(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24 as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russians moving from Belarus towards Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, don’t appear to have advanced closer towards the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the U.S., Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting Russia’s economy and Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:
Mar 01, 4:11 am
Russian bombardment strikes central square in Kharkiv
Russia on Tuesday launched a major bombardment of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, hitting a central square and its civilian administration building.
Video from the scene shows a large projective hitting next to the regional state administration building on Kharkiv’s Freedom Square, causing a huge blast. Aftermath shot on phones from the scene and inside the building, show it shattered with debris strewn around.
Ukraine’s emergency services ministry said at least six people, including one child were injured. It was unclear if anyone was killed.
Kharkiv Mayor Oleg Sinegubov confirmed the strike, calling it a “war crime.”
Monday’s shelling followed a sustained bombardment of civilian areas yesterday and overnight in Kharkiv by Russian heavy artillery, including multiple rocket launchers and an alleged use of cluster munitions.
“What is happening in Kharkiv is a war crime!” Sinegubov wrote on Facebook. “The Russian enemy is shelling whole residential neighborhoods of Kharkiv, where there is no critical infrastructure, no Ukrainian armed forces positions, which the Russians could be targeting.”
Sinegubov accused Russia of conducting the attacks during the day, when civilians were on the street. He said the city’s emergency services are unable to keep up with the number of attacks and injured.
So far at least 11 are dead, with dozens injured, he said.
Russian forces in Kharkiv appear to have shifted tactics to employing heavy artillery indiscriminately against the city, in an apparent effort to bombard and terrorize it into submission.
Sinegubov claimed the Russians were changing tactics because their offensive capabilities on the ground were running out and so they had nothing left but to launch aerial bombardments.
Mar 01, 3:28 am
‘Leave Kyiv urgently today,’ Indian Embassy tells citizens
The Indian Embassy in Kyiv on Tuesday urged Indians still in the capital to “leave Kyiv urgently today.”
“All Indian nationals including students are advised to leave Kyiv urgently today,” the embassy said on Twitter. “Preferably by available trains or through any other means available.”
Mar 01, 2:48 am
’We will fight until the end,’ says Ukrainian parliament member
Solomiia Bobrovska, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, on Monday said Ukrainians would “fight to the end” as they defend Kyiv from a Russian invasion.
“That’s the mood of Ukrainians. We are staying behind altogether, and we do understand that with the total second line staying behind their shoulders. And I think we will fight until the end,” Bobrovska told ABC News’ Linsey Davis.
Mar 01, 12:14 am
Russian troops ‘operational’ near Ukrainian nuclear power plant, agency says
Ukraine said its nuclear power plants are still being operated “safely and securely,” the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote in an update late Monday.
However, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he “remained gravely concerned about maintaining their safety and security during the current conflict.”
Ukraine’s foreign ministry told the IAEA on Monday that Russian troops are “operational” near a functioning nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia, but the troops haven’t entered it so far. Any fighting near nuclear facilities causes alarm, and Ukraine has four sites in total with 15 reactors.
“It is extremely important that the nuclear power plants are not put at risk in any way,” Grossi said in a statement. “An accident involving the nuclear facilities in Ukraine could have severe consequences for public health and the environment.”
The IAEA Board of Governors will hold a meeting Wednesday to discuss the “safety, security and safeguards implications of the situation in Ukraine.”
(NEW YORK) — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted thousands of people to leave the Eastern European country, but should North Carolina native Craig Lang depart Ukraine and return to the United States, he could immediately be taken into custody by federal authorities.
Lang, a 32-year-old U.S. Army veteran-turned-murder suspect who previously moved to Ukraine, is one of two former soldiers accused of killing husband and wife Danny and Deana Lorenzo in southwest Florida nearly four years ago.
FBI investigators say that the Lorenzos, who were also military veterans, were fatally shot in April 2018 in an Estero parking lot after they traveled nearly three hours to respond to an online firearms advertisement.
Sheriff’s deputies found 63 bullet casings at the scene, with bullet holes riddling the Lorenzos’ vehicle.
“She was scared. I know she had to be,” Deana Lorenzo’s sister Angie Crowder told ABC News.
Residents of this Fort Myers suburb were left mystified about the alleged ambush for more than a year until the Department of Justice announced federal charges against Lang and co-defendant Alex Zwiefelhofer in connection with the Lorenzos’ deaths.
Zwiefelhofer was taken into federal custody in Wisconsin in 2019 and has pleaded not guilty.
Lang has yet to appear before a federal judge. He has denied involvement in the Florida murders and has fought extradition back to the United States. Relatives of the Lorenzos, including Crowder, are in anguish.
“We all want answers,” Crowder said. “I would like to see him come back and stand charges.”
Living in plain sight halfway across the world
In the spring of 2021, ABC News traveled roughly 5,000 miles to Ukraine in search of Lang. He was found to be living openly with a Ukrainian wife and child in a Kyiv neighborhood.
Lang, who was previously arrested for brandishing a gun near the home of one of his American ex-wives after he went AWOL, agreed to an on-camera interview with ABC News Investigative Correspondent David Scott. However, Lang refused to answer questions during the interview about the murders in Florida.
“I can’t discuss … anything about Florida [or] pretty much anything about my time in the United States in 2018,” Lang said. “I can’t talk about any of that.”
While the DOJ continues to seek his extradition, Lang told Scott that he is seeking asylum in Ukraine.
“I believe that the United States government intends to prosecute me and other veterans of this conflict here for our service in Ukraine,” he said, arguing that he is a victim of Russian propaganda and American political persecution.
After being discharged by the U.S. Army, he says he first arrived in Ukraine around 2016 and joined far-right militias such as the Azov Battalion and Right Sector. Both groups have been accused of human rights abuses by Amnesty International and have alleged ties to American white power organizations.
Lang denies that he is a right-wing extremist.
“I’m going to say that the amount of, like, neo-Nazis or people with extreme views is very, very minimal, very, very minimal,” he said. “Is there extremism to a small degree? There might be some extremism, yes.”
Small militias, major role
Since Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, to bolster its defenses against those in its eastern regions seeking to separate from Ukraine and join Russia, Ukraine has relied on local militia groups, some of which have been linked to the nation’s far-right political movements by Amnesty International and The Soufan Center.
