(WASHINGTON) — U.S. European Command has released dramatic declassified video taken by the MQ-9 Reaper drone that shows the moment that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet collided with it after attempting to spray the drone with jet fuel.
The video was taken from a camera on the drone’s underside and shows two different passes taken by the jets to spray the drone, the second one being the collision with the propeller at the rear of the drone, which is visible in the footage.
Communications were lost with the drone as the image can be seen pixelating into color bars.
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that he spoke with Russia’s defense minister about what he called “risky” behavior by Russian fighter jet pilots who the U.S. says caused an American drone to crash into the Black Sea near Ukraine.
“This hazardous episode is a part is part of a pattern of aggressive, risky, risky and unsafe actions by Russian pilots in international airspace,” Austin said at a news conference with Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley.
“I just got off the phone with my Russian counterpart, Minister Shoigu. As I’ve said repeatedly, it’s important that great powers be models of transparency and communication. And the United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows. And it is incumbent upon Russia to operate as military aircraft in a safe and professional manner,” he said.
Austin would not get into the content of his call with Sergei Shoigu, but emphasized the importance of keeping lines of communication open.
“I think it’s really key that that we’re able to pick up the phone and engage each other,” he said.
Asked if the incident — during which the U.S. says one Russian jet collided with the MQ-9 Reaper drone’s propeller — constitutes an act of war, Milley said he would not go that far, saying the U.S. does not know if the collision itself was deliberate.
“We know that the intercept was intentional. We know that the aggressive behavior was intentional. We also know it was very unprofessional and very unsafe,” Milley said. “The actual contact of the fixed-wing Russian fighter with our UAV, the physical contact of those two, not sure yet, that remains to be seen.”
Russia has denied any collision.
“As far as an act of war goes, I’m not gonna go there. Incidents happen. And, and clearly, we do not seek armed conflict with with Russia. And, and I believe that at this point, we should investigate this incident and move on from there, but we will continue to exercise our rights in international airspace,” he continued.
The drone is about 4,000-5,000 feet under the Black Sea, and recovery will be “very difficult,” according to Milley. He said that while the U.S. doesn’t have any ships in the region, “we do have a lot of allies and friends in the area. And we’ll work through recovery operations.”
Austin said the Pentagon is still working to declassify images of the interception, but would not say when that might happen.
“We are still going through videos and photographs to ascertain what we can release, what we can provide. But in terms of what the video shows, we remain confident in the facts that we have conveyed thus far,” Austin said.
Earlier, in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the incident between a Russian jet and a U.S. drone over the Black Sea “at the very least looks like this was just reckless behavior by a Russian pilot.”
Asked by co-anchor George Stephanopoulos if this was just a “dumb” move as one U.S. Air Force official stated, Kirby said, “that’s what it looks like right now.”
He said the message from the U.S. to the Russian ambassador called into the State Department Tuesday was, “don’t do this again.”
“We’re not minimizing this. I mean, you don’t bring in the Russian ambassador because you’re failing to take something seriously, we are taking it seriously and the message was don’t do this again. We’re going to continue to fly in international airspace over international waters. Where this drone was, that’s going to continue and we expect the Russians to observe international law and to not interfere with our legal operations,” Kirby said.
Kirby wouldn’t go into details when asked if he’s concerned if the drone technology could fall into Russian hands, but that the U.S. is working to recover the drone from the Black Sea, admitting that will be a challenging task.
“I can tell you we’re comfortable that should anything be taken by the Russians, their ability to exploit useful intelligence will be highly minimized. That said it’s our property and obviously we’re looking – we’re looking to see what we can do to maybe recover — that will be challenging in the Black Sea, it’s very, very deep water, but it’s our property,” he said.
Asked how the U.S. can prevent this kind of incident from happening again, Kirby said it comes down to “lines of communication staying open.”
“We have ways of communication with the Russians directly, and that’s a good thing. That’s one way to try and minimize the risk of miscalculation,” he said.
Kirby said the White House is “absolutely” concerned about the Russians escalating in other ways while its forces are stalled in Ukraine.
“Escalation concerns have been with us since the beginning of this war, George. And you don’t know exactly what Mr. Putin will do on any given day or how he will react to any outcomes on the battlefield,” Kirby said.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Moments after a bomb explosion by a Russian drone in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, Benjamin Hall found himself on the ground covered in his own blood, his right leg barely hanging from his body. His colleagues were similarly injured, lying nearby and close to death.
