(LONDON) — Munich police said “around 20” people were injured after a “vehicle drove into a group of people” in the center of the city on Thursday morning.
“The driver was able to be secured on site and currently poses no further danger,” police said in a post in German on social media.
Police said in an update that they didn’t yet have info on the severity of the injuries.
Police said the incident occurred in the area of Dachauer Street and Seidle Street in the heart of Munich, close to the city’s central train station.
Police said a “major operation” was underway, urging residents to avoid the area in order to assist emergency responders.
Thursday’s vehicle crash came less than two months after a car plowed through a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing two people and injuring nearly 70 others, local officials said at the time.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Helena Skinner contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The United States is preparing to return cybercrime kingpin Alexander Vinnik to Russian custody as part of an exchange for American Marc Fogel, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to identify Vinnik but acknowledged earlier Wednesday that a Russian citizen was freed in exchange for Fogel, who had been held in Russian since his arrest in 2021.
“This citizen of the Russian Federation will also be returned to Russia in the coming days,” Peskov said Wednesday.
Fogel was returned to the United States on Tuesday.
Vinnik’s lawyers, Arkady Bukh & Associates, said he remained in the U.S. on Wednesday afternoon.
“At the moment, we can confirm that a hearing has recently been held in the Federal Court of the State of Florida regarding Mr. Vinnik,” they said in a statement. “However, due to the judge’s decision, the materials of the hearing are classified, and we cannot comment on its course and content.”
Vinnik, the owner and operator of one of the world’s largest currency exchanges, was allegedly instrumental in facilitating the transfer of billions of dollars for criminals across the globe, supporting drug trafficking rings, ransomware attacks and the corruption of public officials.
Last year, Vinnik pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder billions of dollars through cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e. The Department of Justice alleged under Vinnik’s operation, BTC-e facilitated over $9 billion in worldwide transactions, serving as one of the main ways for cyber criminals to launder and move their criminal proceeds.
BTC-e has been implicated in multiple wide-ranging crimes, according to the Department of Justice, which alleges Vinnik himself was responsible for more than $120 million in losses.
As part of the deal, Vinnik is forfeiting $100 million of his criminal proceeds, an official said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it “a very good deal for the United States of America and for the rest of the world.”
She continued, “As part of this exchange, he has forfeited more than $100 million that he obtained in that illegal crime. And in exchange, of course, we got Marc Fogel, who is a middle school teacher who kissed the American soil that kissed the ground last night when he returned to the United States of America. It was a great deal. And a great day for our country.”
Vinnik was arrested in Greece in July 2017 after he was charged in a 21-count indictment that implicated the Russian cryptocurrency operator in the infamous 2014 hack of Mt. Gox, which at one point handled more than 70% of the world’s bitcoin transaction. The DOJ alleges Vinnik laundered money he received as a result of the hack to conceal his involvement in the subsequent investigation of Mt. Gox’s collapse.
Vinnik and his lawyers have been outspoken about their interest in a potential prisoner swap, making the unusual request in 2023 to be released from a protective order so they could lobby for an exchange.
“Mr. Vinnik’s case is unquestionably one of significant public interest. He has been the subject of political negotiations over a prisoner swap with Russia at the highest levels of the government,” his lawyers wrote in a court filing.
Vinnik’s sentencing in California was scheduled to take place in June, though a federal judge held an abruptly scheduled status conference in the case Tuesday. Ahead of his sentencing, Vinnik was housed at Alameda County Jail in California and was transferred Tuesday, ABC News has learned.
President Donald Trump didn’t disclose on Tuesday the negotiations that led to Fogel’s release or say whether there had been any conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I can only say this: We got a man home whose mother and family wanted him desperately,” Trump said.
Mike Waltz, the White House national security adviser, said in a statement on Tuesday that Washington had “negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine.” His statement did not include details on the exchange.
Trump earlier on Tuesday had been asked if Russia had given the United States anything in return.
“Not much, no,” Trump said. “They were very nice. We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually.”
Peskov on Wednesday declined to say whether additional prisoner exchanges were expected in the future, but said that “contacts between the relevant departments have intensified in the last few days.”
Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in October 2024 that Fogel, an American teacher, had been “wrongfully detained,” the State Department confirmed to ABC News.
The U.S. tried but was unable to include Fogel in the large prisoner swap in August 2024 that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, a State Department spokesperson said last year.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Michelle Stoddart, Nathan Luna and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Belarusian journalist Andrei Kuznechyk was released from prison on Wednesday after serving more than three years in prison, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The terms of the deal were not immediately clear.
“This is a joyous day for Andrey, his wife, Alesya, and their two young children. After more than three years apart, this family is together again thanks to President [Donald] Trump,” RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement.
“We are also grateful to Secretary Rubio and his team, and to the Lithuanian government for their support,” Capus added.
Kuznechyk’s release comes a day after American schoolteacher Marc Fogel returned to the U.S. after being released from Russia.
Kuznechyk was initially sentenced in November 2021 to 10 days in jail on hooliganism charges, which he rejected at the time, according to RFE/RL.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — Egypt plans to “present a comprehensive vision for the reconstruction” of the Gaza Strip that does not require the displacement of Palestinians, the country’s foreign ministry said.
Cairo said it will work with President Donald Trump’s administration “to achieve a comprehensive and just peace in the region by reaching a just settlement of the Palestinian cause that upholds the rights of the region’s peoples,” the statement posted to X on Tuesday said.
Cairo’s reconstruction proposal will ensure “the Palestinian people remain in their homeland” and will align “with their legitimate and legal rights,” the statement said.
Any solution should “avoid endangering the gains of peace in the region” and address “the root cause of the conflict by ending Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and implementing the two-state solution as the only path to stability and coexistence among the region’s peoples,” the ministry added.
Egypt’s proposal comes as Arab states scramble to respond to Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to “take over” and “clean out” Gaza, relocating its 2 million people and reconstructing the territory devastated by the war between Israel and Hamas since October 2023.
A source told ABC News on Wednesday that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will meet in Riyadh to discuss how to address Trump’s Gaza displacement proposal. The source said the talks will likely take place later next week before the Arab Summit in Cairo on Feb. 27.
Trump has suggested that regional partners like Jordan, Egypt or Saudi Arabia should rehome displaced Palestinians, whom he said would not be allowed to return to Gaza. Regional leaders have rejected the proposal.
“I don’t have to threaten that, I don’t think. I think we’re above that. I do believe we’re above that,” Trump said Tuesday. The president’s comments came after Abdullah announced in the Oval Office that Jordan would take in 2,000 sick children from Gaza, but didn’t commit to anything beyond that.
Abdullah told Trump during a meeting at the White House on Tuesday that Arab states were putting together their own post-war plan for Gaza. The king will join other Arab leaders at a special summit in Egypt later this month to discuss Cairo’s counterproposal to Trump’s resettlement plan.
The king later said he reiterated to Trump Jordan’s “steadfast position” against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza. “This is the unified Arab position,” he said in a post to X.
Saudi Arabia has also pushed back on Trump’s controversial plan, with its foreign ministry saying last week there would be no normalization deal with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“The establishment of the Palestinian state is a firm, unwavering position,” the ministry said in a statement posted on X.
De facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “has affirmed this position in a clear and explicit manner that does not allow for any interpretation under any circumstances,” the statement added.
Hamas, meanwhile, rejected Trump’s plan as “absurd.” In a statement, the group said the president’s comments “reflect a profound ignorance about Palestine and the region. Gaza is not a piece of real estate to be bought and sold; it is an inseparable part of our occupied Palestinian land.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threw his weight behind Trump’s proposal, describing it as “a totally different vision, a much better one for the state of Israel.”
Netanyahu — who met with Trump at the White House last week — described the plan as “revolutionary, creative — and we’re discussing it. He is very determined to carry it out. It opens up many opportunities for us.”
The prime minister’s security cabinet met for several hours on Tuesday to discuss Trump’s Gaza plan. An Israeli official told ABC News that all members expressed support for what they called Trump’s “revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza.”