Such battalions with ties to Ukraine’s far-right fringe political parties may have empowered Russian President Vladimir Putin to spread the false message that “denazification” was the goal of his invasion, despite Ukraine’s elected government having the support of the United States and other Western democracies.
Scott questioned Lang about the far-right ideology reportedly behind the Azov Battalion, but Lang said that he did not think that the group’s membership included anyone with extremist views.
Over an hour into the conversation, after being pressed on racist statements reportedly made by former Azov Battalion commander Andriy Biletsky, Lang ended the interview.
“I’m going to go ahead and leave,” Lang told Scott.
‘A threat to the homeland’
Lang is one of a number of Americans who have reportedly either traveled to Ukraine over the last decade to fight for far-right paramilitary groups or have sought to do so.
The FBI alleged that Jarrett William Smith, an Army veteran who pleaded guilty in 2020 to federal charges of distributing information related to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction, had a “desire to fight in Ukraine” and communicated about his plans with Lang on Facebook.
“It was as if [Smith] wanted to use the Army to get the training that he needed to be successful going overseas, fighting on behalf of this white supremacist organization,” former federal prosecutor Anthony Mattivi said.
Smith is not alleged to have ultimately fought in Ukraine. When asked about Smith, Lang called him an extremist and confirmed that they connected on Facebook, but said that he turned Smith away from his Ukrainian unit.
“I wasn’t going out and recruiting people. I wasn’t saying, ‘Oh, come out and join us,” Lang said. “What was happening is I was simply a point of contact for a lot of foreigners that came into this country, and there’s a lot of good people that came into the country.”
The Soufan Center warned in a 2019 report that Ukraine had already become an attractive stop for far-right extremists.
“Americans have gone to fight as mercenary soldiers in far-right and paramilitary units in Ukraine,” University of Chicago Assistant Professor Kathleen Belew said. “They do pose a threat to the homeland.”
From eastern Ukraine to the East Coast
Lang and Zwiefelhofer are American, but the FBI says that the two alleged murderers initially met in eastern Ukraine more than five years ago while fighting for a far-right militia against Russian-backed separatists.
Federal prosecutors allege that after returning to the United States together, Lang and Zwiefelhofer came up with the plot to rob and kill the Lorenzos in 2018 “to fund their planned travel to Venezuela.”
A superseding indictment also claimed that Zwiefelhofer and Lang conspired with each other to travel to Venezuela and commit murder, kidnapping, and maiming as part of a “military expedition and enterprise” there.
Lang, who said that he has never been to Venezuela, declined to comment on whether he considered the South American nation to be a potential frontline for him.
At some point after the Lorenzos’ deaths, Lang ended up back in Ukraine and said he became an English instructor there, despite being wanted in Florida on federal criminal charges.
Fighters and false claims
While many Americans left Ukraine ahead of the Russian invasion, some groups made recent efforts to encourage others to do the opposite.
In January, an international message board for neo-Nazis urged American followers to join far-right militias to help fight Russian troops and pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, where local civilian fighters had been prepared to assist the Ukrainian military due to the mobilization of Russian forces.
This effort came a month before Putin falsely claimed that he is looking to rid Ukraine of Nazis and suggested that the country’s far-right has control of its government, using these lies as pretexts for war.
Ukraine’s president is Jewish and, according to the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, Russia has had its own extremist militias fighting alongside Russian-based separatists in Ukraine.
One such group was the Russian Imperial Movement, which has reportedly cultivated ties with American neo-Nazis and offered to train white nationalists at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va.
“One important thing to understand about white power and militant right groups is that they are fundamentally opportunistic,” Belew said. “When we have a major … point of tension like we’re seeing in the Ukraine right now, it’s very, very likely that actors will exploit that tension.”
‘I’ll just break out and cry’
With war now underway in Ukraine, it remains unclear when or if Lang will end up being forcibly returned to American soil to face trial in federal court.
Back in Florida, Crowder says she is still grieving the loss of her sister and brother-in-law while hoping that justice will be served.
“I still have my moments and sometimes, I’ll just break out and cry,” Crowder said.
(WASHINGTON) — Days after GOP Reps. Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared at an event organized by a white nationalist, Republican party leaders are condemning them for attending.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement Monday criticizing white supremacist hate.
“There’s no place in the Republican Party for white supremacists or anti-Semitism,” McConnell said in a statement first reported by Politico.
Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters Monday afternoon that he found Greene and Gosar’s attendance “unacceptable.”
McCarthy suggested to reporters that he plans to speak with both Gosar and Greene later this week.
“To me, it was appalling and wrong,” McCarthy told reporters. “There’s no place in our party for any of this.”
“The party should not be associated any time any place with somebody who is anti-Semitic…This is unacceptable,” he added.
McCarthy was in Israel last week with a congressional delegation. He told Punchbowl News that the news of Greene and Gosar’s attendance was particularly upsetting because of his recent visit.
Greene and Gosar have both previously been stripped of their committee assignments for their egregious behavior.
McCarthy, however, has previously said he would restore their assignments if Republicans take back the House in November.
McCarthy told CNN and another reporter outside his office that even though Greene claimed not to know who the event organizer was “with that introduction, you should have walked off stage.”
Shortly before introducing Greene, Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist who organized the event, led participants in applause for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and chanted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name.
Republican Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, when asked about Greene’s behavior Monday, also condemned the event but stopped short of condemning her members.
“White supremacy. Neo Nazism, hate speech, and bigotry are disgusting. They have no place or home and our party.”
McDaniel didn’t say whether the party would take any further action against its members, such as censuring them. Instead, she said she “would let the process play out” and see if any members brought any censures forward at a party meeting in August.
The criticism follows recent comments by former President Donald Trump, who continues to praise Putin. During an interview with the conservative radio show “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” on Tuesday, Trump labeled Putin’s tactics “genius” and “savvy.” Trump ultimately slammed the invasion on Saturday night at the Conservative Political Action Conference but called Putin “smart.”
Greene and Gosar’s appearance at the conference Friday night is now renewing calls for them to be reprimanded by fellow Republicans in Congress.
