against the Russians,” Psaki said. “And I would say that, yes, we recognize there are a range of bipartisan calls, but what we have the responsibility to do here is to assess what the impact is on the United States and our own national security.”
Psaki added that a no-fly zone “essentially means us shooting down Russian planes, and them essentially shooting back at us.”
As the shelling of civilian residences continues in Ukraine, Biden said last week Russia would pay a “severe price” if it used chemical weapons — but the White House has refused to detail what those consequences would look like. Former President Barack Obama drew a red line on chemical weapons in Syria, but despite pressure from Congress, the administration has hesitated to declare the same.
While Zelenskyy has been vocal in pushing the West to do more, members of both parties in Congress have also pressed Biden to do more to step up aid and led the charge for trade sanctions the White House ultimately took on last week.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell accused the administration on Tuesday of “dragging its heels” in getting aid to Ukraine.
Asked how lawmakers might navigate having to deny Zelenskyy some of the security measures he may request of them, McConnell indicated he would agree to what Zelenskyy is asking, aside from imposing a no-fly zone.
“My guess is that everything he is going to request is something we ought to be doing, and so my individual response to that would be yes,” McConnell said. “The administration needs to get the message they need to help the Ukrainians in every conceivable way we need to do it, and we need to do it right now — not only us but our NATO allies — who seem to be way more anxious than this administration to help the Ukrainians.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the invitation to Zelenskyy to speak to Congress “one of the highest honors” bestowed by the body on a foreign head of state.
“We have all been inspired by the courage of President Zelenskyy and that of the Ukrainian people. President Zelenskyy can rest assured that he will always have friends in Congress ready to listen to stand in his corner, and we’re honored to have him speak to us later this week,” he said on the Senate floor Monday.
As he continues his appeals to the West, the Ukrainian president last week also became the first foreign leader to virtually address the U.K.’s House of Commons and echoed Winston Churchill’s famous June 1940 speech after Allied forces pulled off the “miracle of Dunkirk.”
“We will not give up, and we will not lose. We will fight till the end – at sea, in the air, we will continue fighting for our land whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets,” he said, met, again, with a standing ovation.
ABC News’ Ben Gittleson, Penelope Lopez, Luis Martinez, Conor Finnegan, Sarah Kolinovsky, Molly Nagle, Trish Turner and Allison Pecorin 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 16, 6:44 am
Russia claims Ukraine willing to give up NATO hopes
Russia’s lead negotiator in peace talks with Ukraine said on Wednesday Ukraine had proposed adopting a “neutral status,” along the lines of Austria or Sweden, that is a country that is not part of NATO but has its own military and close ties to the West, including European Union membership.
There has been no official confirmation from Ukraine, though President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said in recent days that Ukraine understands it will not be allowed to join NATO.
“The preservation and development of the neutral status of Ukraine, its demilitarization Ukraine — a whole complex of questions connected with the size of the Ukrainian army,” Russia’s negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, was quoted as saying by Russian media. “Ukraine proposes the Austrian, Swedish option of a neutral demilitarised state, but within that a state possessing its own army and navy. All these questions are being discussed at the level of the leaderships of the ministry of defense of Russia and Ukraine.”
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, claimed on Wednesday that the negotiators in the fourth round of talks were discussing “concrete formulations” that are “close to agreement.”
An agreement that Ukraine wouldn’t seek to join NATO raises questions. Ukraine’s constitution includes a pledge to join the alliance that would likely need to be changed, which would be highly controversial.
If the Sweden-style status is acceptable to Russia that would also mean the Kremlin has significantly lowered its war aims. Ukraine was not close to joining NATO before the conflict and a commitment not to would be little more than affirming the status quo before Russia’s invasion.
“The goal pursued by Russia at these negotiations is exactly the same as the goal set by Russia at the very beginning of the special military operation,” Medinsky said. “We need a peaceful, free and independent Ukraine, a neutral one, not a member of some military blocs or a member of NATO, but a country that would be our friend and neighbor, so that we could jointly develop relations and build our future and that would not serve as a bridgehead for a military and economic attack on our country. So, our goal is unchanged.”
This is why “practically every digit or letter in the agreements” is being thoroughly discussed with the Ukrainian side, Medinsky said.
“We want this agreement to last for generations, so that our children live in peace, the foundation of which is laid by this negotiating process,” he said.
Russia is also pursuing other demands in the talks, including the recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and the Russian-controlled separatist regions as independent. They also want changes in laws giving more guarantees for Russian-speakers in Ukraine.
Mar 16, 6:34 am
Russian forces ‘struggling’ with terrain: UK military
Russia’s military forces are “struggling to overcome” Ukraine’s terrain as they attempt to push further into the country, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.
“Russian forces have remained largely tied to Ukraine’s road network and have demonstrated a reluctance to conduct off-road manoeuvre,” the Ministry said in an update. “The destruction of bridges by Ukrainian forces has also played a key role in stalling Russia’s advance.”
Ukraine’s military has “adeptly exploited” Russia’s difficulty moving through the country, “frustrating the Russian advance and inflicting heavy losses on the invading forces,” the update said.
(NEW YORK) — Authorities will not bring any charges against the man accused of fatally shooting Jamaican immigrant Peter Spencer nine times on a camping trip in western Pennsylvania last December.
“We believe in this case that there is enough evidence presented for self-defense that we are not going to be able to overcome our burden and show this was not self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt, and for that reason, there will be no charges filed against the suspect in this case,” District Attorney Shawn White told reporters Tuesday.
