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(LONDON) — Trilateral talks between American, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators concluded in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, with Moscow and Kyiv exchanging hundreds of prisoners of war and the U.S. and Russia agreeing to “reestablish high level military-to-military dialogue.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Kyiv expected an exchange of prisoners of war with Russia “in the near future,” following the first round of talks in Abu Dhabi.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, posted to X on Thursday morning with more details of the exchange, which he said would involve 314 prisoners and would be the first such exchange for five months.

“This outcome was achieved from peace talks that have been detailed and productive,” Witkoff wrote. “While significant work remains, steps like this demonstrate that sustained diplomatic engagement is delivering tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.”

United States European Command later released a statement saying that, following the talks in the UAE, U.S. and Russian negotiators had also agreed “to reestablish high level military-to-military dialogue,” which has been suspended since late 2021.

“Maintaining dialogue between militaries is an important factor in global stability and peace, which can only be achieved through strength, and provides a means for increased transparency and de-escalation,” EUCOM said. “This channel will provide a consistent military-to-military contact as the parties continue to work towards a lasting peace.”

The prisoner of war exchange took place soon after the conclusion of Thursday’s meetings. Zelenskyy posted a video of the returning Ukrainian soldiers. “Today’s exchange came after a long pause, and it is critical that we were able to make it happen,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X.

Kyrylo Budanov, formerly the head of Ukrainian military intelligence and now serving as the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office, confirmed in a post to X that 157 Ukrainian prisoners of war had been returned to Ukraine. Of those freed, 139 had been held since 2022, Budanov said.

The Russian troops involved were released into Belarus — which has provided extensive support for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. They were expected to travel to medical facilities in Russia for treatment and rehabilitation, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Zelenskyy’s office told ABC News that Thursday’s talks in Abu Dhabi had ended by around 4 p.m. local time — 7 a.m. ET.

The Ukrainian delegation included Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Budanov, and and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of the General Staff.

The Russian team included Kiril Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and Igor Kostyukov, the head of the GRU military intelligence service.

The U.S. delegation was led by presidential peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Umerov said in a post to Telegram that Wednesday’s “work was substantive and productive, with a focus on specific steps and practical solutions.”

Dmitriev — who has been a leading figure in Moscow’s direct negotiations with the Trump administration through Witkoff — told reporters after Wednesday’s talks that there “is certainly progress, and good, positive movement forward,” as quoted by Russia’s state-run Tass news agency. 

Dmitriev also criticized what he said were “warmongers from Europe, from Britain,” who he alleged “are constantly trying to hinder this process.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged patience when speaking with reporters. “For the first time in a very long time we have technical military teams from both Ukraine and Russia meeting in a forum that we’ll also be involved with,” Rubio said in a video posted to the State Department’s X page.

“Progress is probably not going to be known, even via leaks, until we really have a breakthrough. Our goal is to remain committed,” Rubio added.

Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Kyiv is focused on a clear and lasting end to the war. “Russia must be ready for this. And partners must also be ready to ensure it in real terms with their real guarantees — security guarantees — and their real pressure on the aggressor,” he said in an evening address.

“It must be felt now — people in Ukraine must feel that the situation is genuinely moving toward peace, toward an end to the war, and not toward a scenario in which the Russians exploit everything to their advantage and continue their strikes,” he added

“There must be no rewards for the aggressor — if any reward is given to the aggressor, Russia will, over time, break any agreement,” Zelenskyy said.

Both Moscow and Kyiv described the first round of trilateral talks last month as constructive.

Among the key areas of divergence are the fate of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which Russia has partially occupied and from which Moscow is demanding a full Ukrainian military withdrawal.

Also under discussion is control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, which was occupied by Moscow’s forces since March 2022.

So too are post-war Western security guarantees for Ukraine, without which Kyiv says Moscow will be able to launch a new round of aggression in the future.

Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange long-range missiles and drone attacks overnight into Thursday morning.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched two missiles and 183 drones into the country overnight, of which 156 drones were shot down or suppressed. The missiles and 22 drones impacted across 16 locations, the air force said.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (SES) reported drone impacts in several districts of Kyiv. City Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least two people were injured. The SES also said attacks were recorded in the northeastern border city of Sumy and the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 95 Ukrainian drones overnight.

At least one person was injured in Russia’s southeastern Rostov, local Gov. Yuri Slyusar said in a post to Telegram.

Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement that its forces struck targets on Russian-controlled territory including a training site in occupied Zaporizhzhia, a logistics hub in occupied Donetsk and an electronic warfare facility in Russia’s western Bryansk region.

Meanwhile, both Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers reported that unauthorized Starlink satellite communications terminals in use by Russian forces had been disrupted or disconnected, following a public appeal by Kyiv to Starlink producer SpaceX and its owner Elon Musk.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Telegram that Kyiv has been working with SpaceX to verify Starlink terminals in use by Ukrainian forces, allowing them to remain operational.

Starlink terminals have been widely used by both sides during the ongoing conflict to enhance battlefield connectivity. Ukrainian officials have also accused Russia of using Starlink’s network to guide attack drones in strikes deep inside Ukraine, including on civilian targets.

ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko, Kevin Shalvey, Somayeh Malekian and Othon Leyva contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) — American, Ukrainian and Russian representatives gathered again in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday for the next round of trilateral talks regarding a possible end to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the fourth anniversary of which will come later this month.

The talks in Abu Dhabi are expected to run until Thursday. The negotiations are the second instalment of the trilateral format, the first also having been held in Abu Dhabi last month.

Both Moscow and Kyiv described the first round of trilateral talks as constructive, but key areas of disagreement remain.

Among them are the fate of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which Russia has partially occupied and from which Moscow is demanding a full Ukrainian military withdrawal — a proposal rejected by Kyiv.

Control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine — occupied by Moscow’s forces since March 2022 — is also an important point of discussion.

Another unresolved issue is the nature of post-war Western security guarantees for Ukraine, without which Kyiv says Moscow will be able to launch a new round of aggression in the future. The binding involvement of American forces in those security guarantees is a key Ukrainian demand.

Russia has consistently said it will not accept the deployment of any NATO troops in Ukraine post-war. But following talks with U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace envoy Steve Witkoff over the weekend, Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev said, “Some security guarantees in some form may be acceptable.”

Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council and the leader of Kyiv’s delegation, said in a post to Telegram on Wednesday that the latest round of talks were underway.

“The negotiation process started in a trilateral format — Ukraine, USA and Russia,” Umerov wrote. “Next, work will continue in separate groups by areas, after which a repeated joint synchronization of positions is planned.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, told journalists on Wednesday that Moscow “is continuing its special military operation. The door to a peaceful settlement is open, and Russia remains open,” he said, as quoted by Russia’s state-run Tass news agency.

The delegations gathered on Wednesday as Ukraine reeled from a major Russian drone and missile bombardment on Monday night, which Ukrainian officials said caused serious damage to the country’s energy grid.

This winter has seen intense and sustained Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, prompting regular blackouts for millions of Ukrainians amid below-freezing temperatures.

On Thursday, Trump said he had secured a week-long Russian commitment to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy targets. Moscow confirmed the agreement, but said the pause only extended until Sunday. Kyiv said it would also pause attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested on Tuesday that Monday night’s strikes violated the supposed week-long pause. The Ukrainian president also said, “The work of our negotiating team will be adjusted accordingly.”

Trump, though, told reporters later on Tuesday that the agreement only stretched from “Sunday to Sunday,” adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “kept his word on that.”

“You know, one week is, we’ll take anything because it’s really, really cold over there. But it was on Sunday and he went from Sunday to Sunday,” Trump said.

Zelenskyy said on Tuesday, “Last night, Russia broke its promise, that means either Russia now believes a week has fewer than four days instead of seven, or it is genuinely betting only on war and simply waited for the coldest days of this winter.”

Zelenskyy also said in a post to Telegram that Kyiv is waiting for “the reaction of the United States of America to the Russian strikes.”

Zelenskyy suggested that the attacks undermined any hope of successful talks. “This also speaks volumes about any other promises Russia has made or might still make. If their word doesn’t hold even now, what can be expected next?” he said in a post to Telegram.

“They lied before this war as well, and Russia launched the full-scale war, trying to deceive everyone about their intentions and about Ukraine. Even now, in these details, in these agreements with the United States, Russia resorts to deception again,” Zelenskyy wrote.

Both Russia and Ukraine continued their long-range attacks overnight into Wednesday.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 105 drones into the country overnight, of which 88 were shot down or suppressed. Seventeen drones impacted across 14 locations, the air force said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down 24 Ukrainian drones overnight.

