(NEW YORK) — The flashlights of the Ukrainian army followed Zi Faámelu, a transgender woman from Ukraine, as she walked through a swamp and hid from the military while crossing the Romanian border.
Tall, sharp bushes scratched the singer’s face, and the rough waters from the river pulled her body in the opposite direction. She knew it was the only chance she had to escape.
She was carrying only her passport, wrapped in a trash bag to protect it from the water. Her passport identified her as male, making it illegal for her to flee Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered all men to join the army.
Once she made it to the other side, Faámelu could only think of the fact she made it alive.
“I knew this was my last chance of survival and I had to do something like this real quick,” she told ABC News.
“I was almost drowning and I drank so much water. And I was very exhausted and I swam. I thought I [wouldn’t] make it. But somehow I reached the other side.”
At the first checkpoint, Faámelu said the guards took a photo of her passport and sent it across the border to prevent her from leaving the country. The treatment she received at the border, she said, was similar to the reality she faced for being a trans woman in Ukraine.
“My story is not like popular opinion right now because I know the inside of it all. And it’s not pretty,” she said. “It’s ugly. So I know the world stands with Ukraine, but they don’t know what’s going on inside the country.”
Throughout her life, Faámelu said she faced discrimination and transphobia. The invasion made things worse, she said, and she found herself stuck inside her apartment due to fear of persecution.
“At first, I wanted to leave Kyiv because there were bombings, but there was a group of dangerous people moving around this city. Homophobic, transphobic people that were preying on LGBTQ folks,” she said.
Faámelu is not the only one who says she fears for her safety. Olha Raiter traveled with her ex-partner, Uliana, and their 7-month-old son to Berlin from Ukraine by car. The trip took about 68 hours, and their car became a temporary home as they saw their country being shelled.
“I tried to stay positive because you could just die in one second if you just imagine what’s going on,” Raiter said.
“We have to be positive. We have to believe,” she added.
Raiter always wanted to have kids, but she said it was difficult to make it a reality because of how it would be viewed by society.
“I couldn’t get married,” she said. “We are all discriminated against in Ukraine because we cannot get the same rights. We have Damien together, but officially, she’s nobody to him, even if she’s a mother the same as me … and she was there from the very beginning and she was there when I was delivering him. But she still, according to Ukrainian law, … she’s nobody.”
Raiter says, “We were moving in the right direction. We put pressure on our government, and it changes. I didn’t have a feeling that this was a country that didn’t want me.” Despite the hardships and the rough reality members of the LGBTQ community say they face in Ukraine, Raiter did not leave the country because she felt unwanted, but feared raising a child among war. She hopes to return to her home country one day to raise Damien.
“I want [Damien] to … grow up in Ukraine, and I think it’s important because it’s important for me. I know it’s possible,” Raiter said.
Svetlana Shaytanova works for Quarteera, a nonprofit organization creating a safe space for members of the Russian-speaking LGBTQ community in Germany. She focuses her work on spreading awareness and sharing the harsh realities faced by queer people, like Faámelu.
The reality for trans people in Ukraine and across Europe, Shaytanova said, is that it’s harder than it might appear.
“They don’t want us to exist,” Shaytanova said.
“It’s not the government that persecutes people; they put laws in place that allow the general population to be openly aggressive against queer people.”
Faámelu is currently staying with a German family – and she says she feels lucky.
“It’s a perfect place for me right now. It’s just luck, … because I could’ve died [at the border],” she said.
When Faámelu crossed the border, she left everything behind – her clothes, belongings and even her art pieces. In the midst of the chaos, she still hopes to keep making music and continue her activism within the trans community.
“[My voice] is the only thing I have now … because I have nothing. They took everything away from me,” she said.
Faámelu says change must be made so others don’t have to be discriminated against and fight for their lives as she did at the border. The issue, she said, is beyond the Russian invasion.
“We’re fighting for our lives as trans people,” Faámelu said. “It’s a war for recognition, for getting noticed, for getting hurt. But we are humans. We deserve our rights.
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin got into a fiery exchange with Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz during a House Armed Services Committee budget hearing Tuesday, as Gaetz accused the Pentagon of strategic failures due to misplaced focus on alleged “wokeism.”
Gaetz began by asking Austin why taxpayers should fund lectures supporting socialism at the DOD-funded National Defense University, a reference to a recent virtual event hosted by the school titled “Responding to China: The Case For Global Justice and Democratic Socialism,” presented by French economist Thomas Piketty.
Austin said he was unaware of the lecture.
“So now that you know that they did this, would you agree that embracing socialism is not an effective strategy to combat China?” Gatez asked.
