(MINNEAPOLIS) — Former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter will receive her sentence on Friday, Feb. 18 following her conviction in the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was fatally shot during a traffic stop.
A Minnesota jury convicted Potter, 49, of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the April 11, 2021, incident. She had pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The maximum sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 15 years and a $30,000 fine and for second-degree manslaughter — 10 years and a $20,000 fine.
In a court filing on Tuesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office announced they are seeking 86 months, or 7 years and 2 months, prison time for Potter. Sentences in the state are served concurrently, so Potter would only serve the higher sentence.
The prosecution also asked that in the event the court sentences Potter to probation, that she serve at least one year in prison “to reflect the seriousness of Daunte Wright’s death,” and that the probation last at least 10 years, according to court documents.
Potter fatally shot Wright after initially pulling him over for an expired registration tag on his car. She then determined he had an outstanding warrant for a gross misdemeanor weapons charge and tried to detain him, according to former Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon, who resigned after the incident.
As officers tried to arrest him, Wright freed himself and tried to get back in his vehicle. That’s when, according to Potter’s attorneys, she accidentally grabbed her firearm instead of her stun gun and shot him.
Wright’s death reignited protests against racism and police brutality across the U.S., as the killing took place just outside of Minneapolis, where the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, was taking place at the time.
Potter took the stand on the last day of her trial, breaking down in tears and apologizing. “I’m sorry,” she said through sobs, “I didn’t want to hurt anybody.”
The jury deliberated for about four days before reaching a verdict on Dec. 23.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, making urgent remarks to the U.N. Security Council, challenged Moscow to commit to no invasion.
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, U.S. officials said. While Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some troops have begun to withdraw, Biden said more Russian forces have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims.
It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and issued new demands Thursday that the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 18, 7:45 am
US to sell Poland $6 billion of tanks, more military aid
The United States announced Friday its plans to sell $6 billion of new military aid to Poland, amid the threat of war between neighboring Ukraine and Russia.
The proposed sale includes 250 Abrams main battle tanks, 250 short-range jamming systems that counter improvised explosive devices, 26 combat recovery vehicles, nearly 800 machines guns and much more, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of State.
The announcement came as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw to discuss concerns regarding the massive buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine, which U.S. and NATO officials say position Moscow for an imminent invasion. Poland is a key eastern European ally to the U.S. and a fellow member of NATO.
“Some of those forces [are] within 200 miles of the Polish border,” Austin said during a joint press conference in the Polish capital on Friday. “If Russia further invades Ukraine, Poland could see tens of thousands of displaced Ukrainians and others flowing across its border, trying to save themselves and their families from the scourge of war.”
Austin said the U.S. now has an additional 4,700 troops in Poland “who are prepared to respond to a range of contingencies.”
“They will work closely with our State Department and with Polish authorities should there be any need to help American citizens leave Ukraine,” he added.
The planned sale of more military aid to Poland “will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a NATO Ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe,” according to the State Department.
“The proposed sale will improve Poland’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing a credible force that is capable of deterring adversaries and participating in NATO operations,” the State Department said in a statement Friday. “Poland will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 18, 6:21 am
Kremlin expresses concern about escalation in Donbas
Russia is concerned about the ongoing escalation of tensions in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and believes the events unfolding there post a major potential threat, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
“What is happening in Donbas is very disquieting news, which provokes concern,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “It is potentially very dangerous.”
When asked how Putin has been sleeping amid the rising tensions, Peskov said: “Equally well.” He then added after a brief pause: “But with one eye open.”
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Feb 18, 5:56 am
Putin to oversee massive nuclear drills on Saturday
Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally oversee massive drills of his country’s strategic nuclear forces on Saturday, including test launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Friday.
The defense ministry said in a statement that the drills were “planned” as part of large-scale military exercises currently taking place across Russia. Saturday’s drills are meant to check “the preparedness of military commands and crews of missile systems, warships and strategic bombers to accomplish their missions and at verifying the reliability of weapons of strategic nuclear and conventional forces,” according to the defense ministry.