Despite the chaos, instinct kicked in and Hall, a war correspondent for Fox News, fumbled to find his phone to film a video.
“In one sense, it’s inherent” in all journalists to report the news, he told ABC News.
“SAVED: A War Reporter’s Mission to Make it Home,” a book Hall later wrote to document his experience, is a continuation of that instinct. It’s been 12 months since the explosion that claimed the lives of his colleagues and left 17% of his body burned. The book, he said, became part of his personal catharsis to confront what had happened to him.
“I knew I had to face it,” he said. “Writing the book was part of the recovery.”
The book began in the form of voice notes he made on his phone while hospitalized and undergoing major surgery. Ten percent of his burns are third degree and his right leg required amputation. He lost his left foot and sight in one eye. Eventually, Hill required prosthetics for both legs and would need to learn to walk again.
Up to that point, being close enough to danger to report on it with accuracy had become a way of life. He covered conflicts all over the world between 2007 and 2015 when he joined Fox News as a correspondent out of the network’s London bureau. He began to feel less comfortable at home than being in the field.
“No other work really felt satisfying or really important,” he said.
It wasn’t until marriage and children forced him to balance the two worlds. “The work of covering wars is very important. I do understand the need to keep doing it and I also understand the need to stay home and be safe,” he said.
Fox offered him a respite from the battlefield in 2021 when he became the channel’s U.S. State Department correspondent and moved to Washington. In February 2022, at the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said he felt called to report from the field.
“It was a decision I made quickly,” he said. “I never had a moment of regret making that decision to go.”
Journalists becoming targets
The war in Ukraine has proven deadly for journalists. According to a 2022 report by Reporters Without Borders, an international nonprofit, about 1,700 journalists have been killed globally over the last 20 years, an average of more than 80 a year. Eight journalists were killed last year alone in Ukraine, compared with 12 deaths in that country over the last two decades. After Russia, the organization ranks Ukraine as the most dangerous country in Europe for journalists, followed by Turkey.
According to international law, the intentional killing of civilians, which includes journalists, is considered a war crime. Hall, however, said the “press is targeted more than the way it used to be.”
He also said the number of journalists covering conflicts has increased, raising the likelihood of danger. Over his career, at least six of his colleagues have died in their work, which includes Fox cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and producer Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova who were with him on the day of the attack. Zakrzewski was a kind of mentor, he said.
“You can only work in those parts of the world if you totally, 100% trust each other and we developed a relationship that was incredibly deep. You have conversations you might not have with anyone else,” he said. “[Pierre] was someone who wanted to explore as many cultures and societies as much as he could. I learned that from him.”
This week Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch announced a $1 million donation to the American Red Cross to support ongoing global Ukrainian relief efforts.
Finding optimism
Today, while based in London, Hall is dealing with daily medical care, upcoming operations and learning “to live with a bit of pain.” It remains a struggle to walk and serious burns cover the bottom half of his body. Despite those challenges, he said he is driven to “find my own optimism” and to “pass it on to those who don’t have it.”
“I try to enjoy the small things in life: sunlight, a beautiful walk, great music. Maybe the attack made me realize the many things I once thought were problems don’t feel like problems anymore,” he said. “Nothing else matters. That’s what I want every day.”
Pongmanat Tasiri/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — In 2022, only 13 countries, territories and regions globally have met the World Health Organization’s guidelines for healthy air quality, according to a report from Swiss technology company IQAir.
The company, which has worked with the United Nations Environmental Program, UN-Habitat and Greenpeace to combat air pollution, examined air data from more than 30,000 stations and sensors that monitor air quality from 7,323 cities across 131 countries, regions, and territories.
According to the report, Australia, Bermuda, Bonaire, Estonia, Finland, French Polynesia, Grenada, Guam, Iceland, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Sint Eustatius and Saba, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have all achieved the target air quality guidelines of PM2.5, or five micrograms per cubic meter or less.
PM2.5 is a fine particulate matter that is an air pollutant that can harm people’s health when the levels are high, according to the New York State Department of Health.
When high, those particles can decrease visibility and make the air seem hazy, according to the NYS Department of Health.
“The size of particles is directly linked to their potential for causing health problems,” the Environmental Protection Agency said. “Small particles less than ten micrometers in diameter pose the greatest problems, because they can get deep into your lungs, and some may even get into your bloodstream.”
