(WASHINGTON) — After studying Iran’s comments on the European Union’s proposal to renew a 2015 nuclear deal, the State Department announced Wednesday it had submitted a formal reply to the plan, bringing a potential breakthrough within reach.
“We received Iran’s comments on the EU’s proposed final text through the EU. Our review of those comments has now concluded. We have responded to the E.U. today,” spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
While the E.U.’s top diplomat described the text put forth earlier this month as “final,” sources told ABC News the U.S. answer is expected to fall short of total acceptance but move negotiations forward. Iran’s response, which was submitted last week, has been described in similar terms.
“There are no shortcuts to this,” Price said on Monday, adding that Iran needs to answer investigators’ questions.
“The issues that are outstanding are issues that have been outstanding for some time,” said Naysan Rafati, the senior analyst on Iran at the Crisis Group, an independent think tank aimed at preventing global conflict. “They’ve been the hardest to resolve for a reason.”
Even if an accord can be reached between the U.S. and Iran, there are still other hurdles to surmount — both among the international community and in Washington.
China and Russia, frequent adversaries of the U.S. on the world stage, have signaled support for a renewed JCPOA, but Israel — one of America’s closest allies — is a vocal opponent of the pact and has ramped up its criticism in recent days.
Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid told reporters on Wednesday that a return to the JCPOA would not accomplish President Joe Biden’s goal of ensuring Iran never procures a nuclear weapon but would instead give the country billions of dollars to “undermine stability in the Middle East and spread terror around the globe” by relaxing sanctions.
“The political line from Jerusalem is pretty clear. They don’t view the agreement as satisfactory,” said Rafati. “There’s also some thinking within the Israeli national security establishment that it’s not necessarily a matter of liking the deal, but at this point, seeing that the alternatives to the deal have been even worse.”
Still, similar qualms have been expressed by conservatives in Washington. Dozens of Republican senators have vowed to block any attempt to return to the JCPOA, which would require approval from Congress. As talks have worn on, even some Democrats have expressed apprehension, questioning whether reentering the pact — which includes fixed “sunset” provisions, or end dates for key nuclear restrictions — would still be in the best interest of national security.
Although the Biden administration entered office promising to cut a “longer and stronger” deal with Iran, that ambition has since diminished. Still, U.S. officials maintain a return to the JCPOA remains the best way to restrain Iran’s nuclear program and have expressed confidence that a mutual return to compliance would ultimately win the support of lawmakers and foreign powers.
Though the outcome remains unclear, the final chapter of the winding negotiations appears to be nearing its conclusion. Analysts say the time Iran would need to amass enough fissile material to produce a nuclear weapon has dwindled to mere days or even less, and that for the JCPOA to be restored, an agreement in principle needs to be reached in the coming weeks — not months.
“Everyone at this point should have a reasonably clear sense of what’s possible and what isn’t possible,” Rafati said.
(KIEV) — Andrii Pokrasa is being hailed as a hero in Ukraine, known to the public as “Drone Boy,” after he helped a crucial Ukrainian military operation using his drone.
Andrii, 15, helped by his father, put his life in danger and sent the Ukrainian military the coordinates of advancing Russian forces during the early days of the war.
The war in Ukraine, which has raged on for six months, has had a particularly brutal effect on children.
Nearly 1,000 children have been killed or injured during the war, UNICEF estimates, and more than 5 million Ukrainian children both in the country and living as refugees abroad are in need of humanitarian aid.
“My mother was very scared at first,” Andrii told ABC News reporter Britt Clennett. “But now she is proud that we did well, that we are healthy and that we were able to help.
Andrii said that they posted in a local village group that they had a drone, and that Andrii knew how to operate it. A man named Yuri Kasyanov from the civil defense forces responded to their post, Andrii told ABC News, adding that “he didn’t know that I’m 15.”
Andrii was asked to use his drone to spy on advancing Russian vehicles in Makariv, a village near his own village of Kolonschyna, in the outskirts of Kiev.
“There were fuel trucks, tanks, artillery, armored personnel carriers,” he said. “I tracked them on a drone, they were in my picture. And then I opened the tab with the map on the drone and put a mark on it and the coordinates appeared there.”
Andrii said he passed the coordinates to Kasyanov, who passed them on to the Ukrainian artillery. The artillery decimated the column of Russian tanks within minutes.
They were near enough to an explosion related to the attack that they had to evacuate the area, he said.
“Yuri organized a green corridor for us – a convoy,” he said. “We went through this field to the Zhytomyr highway that had already been liberated by that time.”
Andrii said his friends didn’t believe him at first when he recounted his story of helping to defeat Russian forces, but then they saw him on TV.
MORE: Ukrainian children’s book author imagines the war through their eyes
“My friends are very happy that everything turned out and I am fine,” he said. “I had to help because I could.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Aug 24, 4:56 PM EDT
21 killed in Russian missile strike on train station
Twenty-one people were killed and another 22 were injured in a Russian missile strike on a train station in Chaplyne, in the central Ukraine region of Dnipropetrovsk, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou and Max Uzol
Aug 24, 2:55 PM EDT
Russia may hold sham referenda in occupied Ukrainian territory: White House
The White House said the U.S. believes Russia could hold “sham referenda” in occupied Ukrainian territory within days or weeks.