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(LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged “maximum pressure” on Russia from the international community after Moscow fired hundreds of drones and missiles into Ukraine overnight into Tuesday morning, in a major attack that Zelenskyy said focused on the country’s critical energy infrastructure.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 71 missiles and 450 drones into the country overnight, of which 38 missiles and 412 drones were shot down or suppressed. Twenty-seven missiles and 31 drones impacted across 27 locations, the air force said.

The strike was the largest reported by the Ukrainian air force of the year so far, and the largest overall number of munitions launched in a single night since the night of Dec. 27.

The number of missiles fired on Monday night was also unusually high, and the largest total for a single night since April 24, according to air force data analyzed by ABC News.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a post to Telegram that its forces “carried out a massive strike” on “Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and energy facilities used in their interests, as well as places of storage and assembly of long-range unmanned aerial vehicles.”

Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram that the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa and Vinnytsia were attacked, with energy infrastructure and residential buildings among those hit. At least nine people have so far been confirmed injured, the president said.

“Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorize people is more important to Russia than resorting to diplomacy,” Zelenskyy said. “This clearly demonstrates what is needed from partners and what can help. Timely delivery of missiles for air defense systems and protection of normal life is our priority. Without pressure on Russia, there will be no end to this war.”

“Right now, Moscow is choosing terror and escalation, and that is why maximum pressure is needed,” Zelenskyy added.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said that thermal power plants powering parts of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro were among the targets of the strike. “The targets were not military. They were exclusively civilian,” Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, said Russian strikes inflicted “significant” damage on its power plants, in what it said was “the ninth massive attack on the company’s thermal power stations since October 2025.”

Emergency power outages were implemented in Kyiv’s Dnieper and Darnytsia districts, DTEK said. Energy infrastructure was also damaged in Odesa, DTEK added.

Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrenergo reported “a significant number of power outages in Kyiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia and Odesa regions,” which it attributed to the “massive” overnight attack. “There are also damaged energy facilities in several regions,” Ukrenergo wrote on Telegram.

Moscow’s latest strikes came after the expiry of a brief pause in attacks on energy infrastructure agreed to by both Moscow and Kyiv following a request from U.S. President Donald Trump. Russia said that the pause expired on Sunday.

This winter — the fourth of Russia’s full-scale invasion — has seen Moscow intensively target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, wreaking havoc on the national grid and precipitating rolling and extended blackouts for millions of Ukrainians.

Monday night saw temperatures drop as low as -14 F in some parts of Ukraine. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha suggested on X that Russian President Vladimir Putin “waited for the temperatures to drop and stockpiled drones and missiles to continue his genocidal attacks against the Ukrainian people.”

Zelenskyy later made the same allegation in a post to Telegram. “The Russian army took advantage of the American proposal to pause the strikes for a short period, not to support diplomacy, but simply to stockpile missiles and wait for the coldest days of the year,” he said.

Russia launched its latest major strike despite an upcoming round of trilateral peace talks with U.S. and Ukrainian representatives in the United Arab Emirates, which are due to resume on Wednesday and continue into Thursday.

“Every such strike by Russia confirms that the attitude in Moscow has not changed: they are still counting on war and the destruction of Ukraine, and they do not take diplomacy seriously,” Zelenskyy said. “The work of our negotiating team will be adjusted accordingly.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte visited Kyiv on Tuesday to meet with Zelenskyy and address the Ukrainian parliament. Rutte told Ukrainian representatives that “important progress has been made” in trilateral U.S.-Ukraine-Russia talks.

“But Russia continues to attack, as it did last night,” Rutte added. “This demonstrates their lack of seriousness about peace.”

Monday night’s attack prompted the scrambling of NATO fighter jets in Poland, which borders Ukraine to the country’s west. Poland’s Armed Forces Operational Command Operational Command said that no violation of the nation’s airspace was recorded.

German fighter jets and Dutch anti-air defense systems were among the assets put on alert, the command said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed at least 10 Ukrainian drones overnight.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed in a post to Telegram that it struck several targets on Russian-held territory overnight into Tuesday.

Ukraine’s targets included a drone training and production site in occupied Zaporizhzhia, a concentration of Russian forces in the western Russian border region of Belgorod and an electronic warfare site in occupied Donetsk, the General Staff said.

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(LONDON) — The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has reopened to limited pedestrian traffic, Israeli authorities confirmed Monday.

The reopening is the first step in implementing the second phase of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan. The crossing has been completely closed to Palestinians in Gaza since May 2024. Egypt has not allowed unfettered access to its territory through the crossing.