“This is my call,” he added. “I believe it’s the right one.”
Spencer who is Black, went on a camping trip with a co-worker, who is white, in Rockland Township, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 11, 2021. A few hours after going on the trip, in the early hours of Dec. 12, Pennsylvania State Police were called to the scene and Spencer was found on the front lawn of the rural cabin with nine bullet wounds in his body, including six in his chest.
White said Spencer was using hallucinogenic mushrooms and started “acting crazy” as he fired multiple rounds from an AK-47 he had brought with him. White said Spencer was “not ambushed” and that he began firing the gun and ordered other campers to stay at gunpoint. Spencer’s co-worker then shot him.
Police said they found multiple firearms, “ballistic evidence” and controlled substances at the cabin.
The case was brought to the Heritage Affairs Team, which investigates hate crimes, but Corp. Aaron Allen, the liaison for the office, said he also will not be bringing charges.
“We also have been making sure that there isn’t any hate and/or bias detected throughout this investigation, and I can tell you right now that there’s not been any sort of hate and/or bias detected,” Allen said.
The Spencer family said it is not giving up despite the announcement charges will not be filed.
“We are not surprised by it, this is the type of behavior we have seen from the PA State Police and Venango County District Attorney from the outset,” Paul Jubas, the attorney for Peter Spencer’s family, said in a statement.
While state charges will not be filed, it is possible that there could be federal hate crime charges brought. Cindy Chung, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, will make that decision.
“If you want to know from a federal standpoint whether there’s any hate crime, I’m not competent to testify to that or give you an answer,” White said. “That’s her jurisdiction, she’s aware of the facts. Give her office a call.”
Spencer’s family said it will host a press conference next week with independent forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht to discuss their next steps.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly three weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, more than three million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes seeking safety. And while the number of refugees who have left the country has risen at a staggering rate, many others, like Nina Sideleva, have sought safety in the Western part of Ukraine.
Sideleva is a mother of two from Kyiv, who said before Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine, she was just like anyone else.
“I had a family, I have kids, I went to my job,” she told ABC News’ Start Here podcast, with her brother Alex Sidelev aiding in translation. “We lived a regular life with our plans, with our dreams for the future.”
Like many Ukrainians, Sideleva said she didn’t believe the reality of war would come so close to her family’s home. But on Feb. 25, when she saw so many others in the capital city fleeing their homes for bomb shelters, it began to feel real.
Initially, she hoped to stay in Kyiv with her children, husband and parents. But in the early days of the Russian invasion, one of the blasts killed Sideleva’s former boss. His death left Sideleva no choice.
“I need to leave my parents and save my kids,” she said.
All Ukrainian men of fighting age are now required to stay in the country, so Sideleva’s husband decided to remain in Kyiv to keep her parents safe. Through tears, Sideleva described what could be her final goodbye to her husband.
“I promised that we are going to see each other soon,” she said at the time.
“But she thinks that she doesn’t know anymore,” Sidelev said, describing how the horrors of the ongoing war have shaken his sister’s vow.
Sideleva’s escape took her and her sons on a lengthy train trip, arriving first in Lviv, and later traveling to Vyzhnytsia, a smaller town near the Romanian border. And while she was greeted by a large number of people prepared to provide help to people arriving from cities farther east, Sideleva said she struggles with accepting that assistance.
“It is difficult to think that she needs help because she feels that she can care about herself,” her brother told ABC News. “But it needs to have settled in her mind that it’s she needs help and people are helping her out while she wants to have everything back to normal.”
Now, staying with people she knows in Vyzhnytsia, Sideleva feels safe, but knows that feeling could vanish as quickly as it did in Kyiv.
Sidelev, who works as a structural engineer in New York City, said hearing his younger sister’s story left him feeling desperate and powerless, and that his ultimate dream is to be with his family.
“Every time I wake up, I want to wake up from reality, I want to wake up in a world with no war in Ukraine,” he said.
For now, Sideleva and her children feel safe in Vyzhnytsia, with plans to celebrate one son’s 10th birthday there. While it’s not how any of them wanted to celebrate, she says, it is the best place for them to be right now.
Still, she knows she must remain ready in case the terror of war approaches her current reprieve. If that does happen, Sideleva said she would want to be with her brother in the United States.
“The only family member who she knows outside of Ukraine, any country, it’s only me,” Sidelev said. “I’m her brother. And she says that I want to be with my brother if I need to leave the country. I want to be with my family member.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees confirmed on Tuesday that the number of Ukrainians who have fled to neighboring countries, including Poland, Moldova and Romania, has surpassed three million. The agency estimates that the war has internally displaced an additional two million people.
The fog of war leaves so much of what comes next in doubt. But Sideleva said she holds out hope for her country to remain a sovereign democracy, as it has been since the fall of the Soviet Union.
“I am a Ukrainian citizen. It’s my motherland. I want to be free. I don’t want Russia here. I really want to be free in my motherland, I want to be in Ukraine,” she said.
That is a sentiment Sidelev echoes, saying, “Ukraine is our land. We don’t need any of this. We don’t need to go through all of this. It means we are Ukrainian, we want to be free in Ukraine. We don’t need Russian involvement.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 15, 9:55 pm
Biden to announce $800M in new military assistance to Ukraine: Source
President Joe Biden is planning to announce $800 million in new military assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The new assistance includes anti-armor and anti-aircraft weapons, the source told ABC News.