White House spokesman John Kirby said last month that Russia was “installing illegitimate proxy officials in the areas of Ukraine that are under its control” who would then arrange “sham referenda” as a precursor to annexation.
Kirby told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. government believes “these referenda could begin in a matter of days or weeks.”
“We have information that Russia continues to prepare to hold these sham referenda in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics,” Kirby said. “We’ve also learned that Russian leadership has instructed officials to begin preparing to hold these sham referenda, particularly in Kharkiv, as well.”
“We expect Russia to try to manipulate the results of these referenda to falsely claim that the Ukrainian people want to join Russia,” he continued. “It will be critical to call out and counter this disinformation in real time.”
“Any claim that the Ukrainian people somehow want to join Russia is simply not true,” Kirby said, citing polling data. It’s clear, he added, that Ukrainians “value and treasure their independence.”
President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will speak on the phone on Thursday, Kirby said.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Aug 24, 1:41 PM EDT
Queen Elizabeth marks Ukrainian Independence Day
Queen Elizabeth released a statement Wednesday marking Ukrainian Independence Day.
“It gives me great pleasure to send Your Excellency and the people of Ukraine my warmest greetings on the celebration of your Independence Day,” she said. “In this most challenging year, I hope that today will be a time for the Ukrainian people, both in Ukraine and around the world, to celebrate their culture, history and identity. May we look to better times in the future.”
Aug 24, 9:13 AM EDT
Biden announces new aid package, congratulates Ukraine on Independence Day
President Joe Biden in a statement Wednesday said he was “proud to announce our biggest tranche of security assistance to date” to Ukraine: “approximately $2.98 billion of weapons and equipment.”
“This will allow Ukraine to acquire air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term,” Biden said.
Biden confirmed the money would come through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The USAI money can be spent on contracts with the defense industry to produce new equipment for Ukraine.
Biden in his statement also marked Ukrainian Independence Day, saying, “Ukrainians have inspired the world with their extraordinary courage and dedication to freedom.”
“Today is not only a celebration of the past but a resounding affirmation that Ukraine proudly remains — and will remain — a sovereign and independent nation,” he said.
He continued, “I know this Independence Day is bittersweet for many Ukrainians as thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian atrocities and attacks.”
“Today and every day, we stand with the Ukrainian people to proclaim that the darkness that drives autocracy is no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere,” Biden said.
Aug 23, 4:39 PM EDT
2 Zaporizhzhya power plant employees killed in shelling in city of Enerhodar
Two Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant employees were killed on their day off when Russian forces shelled the city of Enerhodar, officials said.
-ABC News’ Yuriy Zaliznyak and Dada Jovanovic
Aug 23, 2:35 PM EDT
US to announce its largest single aid package for Ukraine
The U.S. will announce its largest single aid package for Ukraine on Wednesday, according to two U.S. officials. The package is expected to be valued at roughly $3 billion — though one official told ABC News some changes could be made overnight, and $3 billion is on the higher end of the estimates.
A senior U.S. official told ABC News the package will come from Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds. Unlike presidential drawdown packages, which pull from existing U.S. equipment stocks, the USAI money can be spent on contracts with the defense industry to produce new equipment for Ukraine.
The U.S. has committed about $10.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler and Shannon Crawford
Aug 23, 1:54 PM EDT
Americans urged to leave Ukraine over Russian strikes on civilians
The United States is once again urging its citizens to leave Ukraine amid concerns Russia is ramping up attacks on civilians in the war-torn country.
In a security alert posted Tuesday on its website, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv urged Americans “to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so.”
“The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days,” the embassy said in the alert. “Russian strikes in Ukraine pose a continued threat to civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
Sources within the State Department said the heightened risk of a Russian strike on highly populated centers is most directly tied to Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday.
“The risks are really high,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News. “We are receiving information that there may be a provocation by the Russian Federation, by the occupiers. Therefore, we do not want large gatherings on such days. The days are beautiful, but … our neighbors are not.”
Aug 23, 9:10 AM EDT
Americans urged to leave Ukraine over Russian strikes on civilians
The United States is once again urging its citizens to leave Ukraine amid concerns Russia is ramping up attacks on civilians in the war-torn country.
In a security alert posted Tuesday on its website, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv urged Americans “to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so.”
“The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days,” the embassy said in the alert. “Russian strikes in Ukraine pose a continued threat to civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
Aug 22, 10:59 AM EDT
FSB accuses Ukrainian special services of assassinating Darya Dugina
Russia’s FSB is accusing Ukrainian special services of assassinating Darya Dugina, the daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugina, who was killed by an explosive this weekend.
The FSB said a Ukrainian national arrived in Russia on July 23 with her 12-year-old daughter and rented an apartment in the same Moscow building where Dugina lived, Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti reported. The woman allegedly trailed Dugina for nearly a month and then immediately left for Estonia with her daughter just after this weekend’s bombing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement that Darya Dugina was “a bright, talented person with a real Russian heart – kind, loving, sympathetic and open.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Ukraine is working under the assumption that Russian secret services are behind the killing, saying “Ru-propaganda lives in a fictional world.”
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Oleksii Shemyskyo
Aug 22, 9:13 AM EDT
Air raid sirens sound across Ukraine
Air raid sirens are sounding across Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Russia could launch a “particularly ugly” provocation this week as Ukraine approaches its Independence Day on Wednesday.