Last year, countries and territories in Africa and Central and South Asia had the highest yearly average of PM2.5 concentrations by population, according to IQAir.
Chad has the highest concentration of PM2.5, with 89.7 micrograms per cubic meter; followed by Iraq with 80.1; and Pakistan with 70.9, according to the report.
Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Kuwait, India, Egypt and Tajikistan comprise the rest of the report’s top 10 most polluted countries.
Despite growth in recent years, procuring air quality data in Africa continued to be an issue. Only 19 out of the continent’s 54 countries had necessary data available, according to the report.
According to the report, 118 countries, or about 90%, exceed the World Health Organization’s guidelines on good air quality.
The WHO’s air quality guidelines, implemented in 2021, were created for governments around the world to use as targets to reduce air pollution and ultimately improve people’s health, the organization said.
(NEW YORK) — Russian fighter jets collided with the rear propeller of an unmanned U.S. military drone on Tuesday, forcing the U.S. to bring down the drone into the waters.
U.S. European Command labeled the incident as “dangerous” and said it could “lead to miscalculation and unintended escalation.”
“At approximately 7:03 AM (CET), one of the Russian Su-27 aircraft struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing U.S. forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters,” U.S. European Command said in a statement.
“Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,” it added.
EUCOM said the incident “demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional.”
The incident is apparently the latest in what EUCOM labeled a “a pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots while interacting with U.S. and Allied aircraft over international airspace, including over the Black Sea.”
And it stressed that “These aggressive actions by Russian aircrew are dangerous and could lead to miscalculation and unintended escalation.”
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” said U.S. Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander, U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa. “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash.”
“U.S. and Allied aircraft will continue to operate in international airspace and we call on the Russians to conduct themselves professionally and safely,” Hecker added.
(NEW YORK) — Two people are dead and several others are injured after a driver hit pedestrians in Amqui, a town in the Québec region of Canada, authorities confirmed to ABC News.
The driver turned himself in to police, Amqui police said.
Police are investigating whether the act was deliberate, they told ABC News.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his “heart is with the people of Amqui, Quebec,” in a tweet after the incident.
“As we learn more about the tragic events that have taken place, I’m keeping everyone affected in my thoughts. And to my first responders: Thank you for acting quickly, courageously and professionally,” Trudeau said in the tweet.
(NEW YORK) — More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian troops have liberated nearly 30,000 square miles of their territory from Russian forces since the invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022, but Putin appeared to be preparing for a long and bloody war.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 13, 12:27 PM EDT
Russia agrees to 60-day extension of Black Sea Grain Initiative
Russia said Monday it will extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative after it expires on March 18, but only for 60 days. The announcement came after consultations between U.N. representatives in Geneva and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin.
“The Russian side, noting the package nature of the Istanbul agreements proposed by UN Secretary General António Guterres, does not object to another extension of the Black Sea initiative after the expiration of the second term on March 18, but only for 60 days,” Vershinin said, according to Russian media reports.
Russia’s consultations in Geneva on the grain deal were not easy, Vershinin said. Russia will rely on the effectiveness of the implementation of the agreement on the export of its agricultural products when deciding on a new extension of the grain deal, according to reports.
Ukraine, which is a key world exporter of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and fertilizer, had its shipments blocked in the months following the invasion by Russia, causing a worldwide spike in food prices. The first deal was brokered last July.
Mar 12, 4:13 PM EDT
More than 1,100 Russians dead in less than a week, Zelenskyy says
Russian forces suffered more than 1,100 dead in less than a week during battles near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the focal point of fighting in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
During his nightly address, Zelenskyy described the battles as “Russia’s irreversible loss.”
Russian forces also sustained about 1,500 “sanitary losses,” meaning soldiers were wounded badly enough to keep them out of further action, Zelenskyy said.
Dozens of pieces of enemy equipment were destroyed, as were more than 10 Russian ammunition depots, Zelenskyy said.
-ABC News’ Edward Seekers
Mar 10, 3:17 PM EST
Russia says Nord Stream explosion investigation should be impartial
The investigation into who was behind the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline explosion should be “objective, impartial and transparent,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agency Interfax.
“I do not want to threaten anyone. I do not want to hint at anything either. I just know that this flagrant terror attack will not go uninvestigated,” Lavrov added.