“Following the arrival of the EUBAM teams on behalf of the European Union, the Rafah crossing has now opened to the movement of residents, for both entry and exit,” an Israeli security official told ABC News.

The first group of Palestinians returning from Egypt has arrived in the Gaza Strip. Khaled Megawer, Egypt’s North Sinai governor general, said 50 Palestinians were expected to cross into Egypt on Monday.

Raeed Al-Nemes, a Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) spokesperson, told ABC News that a total of 15 Palestinians – including five Palestinian patients and 10 relatives – left Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Monday.

“The health situation in Gaza is extremely dire,” he said, calling on international organizations and the National Gaza Administration Committee to pressure Israel to allow a larger number of patients to travel abroad for treatment.

On Sunday night, the Israeli Army released video and pictures of a new Israel Defense Forces security checkpoint it will use for Gazans entering Rafah. In a statement, the IDF said “forces have completed in recent days the establishment of the ‘Regavim’ designated checkpoint, which is managed by the security establishment in the area under IDF control.”

The IDF added, “The security establishment forces at the checkpoint check the identities of those entering against lists approved by the Israeli security establishment and carry out a strict inspection of their luggage.”

Israel said it will approve the names of all Gazans entering or leaving the area according to terms reached under Trump’s 20-point peace plan.

The Egyptian Ministry of Health announced Monday that 150 hospitals and approximately 300 ambulances were ready to receive injured and wounded Palestinians.

About 22,000 injured Gazans need medical evacuation, a Hamas spokesperson said Sunday.

On the other side of the crossing, about 10,700 Palestinians who have been evacuated to seek treatment outside Gaza through the World Health Organization will return to the territory after their treatment, the PRCS spokesman said.

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(NEW YORK) — Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez announced on Sunday that the country’s first shipment of liquefied petroleum gas had been exported.

The announcement in a post on her Telegram channel on Sunday comes almost a month after President Donald Trump ordered a military operation that led to the capture of Venezuela’s former President Nicolas Maduro, who now faces federal charges in the U.S.

Rodriguez, Maduro’s former vice president, was sworn in as the interim president after his capture in January.

Rodriguez said the ship, the Chrysopigi Lady, had set sail from Venezuela “with the first shipment of Liquefied Petroleum Gas,” in a post, originally in Spanish.

The Singapore-flagged Chrysopigi Lady left from a port in northern Venezuela on the evening of Feb. 1 and is set to arrive in Providence, Rhode Island, according to marinetraffic.com.

“Proud to share this moment: the vessel Chrysopigi Lady has set sail from Venezuela with the first shipment of Liquefied Petroleum Gas,” Rodriguez said in the post. “We are marking this historic milestone by exporting the country’s first molecule of gas; an achievement for the well-being of the people of Venezuela.”

Rodriguez faces key tests in the weeks ahead. Since becoming the country’s de facto leader, she has struggled with her new twin responsibilities of maintaining order at home and managing diplomatic relations with the United States who conducted a military operation on her country’s soil weeks ago.

Last week, Rodriguez appeared to struggle publicly with the appropriate tone to both satisfy Washington and assert Venezuela’s independence.

Rodriguez said Venezuela has “opened a space for political dialogue,” but warned “those who seek to perpetuate harm and aggression against the people of Venezuela should stay in Washington,” in public comments during a ceremony recognizing her as Venezuela’s Commander-in-Chief in Caracas on Jan. 28.

Rodriguez also said “no one” in Venezuela surrendered during the military operation on Jan. 3. “That is why I say honor and glory to the heroes and heroines of January 3, 2026,” she said during the ceremony on Jan. 28.

About 100 people overall were killed during the U.S. military operation on Jan. 3, Venezuela’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, said on Jan. 8, according to Reuters. Out of the 100, 32 Cuban security officials were killed during the attack, the Cuban government confirmed on Jan. 4.

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(NEW YORK) — Two people are dead from a shooting in the Cree First Nation community of Mistissini in northern Quebec, Canada, officials said, adding that it is not considered an active shooter situation.

Two men in their 30s who live in the Mistissini community were found fatally shot in a car overnight, according to Hugues Beaulieu, a spokesperson for Quebec’s provincial police, the Sureté du Québec.

Although no arrest has been made, there is no active threat to the general population, Beaulieu told ABC News, explaining that police are working under the theory that the murders were related to organized crime and drug trade.

