(NEW YORK) — More than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, according to the head of the U.N. Refugee Agency, many of whom are women and children.
Across the border, in Poland, fellow moms are stepping up to help.
A now-viral photo shows a line of fully-equipped strollers waiting for Ukrainian moms at a train station at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland.
The strollers were placed there by Polish mothers, according to Francesco Malavolta, the photographer who captured the photo.
“The thing that struck me before taking the photo was the absence of people around while two meters away there were miles of people. It seemed surreal,” Malavolta told ABC News by email. “I thought of them both, about the solidarity of those who brought the strollers and the dramatic stories of mothers fleeing the war.”
Malavolta also tweeted on Monday a photo he took showing strollers lined up at the border between Slovakia and Ukraine.
Dopo la stazione ferroviaria di Przemyśl in Polonia, anche sul confine tra Slovacchia e Ucraina vengono lasciati passaggini per quelle mamme costrette a scappare dall’Ucraina con i loro neonati. Copyright foto e testo Francesco Malavolta#ukraineconflict #Ukraine#WWIII#slovakiapic.twitter.com/w5HfDbYGvd
With men ages 18 to 60 forced to stay and fight in Ukraine, under a martial law order from the Ukrainian government, it is the images of mothers and children escaping the country that have captured the world’s attention.
In Medyka, a village on the border in southeastern Poland, moms and babies who have traveled for days to flee Ukraine are greeted with donated supplies, ranging from baby food to diapers and snow suits.
Adding to the growing humanitarian crisis, data shows, are the number of children who remain in Ukraine without guardians with whom they can flee.
Before the war, approximately 100,000 children in Ukraine were being raised in institutions, according to government statistics, a United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, spokesperson told ABC News Friday.
Many of the institutions are located in hot spots, according to the spokesperson, who added that large numbers of the children in institutions, such as boarding schools and orphanages, have disabilities.
These institutions are being evacuated without proper monitoring of the children’s situation, according to UNICEF.
(DES MOINES, Iowa) — One teenager is dead and two others remain hospitalized after a shooting Monday afternoon outside a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, police said.
The shooting occurred outside East High School, according to the Des Moines Police Department.
Two female East High School students, ages 16 and 18, were hospitalized in critical condition.
The teenager who died was a 15-year-old boy. He was not a student at the school.
“Unfortunately what happened here today is just another pointless tragedy in our community, people using firearms to settle their differences,” Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert said Monday.
The gunfire appears to have come from a passing vehicle, police said.
Police said Monday night that potential suspects have been detained, but no charges have been filed at this time.
“Witnesses are being interviewed, evidence examined, investigative leads followed, and multiple search warrants are being executed,” police said in a news release.
The high school was immediately on lockdown Monday afternoon, but Des Moines Public School District tweeted students were being dismissed on time after police and the school district gave an all-clear.
(DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) — Police are searching for a suspect after a married couple was found stabbed to death on the side of the road early Sunday morning in Daytona Beach.
“We will spare no expense and leave no stone unturned in order to solve this case,” Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said in a statement Monday. “I assure you that our detectives are doing all they can to bring justice to the loved ones of these victims.”
Daytona Beach residents Terry Aultman, 48, and Brenda Aultman, 55, were found with multiple stab wounds and lacerations, police said. They were declared dead at the scene.
According to police, they believe the couple was riding their bicycles from Main Street between 1 and 2 a.m. Sunday before they were attacked. Police found them on the corner of Wild Olive and Riverview.
Police said they believe the Aultmans were biking home from Bike Week festivities when the attack happened.
No motive or suspect is known at this time.
Police said they are looking for a man wearing white or light colored pants and potentially a backpack.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Daytona Beach Police Department.
(WASHINGTON) — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made repeated and passionate pleas now for the U.S. and NATO to implement a ‘no-fly’ zone over his country and ground Russian warplanes — through intimidation or force.
But he’s also made another ask — one that President Joe Biden’s administration said it is working with allies like Poland to facilitate — for fighter jets to replenish the Ukrainian air force.