“I certainly don’t agree with embracing socialism,” Austin replied.
Gaetz continued, asking, “So why would we invite people we don’t agree with to evangelize views and values that we don’t share at the National Defense University, when we should be learning strategy about how to combat our enemies and make assessments that are accurate?”
Austin responded that learning strategy and other relevant subjects is the focus of military universities.
Decorum began to crumble as the two men started talking over one another, Gaetz reiterating the controversial content of the lecture, Austin reiterating that the Pentagon does not embrace socialism.
“I control the time!” Gaetz protested.
The Florida congressman proceeded to accuse the Defense Department of making poor predictions about the invasion of Ukraine and the fall of Afghanistan.
“You guys told us that Russia couldn’t lose. You told us that the Taliban couldn’t immediately win. And so I guess I’m wondering what in the $773 billion that you’re requesting today is going to help you make assessments that are accurate in the face of so many blown calls.
Austin paused for nearly six seconds before responding.
“You’ve seen what’s in our budget, you’ve seen how the budget matches the strategy, and so I’ll let that speak for itself,” he said.
The secretary then grew visibly annoyed when Gaetz said the U.S. has fallen behind other countries in terms of hypersonic weapons.
“What do you mean we’re behind in hypersonics? How do you make that assessment?” Austin said.
“Your own people brief us that we are behind and that China is winning. Are you aware of the briefings we get on hypersonics?” Gaetz asked.
Austin responded, “I am certainly aware of briefings that we provide to Congress.”
MORE: China’s reported hypersonic weapon test raises security concerns
Gaetz again attacked the Pentagon’s priorities.
“While everyone else in the world seems to be developing capabilities and being more strategic, we’ve got time to embrace critical race theory at West Point, to embrace socialism at the National Defense University, to do mandatory pronoun training,” he said.
Austin fired back: “This is the most capable, the most combat-credible force in the world. It has been and it will be so going forward. And this budget helps us to do that.”
“Not if we embrace socialism,” Gaetz said.
Austin then implied Gaetz was being unpatriotic.
“The fact that you are embarrassed by your country, by your military, I am sorry for that,” Austin said.
Gaetz retorted as Austin was still speaking: “Oh no, no, I’m embarrassed by your leadership, I am not embarrassed for my country.”
“It’s what you’re saying, it’s what you’re saying,” Austin said.
“I wish we were not losing to China … That is so disgraceful that you would sit here and conflate your failures with the failures of the uniformed service members. You guys said that Russia would overrun Ukraine in 36 days. You said that the Taliban would be kept at bay for months. You totally blew those calls. And maybe we would be better at them if the National Defense University actually worked a little more on strategy and a little less on wokeism,” Gaetz said.
“Has it occurred to you that Russia has not overrun Ukraine because of what we’ve done and our allies have done? Have you ever even thought about that?” Austin said.
Gaetz used his remaining seconds to reply: “But that was baked into your flawed assessment. And so I saw that the Obama administration tried to destroy our military by starving it of resources, and it seems the Biden administration is trying to destroy our military by force feeding it wokeism. I yield back.”
(BERLIN) — German authorities took down the world’s largest illegal marketplace on the darknet with the help of U.S. law enforcement agencies, they said.
Hydra Market was a Russian-language marketplace that had operated via the Tor network since at least 2015 and was known for extensive drug trafficking, according to German authorities. The market’s 17 million known customers were also known to buy and sell forged documents and stolen credit cards, they said. In 2020, its sales amounted to well over $1 billion euros.
German authorities said they seized Hydra’s server infrastructure and about $25 million in bitcoin on Tuesday.
“The seizures carried out today were preceded by extensive investigations that have been conducted…since August 2021 and in which several US authorities were involved,” the German federal police announced.
Numerous U.S. agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the IRS Criminal Investigation and others were involved in the operation, they said.
The investigation targeted the operators and administrators of Hydra, according to German authorities. Among other things, authorities said the market was being used for criminal transactions, money laundering and abundant sales of illegal narcotics.
Hydra was the illegal marketplace with the highest turnover worldwide, German authorities said. Its sales amounted to at least 1.23 billion euros in 2020 alone. It also offered a service for obfuscating digital transactions, complicating crypto investigations for law enforcement agencies.
In addition to the law enforcement actions taking down Hydra’s illegal marketplace, the U.S. sanctioned the company, along with a virtual currency exchange based in Estonia, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.
“The global threat of cybercrime and ransomware that originates in Russia, and the ability of criminal leaders to operate there with impunity, is deeply concerning to the United States,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement. “Our actions send a message today to criminals that you cannot hide on the darknet or their forums, and you cannot hide in Russia or anywhere else in the world.”