Russia also said it will distribute its correspondence with Germany, Denmark and Sweden on the investigation of the Nord Stream explosion among the members of the United Nations Security Council soon.
Russia claimed the three countries are denying Russia access to information and participation in the investigation, first deputy permanent representative to the U.N. Dmitry Polyansky said in an interview, according to Russian news agency TASS.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Tanya Stukalova
Mar 10, 3:03 PM EST
Russia says Nord Stream explosion investigation should be impartial
The investigation into who was behind the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline explosion should be “objective, impartial and transparent,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agency Interfax.
“I do not want to threaten anyone. I do not want to hint at anything either. I just know that this flagrant terror attack will not go uninvestigated,” Lavrov added.
Russia also said it will distribute its correspondence with Germany, Denmark and Sweden on the investigation of Nord Stream explosion among the members of the United Nations Security Council soon.
Russia claimed the three countries are denying Russia access to information and participation in the investigation, first deputy permanent representative to the U.N. Dmitry Polyansky said in an interview, according to Russian news agency TASS.
Mar 10, 9:46 AM EST
Zelenskyy says Ukraine had nothing to do with Nord Stream explosions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied that Ukraine had anything to do with the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions last year.
“As for the Nord Stream, we have nothing to do with it,” Zelenskyy said Friday.
The New York Times published a report that U.S. intelligence suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group sabotaged the pipeline.
Zelenskyy also suggested that the information being spread about the involvement of pro-Ukrainian groups in the attack could be done to slow down aid to his country.
-ABC News’ Natalia Shumskaia
Mar 09, 2:45 PM EST
Power returns to Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after attacks
Electricity supply has been fully restored in Kyiv after Russia’s overnight barrage of missile attacks on Ukraine, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said in a Telegram post Thursday.
Also, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is now “receiving electricity for its own needs from the Ukrainian grid after power supply was cut,” Russian news agency Interfax reported.
-ABC News’ Tatiana Rymarenko and Natalia Shumskaia
Mar 09, 7:25 AM EST
Russia ‘brutalizing’ Ukrainian people, White House says
Russia’s overnight barrage of missiles aimed at civilian infrastructure may have knocked heat out to as much as 40% of Ukrainians, the White House said on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to “brutalize” the people of Ukraine, John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America on Thursday.
“It also appears, George, that they were definitely targeting civilian infrastructure,” Kirby said. “I would agree with the Ukrainians. He’s just trying to brutalize the Ukrainian people”
Russian forces early on Thursday launched 81 missiles from land and sea, Ukrainian officials said. Eight uncrewed drones were also launched in what officials described as a “massive” attack.
Eleven regions and cities were targeted in an attack that lasted at least seven hours, officials said.
Kirby said on Thursday that the White House expects to see more fighting on the ground in Ukraine for at least the “next four to six months.”
“We know that the Russians are attempting to conduct more offensive operations here when the weather gets better,” he said.
Mar 09, 3:59 AM EST
Zelenskyy decries Russia’s ‘miserable tactics’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said Russian officials had returned “to their miserable tactics” as they launched at least 81 missiles at Ukrainian sites overnight.
“The occupiers can only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do. But it won’t help them,” he said on Telegram. “They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done.”
He added, “We thank the guardians of our skies and everyone who helps to overcome the consequences of the occupiers’ sneaking attacks!”
Mar 09, 3:34 AM EST
81 missiles launched in ‘massive’ Russian attack, Ukraine says
Waves of missiles and a handful of drones were launched overnight by Russia, targeting energy infrastructure and cities across Ukraine, officials said.
The attack on “critical infrastructure” and civilian targets lasted throughout the night, Verkovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, said on Twitter. Energy was being gradually restored on Thursday morning, the body said.
Ukraine’s parliament and military said at least 81 missiles were fired from several bases. Eight Iranian-made drones were also launched, the military said.
Ukraine destroyed 34 cruise missiles and four drones, military officials said on Facebook.
“Russia’s threats only encourage partners to provide long-term assistance to Ukraine,” said Yehor Chernev, deputy chairman of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence.
Russia “will be sentenced as a terrorist state” for its attacks, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Rada’s chairperson, said on Twitter.
Mar 09, 12:35 AM EST
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant now running on diesel generators, energy minister says
The last line that fed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been damaged following missile strikes, and the plant is now working on diesel generators, according to the Ukrainian energy minister, Herman Galushchenko.