The funding is part of a $13.6 billion aid package to Ukraine that was included in the $1.5 trillion government spending bill that Biden signed into law Tuesday.
The law designates that $3.5 billion of the Ukrainian aid package go toward weapons, but leaves the exact military equipment and weaponry up to the administration. Biden is expected to provide more details Wednesday on how the $800 million will be spent.
Mar 15, 8:00 pm
EU leaders who came to Kyiv took a ‘courageous’ step: Zelenskyy
After meeting with the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia in Kyiv on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the European Union leaders took a “courageous, right” step.
“They are not afraid of anything. And they are more afraid for our fate. And they are here to support us,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted to Facebook.
“We absolutely trust these friendly countries,” he later said.
The leaders — Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski — traveled to the Ukrainian capital on a European Union mission to show support for the country.
In another video, Zelenskyy said their visit was a “strong sign of support.”
The meeting’s “top agenda” was “international assistance and reconstruction of Ukraine,” according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The leaders are working together “to ensure that the funds & property of the Russian Federation will be paid to Ukraine to restore everything destroyed by [the Russian] aggressor,” he said on Twitter.
-ABC News’ Matt Foster
Mar 15, 6:23 pm
US providing another $186M in humanitarian aid for Ukraine
The U.S. will provide an additional $186 million in humanitarian assistance to support Ukrainians displaced by the war, including those in the country and refugees who have fled, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday.
The funding, which brings the total U.S. assistance since the invasion began to $293 million, will support “food, safe drinking water, protection, accessible shelter and emergency health care,” he said in a statement.
The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development are not directly providing this assistance but are working through international and non-governmental partners.
Russian bombardment and shelling continue to damage roads, bridges and railroads in Ukraine, making it difficult for aid workers to reach people in need, according to a senior administration official, who warned the situation is “rapidly getting worse.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Mar 15, 5:18 pm
Thousands of civilians evacuate Mariupol during pause in attacks
A pause in Russian attacks on the besieged city of Mariupol has allowed for around 20,000 people to evacuate after almost two weeks of continuous bombardment, Ukrainian authorities said.
About 4,000 private vehicles were able to get civilians out of the city on Tuesday, according to Kirilo Timoshenko, an official from Ukraine’s presidential office. Of those, around 570 have reached the safer city of Zaporizhzhia to the north.
This is in addition to the 160 private vehicles that evacuated residents during a lull on Monday.
Some 300,000 people had been estimated to be trapped in the city. Russian attacks impeded previous efforts to get civilians out and to allow for humanitarian supplies to be brought in.
The Mariupol City Council reported Sunday that 2,187 residents had been killed since the start of the invasion. Vereschuk said last week that the city was “beyond a humanitarian disaster,” with most roads destroyed, little communication with the outside and no power, gas or heat.
Mar 15, 4:47 pm
4th round of Ukraine-Russia talks to resume Wednesday
The fourth round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian leaders will resume on Wednesday, Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted.
Podolyak called it a “very difficult” process with “fundamental contradictions,” but added, “there is certainly room for compromise.”
State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Tuesday declined to say whether the department was optimistic about the talks, but said the U.S. hasn’t seen any action from the Kremlin to demonstrate “good faith.”
“We have yet to find a Russian interlocutor that is either able or willing to negotiate in good faith, and certainly not in the context of de-escalation,” he said.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan and Christine Theodorou
Mar 15, 3:50 pm
Food shortage ‘could be hell on Earth’
David Beasley, executive director of the UN World Food Programme, is sounding the alarm about a global food shortage for the world’s most vulnerable populations if the war in Ukraine doesn’t end soon.
“You’re talking about the breadbasket of the world where we buy 50% of our grain from Ukraine. And so with the farmers on the battlefront, when it’s harvest time and planting time, it’s going to wreak havoc not just inside Ukraine, but worldwide,” Beasley told ABC News.
Before the war broke out, Beasley said climate, the pandemic and supply chain issues had already increased costs by millions, reduced available food and forced the WFP to cut distribution around the world.
“In the next nine months, if we don’t end this war quickly, it could be hell on Earth,” Beasley said.
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, Sam Sweeney
Mar 15, 3:30 pm
Fox News cameraman killed in Ukraine
Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski has been killed in Ukraine, according to Fox News.
Zakrzewski, 55, was newsgathering with correspondent Benjamin Hall on Monday in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, when their vehicle was hit by incoming fire, the network said.
Hall was injured and hospitalized in unknown condition.
“Pierre jumped in to help out with all sorts of roles in the field – photographer, engineer, editor and producer and he did it all under immense pressure and with tremendous skill,” a statement from Fox News PR said. “He was a professional, he was a journalist, and he was a friend. We here at the Fox News Channel want to offer our deepest condolences to Pierre’s wife, Michelle, and his entire family.”
Ukrainian producer and fixer, 24-year-old Oleksandra Kuvshynova, who was working for Fox News during the war, was also killed in the shelling, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Mar 15, 1:42 pm
Refugee numbers reach 3 million
Over 3 million refugees have now fled Ukraine, according to Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Over 1.5 million of those refugees are children, according to UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.
Mar 15, 1:26 pm
Thousands of civilians evacuate Mariupol during pause in attacks
A pause in Russian attacks on the besieged city of Mariupol has allowed for about 2,000 private vehicles to evacuate civilians on Tuesday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk said.
This is in addition to the 160 private vehicles that evacuated residents during a lull on Monday.