Hydra accounted for some 86% of illicit Bitcoin transactions in Russia in 2019, according to the U.S. Treasury, while Estonian exchange Garantex was used for over $100 million in virtual currency transactions associated with illicit actors. Estonian authorities stripped Garantex of its license in February, but it continued to operate “through unscrupulous means,” the department said.
These sanctions are an attempt by the Biden administration to show that virtual currency will not be able to evade U.S. and international sanctions on Russia or other criminal actors.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control “is closely monitoring any efforts to circumvent or violate Russia-related sanctions, including through the use of virtual currency, and is committed to using its broad enforcement authorities to act against violations and to promote compliance,” the department said.
(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) — Oklahoma passed a bill Tuesday that would make performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to several years in prison.
The bill was passed in the state House 70-14 without a single Democratic vote after passing the Senate last year. Just one Republican state representative voted against the bill.
It is now heading to the desk of Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, who is expected to sign it into law.
Under the bill, any medical provider who performs an abortion would face a fine of $100,000 and up to 10 years in prison. The only exceptions for performing an abortion would be if the mother’s life is in danger.
State Rep. Jim Olsen, who sponsored the bill, did not return ABC News’ request for comment.
However, he did stress to the Associated Press that penalties would only be imposed on medical professionals who perform abortions, not on women who receive them.
Passage of the bill occurred the same day a “Bans Off Oklahoma” rally was held at the state Capitol in support of abortion rights.
“These legislators have continued their relentless attacks on our freedoms,” Emily Wales, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes — which organized the rally — told the Associated Press. “These restrictions are not about improving the safety of the work that we do. They are about shaming and stigmatizing people who need and deserve abortion access.”
In the past few years, anti-abortion bills have passed in Oklahoma Legislature, only to be overturned by the courts who deem them unconstitutional.
It’s unclear whether this bill will face the same challenges, but it comes on the heels of several Republican-led states passing legislation ahead of a Supreme Court decision in June that will decide the future of Roe v. Wade.
The court will review a 15-week ban in Mississippi and decide whether or not it is constitutional.
In preparation for Roe to be overturned, or gutted, Arizona and Kentucky moved forward on 15-week abortion bans last week.
The Arizona legislation, which was signed by Gov. Doug Ducey, only includes exemptions for medical emergencies when continuing with the pregnancy would “create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” for the mother.
Meanwhile, in Kentucky, the ban passed along with other anti-abortion measures including making it illegal to send drugs for medical abortions through the mail and requiring the names of physicians who provide medication abortions to be published online.
Additionally, last month, Idaho became the first state to pass and sign legislation modeled after the recent law passed in Texas that bans abortions after six weeks.
Since the law in Texas went into effect in September 2021, thousands of women have flocked to Oklahoma to receive the procedure.
A recent study from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas Austin found that of the 1,500 women that traveled out of state every month to receive abortion since September, 45% visited Oklahoma.
(NEW YORK) — Severe weather continues to strike the South with damaging winds, tornados and huge hail.
Chunks of hail the size of golf balls were reported Monday night in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
On Tuesday afternoon severe thunderstorms will move into Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.
A tornado already touched down overnight in Jackson County, Texas, near the town of Joshua.
A tornado watch will be in effect until 7 p.m. CT across the South.
Six tornadoes were also reported in central Mississippi and Alabama. One of the confirmed tornadoes caused some structure and tree damage near the town of Newtown and Highway I-2.
Tornado warnings are ongoing in Alabama.
Thousands are without power in Washington state as a major storm moved through the area, producing wind gusts near 81 mph.
As this storm system moves east, wind and snow alerts are issued from the Rockies into the Plains with high fire danger from Texas to South Dakota. Red flag warnings have been issued for the Plains where winds could gust up to 70 mph.
California’s first major heat wave of the season is expected soon; a heat advisory was issued for Los Angeles and San Diego with high wind alerts posted for the mountain areas.
The heat wave will begin Wednesday with highs in the lower to middle 90s.
(INDIANAPOLIS) — Police have named a man who died in 2013 as the serial killer responsible for the deaths of three women in the late 1980s.
Harry Edward Greenwell was identified as the man known as the “I-65” or “Days Inn” killer, an elusive figure who killed three motel clerks along Interstate 65 in Indiana and Kentucky, Indiana State Police spokesperson Sgt. Glen Fifield told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
The case began on Feb. 21, 1987, after the murder of Vicki Heath, a 41-year-old mother who would had recently gotten engaged and was working the night shift at the Super 8 motel in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Fifield said. By March 3, 1989, Indiana State Police were investigating two more murders that occurred under similar circumstances on the same day Heath was killed, Fifield said.