“We know where these Soviet planes are stationed, which countries host them, and we asked these countries,” Zelenskyy told ABC News’s David Muir in an exclusive interview Monday, adding Biden “can do more, I’m sure he can, and I would like to believe that, that he’s capable of doing that.”
U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have said the administration is working to address this, including by possibly replenishing Poland’s air force with U.S. jets.
But amid growing pressure from U.S. lawmakers to do so, the White House and Pentagon said Monday it’s not as simple as handing over keys — especially as Russian leader Vladimir Putin eyes growing Western military aid for Ukraine as inching toward a direct role in the war.
“We are not, certainly, preventing or blocking or discouraging Poland — that is, they are a sovereign country. They make their own decisions. But it is not as easy as moving planes around,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
“It’s just a discussion about the possibility of, should there be a nation that would want to give aircraft to the Ukrainians and would ask for a backfill from the United States — should that happen, what would that look like?” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said shortly after.
Putin has warned that any country attempting to implement a ‘no-fly’ zone over Ukraine would “immediately” become “party to the military conflict” — the kind of slide to a wider war that U.S. and NATO officials said they’re working to avoid.
But U.S. officials are concerned that increasing U.S. military support to include warplanes could be seen as a step too far for Putin, too.
In dramatic fashion, the U.S. and several Western countries have shifted what aid they’re willing to provide, including shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles known as Stingers. Germany, long opposed to providing lethal military aid to war zones, has moved to boost its defense spending and agreed to provide Stingers as well.
Whereas the Obama administration once held off on providing anti-tank missiles known as Javelins, the Biden administration and other U.S. allies have provided thousands in just the last couple weeks, according to a U.S. official.
But so far, that line has been drawn at military aircraft and advanced missile defense systems.
“In addition to assisting getting the Ukrainians fighter aircraft and letting them fly out of Polish airfields with full NATO protection, we need to provide them medium- and long-range air defense systems,” said Mick Mulroy, a former top Pentagon official and retired CIA officer. “The Stinger system is very effective, but its range is limited. Russian planes are flying at altitudes that make them out of reach.”
Polish officials have expressed strong opposition and deep concerns about precisely that, with the fear that Putin would strike Polish airfields for supporting Ukrainian fighter jets.
Psaki brushed aside Putin’s role, telling reporters, “We’re not waiting for the advice of Vladimir Putin on what we’re going to do here as it relates to backfilling planes.” But she added again it’s Poland’s right to decide.
For now, it seems Warsaw is the one opposed. The Polish prime minister’s office called reports the country would provide Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets and Su-25 attack aircraft “FAKE NEWS‼️” in a tweet Sunday — adding, “Poland won’t send its fighter jets to #Ukraine as well as allow to use its airports. We significantly help in many other areas.”
It’s possible the U.S. could provide enough protection to calm Polish nerves and enough support to make it worth Poland’s while, according to some analysts.
Chief among them would be giving Poland more F-16 fighter aircraft. But that’s a lengthy process that could leave Poland without air cover as it waits on those U.S. replacement jets.
Either way, Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials said they need air support now, including during a briefing Zelenskyy held with more than 300 U.S. lawmakers and staff on Saturday that bolstered bipartisan support for his government.
In the days since, several top lawmakers have publicly urged the Biden administration to ensure Ukraine gets more warplanes, including several top Democrats openly pressuring the president.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a letter Monday to push NATO allies to provide aircraft “without delay.”
“Asking them to provide their own aircraft, especially as Russia’s military aggression edges closer to their own borders, would be unthinkable except in the direst circumstances. Unfortunately, that is the situation the world faces. Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and sacrifices,” he wrote to the cabinet officials.
In the meantime, some 70% of the latest package of U.S. military assistance — which totaled $350 million and brought aid in the last year to $1 billion — is already in Ukrainian hands, Blinken said Monday.