In Kyiv, all public events are canceled and government employees have been told to work from home through the week.
In Kramatorsk, public events have been canceled for Tuesday through Thursday and public transportation has been stopped.
Aug 22, 6:16 AM EDT
Explosive under Putin ally’s car was remotely triggered, investigators say
An explosive device planted on the underside of Putin ally Alexander Dugin’s vehicle was remotely triggered, Russian investigators said.
Dugin’s daughter, Daria Dugina, was killed in a blast near Moscow on Saturday.
“A presumed explosive device planted on a Toyota Land Cruiser went off when the car was moving at full speed past Bolshiye Vyazemy in the Odintsovo urban district at about 9 p.m. on August 20, and the car caught fire,” the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement posted to Telegram. “The woman driving the car died instantly. The victim was identified as journalist, political analyst Daria Dugina.”
Alexander and Daria attended a traditional patriotic festival on Saturday afternoon, according to the Odinstovo administration. They’d planned to leave together in the same vehicle, but Daria instead drove alone.
The Russian Investigative Committee’s press service told Interfax that Daria was assassinated.
Detectives established that the bomb was planted on the underside of the driver’s side of the vehicle, the committee said. Russian media outlets had reported that the SUV belonged to Dugin.
“Detectives and specialists from the Main Forensic Department of the Russian Investigative Committee are continuing to examine the incident scene. In particular, a forensic technician examined the charred vehicle before it was taken to a special parking lot,” the Committee said.
Biological, genetic, physical, chemical and explosive examinations have been scheduled, the committee said.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Aug 21, 3:12 PM EDT
Daughter of Putin ally killed in car bomb; Schiff hopes it wasn’t ‘from Ukraine’
U.S. officials do not know who to blame for the car bomb that killed the daughter of political theorist Alexander Dugin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said during an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Daria Dugina, a 29-year-old TV commentator, was killed on the Mozhaisk Highway in the outskirts of Moscow on Saturday night by an explosive that had been planted in the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving, Russia’s state-run news agency TASS reported.
Alexander Dugin, often referred to as “Putin’s brain,” had just attended “Tradition” cultural festival with his daughter, according to TASS. Russian media outlets reported that the SUV belonged to Dugin.
The Russian Investigative Committee press office told TASS Dugina’s killing was planned and contracted.
Schiff said Sunday that he had not yet been briefed on the killing and that he “couldn’t say” who is behind it, adding that he hoped it was an “internal Russian affair” rather than something “emanating from Ukraine.”
“There are so many factions and internecine warfare within Russian society, within the Russian government,” Schiff said. “Anything is possible.”
Adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office Mikhail Podolyak denied Kyiv was involved in the explosion that killed Dugina during a televised interview on Sunday.
“I emphasize that Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with this, because we are not a criminal state like the Russian Federation, and even less a terrorist state,” Podolyak said.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Patrick Reevell
Aug 20, 2:10 PM EDT
Videos circulating online show smoke over Sevastopol
Videos circulating online show smoke rising over Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea.
The city’s Russian-appointed governor said a drone was struck down and fell through the roof of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Headquarters. Ukraine has not commented on the strike.
-ABC News’ Layla Ferris
Aug 19, 3:31 PM EDT
US to offer new $775M aid package to Ukraine
The U.S. has authorized a new $775 million military aid package for Ukraine, the Department of Defense announced on Friday.
The package will include more High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) ammunition and howitzers, as well as some firsts, including ScanEagle reconnaissance drones and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
The 15 ScanEagle drones are intended to help Ukraine identify targets and put the HIMARS and howitzers to better use, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
The 40 MRAP vehicles and other mine-clearing equipment will help Ukrainian troops cross dangerous terrain, according to the official.
“We know that Russia has heavily mined areas in parts of southern and eastern Ukraine. We know there’s a significant amount of unexploded ordinance,” the official said.
The new aid package follows a $1 billion package announced on Aug. 8.
(NEW YORK) — A worldwide drought has devastated communities across the globe, but it also has fascinated millions as historic artifacts have come to the surface, igniting memories from decades to centuries before.
Let’s go prehistoric…
This August, Texas’ Dinosaur Valley State Park saw rare dinosaur tracks that are usually covered by water and sediment. With the Paluxy River running through only a portion of its usual berth, tracks from Acrocanthosaurus dinosaurs have come to the light.
Jeff Davis, parks superintendent at Dinosaur Valley, told ABC News these tracks could date back millions of years. Davis added that Sauroposeidon tracks have become visible on the opposite side of the park, adding to the season’s remarkable attractions.
With heavy rainfall hitting Texas, Davis says these tracks will likely be covered by water again soon. However, that might be best for their livelihood.
“It’s the river that will bring in silt and sediment and pile those on top of the tracks. That’s what preserves them, that’s why they’re still here after 113 million years or so,” Davis said.
A masterpiece with an unknown creator
Amid a devastating drought in the country, a Spanish ‘stonehenge’ has become fully visible for the second time since it became covered in water in the 1960s.
The striking circle of dozens of megalithic stones, officially called the Dolmen of Guadalperal, has existed since 5000 BC.
However, it was first discovered by German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier in 1926 before it became flooded in 1963 due to a rural development project under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.
No one knows who created the dolmen.