Margaret Gill, also known as Peggy Gill, was murdered while working the night shift at the Days Inn in Merrillville, Indiana, while Jean Gilbert was murdered while working the night shift at the Days Inn in Remington, Indiana, Fifield said. Gill, who was 24 at the time, had been promoted from maid to night auditor, while Gilbert, a mother of two, had traded shifts to watch her daughter’s last game as a cheerleader, the Indy Star reported.
The women were raped before they were killed, the Indy Star reported.
On Jan. 2, 1990, a clerk working in the Days Inn in Columbus, Indiana, was attacked in a similar manner as the previous three victims, but she was able to escape her attacker and survived, later giving authorities “an excellent physical description of the suspect and details of the crime,” Fifield said. The clerk was sexually assaulted and stabbed in the attack, the Indy Star reported.
The primary factor that linked the four cases together was the proximity to Interstate 65. Numerous pieces of forensic evidence were collected and preserved to include DNA, clothing, hairs, fibers and ballistic evidence from the cases, allowing investigators to match ballistic evidence linking the Gill and Gilbert murders and to later match DNA evidence linking the Heath and Gilbert murders to the case of the surviving victim, Fifield said.
Decades after the murders took place, Indiana State Police and the FBI were able to use genetic genealogy to generate investigative leads on the killer. Greenwell — who was born on Dec. 9, 1944, and died in January 2013 — had an “extensive criminal history” and had been “in and out of prison several times,” Fifield said.
Investigators were able to put together a timeline of Greenwell’s movements through police reports, newspaper archives and “some self-reporting by him” Fifield said. Greenwell is feared to be responsible for additional murders, rapes, robberies and assaults stretching from Gary, Indiana, down to Mobile, Alabama, the length of Interstate 65, Fifield said.
Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter addressed the family members of the victims, saying he hopes the announcement “might bring a little bit of solace to you to know that the animal that did this is no longer on this earth.”
Carter described the decadeslong investigation as a “relentless and dogged pursuit” that had detectives chasing leads all over the country. Advances in technology finally allowed investigators to solve the cold case, Carter said.
“It’s amazing what happens over the course of generations,” Carter said. “There’s detectives in this very room that have been involved in this in some form or another, literally for generations. And they’re owed a debt of gratitude that we could never possibly repay. But, you know, their effort was for you.”
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway and Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Three Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah — have taken the political risk of breaking from their party to vote for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court this week, elevating the first Black woman to the nation’s highest court in its 233-year history.
Democrats on Monday were able to advance Jackson’s nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 53-47 vote, with the help of those three Republicans, putting President Joe Biden’s nominee on a clear path to being confirmed later this week by the full Senate.
But it’s unclear if they will face blowback from constituents or colleagues as they continue to explain their reasoning.
Collins was the first Republican to pledge her support to Jackson last week, after meeting twice with the nominee who she said alleviated her concerns. Murkowski and Romney’s endorsements followed on Monday, to the relief of the Biden White House, which had pushed for a bipartisan vote.
Jackson left “quite an impression” on Murkowski during her Judiciary Committee hearings, where “she was put under some pretty, pretty intense scrutiny, and I think you saw grace under pressure there,” Murkowski said.
“There was a level of personal attack that was not warranted,” she added, also calling out corrosive politics around the confirmation process.
“This is an awful process it’s just awful,” Murkowski said. “We’re strapped into it, we’re so divided now. We are to that point where it is almost automatic where if it is a president who is not of my party puts forth a nominee I am somehow obligated to just barely even give consideration.”
Moments after Murkowski announced her intention Monday, Romney followed suit — becoming the only Republican to reverse course and announce plans to support Jackson after previously voting against her confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last year. He told reporters Tuesday that he got to yes after becoming convinced she’s within the “mainstream.”
“In her previous confirmation votes I had concerns about whether she was in the mainstream and having spent time with her personally and reviewing her testimony before Congress I became convinced that she is in the mainstream,” Romney said.
While Jackson did, then, get the support of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on that vote, Graham said he will vote no this time around, adding that Jackson wouldn’t have been given hearings had Republicans controlled the Senate.
Republicans, led by Sen Josh Hawley, R-Mo., repeatedly challenged Jackson’s sentencing of child porn offenders during the proceedings in an effort to paint her as “soft on crime” — a label Democrats dismissed as false (A handful of offenders received sentences below federal guidelines from Jackson, but the prison terms were above those recommended by the probation officer, putting her in the mainstream of judicial action).