“The exercise will involve forces and hardware belonging to the Aerospace Forces, the Southern Military District, the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern Fleet, and the Black Sea Fleet,” the defense ministry said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin will be at the defense ministry’s Situational Center during the drills Saturday and that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko might join him.
“Even test launches of this type are impossible without the head of state,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call Friday. “You all know about his famed ‘black briefcase,’ ‘the red button’ and so on.”
Peskov said the drills shouldn’t cause concern among other countries because they were notified of the upcoming exercises in advance.
When asked whether such drills could exacerbate tensions, Peskov replied: “Exercises and training launches of ballistic missiles are quite a regular training process. It is preceded by a whole series of notifications forwarded to different countries via various channels. All this is precisely regulated and no one has any questions or concerns.”
The drills will also coincide with the finale of the major joint military exercises in neighboring Belarus.
U.S. military officials have previously warned that Russia could conduct these drills now, saying the timing might be in order to signal to the West not to interfere in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It’s also another opportunity for posturing as Putin has done many times before, placing himself at the end of demonstrations of military might. In recent years he has repeatedly hailed a range of new Russian nuclear super weapons, including a nuclear-powered cruise missile and hypersonic weapons.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell
Feb 18, 4:25 am
Lukashenko to meet Putin in Moscow
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, as their countries continue to hold massive joint military exercises that Western countries fear could be used to cover up preparations for a possible invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
While Russia and Belarus have said that Russian troops will leave after the drills conclude Sunday, the United States remains concerned they may stay.
Earlier this week, Lukashenko indicated that he and Putin would decide at their meeting Friday how long Russian troops would stay in Belarus. Video released by Belarusian state media showed the authoritarian leader arriving at Moscow’s airport Friday morning.
Russia has moved an unprecedented number of troops into Belarus as part of its wider military build-up near Ukraine. There is an estimated 30,000 Russian troops in Belarus, which is only a few hours drive north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Concerns have been heightened because Russia has moved most of the troops from its Eastern Military District in Russia’s Far East, some 6,000 miles away. Among them are many units required for an offensive, including long range artillery, fighter bombers, attack helicopters and airborne troops.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 17, 9:28 pm
Biden to host meeting of allied leaders Friday: Canada PM’s office
President Joe Biden will host a closed-door meeting on Ukraine Friday with several U.S. allies, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office.
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the UK, the EU and NATO will participate in the meeting, Trudeau’s office said while sharing the prime minister’s Friday iterinary.
A White House official confirmed to ABC News that Biden will have a phone call Friday afternoon with transatlantic leaders “about Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine and our continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy.”
Also on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and hold a meeting with the leaders of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as she travels to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, the White House said.
(WASHINGTON) — A Washington, D.C., judge on Thursday set a September trial date for a case brought by the D.C. attorney general against former President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Yvonne Williams scheduled the trial to begin on Sept. 26 — a date that will fall a few weeks ahead of the pivotal 2022 midterm elections in November.
The move comes three days after Williams reversed another judge’s earlier decision removing Trump’s family business from the suit.
The D.C. Attorney General’s Office alleges that Trump’s 2017 Presidential Inaugural Committee misused nonprofit funds to pay for event space at the Trump Hotel and other expenditures. The case rests, in part, on the claim of “private inurement” — the question of whether the inaugural committee used its funds for private benefit rather than nonprofit purposes.
A superior court judge dismissed a portion of a lawsuit in November 2020, saying the AG’s office had not met the standard of proof that would allow that part of the suit to proceed. The ruling removed the Trump Organization as a named defendant in the case, yet kept the former president’s Washington hotel as a named defendant, as well as the inaugural committee itself — before Williams reinstated the Trump Organization as a defendant on Monday.
Also during Thursday’s hearing, Trump’s legal team asked the judge to not allow the D.C. attorney general to depose former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg in the inaugural committee case, claiming it would be a “broader fishing expedition.”
Judge Williams ultimately said she would “allow a limited deposition of Mr. Weisselberg.”