Mar 09, 12:16 AM EST
Emergency power outages nationwide due to missile attacks, provider says
DTEK, the largest private grid operator in Ukraine, said emergency power outages are in effect due to the missile attacks in the Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv and Dnipro regions.
Mar 09, 12:27 AM EST
Multiple missile strikes reported across Ukraine
Multiple explosions have been reported in city centers all over the country, including Dnipro, Odesa, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi and Kharkiv.
Residents in multiple areas are being asked to shelter in place, and communication and electricity has been impacted.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said multiple explosions were reported in the Holosiiv district.
The governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubov, said Russia struck the city at least 15 times overnight.
The head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration said there had been no casualties and that the power supply is being restricted.
Mar 08, 2:05 PM EST
Ukraine says it was not involved in Nord Stream Pipeline bombings
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov denied Ukraine was involved in the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline, which carries natural gas from Russia to Germany. While the pipeline was not active at the time of the bombing last September, it was filled with fuel.
The denial comes after The New York Times reported that intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials suggests a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the Nord Stream bombings last year.
After the story broke, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned against “jumping to conclusions” about who carried out the explosion, suggesting it could have been a “false flag” operation to blame Ukraine.
German authorities were reportedly able to identify the boat used for the sabotage operation, saying a group of five men and one woman using forged passports rented a yacht from a Poland-based company owned by Ukrainian citizens. The nationalities of the perpetrators are unclear, according to a separate report by Germany’s ARD broadcaster and Zeit newspaper.
“We have to make a clear distinction whether it was a Ukrainian group, whether it may have happened at Ukrainian orders, or a pro-Ukrainian group [acting] without knowledge of the government. But I am warning against jumping to conclusions,” Pistorius said on the sidelines of a summit in Stockholm.
A Russian diplomat said Russia has no faith in the U.S.‘s “impartiality” in the conclusions made from intelligence.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Mar 07, 4:23 PM EST
Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war
Russia and Ukraine exchanged over 200 prisoners of war on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Interfax, a Russian news agency.
During his daily evening address, Zelenskyy said 130 Ukrainians were “brought home from Russian captivity,” including privates and sergeants from the army, navy and national guard.
“Just as we remember every corner of our country that is under occupation, we remember every single person in Russian captivity,” he said.
Ninety Russians were released from the Ukrainian side back to Russia, though Russia said Ukraine originally agreed to release 160 Russians, Interfax reported.
“During the exchange of prisoners of war on Tuesday, the Ukrainian side agreed to return only 90 Russians, despite an earlier agreement on the exchange of ‘160 for 160,'” Tatyana Moskalkova, human rights ombudsman for the Russian Federation said, according to Interfax.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Mar 07, 12:09 PM EST
Up to 30,000 Russian casualties in Bakhmut: Western officials
Up to 30,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured in Bakhmut over the last several months amid intense fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city, Western officials said in a briefing Tuesday.
The ratio of dead to injured was “unclear,” said the officials, who described Ukraine’s refusal to withdraw from the city — even though its forces are surrounded on three sides — as “a sound tactic” given that “lots of Russians are being killed.”
“What we’re seeing is a horrific level of Russian casualties for minimal gains,” they said, noting that an estimated 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded overall since the war began.
In the past 24 hours, 244 Russian troops were killed and 315 wounded in Bakhmut, Serhiy Chevrevaty, a spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern group of forces, said during a national telethon on Tuesday.
The officials refused to say how many Ukrainians have been killed or injured in and around Bakhmut but claimed it was “significantly lower.”
They also were unable to put a clear time frame on when a Ukrainian withdrawal might come, though noted the possibility of a Ukrainian counteroffensive should not be ruled out.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Mar 05, 5:20 PM EST
13 found dead after strike hits Zhaporizhzhia
Thirteen people have been found dead since a rocket struck an apartment building in Zhaporizhzhia, Ukraine, authorities said.
The governor there has called for a national day of mourning on Monday.
The State Emergency Situation of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia initially posted on their Telegram account Friday that seven people were dead.
So far, 11 people have been saved, and 20 people were able to evacuate the building.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Mar 03, 2:21 PM EST
Merrick Garland makes unannounced visit to Ukraine
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Friday at the invitation of the Ukrainian prosecutor general to join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other international partners at the United for Justice Conference.