“In any other world, Greene speaking at a white supremacist conference where attendees have defended Vladimir Putin and praised Adolf Hitler would warrant expulsion from the caucus, to say nothing of her advocacy for violence and consistent anti-Semitism is disgusting,” Democratic National Committee spokesperson Ammar Moussa said.
Greene, however, has doubled down on her appearance.
“I won’t cancel others in the conservative movement, even if I find some of their statements tasteless, misguided or even repulsive at times. I encourage them to seek wisdom, and apologize to those who have been hurt by their words, as I’ve had to do,” she said. “Our faith calls for charity and forgiveness.”
“We’re not going to be deterred by journalists and Washington insiders who fear the name of Our Lord, and relentlessly attack those of us who proclaim His name. We know that Christ is our only judge,” she added.
Over the weekend, in addition to claiming she didn’t know who Fuentes was, Greene said she went to the event to reach his young audience and to discuss “American First” policies.
Last month, Fuentes was subpoenaed by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has spent more than $2 million on its investigation, including $1.64 million between October and December — an indication that the panel’s work is speeding up.
The $1.64 million is roughly four times the $418,000 the panel spent from July to September of 2021, according to spending disclosures. The increased spending is a sign of how much the committee is expanding its work ahead of public hearings and an interim report that’s expected this spring and summer.
Much of the big jump in the committee’s spending comes from an increase in payroll, with the panel reporting $1.2 million in personnel compensation in the final three months of last year compared to just $327,000 from July through September.
The committee hired 12 additional staff members last quarter, bringing the total headcount to 41, up from 29 in September of 2021. The new staffers include investigators and attorneys with experience studying organized crime, terrorism, cryptocurrency, and financial crimes, as well as several former federal prosecutors.
Committee staffers are divided into color-coded teams, with each group focused on a different aspect of the sprawling investigation — from financing and extremist groups to former President Donald Trump’s communication with GOP lawmakers before and on Jan. 6.
The committee also spent more than $300,000 on “other services” in the final three months of last year, as well as a sizable amount on equipment, supplies, rent and utilities.
According to filings, the Jan. 6 committee overall spent just a little more in the fourth quarter than the House Intelligence Committee, which reported spending $1.61 million. But that amount was far less than many other committees, including the House Oversight & Reform Committee, the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Homeland Security Committee, which in the fourth quarter spent $3.6 million, $2.2 million and $2 million, respectively.
To date, the Jan. 6 panel has conducted nearly 600 interviews, issued more than 75 subpoenas, and obtained tens of thousands of official Trump White House and administration records from the National Archives.
They have also sought records from members of the former president’s inner circle, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s son Eric Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, a campaign fundraiser who is engaged to Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
(WASHINGTON) — As the U.S. and other Western nations considered how to address Russian aggression, the Pentagon and White House said Monday the U.S. saw no need to change the its nuclear alert level despite Russian President Vladimir Putin making a a veiled threat Sunday that he was doing so.
“We are assessing Putin’s directive and at this time we see no reason to change our own alert level,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
“The United States nor NATO has any desire for conflict with Russia, and we think provocative rhetoric like this regarding nuclear weapons is dangerous, adds to the risk of miscalculation, should be avoided, and we’ll not indulge in it,” she said.
Asked by a reporter after a Black History Month event whether Americans should be worried about nuclear was, President Joe Biden quickly responded, “No.”
Psaki also said that the $350 million in aid that Biden approved to be delivered to Ukraine will arrive “within the next couple of days” although that has been complicated by disputed airspace over and near Ukraine. At the same time, she effectively ruled out NATO enforcing a no-fly zone in the area.
Earlier Monday, Biden held a call with allies and partners to coordinate the ongoing response to as Ukraine and Russia held talks on a possible cease-fire in the invasion.
The call included European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
That call comes as Russian and Ukrainian leaders met for talks for six hours at the Belarusian border on Monday morning.
A Ukrainian spokesman said in a statement afterward that there may be another round of negotiations.
“The Ukrainian and Russian delegations held the first round of talks today, the main purpose of which was to discuss the issues of a cease-fire on the territory of Ukraine and hostilities,” Mikhail Podolyak said.
At the State Department, the U.S. response was skeptical.
“Diplomacy at the barrel of a gun, diplomacy at the turret of a tank – that is not real diplomacy,” spokesperson Ned Price said. Though he said that the U.S., Ukraine, and European allies still believe dialogue is the way forward, he clarified that “diplomacy is highly unlikely to bear fruit – to prove effective – in the midst of not only confrontation, but escalation.” Later, he said, “In order for it to bear fruit, it needed to take place in the context of de-escalation.”
The White House on Monday also laid out more specifics about sanctions announced over the weekend in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank prevent the Russian government from access more than $600 billion in reserves in the U.S., or in U.S. dollars in foreign countries. Officials said that from it was evident that Putin planned to use the central bank’s assets to offset the effects of sanctions from Western countries.
A senior White House official said they “represent the most significant actions the U.S. Treasury has taken against an economy of this size, and assets of this size.”
“Today’s announcement that prohibit transactions with the Central Bank of Russia in the national wealth fund will significantly hinder their ability to do that, and inhibit their access to hundreds of billions of dollars in assets from our actions alone, they will not be able to access assets that are either in United States or in US dollars,” officials said.
Beyond sanctions, the U.S., among other nations, is providing material support to Ukraine as it tries to beat back Russian forces. A senior defense official said Monday that the U.S. is continuing “to provide security assistance to Ukraine, and that includes in just the last day or so.”
“We don’t have any indications that that there’s been a blockage or impediment to continued assistance coming from the west to the Ukrainian armed forces,” the senior defense official said. “And as I said, that support continues to flow not just from the United States, but from other nations as well.”
However, the defense official was hesitant to give specifics about the details of U.S. support to Ukrainian forces given so that the support is not “disrupted.”
“I will remain reticent to talk about the methods in which and the ways in which we’re going to look for ways to continue to provide our support precisely because we want to make sure it gets into the hands of Ukrainian armed forces and Ukrainian fighters and we don’t want that to be disrupted,” a senior defense official said.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declined to talk about the potential of that aid being disrupted during a press briefing Monday.
“We’re going to continue to provide security assistance to Ukrainian armed forces, and we’re still going to look for ways to do that, in the most effective, efficient way possible,” Kirby said.