Russian attacks impeded previous efforts to get civilians out and to allow for humanitarian supplies to be brought in. The Mariupol City Council reported Sunday that 2,187 residents had been killed since the start of the invasion. Vereschuk said last week that the city was “beyond a humanitarian disaster,” with most roads destroyed, little communication with the outside and no power, gas or heat.
Mar 15, 1:14 pm
NATO leaders to meet March 24
NATO leaders will meet on March 24 to address the Russian invasion, NATO’s “strong support for Ukraine, and further strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defence,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Mar 15, 1:06 pm
Russian TV anti-war protester fined and released
Anti-war protester Marina Ovsyannikova has been fined and released after crashing a Russian state news broadcast.
She told reporters she was interrogated for more than 14 hours and said she’d provide more comments on Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 15, 12:16 pm
Fox News cameraman killed in Ukraine
Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski has been killed in Ukraine, according to Fox News.
Zakrzewski, 55, was newsgathering with correspondent Benjamin Hall on Monday in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, when their vehicle was hit by incoming fire, the network said.
Hall was injured and hospitalized in unknown condition.
“Pierre jumped in to help out with all sorts of roles in the field – photographer, engineer, editor and producer and he did it all under immense pressure and with tremendous skill,” a statement from Fox News PR said. “He was a professional, he was a journalist, and he was a friend. We here at the Fox News Channel want to offer our deepest condolences to Pierre’s wife, Michelle, and his entire family.”
Mar 15, 11:34 am
US, EU, UK expand sanctions targeting Russia
The European Union Council on Tuesday imposed a fourth package of economic and individual sanctions, including restricting the export of luxury goods to Russia and banning new investments in Russia’s energy sector.
Sanctions also target “key oligarchs, lobbyist and propagandists pushing the Kremlin’s narrative on the situation in Ukraine,” the Council said in a statement.
“The aim of the sanctions is that President Putin stops this inhuman and senseless war,” Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a statement.
The United Kingdom is expanding sanctions targeting over 300 people including former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and oligarchs with an estimated worth of more than $94 billion.
The U.S. is also expanding sanctions, including against Russian Ministry of Defense officials.
The State Department is also implementing a new visa ban policy against Russian officials who have “cracked down on Russian citizens who have taken to the streets to protest their government’s brutal campaign in Ukraine” and “are responsible for suppressing dissent in occupied areas of Ukraine.”
In retaliation for sanctions from the U.S., Russia’s foreign ministry has announced personal sanctions against President Joe Biden and many top administration officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The sanctions also target Biden’s son, Hunter, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou, Tanya Stukalova, Patrick Reevell and Conor Finnegan
Mar 15, 7:51 am
Two killed in strike on Kyiv neighborhood
Two people were killed on Tuesday morning after Russian forces shelled residential areas in Kyiv, officials said.
The sound of large explosions echoed across Kyiv before dawn from what Ukrainian authorities said were artillery strikes. The shelling ignited a huge fire and a frantic rescue effort in the Svyatoshyn neighborhood.
Shockwaves from an explosion also damaged the entry to a downtown subway station that has been used as a bomb shelter. City authorities tweeted an image of the blown-out facade, saying trains would no longer stop at the station.
Mar 15, 5:51 am
Residents protest in Russian-occupied cities: UK military
Residents of Kherson, Melitopol and Berdyansk, cities occupied by Russian forces, have held “multiple” demonstrations protesting the occupation, the U.K. Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.
Protests in Kherson came as Russia may be making plans for a “referendum” to legitimize the region as a Russian-backed “breakaway republic,” similar to Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea, the Ministry said.
“Further protests were reported in the city yesterday with Russian forces reportedly firing warning shots in an attempt to disperse peaceful protesters,” the Ministry said.
Russia is likely to “make further attempts to subvert Ukrainian democracy,” the update said.
“Russia has reportedly installed its own mayor in Melitopol following the alleged abduction of his predecessor on Friday 11 March,” the update said. “Subsequently, the Mayor of Dniprorudne has also reportedly been abducted by Russian forces.”
Mar 14, 9:56 pm
Latest talks with Russia went ‘pretty good,’ will continue tomorrow, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy updated the status of negotiations with Russia in his latest address Monday, saying the latest talks went “pretty good” and will continue tomorrow.
Zelenskyy also addressed Russian troops, telling them they would be treated “decently” should they surrender.
“On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I give you a chance — chance to survive,” Zelenskyy said. “You surrender to our forces, we will treat you the way people are supposed to be treated. As people, decently.”
Zelenskyy also thanked the producer at a Russian state news channel who appeared on camera behind an anchor and held up an anti-war sign. She was later arrested.
“I am grateful to those Russians who do not stop trying to convey the truth,” he said. “To those who fight disinformation and tell the truth, real facts to their friends and loved ones. And personally to the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war.”
(WASHINGTON) — On her 18th birthday, just days into her freshman year at Harvard in 1988, Ketanji Brown Jackson says she broke down in tears on the university library steps, overcome by homesickness and seeking solace in faith.
“Even in my loneliness, I thanked God for the opportunity he’d given me, for the firm foundation he had provided, and also for how far I had come,” Jackson recounted years later in an address to graduates of Montrose Christian School, a private Baptist-affiliated high school in Rockville, Maryland, where she served on the advisory board.