Romney, like Collins and Murkowski, also lamented Tuesday that the process of confirming Supreme Court nominees has becoming increasingly politicized.
“I think, perhaps, we are going to have to reconsider the process that we are going to pursue in the future in part because you could have a setting where you have a president of one party and a Senate of another, and maybe there will be a change,” Romney said. “But at this stage, I was convinced that Judge Jackson is well qualified, intelligent capable, and I became convinced that she is within the mainstream.”
Collins said she was “delighted” to learn that her colleagues had “reached a similar conclusion” on Jackson’s confirmation, adding she’d had “some conversations” with the two before they announced their positions but only learned of their support “earlier yesterday.”
She also raised concerns with the, at times, combative process wrecking the court’s credibility.
“I hope we can get back to a time where we have bipartisan support for qualified Supreme Court nominees because it is important for public confidence in the court,” Collins said. “The court is not supposed to be a politicized institution, and if the nomination process leading up to confirmation is overly political, I believe it undermines the public’s confidence in our courts and regrettably that’s what we’ve seen with the last few nominees.”
While Collins aired concerns with some of Jackson’s sentences, she said in a statement that the fact she “will not agree with every vote that she casts as a Justice…is not disqualifying.”
(NEW YORK) –Through lockdowns, remote working, travel restrictions and school closures — many have not had a cold in two years. Now cold and flu rates appear to be on the rise as Americans return to pre-COVID activities sans masks.
Dr. Peter Chin Hong at UC San Francisco says his hospital is seeing an influx of cold and flu complaints.
“Usually we’ve gotten several colds a year for most people,” he told ABC News. “I think not having them means when you do get one it lasts a little bit longer.”
While cold and flu symptoms can often resemble COVID-19 symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says testing may be necessary to confirm a diagnosis.
Dr. Hong stressed the importance of returning to public life with caution.
“It’s really crucial to keep up your street smarts not just about COVID, but these other pathogens that you can transmit,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — For the first time since leaving office, former President Barack Obama returned to the White House on Tuesday to join his former vice president in promoting the Affordable Health Care Act he signed into law 12 years ago.
Obama joined President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to deliver remarks on the Affordable Care Act, with Harris speaking first to applaud the anniversary and introduce the former president. Obama received a standing ovation and told a packed East Room, “It is good to be back at the White House.”
Before addressing the landmark legislation of his presidency, Obama cracked a few jokes, as he often did as president. First, he light-heartedly opened his remarks by jokingly thanking “Vice President Biden.”
“That was a joke. That was all set up,” Obama said to laughter, walking back to give Biden a hug.
“I confess, I heard some changes have been made by the current president since I was last here,” Obama continued. “Apparently, Secret Service agents have to wear Aviator glasses now. The Navy mess has been replaced by a Baskin-Robbins. And there’s a cat running around, which I guarantee Beau and Sunny would have been very unhappy about,” he said to laughter.
Obama then pivoted to the purpose of his visit: to celebrate 12 years of the Affordable Care Act, saying it’s “an example of why you run for office in the first place.”
“We’re not supposed to do this just to occupy a seat or to hang on to power. We’re supposed to do this because it’s making a difference in the lives of the people who sent us here,” Obama said.
Biden is set to announce new steps his administration is taking to build on the Affordable Care Act, including a new executive order and a proposed rule from the Treasury Department to fix the ACA’s so-called “family glitch.” Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, other members of Biden’s Cabinet and some Democratic lawmakers were also in attendance.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden and Obama will tout the ACA, which she said they view as “a shining example of how government can work for the American people.”
“Not only did it ensure that millions of people had access to affordable health care, but it has been an opportunity to build on that and make changes and make improvements over the course of time, which of course is what they will talk about tomorrow,” Psaki said at Monday’s press briefing.
She said Obama and Biden will also have lunch at the White House Tuesday — “as they used to do on a weekly basis” — and added, “They continue to talk regularly.”
“They are real friends, not just Washington friends, and so I’m sure they will talk about events in the world as well as their families and personal lives,” Psaki said.
The visit from the popular former president comes as Biden struggles in the polls over his handling of 40-year-high inflation and soaring gas prices he’s pinned to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Psaki said it’s “exactly the right time to have the former president come here — given this is one of the proudest accomplishments that they worked on together, they shared together.”
“And it is emblematic of their shared view and belief that government can work for people and it can work for the American people. And this is an example of building on a success from more than 10 years ago and making it better over time,” she added.
Psaki also said to expect Obama to return to the White House again soon for his presidential portrait unveiling “and perhaps other engagements here in the future,” she said.