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky, Justin Gomez, Matt Seyler, Conor Finnegan, Benjamin Gittleson, Joseph Simoetti and Libby Cathey contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump on Monday sought to recast his administration’s role in bolstering Europe’s security, claiming credit for strengthening NATO and arming Ukraine’s military with advanced weaponry.
But critics were quick to point out that Trump, whose “America First” foreign policy slogan often reflected efforts to pull back from allies, frequently undermined NATO and once threatened to withhold military aide from Ukraine — a move that was deemed illegal by a government watchdog and became central to Trump’s first impeachment trial in Congress.
“It was Trump that undermined U.S. national security and froze military assistance to Ukraine,” retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a former National Security Council official during the Trump administration who testified at the impeachment inquiry, told ABC News on Monday. “It was Trump’s attacks on NATO and support from the far-right that encouraged Putin to believe that NATO was fragile. Trump has blood on his hands.”
Nonetheless, as Russian troops continued to clash with Ukrainian forces Monday, Trump boasted of fortifying Ukraine’s defense capabilities and declared that “there would be no NATO” if not for his efforts.
“I hope everyone is able to remember that it was me, as President of the United States, that got delinquent NATO members to start paying their dues, which amounted to hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said in a statement.
“Also, it was me that got Ukraine the very effective anti-tank busters (Javelins) when the previous Administration was sending blankets,” he said. “Let History so note!”
Despite his claims of saving NATO, an alliance of 29 countries on both sides of the Atlantic, the Trump administration oversaw a period of immense strain with allies in Europe. As president, Trump wavered on his commitment to Article 5 of the NATO charter, which stipulates that an attack on one member state amounts to attack on them all.
Mick Mulroy, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense during the Trump administration and now an ABC News contributor, characterized Article 5 as “what makes NATO the most effective military alliance in history.”
Ties with Europe became so strained during Trump’s presidency that Trump reportedly discussed removing the U.S. from NATO entirely. Two of Trump’s former national security advisers, John Bolton and Gen. John Kelly, have said publicly that Trump expressed an interest in exiting the alliance.
“To the extent President Trump’s rhetoric around NATO helped increase defense spending, it was likely more out of a fear that the U.S. commitment to European security was faltering rather than a positive reinforcement of mutual commitments to the Alliance and Euro-Atlantic security,” said Steven Keil, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund.
Critics also took note of Trump’s invocation of the Javelin, a shoulder-fired precision missile system designed to destroy tanks and other armored vehicles, in his infamous July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump, in 2018, had approved the $47 million sale of 210 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 37 launchers to Ukraine — the first lethal military assistance provided to Ukraine by the U.S. in its fight against Russian-supported separatists since fighting began in 2014. Zelenskyy told Trump in the 2019 phone call that his government was “almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes,” according to a readout of the call.
Trump responded: “I would like you to do us a favor though,” and then pressured Zelenskyy to work with U.S. Attorney General William Barr and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to publicly announce an investigation into then-candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who had previously served on the board of a Ukrainian oil firm. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump over the incident, but he was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office later found that the Trump administration broke the law in withholding nearly $400 million in congressional appropriations earmarked for Ukraine. The funds were eventually released, and the Trump administration denied any wrongdoing.
(NEW YORK) —Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24 as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russians moving from Belarus towards Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, don’t appear to have advanced closer towards the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the U.S., Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting Russia’s economy and Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 28, 2:22 pm
Ukraine, Russia envoys kick off contentious debate in rare UNGA special session
In an extraordinary emergency meeting of the U.N. General Assembly — only the 11th in the body’s history — representatives from Ukraine and Russia delivered fiery back-to-back remarks.
Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.N. Sergiy Kyslytsya compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hilter.
“This war was not provoked. It was chosen by someone who is right now sitting in the bunker. We know what happened with the person who sat in the bunker in Berlin in May 1945,” he said.
Kyslytsya accused Russia of carrying out war crimes, saying Russians “keep attacking kindergartens and orphanages, thus committing war crimes and violating the Rome Statute. Hospitals and mobile medical aid brigades are also targeted by the Russian shelling and sabotage groups working in Ukraine cities and towns.”
He concluded with an appeal for support, stressing that it was not just Ukraine at stake.
“If Ukraine does not survive, international peace will not survive,” he said.
Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya denied the veracity of many of Kyslytsya’s claims, saying instead of discussing the roots of the “disinformation,” he wished to focus on the “real reasons for the crisis,” saying the fault lies with Ukraine itself. He cited baseless Kremlin-peddled claims that the country was carrying out a brutal attack on the people of the Donbas region and accused Western powers of turning “a blind eye.”
Nebenzya also attempted to shift blame to the West.
“Our Western colleagues have shamelessly inundated the country with weapons, have sent to the country instructors, and effectively incited Ukrainians who are facing a 120,000-strong military contingent, and prompted them to engage in armed provocation again the Donbas,” he said.
This phase of debate on a resolution condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine has now concluded and the General Assembly is expected to vote on the resolution later on Monday.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Feb 28, 1:55 pm
French embassy moving from Kyiv to Lviv
France’s embassy in Ukraine will be moved from the capital, Kyiv, to Lviv, near the Polish border, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a live interview on BFMTV.
Le Drian said, “I’m not sure President Putin imagined his operation was going to be so difficult.”
He added, “Vladimir Putin has lost the communication battle” and that while “Putin wanted to divide us,” “he has achieved the opposite.”
Feb 28, 1:17 pm
US shutters embassy in Belarus, draws down embassy in Russia
The U.S. is suspending operations at the embassy in Belarus, where just half a dozen U.S. diplomats had been based, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced.
The U.S. is also drawing down its embassy in Moscow, authorizing the departure of non-emergency staff and diplomats’ families, Blinken said in a statement.
He didn’t cite any specific threat but said the department took these steps “due to security and safety issues stemming from the unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces in Ukraine.”
The U.S. special envoy for Belarus tweeted a photo showing two American diplomats taking down the flag at the embassy in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
“Belarus’ complicity in Russia’s war against Ukraine has shown the regime’s loss of sovereign decision-making,” Ambassador Julie Fisher tweeted.
Fisher said all staff have already departed the country, with some moving to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where she has been based.