“The Bible is filled with people who, through faith, were able to see beyond the present, to a world of hope and glory,” she said, according to a copy of the 2011 speech reviewed by ABC News. “God knows what lies ahead of each of us. The best that you can do, as you look forward, is to take the long view.”
Just over a decade later, Jackson addressed the nation from the White House as the first Black woman ever nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Putting her faith into public view, she opened her remarks by “thanking God for delivering me to this point.”
“I do know that one can only come this far by faith,” Jackson said during the nationally televised nomination ceremony last month.
Jackson’s faith will share the spotlight with her judicial philosophy, legal training and career experience next week as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee examine her record for key sources of influence ahead of voting whether to recommend her confirmation to the high court.
“A judge’s life experience — whether its religion or jobs or what part of the country they grew up in — affects how they view the law,” said ABC News legal analyst Sarah Isgur.
Friends and former colleagues close to Jackson have described her religious practice as private and deeply personal, neither a frequent topic of conversation nor an overly outward display. She identifies as a Protestant Christian, one Jackson associate, who asked to speak anonymously due to sensitivity of the matter, told ABC News.
The Montrose Christian School commencement address is one of just two public speeches — among more than 2,000 pages of Jackson’s personal records supplied to the Senate — that include references to God and the Bible.
In 2017, Jackson spoke at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Maryland, for an adult education program entitled “The Concept of Justice.” “The Bible is also filled with stories that have as their subtext the fact men must face consequence in the wake of their moral failings,” she said, according to a copy of remarks provided to the Senate.
The most prominent religious affiliation on Jackson’s public resume is her advisory board role at Montrose Christian School between 2010 and 2011, where she focused primarily on fundraising, she testified last year. The private K-12 institution closed permanently in 2013, two years after she left the position.
The school’s website directs visitors to a statement of beliefs from the Montrose Baptist Church which says, in part, that Christians are obligated to oppose homosexuality, abortion and same-sex marriage, and advocates a wife’s subservience to her husband — all positions in contrast with key planks of the Democratic platform.
Jackson said last year that she was not familiar with the website at the time of her service.
During Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation process in 2020, several Democrats suggested that her position on the board of a group of private Christian schools affiliated with the conservative Catholic community People of Praise meant she could not be impartial on hot-button issues.
Trinity Schools Inc., where Barrett served on the board for three years and also sent at least three of her children, also opposes homosexuality, same-sex marriage and bars LGBTQ teachers from the classroom.
Republicans now want to question Jackson about whether her role at Montrose Christian School should be interpreted as an endorsement of its beliefs in the same way Democrats did to Barrett.
“I’ve served on so many boards, and I don’t necessarily agree with all of the statements, of all of the things that those boards might have in their materials,” Jackson told Republican Sen. Josh Hawley during her confirmation hearing to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She later clarified that she was not espousing any position, for or against, on the school’s beliefs.
“Any personal views about religion would never come into my service as a judge,” Jackson said.
How Jackson came to be associated with Montrose Christian School and why she apparently ended her affiliation after one year is not clear. The White House declined to comment. Former school head, Dr. Ken Fentress, did not respond to messages left by ABC seeking comment.
Matters of faith and religion have been raised during every modern Supreme Court confirmation process.
Sometimes the questioning has veered toward religious bigotry. In 1836, Roger B. Taney, the first Catholic elevated to the bench, faced intense scrutiny over alleged allegiance to the pope. Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish American justice, was hit with anti-Semitic attacks during his confirmation in 1916.
More recently, Christian conservatives voiced outrage in 2017 after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., probed then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Catholic beliefs, saying “the dogma lives loudly within you.” Some viewed the comment as anti-religious and derogatory.
“Overnight, Barrett became a legal celebrity, law students were wearing T-shirts sporting her face, and she moved to the top of the conservative SCOTUS wish list,” said Isgur. “It was a huge misstep by the Democrats in that sense and one I’d imagine Republicans learned from.”
Many recent Supreme Court nominees have openly talked about the influence of religion on their lives and outlook.
“I am religious, and I am a Catholic,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh told Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, during his 2018 confirmation hearing. “And I grew up attending Catholic schools. And the Constitution of the United States foresaw that religious people or people who are not religious are all equally American.”
Justice Samuel Alito testified as a nominee in 2006 that the legacy of strong anti-Catholic sentiment in mid-nineteenth century America and its impact on his own family colors his view of discrimination cases. “I do take that into account,” he said.
“As you know — I don’t think it’s a secret — I am Jewish,” Justice Elena Kagan declared during her Senate confirmation hearing in 2010. “The state of Israel has meant a lot to me and my family.”
Senators from both sides of the aisle — and the nominees themselves — have all tended to directly disavow any relevance of individual faith to qualification to be a justice.
Justice Clarence Thomas, questioned in 1991 about a past statement suggesting religious values should be taught in public schools, insisted a “wall of separation” between church and state is “an important metaphor.”
Chief Justice John Roberts downplayed any judicial influence by his devout Catholic faith, flatly telling the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2005: “My faith and my religious beliefs do not play a role in judging.”
During the 2017 confirmation hearings for Neil Gorsuch, then-Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., delicately broached the topic of religious bias with the nominee: “I would not ask you your religion or how you practice your faith,” Flake said. “If you can, just talk, in general, about what the role of faith is… on the courts, what role should it play?”
Gorsuch replied, “How far does my religious faith, your religious faith permit us to engage in things that our religion teaches are wrong, sinful? That is a matter of religious faith.”