Now, the structure sits in a corner of the Valdecanas reservoir located in the country’s central province of Caceres.
As Spain faces its worst drought in 60 years, officials say the water level in the reservoir has dropped to 28% capacity.
Remnants of WWII surface
Going east, Europe’s sizzling summer drought left over a dozen Nazi ships surfacing on the drying Danube River near Prahavo, Serbia.
The ships were part of Nazi Germany’s Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, officials said.
Many of the ships still hold ammunition and explosives, posing a risk to shipping on the river, officials said.
The vessels have limited the navigable section of the stretch near Prahova to 100 meters, significantly slimmer than the prior 180 meters ships had access to. Serbian officials have taken to dredging along the river to salvage the usable navigation lanes, authorities said.
The Danube levels near Prahovo are less than half their average for this time of the summer, experts say.
Buddhist relics emerge in China
The Far East isn’t escaping the scorching season. On China’s Yangtze River, a formerly submerged island has emerged with a trio of Buddhist statues believed to be 600 years old.
Officials believe the statues were built during the Ming and Qing dynasties, state media Xinhua reported. One statue depicts a monk sitting on a lotus pedestal.
The statues have emerged on the river near the southwestern city of Chongqing.
Experts say the Yangtze is about 45% lower than its normal height. The state broadcaster CCTV said that as many as 66 rivers across 34 counties in Chongqing have dried up.
A bridge once traveled…
An ancient bridge in Yorkshire, England, has risen back over the water that has covered it since the 1950s.
Members of the public were seen crossing what was an ancient packhorse bridge in August. The bridge has been invisible since it was flooded to build the Baitings Reservoir in the 1950s.
Now, record high temperatures and low water levels at the reservoir have revealed the remains of the ancient road.
Experts say the Baitings settlement expanded rapidly in the Industrial Revolution, but had been long in decline by the time it was flooded.
Reminders from droughts come before
“Hunger stones” have become revealed in Germany on Rhine River, rekindling memories of past droughts.
The stones bear dates and people’s initials. Dates visible on stones seen in Worms, south of Frankfurt, and Rheindorf, near Leverkusen, included 1947, 1959, 2003 and 2018, Reuters reports.
The tradition of hunger stones dates back to the 15th century, experts say. They were embedded into dried-up riverbeds to warn people in the future that hard times were near.
A 2013 study about droughts in Czech history explains the phenomenon through one of the most famous hunger stones.
“It expressed that drought had brought a bad harvest, lack of food, high prices, and hunger for poor people. Before 1900, the following droughts are commemorated on the stone: 1417, 1616, 1707, 1746, 1790, 1800, 1811, 1830, 1842, 1868, 1892, and 1893,” the study read.
The ever-alarming Lake Mead
The U.S.’s largest reservoir has raised concern as its water levels have reached record lows to reveal alarming remnants. Since May, officials have found five sets of human remains in Lake Mead.
The fifth set of remains were found on Aug. 15 at Swim Beach in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area around 8:00 p.m., according to the National Park Service.
Along with the shocking collection of human remains found amid the shrinking water levels, officials reported a sunken WWII era vessel to have emerged from the reservoir.
The vessel, a Higgins boat used for beach landings during WWII, comes to the surface after the same receding waters have revealed multiple bodies, sunken pleasure boats and a myriad of previously-submerged items.
Officials said the water levels are so depleted in the lake, they could soon reach “dead pool” status, in which the water is too low to flow downstream to the Hoover Dam. According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the minimum water surface level needed to generate power at the dam is 1,050 feet.
(LONDON) — Japan is ending its pre-entry COVID-19 test requirement for fully vaccinated travelers with at least one booster dose, making it one of the last countries to do so.
The country, which has enforced some of the strictest border measures since the pandemic began, had required a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Wednesday the restrictions will end Sept. 7.
“We plan to gradually ease border controls to allow entry procedures to be as smooth as those of other Group of Seven countries,” Kishida said during a virtual press conference from his official residence, where he is isolating after testing positive for COVID Sunday. “We will speed up our efforts while balancing infection measures and social and economic activities going as much as possible.”
This makes Japan one of the last countries to drop pre-departure testing, with just a few left who are keeping the requirement, such as China and South Korea.
Kishida also announced the isolation period for people who test positive for COVID-19 will be shortened but did not provide specifics. Currently, those with symptoms are required to isolate for 10 days and those without symptoms for seven days.
However, other restrictions in the country will continue to remain in place. Japan will continue its cap of 20,000 daily visitors.
Kishida did say the government is considering increasing the daily cap on travelers next month. Local media reports suggest the government will more than double the cap to 50,000 per day.
So far, only 387,000 people have visited Japan between January and May this year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. This pales in comparison to the 31.8 million people who visited the nation in 2019.
Additionally, foreign tourists are only allowed to visit as part of a guided package tour and must apply for a visa. Independent travelers are not yet allowed entry into the country.
Currently, those allowed to enter include Japanese nationals, family members of Japanese residents, international students and certain business travelers.
It is unclear when a full reopening will occur.
The changes come as Japan battles a new wave of COVID-19 infections. According to the World Health Organization, Japan confirmed more than 185,400 cases Tuesday. At the beginning of July, the country was recording just 23,000 new cases.