(WASHINGTON) — Senators narrowly avoided a government shutdown Thursday evening, passing a short-term funding bill one day before funds were set to lapse.
The bill, which continues funding at current levels, will keep the federal government operating until March 11. Congressional leaders are hopeful that by that time, negotiators will have ironed out an agreement on a yearlong package of funding bills.
Leaders on both sides of the aisle have assured the public for several days that the government would not shut down on Friday, but negotiations came down to the wire as GOP lawmakers looked to use the budget bill as an opportunity to challenge Democrats’ COVID-19 mandates.
Challenges to pandemic mandates are becoming increasingly popular among Republican lawmakers, who are looking to capitalize on growing fatigue over COVID-19 across the country.
But blocking such amendments proved challenging for Democrats, who stalled consideration of the short-term funding bill because several of their members are not currently in Washington. Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Mark Kelly of Arizona are out of town managing family emergencies. And Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico is recovering from a stroke. Ultimately some Republicans — Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Mitt Romney of Utah and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma — were also missing from the chamber, evening out the numbers and allowing Democrats to move the vote forward.
If any amendment had been successful, the funding bill would have had to be returned to the House, which is currently on recess and would not have been able to return to pass a modified version of the legislation before government funding expired Friday evening.
Neither of the two COVID-19 mandate amendments ultimately passed, but they did receive support from nearly every Republican in the chamber.
One amendment, offered by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would have revoked federal funds for schools that left mask mandates in place for children. The other, led by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, would have ended the federal vaccine mandate.
Another amendment, which would have required the United States to balance its budget, also failed.
Lawmakers have already passed multiple short-term funding extensions to buy key negotiators in both chambers additional time to agree on a massive bill to keep the government funded through the end of the fiscal year.
Leaders say they’re narrowing in on a deal, but no formal agreement has been announced.
(NEW YORK) — A judge has ruled that former President Donald Trump and his two eldest children must testify in the investigation by the New York state attorney general into the family’s business practices.
The argument that Trump, his eldest son Donald Jr. and his eldest daughter Ivanka put forth to try and quash subpoenas for testimony and evidence “completely misses the mark,” Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York State Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The judge gave the Trumps 21 days to sit for depositions.
The Trumps had argued that it was improper for the attorney general’s office to issue subpoenas for its civil investigation while the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is still conducting its separate criminal probe.
“This argument completely misses the mark. Neither OAG nor the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has subpoenaed the New Trump Respondents to appear before a grand jury,” Judge Engoron’s decision said. “The New Trump Respondents’ argument overlooks the salient fact that they have an absolute right to refuse to answer questions that they claim may incriminate them.”
The judge noted that when Trump’s son Eric sat for a deposition two years ago as part of the same investigation, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 500 times.
“Today, justice prevailed,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James of the decision. “Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump have been ordered by the court to comply with our lawful investigation into Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings. No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are. No one is above the law.”
Trump, in a statement, blasted the probe following the judge’s ruling.
“She is doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process,” he said of James. “It is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in history — and remember, I can’t get a fair hearing in New York because of the hatred of me by Judges and the judiciary. It is not possible!”
Alan Futerfas, an attorney for the Trump family, told ABC News that the Trumps intend to appeal the decision.
Trump argued the investigation into his business practices is overtly political and cited statements James made during and after her campaign for attorney general about her intentions to investigate the former president and his family’s real estate firm.
The judge found those statements had no bearing on the legitimacy of the subpoenas.
“Attorney General James, just like respondent Donald J. Trump, was not deprived of her First Amendment rights to free speech when she was a politician running for a public office with investigatory powers,” the decision said.
“The abhorrent statements made by Letitia leave no doubt that this is yet another politically motivated witch-hunt,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in response to the ruling. “The court clearly had its mind made up and had no interest in engaging in impartial discourse on this critically important issue.”
(AUSTIN, Texas) — The City of Austin has agreed to pay a combined $10 million to two demonstrators who were injured during by police during the 2020 racial justice protests that took place in the city.