Netanyahu and his cabinet also discussed Hamas’ Monday announcement that it would delay the planned release of a group of Israeli hostages. Hamas said the delay was a response to alleged repeated Israeli violations of the ceasefire deal signed in January.
The delay prompted Trump’s threat that “all hell is going to break out” if all remaining Gaza hostages were not released by Saturday at noon. The Israeli official said the country’s security cabinet was in full support of Trump’s remarks.
“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will be terminated, and the [Israel Defense Forces] will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Trump later told reporters of the deadline, “It’s going to be a big moment. We’ll see what happens. I don’t expect much happening with these people, but we’ll see what happens.”
ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy, Morgan Winsor, Sarah Kolinovsky, Will Gretsky, Joe Simonetti and Jordana Miller contributed to this report.
(LONDON and NEW YORK) — Many Palestinian doctors who worked in the Gaza Strip are either dead, have fled the territory or are in prison, U.S. doctors told the United Nations.
Four U.S. medical doctors who have worked in the Gaza Strip for periods throughout the past 15 months spoke about their concerns and the priorities for bringing critical care needed in Gaza during a press conference at the U.N. in New York last week.
Drs. Thaer Ahmad, Ayesha Khan, Feroze Sidhwa and Mahmooda Syed met with the U.N. secretary-general and spoke last week with the press about the future of Gaza.
All four said they agreed they had never seen anything like what they saw during their time working in Gaza.
U.N. officials and nongovernmental organizations have repeatedly warned that the health care system in Gaza has collapsed and is lacking the critical resources needed to meet an overwhelming demand of injured and sick Palestinians.
With the fragile ceasefire in place between Israel and Hamas that is allowing aid to flow at much higher levels than it has in the past few months, and medical evacuations set to increase, the doctors said there needs to be a plan for the immediate needs of Palestinians.
Sidhwa said rebuilding hospitals is a priority.
Only 16 of 36 hospitals in Gaza remain partially functional, the U.N. said in January, before the latest ceasefire agreement to pause fighting was reached. Most of the functioning hospitals aren’t able to treat complex injuries or chronic diseases, the U.N. said.
Israel targeted and raided multiple health facilities in Gaza, most recently the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north, in what the Israeli military said were anti-terrorism operations aimed at Hamas.
As a result, much of the infrastructure has been damaged, as shown in an ABC News visual analysis of the state of several hospitals after a year of war.
But it is not just the infrastructure that needs to be replaced, Sidhwa said, but all the machines and equipment, too. “There is extreme need with minimal capacity,” he said.
While this process takes place, the immediate priority should be evacuations, the doctors said. But even those come with many complications, especially for children, who, in the words of spokesperson Tess Ingram of UNICEF, are “disproportionately wearing the scars of the war.”
Many families are worried, for example, that they will not be allowed back inside Gaza, Ahmad said, urging for the evacuated children to be relocated to the West Bank or Jerusalem instead of Egypt or the U.S.
Syed said Israel only allows one adult to accompany each child evacuated from Gaza, while many parents have more children who require their presence.
These bureaucratic hurdles slow down what the doctors say is an urgent race against time.
Khan held up a photograph of a little girl’s foot, which was badly burned. When the patient came in, the doctor said he thought the wounds were fresh, but it turned out they were months old, and she might need an amputation.
Like that girl, many children and adults in Gaza sustained wounds months ago, increasing the chances of infections and long-term disabilities, the doctors said.
A senior U.N. official told the Security Council in October 2024 that Gaza has the largest number of amputee children in modern history.
The doctors also spoke about their personal challenges and the indescribable struggles of their colleagues in Gaza.
The four doctors said they faced many obstacles and now fear retaliation for sharing the details of what they say are violations of international humanitarian law, which Israel denies.
“The white coat does not protect you,” said Ahmad, conveying what he says is a shared belief among many Palestinian doctors.
Ahmad worked at Kamal Adwan Hospital, where the director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, was detained in December by Israel. He has not been heard from since, but Israeli forces have confirmed he is in their custody as a suspected Hamas operative.
Safiya is one of more than 365 health care workers being held in Israeli prison, the head of information for the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry, Zaher Al Wahidi, told ABC News in January. ABC News has reached out to Israel for comment.