Since Biden took office, the administration helped to lower health care premiums for 9 million Americans through the American Rescue Plan, Psaki noted Monday, “the biggest expansion of affordable health care since the ACA.”
“We’ve made affordable health coverage more accessible during the pandemic through the opening of the special enrollment period, which enabled nearly 3 million Americans to have access to newly sign up for coverage under the ACA,” she said. “And President Biden has overseen the most successful open enrollment in history last year with the historic 14.5 million Americans signing up for ACA coverage and another million people signing up for the basic health care program.”
Tuesday marks Biden and Obama’s first joint appearance since attending the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last fall in New York and their first joint event in Washington since Biden’s inauguration in January 2021.
Back in 2010, when the pair celebrated the ACA’s passage, Biden was caught on hot mic applauding Obama at the White House for what he called “a big f****** deal.”
Paraphrasing the memorable moment, a senior administration official told reporters of the change Biden is announcing Tuesday, “to borrow a phrase, this rule is a — is a big deal.”
“We think it’s the most significant administrative action to improve implementation of the ACA that we’ve taken since the law was first implemented,” the official said.
The rule would begin to take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2023, and Americans will be able to sign up to get financial assistance during the next open enrollment period.
As of last year, about 31 million Americans had health care coverage through the ACA, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing to have a tough time pushing through Ukraine due to Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and backed by weapons and military equipment from the United States and many European countries, putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, have continued throughout the country, including some in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
In recent days, Russian forces appear to be pulling away from Kyiv after Russian officials said they were reducing military action near Kyiv and in Chernihiv in northern Ukraine in an attempt to increase “mutual trust and create conditions required” for further peace talks with Ukrainian negotiators.
Russia is now being accused of committing war crimes by the United States and countries throughout Europe after graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, some with their hands bound and shot at close range.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 05, 12:38 pm
Satellite images of bodies in Bucha contradict Russia’s claims
An ABC News analysis of videos and satellite imagery confirms that some of the bodies seen lying in the streets of Bucha were there as early as March 19, when the Ukrainian city was still occupied by Russian forces, contradicting Russia’s claims that the scene was “staged” after its troops left.
As Ukrainian authorities regained control over Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, gruesome images emerged earlier this week showing numerous bodies of dead civilians — some shot at close range and with their hands bound — strewn across streets and in mass graves. Russia has denied responsibility, calling the footage “fake” and saying that all of its units withdrew completely from Bucha around March 30.
However, satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies show that at least five of those bodies had been on the street in Bucha since March 19, when Russia said it still occupied the town. ABC News’ Visual Verification team compared the satellite imagery to videos of the same scene posted on Twitter by Ukrainian authorities on April 2, as well as footage taken by ABC News journalists in Bucha on April 4.
The satellite imagery of Bucha in March was first reported by The New York Times.
-ABC News’ Alice Chambers
Apr 05, 11:59 am
Zelenskyy details atrocities to UN Security Council
In an address to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy laid out the atrocities he said were committed by Russian forces in Bucha, Ukraine, including women shot in front of their homes and raped in front of their children.
“There is not a single crime they would not commit,” Zelenskyy said via a live video feed.
Zelenskyy proposed a summit to reform the world’s global security apparatus, listing a number of major conflicts since World War II he said the U.N. Security Council had failed to prevent.
He said Russia’s actions in Bucha are no different from other acts of terrorism.
“Here it is done by a member of the United Nations Security Council destroying internal unity borders, countries,” Zelenskyy said.
He accused Russia of “pursuing a policy to kill ethnic and linguistic diversity.”
Zelenskyy went on to criticize the council for failing to provide security to Ukraine, saying, the U.N. “simply cannot work effectively.”
“If this continues, countries will have to rely on their selves, not (the) international community,” Zelenskyy said. “The U.N. will be ready to close. Do they think the time of the U.N. is gone? If no, then the U.N. must act immediately.”
Zelenskyy added, “accountability must be inevitable.”
Telling the council he was speaking on behalf of the deceased, Zelenskyy detailed in graphic detail the horrors found in Bucha, describing them as “the most terrible crimes we have seen since the end of World War II.“
“The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country. They killed — shot and killed women outside their houses when they just tried to call someone who is alive. They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies,” Zelenskyy said. “I am addressing you on behalf of the people who honor the memory of the deceased, every single day in the memory of the civilians who died, who were shot and killed in the back of their head after being tortured, some of them were shot on the streets. Others were thrown into the wells, so they died. They are in suffering.”
Noting Russia’s veto power on the council, Zelensky proposed the council remove Russia’s power so it “cannot block decisions against its own aggression” or else “dissolve yourselves altogether.”