Garland attended several meetings while he was there.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
Mar 03, 2:09 PM EST
US announces $400 million more in military aid for Ukraine
The U.S. Department of Defense announced $400 million in new military aid for Ukraine, including eight folding armored bridges for the first time.
This is the Biden administration’s 33rd drawdown of equipment from Department of Defense inventories for Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Mar 03, 2:08 PM EST
5,000 remain in Bakhmut as Russian shelling intensifies
Around 5,000 people still remain in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, including 37 children, according to Donetsk Oblast Regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
The losses in Bakhmut stand at the rate of one Ukrainian solider to seven Russian soldiers, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksii Danilo said on TV.
Russian forces fighting for control of Bakhmut intensified shelling at access roads to the west, making it harder for Ukrainian forces to move in and out, Reuters reported Friday.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Mar 03, 12:20 PM EST
Blinken, Ukrainian foreign minister discuss Lavrov meeting
The State Department said Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba about the brief conversation that took place at the G-20 summit between Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“The Secretary underscored to Foreign Minister Kuleba the United States’ enduring support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s brutal attacks, including the ongoing targeting of civilian infrastructure and resulting civilian casualties,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
Mar 02, 3:48 PM EST
US to announce more weapons for Ukraine on Friday
The U.S. will announce another assistance package for Ukraine on Friday, White House spokesperson John Kirby announced Thursday afternoon, but did not detail the exact size of this next round of support.
“You’ll see us tomorrow, just unilaterally, the U.S. will have another round of assistance for Ukraine coming tomorrow. And it will include mostly ammunitions and munitions that the Ukrainians will need for the systems that they already have, like the HIMARS and the artillery.”
The new aid comes as President Joe Biden meets with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House Friday to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine as Russia’s invasion continues.
Kirby said the leaders would discuss the “kinds of capabilities that Ukraine continues to need in the weeks and months ahead.”
He also said this will be a “true working visit” between Biden and Scholz and they are expected to discuss “recent engagements with Ukrainian officials, including the President’s trip to Kyiv and meeting with President Zelenskyy, as well as Chancellor Schultz’s meeting with President Zelensky in Paris last month.”
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Mar 02, 3:12 PM EST
Lavrov ‘diverted’ Blinken’s calls to reconsider Russia leaving START treaty
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “diverted” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s calls to reconsider the decision to suspend Russia’s participation in the New START treaty, Russia’s foreign ministry told Interfax, Russian news agency.
“If they want to return to diplomacy, let them return. If they are engaged in self-promotion and such inexpensive PR, well, this is possible. True, the result will be appropriate,” Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the ministry, told Russian TV channel Rossiya-1.
-ABC News’ Natalia Shumskaia
Mar 02, 12:36 PM EST
Blinken, Lavrov hold ‘on the go’ talk at G-20 meeting
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had an “on the go” talk during the G-20 Meeting of Foreign Ministers in India, but there were no negotiations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS, a Russian news agency, Thursday.
“Blinken asked for a contact with Lavrov. Sergey Viktorovich [Lavrov] had communication on the go during the second session. But there were no negotiations, no meeting or so on,” the diplomat said.
Blinken had said earlier in the day during a press conference he had “spoke briefly” with Lavrov and discussed ending the war, as well as Russia rejoining the New START Treaty on nuclear arms.
“I told the foreign minister what I and so many others said last week at the United Nations and what so many G-20 foreign ministers said today: End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that could produce a just and durable peace,” he said. “The United States stands ready to support Ukraine through diplomacy to end the war on this basis.”
A senior State Department official downplayed any hopes that the conversation moved the needle on any of the topics.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova and Shannon Crawford
Mar 01, 5:12 PM EST
Ukraine says it’s shot down 80% of Russian missiles
Ukraine has shot down 80% of Russian missiles, according to Commander of the Joint Forces of the Ukrainian Air Force Serhiy Nayev.
Nayev made the assessment in a Facebook post on Wednesday about the effectiveness of the air defense system.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea claimed to have launched two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, on Sunday, but the South Korean military said they detected “one unidentified missile fired from North Korea’s submarine vessel near North’s port city of Sinpo.”
The missile test took place about 24 hours before the U.S. and South Korea’s joint forces started their annual 11-day military exercises, planned to be the biggest war games in five years.