COVID-19–related deaths have also been increasing. On Tuesday, the country recorded 269 deaths, WHO data shows. Meanwhile, at the beginning of July, Japan was reporting between 10 and 15 deaths per day.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Aug 24, 9:13 AM EDT
Biden announces new aid package, congratulates Ukraine on Independence Day
President Joe Biden in a statement Wednesday said he was “proud to announce our biggest tranche of security assistance to date” to Ukraine: “approximately $2.98 billion of weapons and equipment.”
“This will allow Ukraine to acquire air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term,” Biden said.
Biden confirmed the money would come through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The USAI money can be spent on contracts with the defense industry to produce new equipment for Ukraine.
Biden in his statement also marked Ukrainian Independence Day, saying, “Ukrainians have inspired the world with their extraordinary courage and dedication to freedom.”
“Today is not only a celebration of the past but a resounding affirmation that Ukraine proudly remains — and will remain — a sovereign and independent nation,” he said.
He continued, “I know this Independence Day is bittersweet for many Ukrainians as thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian atrocities and attacks.”
“Today and every day, we stand with the Ukrainian people to proclaim that the darkness that drives autocracy is no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere,” Biden said.
Aug 23, 4:39 PM EDT
2 Zaporizhzhya power plant employees killed in shelling in city of Enerhodar
Two Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant employees were killed on their day off when Russian forces shelled the city of Enerhodar, officials said.
-ABC News’ Yuriy Zaliznyak and Dada Jovanovic
Aug 23, 2:35 PM EDT
US to announce its largest single aid package for Ukraine
The U.S. will announce its largest single aid package for Ukraine on Wednesday, according to two U.S. officials. The package is expected to be valued at roughly $3 billion — though one official told ABC News some changes could be made overnight, and $3 billion is on the higher end of the estimates.
A senior U.S. official told ABC News the package will come from Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds. Unlike presidential drawdown packages, which pull from existing U.S. equipment stocks, the USAI money can be spent on contracts with the defense industry to produce new equipment for Ukraine.
The U.S. has committed about $10.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler and Shannon Crawford
Aug 23, 1:54 PM EDT
Americans urged to leave Ukraine over Russian strikes on civilians
The United States is once again urging its citizens to leave Ukraine amid concerns Russia is ramping up attacks on civilians in the war-torn country.
In a security alert posted Tuesday on its website, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv urged Americans “to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so.”
“The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days,” the embassy said in the alert. “Russian strikes in Ukraine pose a continued threat to civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
Sources within the State Department said the heightened risk of a Russian strike on highly populated centers is most directly tied to Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday.
“The risks are really high,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News. “We are receiving information that there may be a provocation by the Russian Federation, by the occupiers. Therefore, we do not want large gatherings on such days. The days are beautiful, but … our neighbors are not.”
Aug 23, 9:10 AM EDT
Americans urged to leave Ukraine over Russian strikes on civilians
The United States is once again urging its citizens to leave Ukraine amid concerns Russia is ramping up attacks on civilians in the war-torn country.
In a security alert posted Tuesday on its website, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv urged Americans “to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so.”
“The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days,” the embassy said in the alert. “Russian strikes in Ukraine pose a continued threat to civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
Aug 22, 10:59 AM EDT
FSB accuses Ukrainian special services of assassinating Darya Dugina
Russia’s FSB is accusing Ukrainian special services of assassinating Darya Dugina, the daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugina, who was killed by an explosive this weekend.
The FSB said a Ukrainian national arrived in Russia on July 23 with her 12-year-old daughter and rented an apartment in the same Moscow building where Dugina lived, Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti reported. The woman allegedly trailed Dugina for nearly a month and then immediately left for Estonia with her daughter just after this weekend’s bombing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement that Darya Dugina was “a bright, talented person with a real Russian heart – kind, loving, sympathetic and open.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Ukraine is working under the assumption that Russian secret services are behind the killing, saying “Ru-propaganda lives in a fictional world.”
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Oleksii Shemyskyo
Aug 22, 9:13 AM EDT
Air raid sirens sound across Ukraine
Air raid sirens are sounding across Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Russia could launch a “particularly ugly” provocation this week as Ukraine approaches its Independence Day on Wednesday.
In Kyiv, all public events are canceled and government employees have been told to work from home through the week.
In Kramatorsk, public events have been canceled for Tuesday through Thursday and public transportation has been stopped.
Aug 22, 6:16 AM EDT
Explosive under Putin ally’s car was remotely triggered, investigators say
An explosive device planted on the underside of Putin ally Alexander Dugin’s vehicle was remotely triggered, Russian investigators said.
Dugin’s daughter, Daria Dugina, was killed in a blast near Moscow on Saturday.
“A presumed explosive device planted on a Toyota Land Cruiser went off when the car was moving at full speed past Bolshiye Vyazemy in the Odintsovo urban district at about 9 p.m. on August 20, and the car caught fire,” the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement posted to Telegram. “The woman driving the car died instantly. The victim was identified as journalist, political analyst Daria Dugina.”
Alexander and Daria attended a traditional patriotic festival on Saturday afternoon, according to the Odinstovo administration. They’d planned to leave together in the same vehicle, but Daria instead drove alone.
The Russian Investigative Committee’s press service told Interfax that Daria was assassinated.
Detectives established that the bomb was planted on the underside of the driver’s side of the vehicle, the committee said. Russian media outlets had reported that the SUV belonged to Dugin.