While U.S. officials have been concerned that Belarusian forces will join Russia’s invasion, a senior Defense Department official told reporters Monday they’ve seen no indication that Belarus is preparing to join. But Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko “seems to be establishing a pretext for more active involvement” in the war, according to an internal State Department situation report Sunday obtained by ABC News, including by accusing Ukraine of “beating” and “poisoning” Belarusians in Ukraine.
Feb 28, 12:51 pm
FIFA, UEFA suspend Russian teams
FIFA and UEFA said they are suspending all Russian national and club soccer teams from competition until further notice.
The UEFA soccer league also said it’s ending its partnership with Russian gas company Gazprom.
“The decision is effective immediately and covers all existing agreements including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA national team competitions and UEFA EURO 2024,” UEFA said.
Feb 28, 12:40 pm
Russia bans flights from 36 countries from their airspace
Russia is restricting the flights of airlines from 36 countries “as a retaliatory measure” for the European Union’s ban on Russian planes, Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency.
The countries on Russia’s ban are: Austria, Albania, Anguilla (a British overseas territory), Belgium, Bulgaria, the British Virgin Islands, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Denmark (including Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the territorial sea), Jersey, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, France, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Estonia.
The U.S., which isn’t included on Russia’s list, hasn’t banned Russia from its airspace. However, Delta suspended its codeshare partnership with Russian airline Aeroflot on Friday.
Feb 28, 12:13 pm
State Department: Reports of human rights abuses ‘widespread’
The State Department said in a statement Monday that “reports of human rights abuses have been widespread” since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pointing to attacks that killed civilians, including children, and destroyed schools, hospitals and homes.
The allegation of human rights abuses has also gone further to accusations of war crimes by Russia’s military. Amnesty International reported Sunday that Russia used cluster munitions in an attack against a kindergarten that killed three civilians, including one child, which “could constitute a war crime,” the human rights group said. The use of cluster munitions against civilians is a violation of international law.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has repeatedly accused Russian forces of committing war crimes, tweeting on Friday that Ukraine’s general prosecutor’s office is collecting reports and will send them to The Hague, adding, “responsibility is inevitable.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will address the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was set to address the same chamber but his trip was canceled “due to an unprecedented ban on his flight in the airspace of a number of EU countries,” Russia’s mission to the U.N. offices in Geneva said.
Feb 28, 11:59 am
Talks between Ukraine, Russia end after six hours
Talks between a Ukrainian delegation and Russian officials at the Belarus-Ukraine border have ended after six hours. Both sides will return to their capital cities for consultation ahead of a second round of talks.
Ukraine said it wanted a ceasefire and Russian withdrawal, while the Kremlin said it would not announce its position. Russia’s negotiators have talked of striking a deal that’s in the interests of both sides.
Feb 28, 11:47 am
Russian advance frustrated by resistance: US official
Russian forces are frustrated by their slow advance, but that could lead them “to be more aggressive and more overt in both the size and scale of their targeting of Kyiv,” a senior U.S. defense official said Monday, implying less discriminate attacks with more danger to civilian populations.
The Russians heading south to Kyiv continue to be slowed by fuel shortages and stiff Ukrainian resistance and have only moved about three miles since Sunday, leaving them about 16 miles away from the capital city, the official said.
“We believe they want to encircle Kyiv and it’s possible that they could adopt siege tactics there,” the official warned.
On Sunday the same official said there were indications Russian forces were adopting siege tactics around the city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine.
So far, the Russians have fired more than 380 missiles, the official said.
Putin has committed about 75% of the more than 150,000 forces he had arrayed at the border to the invasion inside Ukraine, according to the official.
There’s no indication Belarusian forces are involved or are preparing to join Russia in the invasion, and Russia has not placed nuclear weapons in Belarus, according to the official.
Feb 28, 10:53 am
Putin tells Macron he’ll stop strikes against civilian targets
According to the Elysée, Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday that he’ll stop strikes against civilian targets.
Putin also told Macron he’ll preserve civilian infrastructure to secure main roads, including the road south of Kyiv, according to the French government.
Macron and Putin will speak again this week, the Elysée said.
Feb 28, 10:18 am
IOC recommends no participation of athletes from Russia, Belarus
The International Olympic Committee said its executive board is recommending prohibiting athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus in international competitions.
The recommendation is “to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants,” the IOC said.
Feb 28, 9:57 am
Neutral Switzerland adopts EU sanctions targeting Russia
Switzerland is breaking from its longstanding policy of neutrality by adopting the packages of sanctions imposed by the European Union citing Russia’s continuing military invasion of Ukraine.
Switzerland, which has long been a safe haven for Russian assets, announced on Monday that it’s imposing financial sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov, and is targeting the assets of certain people and companies.
Switzerland also is imposing entry bans against individuals who have a connection to Switzerland and are linked to Putin and will be closing Swiss airspace to flights from Russia, with the exception of flights for humanitarian, medical or diplomatic purposes, officials said.
Switzerland will also extend a ban on imports, exports and investments concerning Crimea and Sevastopol, which has been in place since 2014, to the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Swiss officials said they are partially suspending the 2009 agreement on visa facilitation for Russian nationals, and those with diplomatic passports will continue to be allowed entry without a visa in an effort to continue diplomatic talks.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 28, 9:01 am
US banning Russia’s central bank from accessing reserves in US
Senior administration officials on Monday provided more specifics on the sanctions against Russia announced over the weekend and emphasized the drastic nature of these steps, saying the “actions represent the most significant actions the U.S. Treasury has taken against an economy of this size, and assets of this size,” noting the Russian central bank is multiple times larger than Iran’s or Venezuela’s.
The U.S. has put into effect sanctions on Russia’s central bank that keep Moscow from accessing any of their more than $600 billion in reserves in the U.S., or in U.S. dollars in foreign countries. The sanctions also target Russia’s National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance.
Officials said it was clear from the beginning of the invasion that Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to use central bank assets to mitigate any sanctions.
“Today’s announcement that prohibit transactions with the Central Bank of Russia in the national wealth fund will significantly hinder their ability to do that, and inhibit their access to hundreds of billions of dollars in assets from our actions alone, they will not be able to access assets that are either in United States or in US dollars,” officials said.