“This was the hospital that he built. Those were the departments that he helped develop. And he refused to leave,” Ahmad said of the Kamal Adwan director.
“Then he watched the military raid the hospital, destroy it, getting injured in the process,” he added. “Then he had to walk up to the tank, in his white coat, and shake the hand of the military that killed his son and injured him.”
As the U.N. panel concluded, Secretary-General António Guterres posted on X: “I was deeply moved by the testimonies and impressed by the dedication of 4 American doctors that have worked in Gaza. 2,500 children must be immediately evacuated with the guarantee that they will be able to return to their families and communities.”
(LONDON) — Israel has occupied the Gaza Strip and West Bank since its victory in the Six-Day War in 1967. Palestinians hope that one day both territories will become part of a nation-state they can call their own.
But that dream seems further away than ever following Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in response — which has left the strip destroyed.
The far-right factions in Israel are now advocating for the annexation of the West Bank once and for all.
“We left only with our lives, with our safety,” Palestinian Sana Al Zubeidi told ABC News, after being forced to flee her home with her family amid some of the most intense IDF raids there in decades. “We didn’t take anything with us because it was at that moment and we were leaving and that airplanes in the skies were shooting at us.”
Just days ago, the Al Zubeidi family, comprised of a grandfather, grandmother, and 10 grandchildren, was forced to flee their town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Jenin is known as a militant stronghold, a place that has witnessed little to no peace.
Streams of people are fleeing the Jenin refugee camp where they have lived since their displacement in Israel’s founding in 1948. According to the local mayor, 16,000 people have left since the IDF launched “operation iron wall” weeks ago, with the aim to root out terrorism in the West Bank.
Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz stated, “The Jenin refugee camp will not return to its previous condition. After the operation is complete, IDF forces will remain in the camp to ensure that terrorism does not return.” There have been many battles in Jenin, and the families are determined to return to their homes one day.
Meanwhile, many displaced families have sought refuge in Burqin Village. The faces of slain Palestinian fighters throughout the years are visible here. In Israel, they are labeled as terrorists; here, they are viewed as resistance fighters and revered as “martyrs.”
Even Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the attacks on Oct. 7, was displayed prominently in the town square. The IDF claims that “Operation Iron Wall” is different, stating that they are targeting the core of terrorism in the West Bank.
Bulldozers are tearing up the streets, while airstrikes and controlled demolitions are destroying many houses, resulting in a devastating scene.
Roads have been destroyed, restricting movement and cutting off communities from one another across the northern West Bank. Palestinians are routinely stopped and searched.
At least 40,000 Palestinians are impacted by forced displacement due to ongoing Israeli Forces operation in the north.
This war is disrupting almost every aspect of daily life, and there seems to be no end in sight. Jamal Al-Zubaidi has lost two sons in the fighting, another son is injured, and a fourth is in jail.
“I want to tell you something very clear: We are part of the resistance to an illegitimate occupation,” Jamal Al-Zubaidi said. “The military occupation is the biggest terror. The only terrorists are the occupation and the Israeli Army that kill us, that displaced us, that took our land in 1948, that is preventing us from achieving our rights and our self-determination.”
In a statement to ABC News, the IDF reported that they had thwarted 2,000 attempted terrorist attacks since Oct. 7. They described the West Bank as having a “complex security reality” where they are dealing daily with terrorism and violent disturbances.
The statement goes on to assert that the IDF “follows international law” and claims that “terrorist operatives” have exploited civilian infrastructure.
As the raids expand, tragedy unfolds — mourners gather at the funeral of a 2-year-old child, Laila Al-Khatib, who was reportedly killed by gunfire during an Israeli raid on Jenin, according to Palestinian officials.
Security footage from Tulkarm captures the moment the IDF shot 10-year-old Sadam Hussein Rajab on Jan. 28. He was left in critical condition and died just over a week later.
The IDF has confirmed that they know both incidents and have initiated investigations. Israel asserts that this is just the beginning.