The launches also come alongside a historic security pact partnership to strengthen military capabilities to counter China’s attempts to dominate in the Pacific, a pact allowing allies to share defense technologies and equip Australian forces with nuclear-powered submarines.
President Joe Biden is meeting on Monday with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
China has slammed the deal as an “Anglo-Saxon” bloc which “involves the illegal transfer of nuclear weapons material” that makes it “essentially an act of nuclear proliferation,” a concern that North Korea has also voiced.
“North Korea had two reasons to test yesterday. One was to respond early to U.S.-South Korea war games and the other had Monday’s Biden-Albanese meeting in mind. They want to say to the world that they too are developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles and their submarine based military power could be dangerous, too,” Go Myong-Hyun, Research Fellow at Seoul-based Asan Institute, told ABC News.
While North Korea is seen as being years away from developing nuclear-powered submarines, they have been testing diesel-powered submarines that could carry missiles topped with nuclear warheads.
“AUKUS is a good excuse for North Korea to justify their nuclear ambitions. Although the AUKUS submarines don’t carry nuclear warheads like the ones that Pyongyang hopes to develop, the subs are nuclear powered. So North Korea could make a case that it’s a double standard,” Park Won-gon, Ewha Womans University Professor of North Korea Studies, told ABC News.
The nuclear-powered submarines announced on Monday allows the transfer of technology to Australia which is a sensitive issue because U.S. and British submarines are equipped with reactors that use uranium enriched above 90 percent, considered “weapons-grade.”
According to the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons under the United Nations Treaty, Australia is prohibited from manufacturing or acquiring nuclear weapons with an exception of use in naval reactors. Other countries have been under watch for exploiting this loophole which could allow using the fuels to develop nuclear arms instead of use in reactors.
(KYIV, Ukraine) — An Oscar-nominated documentary, “The House Made of Splinters,” tells a deep and emotive story of Ukrainian children affected by the Russian invasion.
“Life has always been difficult here,” the narrator of the film says, “war made it worse.”
The film takes us to 2019 in an orphanage-type institution in Lysychansk, a town in the eastern Luhansk oblast of Ukraine. The town is about 20 kms from the frontline between Ukrainian territory and the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic that was formed in 2014 when Russian forces occupied part of eastern Ukraine.
Many families in the region have been broken apart since then. Some were separated because parents lost their jobs and others because they found an outlet in alcohol or drugs or became homeless. Kids from such families are taken to shelters, centers for social and psychological rehabilitation, until their destiny could be decided by the authorities. After 9 months, most are either returned to their parents or brought to a foster family.
So, life in this house is something in between the past and the future, as well as the life in this whole region Ukraine and Russia are now battling for.
They live with uncertainty. But also in a bubble, a safe place, where kids find love, care and friends. But it’s a temporary bubble. A house made of splinters.
“I think childhood can be the most traumatic period that can affect our whole life,” Simon Lereng Wilmont, the Danish director behind “The House Made of Splinters,” told ABC News. “Mine was like that so I became interested in filming children. Our previous films were about kids in a safe environment so later I just wondered how it’s like to grow up in a dangerous one.”
The film was created in co-production with Denmark, Sweden and Finland with the support of the Ukrainian State Film Agency.
In the very first days of filming, the crew found themselves in danger — on the way to the orphanage their car came under shelling. Fortunately no one was hurt and it didn’t make the director change his mind and leave Ukraine. On the contrary.
“Once I entered the orphanage I immediately felt the warm and protected atmosphere inside,” Wilmont said. “How the kids were playing and the teachers took care of them … It’s just amazing in such dark circumstances.”
In that uncertain-but-safe bubble, the children in the film live through their tragedies, grow and change and sometimes demonstrate outstanding human qualities — this is what Wilmont’s team witnessed during roughly 100 days of filming over the course of a year and a half.
We see a 13-year-old boy who tenderly took care of his younger siblings, but in the blink of an eye could turn into a brutal hooligan before the others.
“Any director, any actor can only dream about such a strong black-and-white character! Kind of a small Joker,” said Azad Safarov, a producer on the film.
We see the beautiful friendship of two little girls and an invisible chain that tied two boys who became friends in the shelter.
“It was one of the most emotional scenes” Safarov said. “One of the boys had to leave. But he didn’t say anything to his friend, they were just sitting in front of each other silently for like half an hour … And you could feel how much was actually happening between them.”