In 2020, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., highlighted then-nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s conservative Catholic “tenets of faith” and asked for a public declaration: “Can you set aside whatever catholic beliefs you have regarding any issue before you?” he asked. “I can,” Barrett replied.
If confirmed, Jackson would become only the second Protestant justice on the current court, alongside Justice Gorsuch, who was raised Catholic but said during his 2017 confirmation hearing that his family attends an Episcopal church.
Six of the justices are Catholic; Justice Kagan is the only Jew.
“I’m certain her faith will come up in terms of how it has informed her views of the world and the law,” Isgur said, “but I doubt it will be a point of contention so much as a point of pride.”
(NEW YORK) — For months after its doors were shut in March 2020, preschool teacher Rachel Shelton’s old classroom sat as though stuck in a time warp.
Decorations for spring and St. Patrick’s Day still hung on the walls even though the kids — abruptly sent home amid concerns of a new deadly virus — had moved on.
Now, two years after the nation’s schools closed and businesses began laying off workers, Shelton is still out of work, hesitant to return to the classroom because of the high stress and lack of flexibility.
“One runny nose for the little one was like a week out of school, and that happened multiple times … My husband and I — one of us needed to always be on call basically, because there were so many sick days,” she told ABC News.
Last month, a triumphant President Joe Biden declared “America is back to work.”
But, as it turns out, not everyone is.
Most of the nation’s 6.6 million jobs gained since Biden took office have gone to men, according to the Labor Department. As of early February, there were still 1.4 million fewer employed adult woman in the workforce compared to 500,000 fewer adult men.
Simply put, women left the workforce early on in the pandemic at greater rates than men, and they have been more reluctant to return.
Not surprisingly, hardest hit were women in high-stress, low-pay service jobs such as child care and nursing.
“The pandemic whacked women, especially the lesser educated. They’re the ones that took the brunt,” said Richard Fry, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center.
“When you go into you look among the lesser educated portions of the labor force, it’s clear that women have taken a much bigger hit than less-educated men,” Fry said.
Particularly vulnerable were Black women. According to the National Women’s Law Center, unemployment rates dropped or remained the same for almost every race or ethnicity except Black women, with an unemployment rate of almost double that of white Americans. Meanwhile, while many other groups were joining the labor force last month, 31,000 Black women left.
Parenting appears to be a factor, too. According to one analysis, women with children were three times as likely to lose their jobs early on in the pandemic compared to fathers.
Mandee LaCroix, a mom of two girls in Concord, North Carolina, said none of this surprises her. LaCroix ran a child care center during the pandemic before she burned out and quit. At about $10 an hour, her employees earned less than workers at fast-food restaurants and were not offered insurance or retirement benefits. Eventually, she quit and has since gotten a job working with special needs students at a public school.
“It was a lot of stress on my family. I was working a million hours … I was so worn out that it really had stolen any of the joy” of my job, she said.
While there’s no doubt that female caregivers have been hit harder in the pandemic, the current job market also is a golden opportunity for many higher-skilled women, according to Emily Dickens, chief of staff and head of government affairs for the Society for Human Resource Management.
Faced with a worker shortage, many employers are scrambling to find skilled employees and are willing to entertain flexibility they weren’t before.
Dickens says women should jump now if they are considering getting a new job.
“You’ve got to voice what your demands are on the front end and this is the opportunity to do it. This window is going to close,” she said.
Shelton said she’s finally looking for a job again, although she doesn’t want to return to the classroom because of the high stress and inflexibility. It frustrates her that no one has found a solution.
“We’re just not valuing the people who take care of other people, either professionally or in their personal lives,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 15, 8:19 pm
Biden to announce $800M in new military assistance to Ukraine: Source
President Joe Biden is planning to announce $800 million in new military assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The new assistance includes anti-armor and anti-aircraft weapons, the source told ABC News.
-ABC Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega
Mar 15, 8:00 pm
EU leaders who came to Kyiv took a ‘courageous’ step: Zelenskyy
After meeting with the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia in Kyiv on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the European Union leaders took a “courageous, right” step.
“They are not afraid of anything. And they are more afraid for our fate. And they are here to support us,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted to Facebook.
“We absolutely trust these friendly countries,” he later said.
The leaders — Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski — traveled to the Ukrainian capital on a European Union mission to show support for the country.
In another video, Zelenskyy said their visit was a “strong sign of support.”
The meeting’s “top agenda” was “international assistance and reconstruction of Ukraine,” according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The leaders are working together “to ensure that the funds & property of the Russian Federation will be paid to Ukraine to restore everything destroyed by [the Russian] aggressor,” he said on Twitter.
-ABC News’ Matt Foster
Mar 15, 6:23 pm
US providing another $186M in humanitarian aid for Ukraine
The U.S. will provide an additional $186 million in humanitarian assistance to support Ukrainians displaced by the war, including those in the country and refugees who have fled, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday.
The funding, which brings the total U.S. assistance since the invasion began to $293 million, will support “food, safe drinking water, protection, accessible shelter and emergency health care,” he said in a statement.
The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development are not directly providing this assistance but are working through international and non-governmental partners.
Russian bombardment and shelling continue to damage roads, bridges and railroads in Ukraine, making it difficult for aid workers to reach people in need, according to a senior administration official, who warned the situation is “rapidly getting worse.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Mar 15, 5:18 pm
Thousands of civilians evacuate Mariupol during pause in attacks
A pause in Russian attacks on the besieged city of Mariupol has allowed for around 20,000 people to evacuate after almost two weeks of continuous bombardment, Ukrainian authorities said.