Zelenskyy’s address was met with applause by the members of the council.
Apr 05, 11:43 am
Video shows Russian shell hitting ambulance outside children’s hospital
Video has emerged purportedly showing a Russian shell striking an ambulance parked outside a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.
Security camera footage released by Mykolaiv Gov. Vitaly Kim shows the moment the empty ambulance is hit and explodes next to the hospital on Monday.
As of March 30, there had been 82 attacks on health care in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded, resulting in at least 72 deaths and 43 injuries, including patients and health workers, according to the World Health Organization.
-ABC News’ Fergal Gallagher
Apr 05, 11:02 am
European Commission proposes new sanctions on Russia
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a proposal Tuesday for new sanctions targeting Russia’s economy.
The proposal will require the approval of the European Union’s member states.
In a statement, von der Leyen accused Moscow of “waging a cruel and ruthless war in Ukraine and said its alleged atrocities “cannot and will not be left unanswered.”
Among the new sanctions being proposed are banning imports of coal from Russia, banning Russian ships and Russian-operated ships from accessing European Union ports and banning imports of other Russian products including seafood, liquor, and wood. The proposal also calls for a full transaction ban on four key Russian banks – among them the country’s second-largest, VTB.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the death and destruction in Bucha, Ukraine, reportedly at the hands of Russian forces shows a “deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities.”
Blinken spoke to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before boarding a plane to Brussels for the Western military alliance’s annual spring meeting of foreign ministers.
He said the reports of atrocities emerging in Bucha, a suburb of the capital of Kyiv were “more than credible” and added it “reinforces our determination and the determination of countries around the world to make sure that one way or another, one day or another, there is accountability for those who committed these acts, for those who ordered them.”
Ukrainian forces in recent days retook Bucha from the Russians and found the bodies of more than 400 civilians lying dead in the streets or in mass graves, some with their hands bound and shot at close range.
Blinken didn’t directly address a question of whether the United States has evidence linking the atrocities on the ground in Busha to Russian officials back in Moscow. Instead, he said the United States is working to support efforts to document evidence by Ukraine’s prosecutor-general, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s commission of inquiry, and others.
Blinken noted that before the war began, U.S. officials warned that atrocities “would be part of the Russian campaign.”
“Horrifically, tragically, what we’re seeing in Bucha and in other places supports that,” Blinken said.
He said the United States will work with its NATO and G-7 allies to support Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia, especially with meetings among both groups later this week in Brussels.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 05, 9:04 am
Video shows Russian tank firing on cyclist in Bucha
Video has emerged purportedly showing a Russian tank firing on a cyclist in the besieged Ukrainian city of Bucha.
The footage, provided to Ukrainian public broadcasting company Suspilne Media by the Ukrainian military, was reportedly taken on March 3. The video captures the moment a tank fires at a person riding a bike in the streets of Bucha when the town, northwest of Kyiv, was occupied by Russian forces.
Apr 05, 7:54 am
ICRC team released after being detained near Mariupol
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday its team has been released from detention after failing to reach the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
An ICRC team tasked with escorting evacuation buses to and from Mariupol “was stopped” and “held by police” on Monday in the town of Manhush, about 12 miles west of Mariupol. The team was released Monday night, according to an ICRC spokesperson.
“This is of great relief to us and to their families,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement Tuesday. “The team is focused now on continuing the humanitarian evacuation operation. This incident yesterday shows how volatile and complex the operation to facilitate safe passage around Mariupol has been for our team, who have been trying to reach the city since Friday.”
The ICRC didn’t specify which police force had detained its team. However, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement via Telegram on Tuesday that the ICRC team was being held by “the occupation authorities” in Manhush.
Apr 05, 7:20 am
Ukraine says seven humanitarian corridors have opened to evacuate Mariupol residents
Seven humanitarian corridors from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol were opened Tuesday to evacuate some of the 130,000 remaining residents, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Vereshchuk said in a statement via Telegram that the seven evacuation routes will allow Mariupol residents — many of whom have been living without electricity, food, water or shelter — to be transported to the city of Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko confirmed on Monday that a convoy of seven buses escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross could not make it into his southeastern port city to evacuate trapped residents. However, more than 1,500 residents were still able to flee Mariupol using a single humanitarian corridor meant for private cars, according to the mayor.
Apr 05, 6:40 am
Russian brigade accused of Bucha atrocities will be sent back to war, Ukrainian intelligence says
A brigade of the Russian Ground Forces accused of committing war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha will be sent back to war, according to the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
“The Russian command will not rotate the personnel in this unit and will throw it back to the front,” the directorate said in a statement Tuesday.