Two protesters, Justin Howell and Anthony Evans, were severely injured when police used “less-lethal” ammunition as a form of crowd control during protests that took place after the deaths of George Floyd and Michael Ramos, who was killed by an Austin Police officer, according to two civil lawsuits filed against the city.
Members of the Austin City Council voted Thursday to approve the settlements to Anthony Evans, who will be paid $2 million, and Justin Howell, who will receive $8 million, marking the largest settlement amount ever paid for a use-of-force case in Austin, ABC Austin affiliate KVUE-TV reported.
Howell was critically injured on May 31, 2020, when an officer shot him with “less-lethal” ammunition in downtown Austin, then-Police Chief Brian Manley told KVUE-TV the next day. Howell, who was a 20-year-old political science major at Texas State University at the time, suffered a fractured skull. He filed a civil lawsuit against the city in the Western District of Texas in August 2021.
Evans was peacefully protesting at the Austin Police Department headquarters on June 6, 2020, when he was hit with bean bags and foam bullets deployed by officers, KVUE-TV reported. Evans spent his 26th birthday undergoing surgery on his face, telling the station that his jaw looked like he “got hit by a car.” Evans underwent two surgeries, had a metal wire placed in his mouth for six weeks and now has a permanent titanium plate in his jaw, he told KVUE-TV.
Evans filed his lawsuit against the city in the Western District of Texas in October 2020.
In a statement to KVUE-TV, a City of Austin spokesperson said the city was settling lawsuits filed by two individuals who “suffered significant injuries” in the protests. The “significant dollar amounts” included in the settlement stem from the plaintiffs’ “need for ongoing and long-term care,” the spokesperson said.
“We have reviewed the totality of the circumstances surrounding the protests, and we believe it is in the best interest of these plaintiffs and the City of Austin to resolve these cases now,” the statement read. “We have other claims and lawsuits that have been filed as a result of injuries during the protests, and we will review each of those matters individually.”
Eleven Austin officers were disciplined for their actions during the protests after Manley completed his review of all known complaints and incidents involving officers during the demonstrations.
The Austin Police Department was not adequately prepared for the size of the crowd during the 2020 protests and did not anticipate the injuries that would occur from the “less-lethal” rounds, Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon said in a statement. The department now prohibits less-lethal ammunition for crowd control.
“I understand the Council’s decision to settle these two cases now, and our hearts go out to these two individuals who received serious injuries during the May 2020 protests,” Chacon said.
(NEW YORK) — Americans in at least 30 states are on high alert for snow, ice, flooding and tornadoes as storms sweep across the eastern half of the country.
They could bring damaging winds across the Deep South Thursday into Friday.
Excessive rain could lead to flooding across the Ohio Valley and the interior Northeast and ice jams are possible in the eastern Great Lakes.
Winter weather is expected from Wichita to Detroit. Half a foot of snow and icy conditions are expected through late Thursday.
A tornado watch is in place for Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi through 6 p.m. Central Time.
A few tornadoes are likely in addition to wind gusts up to 75 mph.
Very heavy rain and flood threats extend into Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
Heavy snow is falling Thursday afternoon from Wichita to Chicago, with over 9 inches of snow already reported in the Kansas City area.
Storms will continue across Tennessee and Mississippi Thursday evening and severe weather will stretch from Louisville to Nashville to Birmingham.
Heavy rain and flood threats will move east across the Ohio Valley and into the interior Northeast, from Cincinnati to Buffalo.
Chicago could potentially see between 1 to 4 inches of snow and 4 to 8 inches of snow in Detroit by Thursday night.
A storm moves into the Northeast late Thursday night through early Friday morning, with rain likely.
Heavy downpours are expected overnight, with possible thunder as the storm moves through the I-95 corridor in the early morning.
High wind warnings are in place along the coast from Long Island to Cape Cod, where gusts could exceed 60 miles per hour. The winds could cause damage and power outages by Friday morning.
Parts of the Denver metro area got more than a half a foot of snow overnight Wednesday into Thursday, causing slick roads and closing parts of I-70.
(CHICAGO) — Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability has released videos and documents related to the death of Irene Chavez, a woman who died in police custody last December.