Watching the film, it’s at times hard to believe that it’s not fictional — the stories unfold naturally, no one is looking into the camera as it silently follows the often-heroic children. It took the team quite some time to reach that goal, they said.
“We spent half a year earning these kids’ trust. Because they looked into the camera and then we had to resort to some tricks to make them not do that,” Safarov said. “And also because the kids thought we wanted to adopt them and tried to show the best of them. And no kid is better at acting like those from dysfunctional families. Because acting for them is a way of surviving.”
“But when they get used to the camera and then let it into the sensitive parts of their life you see what a huge world is inside this child,” he added.
In one scene, a girl who’s anxiously waiting for her mom to pick up hears “The number you have dialed cannot be reached.” Here grandmother tells her that her mom is drinking again. She promised her daughter to come and see her but didn’t keep her promise. Again.
“In some situations we just had to stop the filming and pause because we couldn’t help crying,” Wilmont said. “I couldn’t believe the parents could be so indifferent to their kids. And those little ones, despite everything, still love their parents! Every day they were losing hope and regaining it again.”
He added, “These kids’ families’ are broken. But each of them has some piece of it in their heart, and together with the rest they build this shelter. A house made of splinters.”
The film also shows that there’s a dark side of this safe bubble, with the psychological problems that the kids and their teachers face in the shelter.
“The psychologists that came there usually aren’t very helpful, their salaries are so poor,” Safarov said. “So it turns out that the teachers become mental doctors for kids but have no one to talk to themselves and you can see that burden on their shoulders. When we finally convinced them to talk to the shrinks we hired for them they were astonished at how much pain and tears they have been holding inside.
The film appeared on screens in January 2022 and immediately caught the eye of critics and received Sundance Film Festival’s award for best directing in the World Cinema Documentary category. Russia began a full-scale Invasion of Ukraine began the following month. The orphanage was relocated to a safer place.
“All the children’s hardships that we showed in our film now multiplied so much because of this war,” Wilmont said. “That’s why I’m so happy we were nominated for the Oscar now since we can bring up again the suffering that the Russian invasion caused to Ukrainian children in particular.”
The full-fledged war gave a start to a bigger mission for Safarov, its producer and co-director. Working on the film he and his friend Olena Rozvadovska launched a foundation Voices of Children that provides humanitarian and psychological aid to the Ukrainian kids affected by the war.
“I’ve been working near the frontline since 2014 and ‘The House Made of Splinters’ is my third film. But it’s the most difficult one from an emotional point of view,” he said. “So the launch of the foundation was, on one hand, a way of relief for me since now I can help the kids. On the other hand, we saw how much children can be neglected, so now we want them to be heard and understood. The name of our fund, Voices of Children, says it.”
The foundation gathers and publishes quotes by the kids affected by Russian invasion. For example: “My dad shielded the windows so that the missile couldn’t fly in,” little Eva said.
Dozens of such quotes were compiled into a book the fund has released this year. Safarov and Rozvadovska toured in Europe with the edition to raise more funds for their charity. Their big dream now is to build a big rehabilitation center for children in the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine.
They are as funny as they are bittersweet or even wise.
Said one child: “Mom, is it true that even Google doesn’t know when the war ends?”
(HAMBURG, Germany) — Seven people were killed, including an unborn child, in a mass shooting at a building used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday evening, police said.
Eight people were also injured in the shooting, said police, including the pregnant mother of the unborn child. The 33-year-old woman, who was 28 weeks pregnant, suffered serious injuries, according to police.
Three of those injured suffered life-threatening injuries, while four others — including the mother — suffered serious injuries. One man suffered minor injuries, police said.
A suspected shooter was found dead in a community center, according to police, who initially conducted searches to “rule out the involvement of other perpetrators.” Authorities now believe he acted alone.
The 35-year-old man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on an upper floor of the building where the shooting took place, police said Friday. He had no known connection to terrorism.
Police said the six adults who died were between the ages of 33 and 60.
The incident occurred around 9 p.m., according to an alert from the city of Hamburg.
The streets around the building were cordoned off and residents were advised to avoid the area and shelter in place “for the time being,” the alert said. Police later began lifting shelter-in-place orders in the city.
Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher called reports of the deadly shooting “shocking” and offered his “deepest condolences” to the families of the victims.
“The emergency services are working flat out to track down the perpetrators and clarify the background,” he said in a statement earlier Thursday.