But he conceded Russia’s military outguns and outmans Ukraine’s, saying the Kremlin has “the ability to continue to grind down the Ukrainian military and, of course, to take horrific actions against the Ukrainian people, including attacking civilians.”
ABC News’s Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report from the White House and Luis Martinez from the Pentagon.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Demonstrators gathered in front of and inside the Florida State Capitol on Monday to stop the legislation that has been dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
“We say gay,” they chanted, the sound echoing throughout the halls as they anticipated a vote on the bill expected Monday.
Speeches and chants were held throughout the day as the Florida Senate debated the legislation. However, the crowd fell silent when a youth organizer read off a list of names of LGBTQ people who have died by suicide after experiencing anti-LGBTQ hate.
“When you come to our schools to instill hate, bigotry, and fear, we will stand up, speak up, and fight back,” Maxx Fenning, founder of the LGBTQ youth advocacy organization PRISM, said at the protest. “Our passion knows no distance and we will never be silenced!”
The bill would limit curricula on sexual orientation and gender identity in some classrooms and would allow parents to take legal action against school systems if they violate this policy.
In protest, walkouts statewide have taken students out of school and onto the street.
“We will get up, stand up, wake up every single day to fight for you because your lives matter,” Democratic Florida Rep. Carlos G Smith said at the protest on the steps of the Capitol.
Florida House Republicans have already advanced the bill and the governor has expressed his support.
Proponents of the bill, including the bill sponsor Republican Rep. Joe Harding, said he wants families to be able to play a role in how and when they introduce these topics to their children.
“Families are families. Let the families be families, and the school district doesn’t need to insert themselves at that point when children are still learning how to read and do basic math,” Harding told “Start Here,” an ABC News podcast.
While the bill would ban lessons concerning gender or sexual orientation in classrooms from kindergarten to third grade, it would also not allow them when it is age-inappropriate or not in line with state standards.
However, standards on gender and sexual identity have yet to be carved out, according to Harding.
ABC News’ Tony Morrison contributed to this report.
Aimee Dilger/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Red-hot prices at the pump are not only showing no signs of cooling down — but are instead set to soar even higher.
The national average price for a gallon of gas hit $4.06 on Monday, up a staggering 45 cents from a week ago, to reach its highest level since July 2008, according to AAA.
Analysts say consumers can expect new record high gas prices as soon as this week, as strong demand and supply disruptions, fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, send crude oil prices soaring.
“A big price factor for the market is risk, and at the moment this entire escalation for the conflict appears very risky,” AAA spokesperson Devin Gladden told ABC News. “The market puts that risk premium back onto consumers.”
GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan tweeted the national average for a gallon of gas has now increased at its fastest weekly pace since Hurricane Katrina, adding prices have already eclipsed their all-time highs, according to GasBuddy data.
Crude oil surging as geopolitical risk rises
Crude oil prices, which account for more than half of the cost of retail gasoline, have spiked roughly 30% in the nearly two weeks since the war began.
“The big question will be how high crude goes,” Gladden said.
Oil had already been edging higher at the start of the year, as consumer demand outpaced global supply. Major oil producers slashed supply during the pandemic – and it takes time to ramp up production again as more drivers hit the roads and travelers take flights, requiring more fuel.
“We were already in a relatively tight market,” John Kilduff, an energy expert and partner at Again Capital, told ABC News.
Traders fear the market will become even tighter if Russia’s oil supply to the rest of the world is cut off. Russia is the third-largest producer of crude oil in the world, accounting for about 12 percent of global crude exports, according to the Information Energy Agency.”The problem is it’s a global market,” Kilduff said.
Supply constraints
There are already signs of supply constraints from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Analysts at J.P. Morgan estimated last week about 66% of Russian oil is currently struggling to find buyers. A growing number of companies are pulling business from Russia, facing hurdles from new sanctions on the banking and payments system, and fearing global backlash from customers.
“The commercial entities involved in this market are shunning the supply,” Kilduff added. “We are already in the process of losing a chunk of Russian crude oil supplies.”