“You pay a heavy price for freedom,” Jamal Al-Zubaidi said. “And nothing comes without a price. And we are going to, and we are willing to, pay the price for our rights.”
(LONDON and THE PENTAGON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared at his first meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Wednesday to tell allies that the liberation of all Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory “is an unrealistic objective.”
“The bloodshed must stop and this war must end,” Hegseth said, in one of the most detailed delineations of the Ukraine-Russia peace deal envisioned by President Donald Trump’s new administration.
“President Trump has been clear with the American people — and with many of your leaders — that stopping the fighting and reaching an enduring peace is a top priority,” Hegseth said at the meeting, which was led by the U.K., marking the first time the group has not convened under U.S. leadership.
“He intends to end this war by diplomacy and bringing both Russia and Ukraine to the table,” Hegseth said. “We will only end this devastating war and establish a durable peace by coupling allied strength with a realistic assessment of the battlefield.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government in Kyiv have demanded full territorial liberation — whether by military or diplomatic means — per the country’s internationally-recognized 1991 borders. Among Ukraine’s other demands are binding Western security guarantees, ideally in the form of full NATO membership and Article Five protection.
Hegseth rejected such ambitions, at least in the near term.
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine, but we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” he told allies. “Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”
“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth continued. “Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops.”
“If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission and they should not be covered under Article Five,” he added. “There also must be robust international oversight of the line of contact.”
“To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine,” Hegseth said.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to end the war by forcing both Moscow and Kyiv back to the negotiating table after nearly three years of full-scale war.
Hegseth suggested that Trump’s domestic energy policies would help pressure the Kremlin. “Lower energy prices coupled with more effective enforcement of energy sanctions will help bring Russia to the table,” he said.
Hegseth delivered a broader warning to European allies of a lighter U.S. footprint on the continent. They, he said, will need to “provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine.”
He said the “stark strategic realities” of competition with China in the Indo-Pacific and the U.S. focus on securing its domestic borders “prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe.”
Hegseth called on allies to donate more ammunition and equipment to Ukraine, expand their industrial bases and explain to citizens that the Russian threat necessitates “spending more on defense and investing strategically.” That will include increasing defense spending beyond the 2% of GDP target agreed by allies in 2014. The threshold — which many NATO allies have still not achieved — “is not enough,” Hegseth said.
“President Trump has called for 5% and I agree,” he added. “Increasing your commitment to your own security is a down payment for the future.”
The defense secretary warned that while the U.S. “remains committed to the NATO alliance and to partnership with Europe,” America “will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency.”
“Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security,” he added. “Honesty will be our policy going forward.”
In response to Hegseth’s remarks, British Defense Secretary John Healey said, “We hear you.”
“We hear your commitment to NATO, to Article Five, to a sovereign Ukraine and to your defense partnership with Europe,” Healey said. “We also hear your concerns.”
“On stepping up for Ukraine, we are and we will,” Healey continued. “On stepping up for European security, we are and we will.”
“You’ve just spoken about peace through strength,” Healey said. “We are 50 nations strong here, all determined to put an end to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war, to do so together.”
(LONDON) — A Russian citizen held in a U.S. prison will be repatriated to Russia following the release of U.S. citizen Marc Fogel, who was returned to the United States on Tuesday, Moscow said.
“In exchange for Fogel, a Russian citizen imprisoned in the United States will be returned to Russia in the coming days,” Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, said on Wednesday.
Peskov did not disclose which Russian citizen held in a U.S. jail would be repatriated, but said the United States had agreed to the release during negotiations for the return of Fogel, who had been detained in Russia since 2021.
President Donald Trump didn’t disclose on Tuesday the negotiations that led to Fogel’s release or say whether there had been any conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I can only say this: We got a man home whose mother and family wanted him desperately,” Trump said.
Mike Waltz, the White House national security adviser, said in a statement on Tuesday that Washington had “negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine.” His statement did not include details on the exchange.
Trump earlier on Tuesday had been asked if Russia had given the United States anything in return.
“Not much, no,” Trump said. “They were very nice. We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually.” Peskov on Wednesday declined to say whether additional prisoner exchanges were expected in the future, but said that “contacts between the relevant departments have intensified in the last few days.”
Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in October 2024 that Fogel, an American teacher, had been “wrongfully detained,” the State Department confirmed to ABC News.
The U.S. tried but was unable to include Fogel in the large prisoner swap in August 2024 that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, a State Department spokesperson said last year.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Michelle Stoddart, Nathan Luna and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine called on Western partners to apply more pressure to Russia after an overnight ballistic missile and drone strike killed at least one person and set multiple fires in the capital Kyiv.
“Apartment buildings, office buildings and civilian infrastructure were damaged,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “All our services are working on the ground, helping people and eliminating the consequences of this terror.”
“Unfortunately, as of now, one person has died in Kyiv,” he added. “Four more were injured, including a child. My condolences to the family and friends.”
Ukraine’s air force reported downing six out of seven ballistic missiles fired at Kyiv and the central city of Kryvyi Rih — Zelenskyy’s home town. The air force said Russia also launched 123 strike drones into Ukraine, of which 71 were shot down and 40 were lost in flight.
Viacheslav Chaus, the governor of Ukraine’s Chernihiv Oblast, said two people were injured in a Russian drone strike on a critical infrastructure facility. Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, said the missile attack on Kryvyi Rih damaged infrastructure, high-rise residential, administrative and educational buildings.
Zelenskyy called on Western partners to apply greater pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to the latest round of strikes, which came as both sides maneuver for an expected revival in peace talks after almost three years of full-scale war.
“This Russian terror against Ukraine will not stop on its own,” Zelenskyy wrote. “Putin is not preparing for peace — he continues to kill Ukrainians and destroy cities.”
“Only strong steps and pressure on Russia can stop this terror,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Right now, we need unity and support from all our partners in the fight for a just end to this war.”
The latest barrage came only hours after Steve Witkoff — President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy — flew to Moscow to facilitate the release of jailed American Mark Fogel. Fogel, 63, had been serving a 14-year prison sentence in a Russian prison colony after being arrested in 2021 on drug charges.
Trump later told reporters he thought Fogel’s return could advance negotiations to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. “I want to get the war ended,” Trump said.
Moscow has continued nightly drone and missile attacks ahead of potentially pivotal meetings between U.S. and Ukrainian officials this week.
Trump’s Russia-Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg is due in Ukraine this week, while Vice President JD Vance is set to travel to the Munich Security Conference next weekend where Zelenskyy will lead Ukraine’s delegation.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said on Telegram that “every public statement by the West about ‘progress’ in the movement towards peace is accompanied by missile strikes by the Russian Federation.”
Kovalenko suggested Putin would continue to employ such tactics through 2025. “These are methods of diplomacy that are closely intertwined with the front,” he wrote.
Ukraine is also continuing its long-range strike campaign into Russia. The Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Telegram on Wednesday that it downed seven Ukrainian drones over the western Belgorod and Kursk regions during the previous 24 hours.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Max Uzol contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — American Marc Fogel, who has been held in Russia since being arrested on drug charges in 2021, has been freed, according to the White House.
“Today, President Donald J. Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are able to announce that Mr. Witkoff is leaving Russian airspace with Marc Fogel, an American who was detained by Russia,” White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said in a statement. “President Trump, Steve Witkoff and the President’s advisors negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine.”
Fogel, an American teacher who was arrested in Russia and was serving a 14-year sentence there, was determined to be “wrongfully detained” by then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken in October 2024, the State Department confirmed to ABC News in late December.
“By tonight, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones thanks to President Trump’s leadership,” Waltz added in the statement.
Fogel was a teacher at the Anglo-American School in Moscow, where many diplomats from the U.S. Embassy send their children.
He was arrested in August 2021 when he landed at a Moscow airport. He was accused of trying to bring in 11 grams of marijuana, and eight grams of hash oil was reportedly found in his luggage.
He was sentenced to 14 years on a drug smuggling charge that his family has said was trumped up, and the U.S. had called for his humanitarian release.
The U.S. tried but was unable to include Fogel in the large prisoner swap in August 2024 that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, a State Department spokesperson said last year.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