“What we’ve done today is not only preventing them from using those dollars in the United States, but preventing them from being able to use those dollars in other places like Europe or Japan to defend their currency and prop up their institutions. And our goal was to make sure that not only would they not have access to dollars, but also not have access to other currencies,” officials said.
“Our strategy — to put it simply — is to make sure that the Russian economy goes backwards, as long as President Putin decides to go forward with his invasion of Ukraine,” a senior administration official said.
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky, Justin Gomez
Feb 28, 8:39 am
White House: ‘No reason to change’ US alert levels
After Russian President Vladimir Putin put Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on a state of heightened alert this weekend, a White House official confirms the U.S. has not changed its own alert level.
“We are assessing President Putin’s directive and at this time see no reason to change our own alert levels,” a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
“We think provocative rhetoric regarding nuclear weapons is dangerous, adds to the risk of miscalculation, should be avoided, and we will not indulge in it,” the official added.
The official also noted that, as recently as June, when President Joe Biden met Putin face-to-face in Geneva, the two leaders affirmed nuclear war is tantamount to mutually assured destruction.
The leaders said in a joint statement in June, “Today, we reaffirm the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Feb 28, 8:21 am
US shutters embassy in Belarus, draws down embassy in Russia
The U.S. is suspending operations at the embassy in Belarus, where just half a dozen U.S. diplomats had been based, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced.
The U.S. is also drawing down its embassy in Moscow, authorizing the departure of non-emergency staff and diplomats’ families, Blinken said in a statement.
He didn’t cite any specific threat but said the department took these steps “due to security and safety issues stemming from the unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces in Ukraine.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 28, 6:47 am
Russia hikes key rate to 20% as ruble tumbles
Russia’s central bank on Monday raised its key interest rate to 20% from 9.5% in an apparent effort to slow the fallout from severe international sanctions.
The rate hike came as the Russian ruble tumbled, trading down as much as 30% against the U.S. dollar on Monday, according to Bloomberg. The currency traded about 17% lower midday in Moscow.
The Russian stock market reportedly closed for the day.
-ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki
Feb 28, 6:23 am
500,000 refugees have fled Ukraine, UN says
More than 500,000 people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Thursday, the U.N. Refugee Agency said on Monday.
More than half have crossed the border into Poland, the agency said. Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, had said on Sunday that 368,000 people had fled to neighboring countries.
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
Feb 28, 5:00 am
Ukraine delegation arrives for talks with Russia
The Ukrainian delegation sent for talks with Russia arrived Monday morning at the Belarus-Ukraine border, where the meeting will be held.
Ukraine has said the key issue for the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Russia has signalled it wants to discuss Ukraine adopting “neutral status.”
The head of Russia’s delegation has said the two sides will meet within about an hour. They are meeting on the Pripyat River, north of Chernobyl.
The Ukrainian delegation includes the Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, the head of Zelenskyy’s parliamentary party, as well as advisors to the president and MPs.
Russia’s delegation includes officials from the Foreign and Defense ministries, and the presidential administration.
The talks were agreed to on Sunday in a call between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Fighting continued throughout the night, as Russia attempted to advance and bombarded Ukrainian forces.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Julia Drozd
Feb 28, 3:29 am
Russian advance slows north of Kyiv, UK military says
The U.K. Ministry of Defence said on Monday that the advance of Russian ground forces had been slowed by Ukraine’s defense of an airport in Hostomel, about 19 miles north of Kyiv.
“Logistical failures and staunch Ukrainian resistance continue to frustrate the Russian advance,” the ministry said on Twitter.
(NEW YORK) — A pair of social media misinformation campaigns exploiting tensions in Russia and Ukraine were identified and disabled on Facebook over the weekend, according to two senior leaders at the social network’s parent company Meta.
One operation thwarted by Meta’s security team involved about 40 accounts described as “inauthentic” with some profile pictures suspected to have been generated artificially, Threat Disruption Director David Agranovich said Sunday night. The fictitious personas operated across the internet, the Meta employees said, including on Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and two Russian social media networks.
The campaign also included fake websites resembling news outlets that claimed to be based in Kyiv with the people behind the sites posing as news editors and expert sources.
The operation was connected to a campaign previously detected and taken down by Facebook in April 2020. At the time, the activity was found to have come from Russia, the Donbas region and two media organizations in Crimea.
“The campaign had a very limited following across its presence online,” Agranovich said.
When Meta took action against the accounts, they had fewer than 4,000 followers on Facebook and fewer than 500 on Instagram, Agranovich said. The security team did not say how many total impressions or views the inauthentic posts received.
Another operation involved the specific targeting of Facebook accounts belonging to members of the Ukrainian military, as well as politicians and a journalist. The profiles were used to share YouTube videos portraying Ukrainians as weak and surrendering to Russia, which Facebook said was done by compromising the accounts likely through personal email. One video appeared to show Ukrainian soldiers coming out of a forest waving a white flag.
The Meta employees did not disclose the total number of compromised accounts, only referring to them as “a handful.” They also did not reveal the names behind the accounts, citing privacy concerns.
While Facebook described the number of accounts affected as minimal, the phishing operation that led to the compromise was reportedly widespread and attributed by cybersecurity researchers to a previously known misinformation campaign called “Ghostwriter.”
“Ghostwriter has previously targeted the NATO alliance, seeking to erode support for the organization,” said Ben Read, director of Cyber Espionage Analysis at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant. “I wouldn’t be surprised if similar operations were seen in the near future.”
Mandiant has linked the “Ghostwriter” campaign to the Belarusian military, and concerns remain over the exploitation of Ukrainians’ personal data.
“Leaking misleading, or fabricated documents taken from Ukrainian entities could be leveraged to promote Russia- and Belarus-friendly narratives,” Read said.
ABC News has tracked the spread of disinformation related to Ukraine and Russia across online forums and social media networks.
In one example, a video that appeared to show a man with his leg blown off was shared by a Russian separatist militia on Telegram last week. The stump of the man’s leg was blurred.
“Ukrainian punishers continue the genocide of the civilian population of Donbass,” the video’s caption read.
But other, unblurred videos of the scene show the man was, in fact, an amputee. There is no blood and the attachment for a prosthetic leg is clearly visible.