About 4,000 private vehicles were able to get civilians out of the city on Tuesday, according to Kirilo Timoshenko, an official from Ukraine’s presidential office. Of those, around 570 have reached the safer city of Zaporizhzhia to the north.
This is in addition to the 160 private vehicles that evacuated residents during a lull on Monday.
Some 300,000 people had been estimated to be trapped in the city. Russian attacks impeded previous efforts to get civilians out and to allow for humanitarian supplies to be brought in.
The Mariupol City Council reported Sunday that 2,187 residents had been killed since the start of the invasion. Vereschuk said last week that the city was “beyond a humanitarian disaster,” with most roads destroyed, little communication with the outside and no power, gas or heat.
Mar 15, 4:47 pm
4th round of Ukraine-Russia talks to resume Wednesday
The fourth round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian leaders will resume on Wednesday, Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted.
Podolyak called it a “very difficult” process with “fundamental contradictions,” but added, “there is certainly room for compromise.”
State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Tuesday declined to say whether the department was optimistic about the talks, but said the U.S. hasn’t seen any action from the Kremlin to demonstrate “good faith.”
“We have yet to find a Russian interlocutor that is either able or willing to negotiate in good faith, and certainly not in the context of de-escalation,” he said.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan and Christine Theodorou
Mar 15, 3:50 pm
Food shortage ‘could be hell on Earth’
David Beasley, executive director of the UN World Food Programme, is sounding the alarm about a global food shortage for the world’s most vulnerable populations if the war in Ukraine doesn’t end soon.
“You’re talking about the breadbasket of the world where we buy 50% of our grain from Ukraine. And so with the farmers on the battlefront, when it’s harvest time and planting time, it’s going to wreak havoc not just inside Ukraine, but worldwide,” Beasley told ABC News.
Before the war broke out, Beasley said climate, the pandemic and supply chain issues had already increased costs by millions, reduced available food and forced the WFP to cut distribution around the world.
“In the next nine months, if we don’t end this war quickly, it could be hell on Earth,” Beasley said.
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, Sam Sweeney
Mar 15, 3:30 pm
Fox News cameraman killed in Ukraine
Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski has been killed in Ukraine, according to Fox News.
Zakrzewski, 55, was newsgathering with correspondent Benjamin Hall on Monday in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, when their vehicle was hit by incoming fire, the network said.
Hall was injured and hospitalized in unknown condition.
“Pierre jumped in to help out with all sorts of roles in the field – photographer, engineer, editor and producer and he did it all under immense pressure and with tremendous skill,” a statement from Fox News PR said. “He was a professional, he was a journalist, and he was a friend. We here at the Fox News Channel want to offer our deepest condolences to Pierre’s wife, Michelle, and his entire family.”
Ukrainian producer and fixer, 24-year-old Oleksandra Kuvshynova, who was working for Fox News during the war, was also killed in the shelling, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Mar 15, 1:42 pm
Refugee numbers reach 3 million
Over 3 million refugees have now fled Ukraine, according to Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Over 1.5 million of those refugees are children, according to UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.
Mar 15, 1:26 pm
Thousands of civilians evacuate Mariupol during pause in attacks
A pause in Russian attacks on the besieged city of Mariupol has allowed for about 2,000 private vehicles to evacuate civilians on Tuesday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk said.
This is in addition to the 160 private vehicles that evacuated residents during a lull on Monday.
Russian attacks impeded previous efforts to get civilians out and to allow for humanitarian supplies to be brought in. The Mariupol City Council reported Sunday that 2,187 residents had been killed since the start of the invasion. Vereschuk said last week that the city was “beyond a humanitarian disaster,” with most roads destroyed, little communication with the outside and no power, gas or heat.
Mar 15, 1:14 pm
NATO leaders to meet March 24
NATO leaders will meet on March 24 to address the Russian invasion, NATO’s “strong support for Ukraine, and further strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defence,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Mar 15, 1:06 pm
Russian TV anti-war protester fined and released
Anti-war protester Marina Ovsyannikova has been fined and released after crashing a Russian state news broadcast.
She told reporters she was interrogated for more than 14 hours and said she’d provide more comments on Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 15, 12:16 pm
Fox News cameraman killed in Ukraine
Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski has been killed in Ukraine, according to Fox News.
Zakrzewski, 55, was newsgathering with correspondent Benjamin Hall on Monday in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, when their vehicle was hit by incoming fire, the network said.
Hall was injured and hospitalized in unknown condition.
“Pierre jumped in to help out with all sorts of roles in the field – photographer, engineer, editor and producer and he did it all under immense pressure and with tremendous skill,” a statement from Fox News PR said. “He was a professional, he was a journalist, and he was a friend. We here at the Fox News Channel want to offer our deepest condolences to Pierre’s wife, Michelle, and his entire family.”
Mar 15, 11:34 am
US, EU, UK expand sanctions targeting Russia
The European Union Council on Tuesday imposed a fourth package of economic and individual sanctions, including restricting the export of luxury goods to Russia and banning new investments in Russia’s energy sector.
Sanctions also target “key oligarchs, lobbyist and propagandists pushing the Kremlin’s narrative on the situation in Ukraine,” the Council said in a statement.
“The aim of the sanctions is that President Putin stops this inhuman and senseless war,” Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a statement.
The United Kingdom is expanding sanctions targeting over 300 people including former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and oligarchs with an estimated worth of more than $94 billion.