The community’s chief, Michael Petawabano, said earlier that all schools and community buildings were closed and residents were advised to remain in their homes.

The remote town has a population of roughly 4,000 people.

“Our hearts are heavy with grief for the lives lost and the families affected by this tragedy,” Petawabano said in a statement. “We ask all community members to remain calm, stay indoors, and cooperate fully with police as they conduct their investigation.”

“The lockdown will remain in effect until law enforcement confirms it is safe to resume normal activities,” Petawabano said.

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(NEW YORK) — Two people are dead from a shooting in the Cree First Nation community of Mistissini in northern Quebec, Canada, officials said, adding that it is not considered an active shooter situation.

Two men in their 30s who live in the Mistissini community were found fatally shot in a car overnight, according to Hugues Beaulieu, a spokesperson for Quebec’s provincial police, the Sureté du Québec.

Although no arrest has been made, there is no active threat to the general population, Beaulieu told ABC News, explaining that police are working under the theory that the murders were related to organized crime and drug trade.

The community’s chief, Michael Petawabano, said earlier that all schools and community buildings were closed and residents were advised to remain in their homes.

The remote town has a population of roughly 4,000 people.

“Our hearts are heavy with grief for the lives lost and the families affected by this tragedy,” Petawabano said in a statement. “We ask all community members to remain calm, stay indoors, and cooperate fully with police as they conduct their investigation.”

“The lockdown will remain in effect until law enforcement confirms it is safe to resume normal activities,” Petawabano said.

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(LONDON) — Iranian military forces are prepared to “immediately” retaliate against any U.S. attack, Tehran’s top diplomat warned on Wednesday, as more American military assets arrived in the region and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to launch a new attack on the country.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a post to X on Wednesday that Iran’s “brave Armed Forces are prepared — with their fingers on the trigger — to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression against our beloved land, air and sea.”

“Valuable lessons learned” during the 12-day conflict with Israel and the U.S. in June “have enabled us to respond even more strongly, rapidly and profoundly,” Araghchi wrote.

“At the same time, Iran has always welcomed a mutually beneficial, fair and equitable NUCLEAR DEAL — on equal footing, and free from coercion, threats, and intimidation — which ensures Iran’s rights to PEACEFUL nuclear technology, and guarantees NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS,” the foreign minister added.

“Such weapons have no place in our security calculations and we have NEVER sought to acquire them,” he wrote.

Araghchi issued the warning after Trump touted what he called a “massive armada” heading toward Iran, which he said was “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”

Trump urged Iran to make “a fair and equitable deal” regarding its nuclear program, key facilities and personnel of which were among the targets attacked by Israel and the U.S. in June.

“Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!,” Trump said a social media post.

Trump referred to the strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last summer. “As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” Trump added.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by three destroyers, arrived in the Middle East earlier this week, bolstering the U.S. military presence in the region.

The carrier is carrying a complement of strike aircraft, while the accompanying destroyers are armed with Tomahawk missiles.

The naval buildup adds some 5,000 American troops to the region, swelling an already robust American military footprint spread across multiple bases across the Middle East, such as Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

In total, more than 30,000 U.S. troops are deployed across the Middle East. The USS Abraham Lincoln is the first U.S. aircraft carrier to operate in the region since last summer.

Araghchi on Wednesday denied any request for new talks Tehran and Washington, D.C., though said Iran was in touch with “various intermediaries.”

“Our position is clear. Negotiations cannot take place under threats, and any talks must be conducted in conditions where threats and excessive demands are set aside,” Araghchi said.

The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Thursday that Iran is “ready for sincere and genuine negotiations with America,” as quoted by the state-aligned Tasnim News Agency. Ghalibaf warned that though Trump “may be able to start a war,” he cannot foresee how it will end.

Trump’s latest threats focused on Iran’s nuclear program, which — alongside Tehran’s ballistic missile arsenal and its use of regional proxy forces — has been a key and longstanding concern for the U.S., Israel and their regional partners.

Trump’s Wednesday social media post did not mention Tehran’s bloody suppression of nationwide anti-government protests over the past month. The demonstrations began in late December in response to the collapsing value of the national currency — the rial — before morphing into a wider anti-regime movement which drew backing from dissidents abroad and Western governments.

Trump lent his support to protesters in mid-January, urging them to “KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” He added, “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

The president then appeared to back off the prospect of imminent U.S. strikes on Iran, saying Tehran had informed him that the killing of protesters and executions of those arrested had stopped.