Import bans on Russian oil would further exacerbate supply shortages. While the U.S. only imports a fraction of its crude oil from Russia, analysts say a coordinated move between the U.S. and European allies would drastically alter supply to the critical European market.
The International Energy Agency reported European countries imported 34% of their oil from Russia in November 2021, the latest month official oil statistics are available.
Oil traders expect it will take time for other countries to ramp up production and fill the void if that supply is cut off. So as long as oil prices remain near multi-year highs in anticipation of further disruptions in the global market, consumers and businesses will feel the pinch.
“When the price of oil goes up, the cost of everything goes up because oil is used as a component in manufacturing and a range of products,” AAA’s Gladden said.
(WASHINGTON) — Calls mounted Monday for the U.S. to ban the import of Russian oil, but while President Joe Biden’s administration signaled a new openness to doing so, the president faced the tough decision of taking a step that would raise the price Americans pay at the gas pump.
Top Republicans and Democrats in Congress announced they had come to a deal on bipartisan legislation that would punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, by banning the import of Russian oil and other energy products — as well as suspending normal trade relations with Russia.
The White House said Biden had not yet decided whether to impose a ban. But an official with the White House’s National Security Council told ABC News that the Biden administration was considering doing so even if Europe did not also impose a ban — which would mark a departure from Biden’s strategy of imposing sanctions in lockstep with European nations.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that he had spoken with Biden and other Cabinet members the day before about a potential U.S. ban.
“We are now talking to our European partners and allies to look in a coordinated way at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil, while making sure that there is a still an appropriate supply of oil on world markets,” he said during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“That’s a very active discussion as we speak,” Blinken added.
In Congress, Democrats and Republicans in both houses have in recent days increasingly called for a ban. A bipartisan group of senators last week proposed legislation that would impose a ban, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, too, said she supported the move.
As the pressure to act mounts from both sides of the aisle, Biden faces a political quandary.
After nearly two weeks of placing crushing sanctions on Russia in concert with Western allies, not moving to ban Russian oil imports, too, could appear as it he is not doing all he can to inflict pain on Russia’s economy and its president, Vladimir Putin.
But around 7% to 10% of U.S. oil imports come from Russia, and a ban would raise energy prices, including the cost of gas, analysts say.
The White House has cited that cost to Americans as a reason Biden has not taken that step. It has been looking for alternative
White House officials also say the impact on Russia, which sent just 1% of its oil exports to the U.S. in 2020, would not be great — especially when its oil and gas sector is already under “de facto sanctioned” because of harsh restrictions on Russian banks.
But in an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll last week, 69% of Americans said they supported economic sanctions on Russia even if they resulted in higher energy prices in the U.S.
Biden has also said a priority of his is to keep the West united in imposing penalties on Russia for its invasion.
There is less appetite in Europe for a ban on Russian oil and gas imports, since European nations rely heavily on Russia for their energy needs — nearly half of Russian oil exports go to Europe, according to U.S. government figures – and a ban would raise Europe’s energy prices significantly, according to analysts.
The Democratic chairmen of the Senate and House tax-writing committees and the most senior Republicans on those committees said Tuesday that they had come to an agreement on legislation that would not just ban the import of Russian energy products but that would also suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, which has aided Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
The legislation would also provide Biden with the authority to increase tariffs on products from Russia and Belarus and aim to suspend Russia’s participation with the World Trade Organization.
The House could vote on the legislation as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Despite widespread support for pediatric COVID-19 vaccinations from the nation’s top health officials, Florida will become the first state in the country to advise against vaccinating healthy children for COVID-19, the state’s Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, announced on Monday.
“The Florida Department of Health is going to be the first state to officially recommend against the COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children,” Ladapo said at the end of a 90-minute roundtable discussion in West Palm Beach, Florida, hosted by Gov. Ron DeSantis, aimed to close the curtain on the “COVID theater once and for all.”
Just prior to the announcement, Ladapo, alongside a group of physicians, made the case that the COVID-19 vaccines may not be necessary in children.