The U.S. is also expanding sanctions, including against Russian Ministry of Defense officials.
The State Department is also implementing a new visa ban policy against Russian officials who have “cracked down on Russian citizens who have taken to the streets to protest their government’s brutal campaign in Ukraine” and “are responsible for suppressing dissent in occupied areas of Ukraine.”
In retaliation for sanctions from the U.S., Russia’s foreign ministry has announced personal sanctions against President Joe Biden and many top administration officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The sanctions also target Biden’s son, Hunter, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou, Tanya Stukalova, Patrick Reevell and Conor Finnegan
Mar 15, 7:51 am
Two killed in strike on Kyiv neighborhood
Two people were killed on Tuesday morning after Russian forces shelled residential areas in Kyiv, officials said.
The sound of large explosions echoed across Kyiv before dawn from what Ukrainian authorities said were artillery strikes. The shelling ignited a huge fire and a frantic rescue effort in the Svyatoshyn neighborhood.
Shockwaves from an explosion also damaged the entry to a downtown subway station that has been used as a bomb shelter. City authorities tweeted an image of the blown-out facade, saying trains would no longer stop at the station.
Mar 15, 5:51 am
Residents protest in Russian-occupied cities: UK military
Residents of Kherson, Melitopol and Berdyansk, cities occupied by Russian forces, have held “multiple” demonstrations protesting the occupation, the U.K. Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.
Protests in Kherson came as Russia may be making plans for a “referendum” to legitimize the region as a Russian-backed “breakaway republic,” similar to Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea, the Ministry said.
“Further protests were reported in the city yesterday with Russian forces reportedly firing warning shots in an attempt to disperse peaceful protesters,” the Ministry said.
Russia is likely to “make further attempts to subvert Ukrainian democracy,” the update said.
“Russia has reportedly installed its own mayor in Melitopol following the alleged abduction of his predecessor on Friday 11 March,” the update said. “Subsequently, the Mayor of Dniprorudne has also reportedly been abducted by Russian forces.”
Mar 14, 9:56 pm
Latest talks with Russia went ‘pretty good,’ will continue tomorrow, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy updated the status of negotiations with Russia in his latest address Monday, saying the latest talks went “pretty good” and will continue tomorrow.
Zelenskyy also addressed Russian troops, telling them they would be treated “decently” should they surrender.
“On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I give you a chance — chance to survive,” Zelenskyy said. “You surrender to our forces, we will treat you the way people are supposed to be treated. As people, decently.”
Zelenskyy also thanked the producer at a Russian state news channel who appeared on camera behind an anchor and held up an anti-war sign. She was later arrested.
“I am grateful to those Russians who do not stop trying to convey the truth,” he said. “To those who fight disinformation and tell the truth, real facts to their friends and loved ones. And personally to the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war.”
(WASHINGTON) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is not planning to issue subpoenas to members of Congress who are alleged to have information regarding the events leading up to and surrounding the attack, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
While the panel had requested information from Republicans including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Reps. Scott Perry and Jim Jordan — all of whom swiftly rejected the requests — there have been no follow-up discussions with them about their cooperation, according to sources familiar with the panel’s work.
For a committee that’s been aggressive in its investigative efforts, moving ahead without compelling lawmakers to cooperate through a subpoena reflects a self-imposed limitation as committee members work to balance the legal, political and practical considerations.
In some cases, investigators don’t believe subpoenas are necessary, given information they have already obtained through other means, like witness testimony and evidence provided by other third parties, according to sources.
While such a move has not been formalized and sources caution that the committee’s plans could change, the emerging consensus is to proceed without taking this step.
Investigators have privately acknowledged that any efforts to try to enforce subpoenas would run into time constraints should Republicans take control of the House following the November midterm elections. Any potential subpoena to a lawmaker would likely face a complex and lengthy legal battle.
“The Select Committee is determined to get all relevant information and all options remain on the table,” a spokesperson for the committee told ABC News. “The committee’s investigation is uncovering new facts every day and we want to hear from all witnesses.”
The committee’s chairperson, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the committee was studying whether it had the ability to issue subpoenas to their colleagues. Thompson told ABC News in December that he wasn’t sure if they would be able to force members to cooperate.
“If we subpoena them and they choose not to come, I’m not aware of a real vehicle that we can force compliance,” Thompson said.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a member of the committee, said on ABC News’ “This Week” in December that he “absolutely” thinks his colleagues should be subpoenaed to testify before the committee if necessary.
The committee has disclosed that several GOP lawmakers communicated with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows before and during the Capitol attack, according to thousands of pages of emails and text messages Meadows turned over to the committee before he reversed course and refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Perry, a leader of the House Freedom Caucus who communicated with Meadows ahead of the attack, was the target of the committee’s first known request to a sitting Republican lawmaker.
The committee also said Perry played an “important role” in efforts to install former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark as attorney general in the days before the Jan. 6 attack, as Clark was pushing unproven claims of election fraud.
Some Republicans have also made it clear that if they regain power in the House following the upcoming midterms, they would seek retribution against Democrats and associates of President Joe Biden over the committee’s investigation.
“Joe Biden has eviscerated Executive Privilege,” Rep. Jordan wrote on Twitter after former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon was charged in November with criminal contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena.
“There are a lot of Republicans eager to hear testimony from Ron Klain and Jake Sullivan when we take back the House,” Jordan wrote, referencing Biden’s chief of staff and national security adviser.