At Meta, Facebook has increased its fact-checking capacity in Russia and Ukraine and added new features to protect Ukrainians and help them lock down their accounts and check privacy settings. Meta will now also extend some of those features to Russia in an effort to protect the increased targeting of Russian protesters, the company announced.
Earlier this week, Russian state media was barred from running ads or monetizing the platform.
In response to calls for Meta to shut down Facebook and Instagram in Russia, Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said the company does not want to restrict services for Russians who are protesting and organizing against the war.
“The Russian Government is already throttling our platform to prevent these activities,” Clegg said in Tweet Sunday. “We believe turning off our services would silence important expression at a crucial time.”
(NEW YORK) — Delegations from Ukraine and Russia held talks Monday morning on Belarus’ border in an attempt to end Moscow’s invasion as Russian troops continue to attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to send a delegation to meet with Russian negotiators during a phone call Sunday with Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s president’s office announced.
The two sides began talks Monday at the Pripyat River on the border, north of Chernobyl, the spokesperson said, an area that is currently under Russian military control.
Roughly six hours after the talks began, they ended with both sides reporting back to officials in their respective capital cities ahead of a possible second-round to talks.
“The Ukrainian and Russian delegations held the first round of talks today, the main purpose of which was to discuss the issues of a ceasefire on the territory of Ukraine and hostilities. The parties identified a number of priority topics on which certain decisions were outlined,” Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of the president of Ukraine, said in a statement following Monday’s talks.
Podolyak added, “In order for these decisions to get some opportunities for implementation, logistical solutions, the parties leave for consultations in their capitals. The parties discussed the possibility of holding a second round of negotiations in the near future, at which these topics will receive concrete development practice.”
Ukraine has said the key issue for the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops. Russia has signaled it wants to discuss Ukraine adopting “neutral status.”
The Ukrainian delegation included Podolyak; David Arahamiya, a member of the Servant of the People political faction; Oleksiy Reznikov, the minister of Defense of Ukraine; Andriy Kostin, the first deputy dead of the Ukrainian Delegation to the Tripartite Contact Group; Rustem Umerov, a member of the Parliament of Ukraine; and Deputy Foreign Minister Mykola Tochytsky.
Russia’s delegation includes officials from the foreign and defense ministries and presidential administration.
The talks are the first between the two sides since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on Thursday, but Zelenskyy, in a televised address, said he had little hope of a breakthrough.
“I will be honest, as always: I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try,” Zelenskyy said. He added that if there was a “chance” to end the war, he should take part in the talks.
As the talks got underway, French President Emmanuel Macron and Putin spoke by phone.
According to Macron’s office, Putin purportedly agreed to halt all strikes against civilian targets, preserve civilian infrastructure and secure main roads, in particular, the road south of Kyiv.
During the call, Macron reiterated a request of the international community to end the Russian offensive against Ukraine and reaffirmed the need to implement an immediate ceasefire. Macron also called on Putin to respect international humanitarian law and the protection of civilian populations as well as the delivery of aid in accordance with a resolution brought by France to the United Nations Security Council.
According to a readout of the call released by the Kremlin, Putin told Macron Russia is open to negotiations with Ukrainian representatives and expects the talks will lead to the “desired results.” During the call, Putin denied that Russian forces are attacking civilian targets, according to the Kremlin’s readout.
The two leaders agreed to speak again in the coming days.
Ukraine had earlier rejected a proposal from Russia to hold the talks in the southern Belarusian city of Gomel, on the grounds that Belarus is directly involved in Russia’s attack, having hosted the Russian invasion force that is now moving south on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and letting Russia fire missiles from its territory.
The Kremlin has signaled it wants to hold talks where Zelenskyy will discuss “neutral status” for Ukraine, in effect hoping to negotiate Kyiv’s terms of surrender. But Zelenskyy’s administration has said while it wants talks to end the killing in Ukraine, it will not make concessions.
“We will not surrender, we will not capitulate, we will not give up a single inch of our territory,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said at a press conference.
While brokering the meeting, Zelenskyy said Lukashenko has promised that no missiles or aircraft would carry out strikes on Ukraine while the negotiations were underway. But in an unpromising sign for the talks, Ukrainian officials said Belarus had launched at least two Iskander ballistic missiles at Ukraine on Sunday after the agreement to meet was reached.
It was also Lukasheko who suggested that Russian and Ukrainian delegations meet at the Belarus-Ukraine border, Zelenskyy said, adding that though he is not optimistic a resolution will be reached, he does not want there to be any doubt that he did not try to stop the war.
The diplomatic effort came as Russian troops continued to try to press their attack in Ukraine but faced a fierce defense from Ukrainian forces. In Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, in the country’s northeast, Ukrainian defenders succeeded in beating back Russian units during street fighting.
The momentum of Russian forces in Ukraine appears to have been slowed by fuel and logistics shortages, as well as “stiff resistance,” a U.S. senior defense official told ABC News on Sunday.
The official also credited the slowdown of the Russian invasion to resistance by Ukraine.
(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.
Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 28, 11:59 am
Talks between Ukraine, Russia end after six hours
Talks between a Ukrainian delegation and Russian officials at the Belarus-Ukraine border have ended after six hours. Both sides will return to their capital cities for consultation ahead of a second round of talks.
Ukraine said it wanted a ceasefire and Russian withdrawal, while the Kremlin said it would not announce its position. Russia’s negotiators have talked of striking a deal that’s in the interests of both sides.
Feb 28, 11:47 am
Russian advance frustrated by resistance: US official
Russian forces are frustrated by their slow advance, but that could lead them “to be more aggressive and more overt in both the size and scale of their targeting of Kyiv,” a senior U.S. defense official said Monday, implying less discriminate attacks with more danger to civilian populations.
The Russians heading south to Kyiv continue to be slowed by fuel shortages and stiff Ukrainian resistance and have only moved about three miles since Sunday, leaving them about 16 miles away from the capital city, the official said.
“We believe they want to encircle Kyiv and it’s possible that they could adopt siege tactics there,” the official warned.
On Sunday the same official said there were indications Russian forces were adopting siege tactics around the city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine.
So far, the Russians have fired more than 380 missiles, the official said.
Putin has committed about 75% of the more than 150,000 forces he had arrayed at the border to the invasion inside Ukraine, according to the official.