Ladapo pointed to a study released last week out of New York, suggesting that new data showed that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine protection waned relatively quickly in children between the ages of 5 and 11 years old, as compared to older children.
“Already the rates were low. So, we’re kind of scraping at the bottom of the barrel particularly with healthy kids, in terms of actually being able to quantify with any accuracy and any confidence, the infinite potential of benefit,” Ladapo said Monday.
Although the study, which has not been peer-reviewed, suggested immunity waned faster in young children relative to older children, researchers said the vaccine still dramatically reduced the risk of hospitalization.
Scientists also said it might be important to study “alternative” vaccine dosing for young children to bolster efficacy.
Following the announcement, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Florida’s decision was “absolutely not” a good policy.
“Let me just note that we know the science. We know the data and what works and what is the most, what the most effective steps are protecting people of a range of ages from hospitalization and even death,” Psaki said during a press briefing on Monday.
“It’s deeply disturbing that there are politicians peddling conspiracy theories out there and casting doubt on vaccinations, when it is our best tool against the virus and the best tool to prevent even teenagers from being hospitalized,” she added.
Many health experts across the country have also vehemently pushed back on claims that vaccines may not be necessary for children, urging the importance of vaccines for all eligible children to protect against severe illness.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have also been vocal in their support of pediatric COVID-19 vaccinations, stressing to parents that real-world data has demonstrated that vaccines are safe and effective at protecting children against severe disease, as well as against potential long-term consequences from the virus.
“Vaccines are safe and effective in protecting individuals and populations against infectious diseases,” physicians from the AAP wrote in a policy statement last month.
DeSantis also questioned whether children should be getting the shots, touting the state’s recent efforts to ban vaccine mandates in schools.
“We have this issue in terms of COVID-19 vaccinations with respect to children. And in Florida, we prohibited mandating COVID vaccines for children, so they can go to school and it’s a parent’s decision,” DeSantis said. “A lot of parents have come up to me, and they’re just like, ‘yeah, thanks for not mandating, we want to make the decision,’ but they have mixed feelings about whether they should do that even if it is their choice.”
Since the onset of the pandemic, more than 12.6 million American children have tested positive for COVID-19, according to data collected by the AAP and Children’s Hospital Association. In addition, federal data shows that nationwide, more than 115,000 COVID-19 positive children have been admitted hospitals, while more than 1,500 children have lost their lives to the virus.
Alongside the Governor, Ladapo has been vocal about his stance to end COVID-19 mitigation measures in an effort to promote personal freedom.
Last month, the duo announced that the state would advise against the use of face coverings to protect against COVID-19.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman, Armando Garcia, and Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — At least 356 Haitian migrants traveled by boat on a dangerous trek to the coast of the Ocean Reef community in Key Largo, Florida, on March 6, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
CBP took custody of 158 people who swam to the shore from the vessel, according to Alan Regalado, the public affairs specialist for CBP in Florida. The 198 people who stayed on the boat were stopped and transferred to U.S. Coast Guard boats.
“It’s [a] really, really dangerous [trek], especially because of the conditions — I mean, over 300 people in one vessel? I mean, they’re just not equipped for that trip,” Regalado told ABC News.
He added, “Not only that, but the smuggling organizations and everything that migrants have to go through in the process — it’s just not a safe thing to do.”
CBP, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other local and state agencies responded to the incoming vessel.
“Multiple agencies responded quickly & worked closely to protect a lot of lives today,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jason Neiman, with Coast Guard District Seven, in a tweet.
According to CBP, the processing of such migrants who made it onto U.S. soil after their voyage depends on their claims and background.
However, those 158 migrants may be subject to Title 42, which is a clause of the 1944 Public Health Services law that allows the government to expel migrants without giving them a chance to apply for asylum during a public health emergency.
Many Haitian refugees have left their countries due to the devastating impacts of natural disasters and political instability that have also resulted in economic struggles for the country.