“Detectives and specialists from the Main Forensic Department of the Russian Investigative Committee are continuing to examine the incident scene. In particular, a forensic technician examined the charred vehicle before it was taken to a special parking lot,” the Committee said.
Biological, genetic, physical, chemical and explosive examinations have been scheduled, the committee said.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Aug 21, 3:12 PM EDT
Daughter of Putin ally killed in car bomb; Schiff hopes it wasn’t ‘from Ukraine’
U.S. officials do not know who to blame for the car bomb that killed the daughter of political theorist Alexander Dugin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said during an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Daria Dugina, a 29-year-old TV commentator, was killed on the Mozhaisk Highway in the outskirts of Moscow on Saturday night by an explosive that had been planted in the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving, Russia’s state-run news agency TASS reported.
Alexander Dugin, often referred to as “Putin’s brain,” had just attended “Tradition” cultural festival with his daughter, according to TASS. Russian media outlets reported that the SUV belonged to Dugin.
The Russian Investigative Committee press office told TASS Dugina’s killing was planned and contracted.
Schiff said Sunday that he had not yet been briefed on the killing and that he “couldn’t say” who is behind it, adding that he hoped it was an “internal Russian affair” rather than something “emanating from Ukraine.”
“There are so many factions and internecine warfare within Russian society, within the Russian government,” Schiff said. “Anything is possible.”
Adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office Mikhail Podolyak denied Kyiv was involved in the explosion that killed Dugina during a televised interview on Sunday.
“I emphasize that Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with this, because we are not a criminal state like the Russian Federation, and even less a terrorist state,” Podolyak said.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Patrick Reevell
Aug 20, 2:10 PM EDT
Videos circulating online show smoke over Sevastopol
Videos circulating online show smoke rising over Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea.
The city’s Russian-appointed governor said a drone was struck down and fell through the roof of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Headquarters. Ukraine has not commented on the strike.
-ABC News’ Layla Ferris
Aug 19, 3:31 PM EDT
US to offer new $775M aid package to Ukraine
The U.S. has authorized a new $775 million military aid package for Ukraine, the Department of Defense announced on Friday.
The package will include more High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) ammunition and howitzers, as well as some firsts, including ScanEagle reconnaissance drones and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
The 15 ScanEagle drones are intended to help Ukraine identify targets and put the HIMARS and howitzers to better use, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
The 40 MRAP vehicles and other mine-clearing equipment will help Ukrainian troops cross dangerous terrain, according to the official.
“We know that Russia has heavily mined areas in parts of southern and eastern Ukraine. We know there’s a significant amount of unexploded ordinance,” the official said.
The new aid package follows a $1 billion package announced on Aug. 8.
(KYIV, Ukraine) — As Ukraine prepared on Wednesday to celebrate its Independence Day, residents of Kyiv, the capital, took to the streets to take photographs with rows of destroyed Russian tanks, which have become a symbol of Russia’s failed strategy to take the city.
The Russian army may have failed in its early plans to replace the Ukrainian government, but a war of attrition has set into the country’s east, with analysts warning that the war may drag on for months or even years.
Despite the presence of the tanks, the atmosphere in the capital this week has been mostly muted, residents said. But authorities have warned that Independence Day may bring renewed Russian strikes on the city, far away from the frontlines.
The United States repeated those warnings, with Americans being advised to leave the country via private means. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said the State Department “has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.”
With the city on high alert and the country under assault, the overlap of the two anniversaries has proven to be a moment for Ukrainians to reflect on the meaning of their independence.
Ukraine issued its Declaration of Independence from the Soviet Union on Aug. 24, 1991. The day has since been one of Ukraine’s state holidays, usually marked by a military parade.
“During these six months, we changed history, changed the world and changed ourselves,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a speech on Wednesday. “And the whole world learned who Ukrainians are. What Ukraine is. No one will say about it anymore: it is somewhere over there, near Russia.”
The Ukrainian public not only supports the struggle to liberate the Russian controlled-areas, but has said it believes that Ukraine will win the war, according to polling in the country, though reports suggest Ukrainians are more divided on how much territory taken back would constitute a victory.
But it has also left a nation traumatized by war. Millions have been displaced and hundreds of civilians are killed each week, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Humanitarians fear that the winter will bring more misery. There have been almost 1,000 verified deaths of children, according to the U.N., though observers say this number is likely higher.
For many, independence now carries a new significance.
“When Ukraine became an independent country, I was a little kid, I was only ten and at that time, I really couldn’t understand what is going on around, but I have heard many times from my grandmother about evil of Russian empire,” Andriy, 41, a musician, traumatologist and radio anchor from Lviv who now serves as a medic on the southern front, told ABC News. “When [the] Russian war exploded with more power on February 24, now I understand independence of Ukraine as [an] absolutely new thing.”
German, a 59-year-old Kyiv resident, said there is a new clarity about what it means to be an independent country on the eve of the anniversary.
“Until February 24, 2022, there was no clearly formed understanding of independence,” he told ABC News. “After the start of the war, the vision was as follows: independence is free people hardened into a nation that moves its state forward.”
For some of the displaced, being forced to flee from the east has uprooted their sense of local identity and connection to home, even if they believe in Ukraine’s ultimate victory.