The materials were released as part of an investigation by the civilian oversight agency looking into Chavez’s death.
According to police, the 33-year-old woman died after an “attempted suicide” on Dec. 18, 2021, at the 3rd District Police Station. The official cause and manner of death are pending autopsy results, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office told ABC News.
Body camera video released by COPA shows Chavez being arrested hours before her death and transported to the police station.
According to the incident report and videos released by COPA, Chavez told officers that she is a veteran and suffers from PTSD.
Police said Chavez was taken into custody after her involvement in a bar fight at the Jeffery Pub Tavern and was belligerent during processing.
Chavez could be heard by police shouting in the holding cell, the report said. After about five minutes of silence, an officer went to check on her well-being by looking through the window. That’s when Chavez was found with her shirt wrapped around her neck and a “faint pulse,” the report said.
Video released by COPA shows officers performing CPR before Chavez was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital. According to COPA, Chavez was in “critical condition” at the time and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
COPA said in a statement that the agency has been in touch with Chavez’s family and provided them with documentation for viewing prior to the release of materials.
Chavez’s family is now demanding answers from police.
Iris Chavez, Irene’s sister, told reporters in December that police have not provided details surrounding her sister’s death and called for an investigation.
Iris Chavez started a GoFundMe page to support the family in covering costs related to her sister’s death and said that Irene was her only sister.
“When I say my heart is what one would call broken glass in a bag…MY absolute FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD and ONLY SISTER HAS PASSED AWAY,” she wrote on the page.
Chavez is one of two women to die in Chicago police custody within less than two months.
COPA is also investigating the death of London Marquez, 31, who died on Jan. 27. According to Marquez’s family, she was pregnant at the time of her death.
The investigation is ongoing and the cause and manner of death are pending autopsy results by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Chicago police declined to comment and referred questions regarding both cases to COPA.
(NEW YORK) — The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to use certain powdered infant formulas made at Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis, Michigan, facility amid an investigation into four infant illnesses.
Parents should discard any affected formula, according to the agency. Specifically, the FDA is advising consumers not to use Similac, Alimentum or EleCare powdered infant formulas if: the first two digits of the code are 22 through 37, and the code on the container contains K8, SH or Z2, and the expiration date is 4-1-2022 (APR 2022) or later.
“As a result of the ongoing investigation, along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local partners, the FDA is alerting consumers to avoid purchasing or using certain powdered infant formula products produced at this facility,” a press release stated.
“This is an ongoing investigation, and the firm is working with the FDA to initiate a voluntary recall of the potentially affected product,” it said, noting the FDA has “initiated an onsite inspection at the facility.”
In a press release, the FDA announced it is investigating consumer complaints of Cronobacter sakazakii and Salmonella Newport infections that resulted in four infant illnesses and hospitalizations in three states — Minnesota, Texas and Ohio. Cronobacter may have contributed to a death in one case, according to the report.
According to the FDA, Cronobacter bacteria can cause life-threatening infections such as sepsis or meningitis.
“Symptoms of sepsis and meningitis may include poor feeding, irritability, temperature changes, jaundice (yellow skin and whites of the eyes), grunting breaths and abnormal movements. Cronobacter infection may also cause bowel damage and may spread through the blood to other parts of the body,” the FDA says. “Parents and caregivers of infants who have used these products, and are concerned about the health of their child, should contact their child’s health care provider.”
Products made at the Sturgis, Michigan, facility are available across the U.S.
“As this is a product used as the sole source of nutrition for many of our nation’s newborns and infants, the FDA is deeply concerned about these reports of bacterial infections,” said Frank Yiannas, the FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response in a press release. “We want to reassure the public that we’re working diligently with our partners to investigate complaints related to these products, which we recognize include infant formula produced at this facility, while we work to resolve this safety concern as quickly as possible.”
The FDA will provide consumer safety information on the investigation as it becomes available.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman and Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, making urgent remarks to the U.N. Security Council, challenged Moscow to commit to no invasion.