The major security crackdown appears to have suppressed the massed demonstrations. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) — which relies on a network of activists in Iran for its reporting and has been accurate during previous unrest — said Wednesday that at least 6,373 people had been killed in the protests.

The dead included 5,993 protesters, 113 people under the age of 18, 214 government-affiliated personnel and 53 non-protesting civilians, HRANA said. The organization said it is still reviewing 17,091 reports of other deaths.

A total of 42,486 people have been arrested in the demonstrations since they began on Dec. 28, including 11,018 injured protesters with serious wounds, according to HRANA.

ABC News cannot independently verify HRANA’s numbers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate hearing on Wednesday that the U.S. regional buildup represents a “baseline” for defense.

“We have to have enough force and power in the region just on a baseline to defend against that possibility that at some point, as a result of something, the Iranian regime decides to strike at our troop presence in the region,” Rubio said.

Rubio also said that it was an “open question” and “no one knows” who would fill a leadership void in Iran if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was removed from power.

Rubio asserted that protests across Iran due to a free-falling economy show “that [the] regime is probably weaker than it has ever been.”

If the regime were to fall, he said the U.S. could “hope” for a “transition” like the one it is attempting to facilitate in Venezuela.

But Rubio added that he “would imagine it would be far more complex … because you’re talking about a regime that’s been in place for a very long time.”

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(SEOUL and LONDON) — North Korea test-launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday afternoon, South Korean and Japanese officials said.

The missile launch took place just hours after Elbridge Colby, the U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, wrapped up his visit to South Korea early Tuesday morning and arrived in Japan.

Seoul and Pyongyang have been on edge over North Korea’s accusation that South Korea intruded its airspace with drones in January and last September.

The launches amounted to a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and posed “a serious issue concerning the safety of the Japanese people,” the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

“Japan has lodged a strong protest against North Korea and strongly condemned them,” the statement said in Japanese, which was translated by ABC News.

The missiles were fired from the Pyongyang area at about 4 p.m. and both traveled almost 350 kilometers, or about 217 miles, before splashing down into the Sea of Japan, Japanese and Korean officials said.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in its own statement that Seoul’s intelligence authorities tracked the launch and shared info with both Japan and the United States. 

“Under a robust South Korea–U.S. combined defense posture, the South Korean military is closely monitoring various developments by North Korea and maintaining the capabilities and readiness to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation,” South Korea’s military said in a statement.

Japanese officials said the missiles were thought to have landed near the North Korean coast in the Sea of Japan, which is also known as the East Sea.

“The government has provided information to aircraft and ships sailing in the area, but at this time no reports of damage have been confirmed,” Japan said in a statement in Japanese, which was translated by ABC News. 

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(LONDON) — As the internet blackout in Iran appears to be easing after weeks of protests across the country, the scale of the Islamic Republic regime’s bloodiest crackdown in decades is now being made public, according to activist groups.

More than 5,700 protesters have been killed since Jan. 8, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, an Iran-focused activist group based in the U.S.

More than 17,000 other related death cases are still under review, the group said. That U.S.-based group relies on a network of activists in Iran for its reporting and has been known to be accurate during previous unrest. While ABC News cannot confirm the number independently, the true toll might be even higher, according to other sources.

What began in Tehran late December in response to the collapse in currency and economic conditions quickly took on a political character — with crowds on the streets openly calling for regime change.

In response, the Iranian authorities launched a brutal crackdown on protests, according to observers.

Those protests intensified on Jan. 8 after a public call for protests from exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of the former shah of Iran.

Internet and telephone access across Iran was cut on Jan. 8, and the country went through its longest digital blackout in its history, isolating protesters from the rest of the world. NetBlocks, an independent tracking company, said on Sunday that the general outages had stretched past 400 hours. The company said service had been intermittently restored for some users in recent days.

With the partial restoration of internet access, people inside the country and others who have left in recent days shared videos and stories with ABC News that shows the horrific nature of the regime’s suppression of the protests.

Eyewitnesses from other cities also described what they had seen as a “war situation,” with some using terms such as “massacre,” “bloodbath” and “apocalypse,” in accounts shared with ABC News.

Saman, who asked ABC News not to use his full name for fear of his safety, was in Rasht — the largest city on Iran’s Caspian Sea coast — when the major protests formed.