“Maybe now I will sound in a stupid way, but I don’t want to adapt, to adjust,” Yana, a 32-year-old who left the city of Kharkiv in March to the comparatively safe western city of Lviv, told ABC News. “No, not because I’m somehow abnormal, just because I don’t have a sense of home anywhere… Lviv is a wonderful city, and Vinnytsia, and Poltava, and Kremenchuk, and all other cities, but my home is not there.”
“What has changed now, every minute of our existence, we need to prove and fight for our independence,” she said. “Which until February 24 was a common thing and understandable to everyone.”
For many Ukrainians, the war has changed not just their understanding of independence, but their entire lives, forever.
“Adaptation is very simple,” German said. “It will never be the same again, as it was before. So I do what I can for the victory.”
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. military said it carried out airstrikes on Tuesday targeting areas of eastern Syria controlled by Iran-backed militias.
The “precision strikes” in the oil-rich Deir ez-Zor province, near Syria’s border with Iraq, “targeted infrastructure facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” according to Col. Joe Buccino, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command.
“Today’s strikes were necessary to protect and defend U.S. personnel,” Buccino said in a statement. “The United States took proportionate, deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize the risk of casualties.”
Buccino did not offer any casualty numbers from the strikes.
Neither Syria nor Iran immediately acknowledged the attack.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitoring group, said the U.S. strikes targeted the Ayash Camp run by the Fatemiyoun Brigade, a militia made up of Afghan Shiite refugees sent by Iran to fight in the ongoing Syrian Civil War alongside Syrian government troops. At least six Syrian and foreign militants were reportedly killed in the strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
According to Buccino, the strikes came at the orders of U.S. President Joe Biden in response to an attack on Aug. 15, when Iran-backed militias allegedly launched drones targeting the al-Tanf Garrison used by U.S. forces in the energy-rich Homs province in central Syria. At that time, U.S. Central Command described the attack as causing “zero casualties and no damage.”
“The United States does not seek conflict, but will continue to take necessary measures to protect and defend our people,” Buccino added. “U.S. forces remain in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
The strikes came as Biden seeks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that his predecessor abandoned.
Since 2014, the U.S. has led a coalition of countries conducting strikes targeting the Islamic State group in Syria. U.S. ground forces entered Syria in 2015. In more recent years, the American-led coalition has also launched strikes targeting the Syrian government’s forces and allies, mainly in defense of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias that was formed as part of the campaign against ISIS.
What started as a local protest movement in Syria’s southern city of Dara’a expanded into a full-fledged civil war by 2012. ISIS, which grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq, took root in northern and eastern Syria in 2013 after seizing swaths of territory in neighboring Iraq. The jihadist group is fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and establish a caliphate.
The Syrian Civil War has pulled in the United States, Russia, Iran and almost all of Syria’s neighbors. It has become the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, according to the United Nations.
(KIEV) — In some ways, 14-year-old Dasha Pivtoratska is like other children her age. She wants to become a choreographer, she shares videos via TikTok and she lights up when she talks about her pets.
But having encountered the Russian invasion of her hometown in Ukraine, a village near Kiev named Katyuzhanka, Dasha has suffered loss and experienced trauma that sets her apart from other children her age.
The war in Ukraine has affected children in profound and incalculable ways. Three million children inside the country and more than 2 million children living as refugees are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to UNICEF.
The agency has also reported that nearly 1,000 children have been killed or injured during the course of the war, which will reach its six-month mark on Wednesday.
Dasha was traveling in the car with her father, driving home, when Russian soldiers opened fire on their vehicle.
“The first shots hit the gas tank, then the windshield,” Dasha told ABC News reporter Britt Clennett. “My dad started to pull back, we went back to the road, and [from] there they started shooting from everywhere.”
Dasha described watching the tanks approach, like a “column,” and how her dad tried to escape the Russian forces by driving in reverse down the street.
The car caught on fire, and Dasha described being told to leave the car. She ran to another car and that’s when she was shot, she said.
She was hit by bullets in her arm and her thigh, and tried to crawl away, apparently making noise that alerted Russian soldiers to her presence.
“About ten minutes later they walked over to me,” she said. “They kicked me in the leg and apparently [thought] that I was already dead. And then they left.”
“I understood almost nothing. It was a shock,” she said. “There was no feeling of pain. Everything was numb.”
She was eventually rescued by her grandfather, and at some point realized that her father had been killed.
“I loved him very, very much,” she said, adding that she had recently been growing closer to him. “I spent a lot of time with him,” she said. “We talked on different topics. He was the only one with whom I could talk. Only he could support me that much.”
Dasha would eventually have surgery on her bullet wounds, and is currently undergoing rehabilitation for her hip. Sometimes the leg hurts, she said, and it impacts her movement.
Regardless, she continues to dream of working as a choreographer, studying choreography in school after ninth grade and then teaching it.
The pain from the bullet wounds is minor compared to the anguish of losing a family member.
“It’s hard of course,” she said during the interview. “But you can’t do anything.”
Wednesday marks six months since Russia invaded Ukraine.
In the months since Russia’s blitzkrieg attack from the north and east, which was met with a stronger-than-expected resistance from the outmanned and outgunned Ukrainians, the evolving conflict has become more of a “static war” with no clear winners, according to ABC News contributor retired Col. Steve Ganyard.