As of Monday, Russia’s 64th Motor Rifle Brigade was withdrawn from Ukraine to Belarus, according to Ukrainian intelligence. By Wednesday, the personnel will be transported to the western Russian city of Belgorod, just north of the border with Ukraine, with plans to return to the front line in the direction of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
“Usually, Russian units leaving the combat zone receive much more time for recovery and rest,” the directorate said. “This indicates that ‘special tasks’ are expected for the 64th Brigade. The first of them: intimidation of inhabitants of settlements of Ukraine. Those who committed the crimes of genocide in Bucha may repeat this again in other cities.”
“Another goal of the rapid return of the 64th Brigade to the territory of Ukraine is the rapid ‘disposal’ of unnecessary witnesses. That is, relocation to a part of the front where they will not have a chance to stay alive to make it impossible to testify in future courts,” the directorate added. “The personnel of the unit, aware of the resonance of the events in Bucha and the responsibility for the crimes committed, massively opposes the return to Ukraine. However, the Russian command ignores these sentiments and threatens the tribunal if they refuse to continue fighting. The militaries do not accept reports of dismissal from Russian soldiers.”
On Monday, the directorate published online what it said was a list with the names of hundreds of personnel of Russia’s 64th Motor Rifle Brigade whom they believe were directly responsible for the atrocities in Bucha. Ukrainian officials have said there is evidence of other Russian units being involved. Russia has denied the claims.
Apr 05, 6:06 am
Ukraine has retaken ‘key terrain’ from Russia, UK says
Ukrainian troops have retaken “key terrain” in the north of the country, “after denying Russia the ability to secure its objectives and forcing Russian forces to retreat” from areas around Chernihiv and north of Kyiv, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Tuesday.
“Low-level fighting is likely to continue in some parts of the newly recaptured regions, but diminish significantly over this week as the remainder of Russian forces withdraw,” the ministry added. “Many Russian units withdrawing from northern Ukraine are likely to require significant re-equipping and refurbishment before being available to redeploy for operations in eastern Ukraine.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 5 April 2022
Apr 05, 5:24 am
Peace talks may now be off the table, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated Tuesday that peace talks with Russia may now be off the table, following the gruesome discovery of scores of dead civilians in Bucha and other towns outside Ukraine’s capital that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.
“The most difficult thing is to talk about what they did,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv. “We believe that this is genocide. We believe that they should be punished for it.”
“I believe that we need to set such a bar for these negotiations,” he added. “It may happen that there will be no meeting.”
Zelenskyy’s comments came a day after he traveled to Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, where bodies in civilian clothes were found strewn in the streets and in mass graves. Many of the victims appeared to have been shot at close range and some even showed signs of torture. ABC News journalists on the ground saw some of the dead, including a family that locals said were executed with their hands bound.
Apr 05, 5:07 am
Russia threatens to fine Wikipedia if it doesn’t remove info about Ukraine war
Russia’s communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, is demanding that Wikipedia remove content that contradicts the Kremlin’s narrative about the war in Ukraine.
“Based on a motion from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Roskomnadzor demanded on April 4 that the Wikipedia management put an end to the dissemination of false socially significant information,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “Materials containing false information about the special military operation in Ukraine and operations of the Russian Armed Forces have been massively published on Wikipedia in the recent period. Wikipedia has become a new line for continuous information attacks on Russians.”
Roskomnadzor accused the free online encyclopedia of “deliberately” misinforming Russian users. The agency noted that it has previously asked Wikipedia “to remove false information about events in Ukraine” and threatened to fine the San Francisco-based company up to 4 million rubles (about $47,000) for failing to delete such content, which is illegal under Russian law.
Apr 04, 10:54 pm
US cuts Russia off from dollars it holds at American financial institutions
The U.S. Treasury said Monday night that it would no longer allow the Russian government to make payments on debt using dollars it holds at U.S. financial institutions, another step that puts pressure on the Russian government’s funds.
This step “was in the works before the weekend and isn’t a response” to the atrocities in Bucha, according to a Treasury spokesperson.
“One of the most potent actions of the 700-plus sanctions we’ve imposed have been our sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank, which were levied with unprecedented multilateral coordination, speed, and impact,” the spokesperson said. “Today is the deadline for Russia to make another debt payment. Beginning today, the U.S. Treasury will not permit any dollar debt payments to be made from Russian government accounts at U.S. financial institutions.”
“Russia must choose between draining remaining valuable dollar reserves or new revenue coming in, or default,” the spokesperson continued. “This will further deplete the resources Putin is using to continue his war against Ukraine and will cause more uncertainty and challenges for their financial system.”