There’s no indication Belarusian forces are involved or are preparing to join Russia in the invasion, and Russia has not placed nuclear weapons in Belarus, according to the official.
Feb 28, 10:53 am
Putin tells Macron he’ll stop strikes against civilian targets
According to the Elysée, Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday that he’ll stop strikes against civilian targets.
Putin also told Macron he’ll preserve civilian infrastructure to secure main roads, including the road south of Kyiv, according to the French government.
Macron and Putin will speak again this week, the Elysée said.
Feb 28, 10:18 am
IOC recommends no participation of athletes from Russia, Belarus
The International Olympic Committee said its executive board is recommending prohibiting athletes and officials from Russian and Belarus in international competitions.
The recommendation is “to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants,” the IOC said.
Feb 28, 9:57 am
Neutral Switzerland adopts EU sanctions targeting Russia
Switzerland is breaking from its longstanding policy of neutrality by adopting the packages of sanctions imposed by the European Union citing Russia’s continuing military invasion of Ukraine.
Switzerland, which has long been a safe haven for Russian assets, announced on Monday that it’s imposing financial sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov, and is targeting the assets of certain people and companies.
Switzerland also is imposing entry bans against individuals who have a connection to Switzerland and are linked to Putin and will be closing Swiss airspace to flights from Russia, with the exception of flights for humanitarian, medical or diplomatic purposes, officials said.
Switzerland will also extend a ban on imports, exports and investments concerning Crimea and Sevastopol, which has been in place since 2014, to the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Swiss officials said they are partially suspending the 2009 agreement on visa facilitation for Russian nationals, and those with diplomatic passports will continue to be allowed entry without a visa in an effort to continue diplomatic talks.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Feb 28, 9:01 am
US banning Russia’s central bank from accessing reserves in US
Senior administration officials on Monday provided more specifics on the sanctions against Russia announced over the weekend and emphasized the drastic nature of these steps, saying the “actions represent the most significant actions the U.S. Treasury has taken against an economy of this size, and assets of this size,” noting the Russian central bank is multiple times larger than Iran’s or Venezuela’s.
The U.S. has put into effect sanctions on Russia’s central bank that keep Moscow from accessing any of their more than $600 billion in reserves in the U.S., or in U.S. dollars in foreign countries. The sanctions also target Russia’s National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance.
Officials said it was clear from the beginning of the invasion that Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to use central bank assets to mitigate any sanctions.
“Today’s announcement that prohibit transactions with the Central Bank of Russia in the national wealth fund will significantly hinder their ability to do that, and inhibit their access to hundreds of billions of dollars in assets from our actions alone, they will not be able to access assets that are either in United States or in US dollars,” officials said.
“What we’ve done today is not only preventing them from using those dollars in the United States, but preventing them from being able to use those dollars in other places like Europe or Japan to defend their currency and prop up their institutions. And our goal was to make sure that not only would they not have access to dollars, but also not have access to other currencies,” officials said.
“Our strategy — to put it simply — is to make sure that the Russian economy goes backwards, as long as President Putin decides to go forward with his invasion of Ukraine,” a senior administration official said.
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky, Justin Gomez
Feb 28, 8:39 am
White House: ‘No reason to change’ US alert levels
After Russian President Vladimir Putin put Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on a state of heightened alert this weekend, a White House official confirms the U.S. has not changed its own alert level.
“We are assessing President Putin’s directive and at this time see no reason to change our own alert levels,” a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
“We think provocative rhetoric regarding nuclear weapons is dangerous, adds to the risk of miscalculation, should be avoided, and we will not indulge in it,” the official added.
The official also noted that, as recently as June, when President Joe Biden met Putin face-to-face in Geneva, the two leaders affirmed nuclear war is tantamount to mutually assured destruction.
The leaders said in a joint statement in June, “Today, we reaffirm the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Feb 28, 8:21 am
US shutters embassy in Belarus, draws down embassy in Russia
The U.S. is suspending operations at the embassy in Belarus, where just half a dozen U.S. diplomats had been based, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced.
The U.S. is also drawing down its embassy in Moscow, authorizing the departure of non-emergency staff and diplomats’ families, Blinken said in a statement.
He didn’t cite any specific threat but said the department took these steps “due to security and safety issues stemming from the unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces in Ukraine.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 28, 6:47 am
Russia hikes key rate to 20% as ruble tumbles
Russia’s central bank on Monday raised its key interest rate to 20% from 9.5% in an apparent effort to slow the fallout from severe international sanctions.
The rate hike came as the Russian ruble tumbled, trading down as much as 30% against the U.S. dollar on Monday, according to Bloomberg. The currency traded about 17% lower midday in Moscow.
The Russian stock market reportedly closed for the day.
-ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki
Feb 28, 6:23 am
500,000 refugees have fled Ukraine, UN says
More than 500,000 people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Thursday, the U.N. Refugee Agency said on Monday.
More than half have crossed the border into Poland, the agency said. Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, had said on Sunday that 368,000 people had fled to neighboring countries.
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
Feb 28, 5:00 am
Ukraine delegation arrives for talks with Russia
The Ukrainian delegation sent for talks with Russia arrived Monday morning at the Belarus-Ukraine border, where the meeting will be held.
Ukraine has said the key issue for the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Russia has signalled it wants to discuss Ukraine adopting “neutral status.”
The head of Russia’s delegation has said the two sides will meet within about an hour. They are meeting on the Pripyat River, north of Chernobyl.
The Ukrainian delegation includes the Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, the head of Zelenskyy’s parliamentary party, as well as advisors to the president and MPs.
Russia’s delegation includes officials from the Foreign and Defense ministries, and the presidential administration.
The talks were agreed to on Sunday in a call between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Fighting continued throughout the night, as Russia attempted to advance and bombarded Ukrainian forces.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Julia Drozd
Feb 28, 3:29 am
Russian advance slows north of Kyiv, UK military says
The U.K. Ministry of Defence said on Monday that the advance of Russian ground forces had been slowed by Ukraine’s defense of an airport in Hostomel, about 19 miles north of Kyiv.
“Logistical failures and staunch Ukrainian resistance continue to frustrate the Russian advance,” the ministry said on Twitter.