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, U.S. officials said, and while Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some Russian forces have begun to withdraw, Biden said more Russian troops have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims.
It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and issued new demands Thursday that the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Latest headlines:
-Austin says Russia forces near Ukraine border stocking up on blood supplies
-Blinken says Moscow will ‘manufacture a pretext’ for invasion as US blames Russia for Donbas shelling
-Blinken calls on Moscow to commit to not invading, meet next week
-Blinken to UN Security Council: ‘I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one’
-Russia’s response to the US teases ‘military-technical measures’
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 17, 9:28 pm
Biden to host meeting of allied leaders Friday: Canada PM’s office
President Joe Biden will host a closed-door meeting on Ukraine Friday with several U.S. allies, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office.
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the UK, the EU and NATO will participate in the meeting, Trudeau’s office said while sharing the prime minister’s Friday iterinary.
A White House official confirmed to ABC News that Biden will have a phone call Friday afternoon with transatlantic leaders “about Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine and our continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy.”
Also on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and hold a meeting with the leaders of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as she travels to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, the White House said.
Feb 17, 9:22 pm
Senate passes non-binding resolution in support of Ukraine
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution Thursday affirming its support for Ukraine.
The resolution denounced Russian troop buildups on the border and urged President Joe Biden to act if Russia were to invade Ukraine. “[The] United States Government should use the tools at its disposal to impose significant costs on the Russian Federation to restore peace in Europe,” it stated.
The non-binding “sense of the Senate” resolution conveys the sentiment of senators, but it does not mandate any action.
The resolution, which passed by voice vote with bipartisan support, follows a bipartisan statement from Senate leaders Tuesday that said “Russia must be made to pay a severe price” in the event of invasion.
The Senate departed for a weeklong recess Thursday night without approving a Russian sanctions package, which was the initial aim of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez and Ranking Member Jim Risch.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Feb 17, 7:35 pm
Reports of more shelling in eastern Ukraine overnight
Tensions around the Russian-controlled separatist areas in eastern Ukraine on Thursday remained high, with reports of shelling. Sporadic firing from the separatist side continued to hit the village Stanytsia Luhanska, setting two homes on fire, local police told ABC News. Earlier Thursday, separatist shelling struck a kindergarten in the village, injuring two teachers.
The escalation comes amid concerns from Western officials that Russia and its separatist proxies may be laying the groundwork for a pretext for a possible Russian intervention by accusing Ukraine of preparing to launch an offensive.
Valery Zaluzhny, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, warned in a statement Thursday night that the military has information the separatist forces are planning to evacuate several villages near the front line, possibly ahead of a planned escalation in firing.
Zaluzhny also accused the Russian-controlled forces of firing deliberately onto civilian infrastructure and accused Russia and the separatists of using propaganda and disinformation to claim Ukraine is shelling civilians.
He said Ukraine is not planning any offensive operations and is observing a ceasefire.
There was dramatically more shelling Thursday than usual, according to monitoring by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Ukraine accused the separatists of violating the ceasefire 47 times, including mainly using large-caliber weapons banned from the front line.
Russian officials continued to claim Thursday that some Russian forces are returning to their home bases and accused the U.S., along with the U.K., Canada and the Baltic nations, of using claims of Russian aggression as a pretext to arm Ukraine.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Fidel Pavlenko
Feb 17, 1:03 pm
Austin says Russia forces near Ukraine border stocking up on blood supplies
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, at NATO headquarters in Brussels Thursday, said the U.S. has evidence of Russia stocking up on blood supplies and military forces nearing the border as officials believe Russia will launch an invasion of Ukraine within days.
“We see some of those troops inch closer to that border. We see them fly in more combat and support aircraft. We see them sharpen their readiness in the Black Sea. We even see them stocking up their blood support supplies,” Austin told world leaders.
“You know, I was a soldier myself not that long ago, and I know firsthand that you don’t do these sorts of things, for no reason. And you certainly don’t do them if you’re getting ready to pack up and go home,” he added.
President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also warned Thursday that, despite claims of pulling back, Russia appears to be ready to invade at any moment.