As tens of thousands of protesters were taking over streets of the city on Jan. 8, the regime’s forces set the iconic bazaar of the city on fire after shop owners refused to end their strikes and had joined protesters, Saman told ABC News in a telephone interview.

While many protesters and non-protesters were still inside the bazaar area, the flames spread, he said. As people fled, government forces closed off the main exits of the market toward the street and directly shot at people trying to flee the flames, Saman said.

“There was smoke everywhere, a huge fire was there,” Saman said. “As people were going to leave, they shot them all. Maybe some of them were not even protesters. And some were normal people who had raised their hands up.”

Satellite images reviewed by ABC News show visible fire damage at the site of Rasht’s bazaar after Jan 8.

Saman said some of the wounded who were hospitalized, including one of his friends who was shot in his calf, were then taken into custody by the regime’s forces. It’s unclear where they’re being held or whether they’re still alive, he said.

While the deadly crackdown appeared to have quelled the protests and the streets now appear to have been emptied of people, families of the dead and missing, as well as families of the injured protesters, have been left in a state of confusion — scouring morgues, hospitals and prisons in a desperate attempt to find their loved ones, according to people who’ve spoken with ABC News.

Some of the people who were protesting on Jan. 8 have not returned, Saman said.

The regime’s forces “are very strict in returning corpses,” Saman told ABC News. “Some people have really disappeared.”

Saman said the regime’s forces gunned down two of his friend’s sons. He said his friend described an unimaginable scene when he went to collect the bodies from a street corner of the city’s cemetery.

The regime’s forces “had loaded bodies in freight trucks,” Saman said. “Corpses all stripped, corpses of all the girls and boys had been dumped at one corner of Rasht’s Bagh-e Rezvan [the city’s cemetery] where bodies were handed over to the families.”

Martial law remains in force across Iran, according to people ABC News spoke with. Families of victims have told ABC News they have been warned by the regime’s authorities not to hold funerals for their loved ones because those events have proved to be lightning rods for further protests in the past.

“Everyone has either lost someone in their circle, or knows someone who has,” Hadi, who also did not want to use his full name for security concerns, told ABC News. He said he left the country on Wednesday.

“There is fear and pain in the air,” he said. “Anti-riot vehicles at the junctions and anti-riot police in all streets.”

With journalists and international observers denied access to Iran during the wave of protests, the reported estimates of the death toll have varied. But the numbers have been steadily climbing as a network of international nongovernmental organizations has worked to verify the scale of the crackdown. The regime’s forces “are very strict in returning corpses,” Saman told ABC News. “Some people have really disappeared.” Some families have reportedly been asked to pay for their loved ones’ bodies when they’ve attempted to retrieve them from the morgue.

Though Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, described on Friday the protests as a “terrorist operation,” saying the death toll amounted to 3,117 civilians, 2,427 members of the security forces and 690 “terrorists.”

The Iranian regime has been accusing American and Israeli agents of killing protestors and warned the U.S. of any intervention.

However, President Donald Trump said the United States has an aircraft carrier “armada” heading toward Iran, adding that he hopes he would not need to use it. His remarks come after he had warned the Iranian regime not to kill protestors.

“Iran’s message to President Trump is clear: The U.S. has tried every conceivable hostile act, from sanctions and cyber assaults to outright military attack — and, most recently, it clearly fanned a major terrorist operation — all of which failed,” Araghchi said on social media. “It is time to think differently. Try respect.”

Amid the rising tensions between the political authorities of the two countries, many Iranians express on their social media that they feel there is no option left for them to get free from the brutality of the autocratic regime except for foreign intervention. They openly say the only way out of the deadlock is a U.S. military intervention to take the regime down.

However, still some others doubt the idea, saying foreign intervention might push the country towards more chaos in long term.

“For the Iranian government, confronting an external enemy is far easier than confronting its own people,” Omid Memarian, a journalist and analyst, wrote in The Atlantic. “Domestic protests threaten internal cohesion; war produces unity.”

Memarian added that, if Trump “follows through” with his threats “but still fails to fracture Iran’s machinery of repression, then he should expect to perversely strengthen the regime’s base, which will believe it is justified in even greater violence against the country’s civilians.”

Regardless of one’s stance on foreign intervention, most Iranians are still reeling from the terror and despair they have experienced since late December.

“It was a war,” Saman said. “The regime’s war against its own people. People were unarmed, but they came with their machine guns.”

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