“At this stage, both countries, both Ukraine and Russia, seem to be losing,” Ganyard said. “And now the fight is obviously who can lose first and who will have to lose last.”
It’s impossible to predict how much longer the war will last — it could be months or even years, Ganyard said.
“This is a war that’s unfolding at this point very, very slowly,” he said. “Neither side has the ability to conduct significant offensive operations.”
How long the fighting continues until one side “loses first” will likely depend on a few factors.
For Russia, getting troops on the ground to maintain the territory it’s taken is one, as recruiting personnel has been a challenge, Ganyard said.
The Russian military hasn’t given an official update on casualties since late March, when it reported around 1,350. One U.S. Department of Defense official estimated earlier this month that at least 70,000 Russians have been killed or wounded since the start of the war.
“There’s a lot of fog in war, but, you know, I think it’s safe to suggest that the Russians have probably taken 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months,” Colin Kahl, the undersecretary for defense for policy at the Department of Defense, told reporters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a “very difficult chore” to recruit qualified military personnel to fight in Ukraine, Ganyard said.
“The Russians are basically recruiting out of prisons at this point,” he said. “They have not mobilized the whole nation.”
The number of Ukrainian soldiers killed since Feb. 24 is classified, but deputy minister of defense Hanna Maliar has said there are “thousands.” There have also been thousands of civilian casualties; the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates that over 5,500 have been killed and over 7,600 injured in Ukraine since Feb. 24.
For Ukraine, continued support from the West will be key, Ganyard said, including supplies of precision weapons such as the long-range High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARs, which Ukrainian forces have used to wear down Russians in rear areas.
“The ability for the Ukrainians to target very precise locations — command posts, supply depots — this allows the Ukrainians to begin to attrite and wear down the Russians in their rear areas, take away the supplies that they’re using to conduct this war,” Ganyard said.
This development is “unprecedented” so far in the conflict, he said.
“Up to this point, the war had been basically a slugfest — artillery against artillery,” he said. “But now that the Ukrainians have this long-range capability where they can hit very precise coordinates, it gives them an offensive advantage.”
Though as the conflict continues, there is a risk for Ukraine that Western support could wane as the impacts of the war, such as from energy supplies in Europe, are felt in the months ahead, he said.
How much more of a beating their contracted economies can withstand will be a factor for both countries, Ganyard said.
“As we see both economies get drawn down, as we see both militaries being punished and diminished, it’s going to be a question of who can survive and who can lose last,” he said.
Morale also continues to be crucial, with Ukraine buoyed by its offensive advantage while Russia looks to hold ground in hostile territory, he said.
For Kahl, “Ukrainian morale and will to fight is unquestioned and much higher, I think, than the average morale and will to fight on the Russian side,” he told reporters. “I think that gives the Ukrainians a significant advantage.”
With those factors in consideration, there are several ways the conflict could potentially play out:
Russia holds ground in Donbas, Ukraine relinquishes territory
In a “best-case scenario” for Russia, its troops will continue to gain incrementally in the Donbas and hold their ground against Ukrainian forces, Ganyard said. If Ukraine doesn’t have the arsenal to push back or can’t hold out amid a downhill economy, that could put them in a position to sue for peace, he said.
“Where the Russians are pushing in from the east toward the west, that is the bread basket of Ukraine,” Ganyard said. “That is where not only most of the industry is, but it’s where most of the agriculture, very rich agricultural area, all of that gets transported down the Dnipro River.
“If Russia would be able to hang on to that, it would almost cut Ukraine in half, and certainly cut the Ukrainian economy by more than half,” he continued.
Ukraine regains territory in the Donbas, Russia cuts its losses
If Ukraine manages to recapture some of the territory in the Donbas claimed by Russian forces since the invasion started, that could pressure Putin to end the invasion to stave off further embarrassment, Ganyard said.
“If he began to lose, if he began to take even heavier losses, if the Ukrainians were able to recapture parts of Ukraine that the Russians have taken, at some point Putin may decide to cut his losses and declare victory and take whatever’s left on the table in terms of the territory that he’s taken thus far,” Ganyard said.
Ukraine regains territory in the Donbas, Russia escalates
Alternately, Putin may push back against the political embarrassment of losing territory it had gained since the start of the invasion, Ganyard said.
“The more gains that the Ukrainians make, it’s actually going to make the whole situation more dangerous because Putin may react in a way that escalates to de-escalate,” Ganyard said. “We’ve heard that term in the past, and usually that refers to the use of tactical battlefield nuclear weapons.
“The danger here is if the Ukrainians continue to do better, what does Putin do to save himself to save his beloved, domestic political position?” he continued. “Does he do something that would shock the whole world and try to scare the Ukrainians into an early surrender?”
Ukraine pushes south, putting pressure on Putin
Kherson, a port city on the north of the Crimean Peninsula, was the first major city to fall after Russia launched its invasion. The city is key to Ukraine for its access to the Black Sea and ability to move goods. If Ukraine manages to make ground and pushes past Kherson and threatens Russia-annexed Crimea, that could give Ukraine a negotiating advantage, Ganyard said.
“[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy will continue to try to threaten Crimea to be able to pressure Putin,” he said.
That could look like threatening to turn off the freshwater supplies into Crimea, he said.
“There’s all sorts of unknowns here about what happens,” Ganyard said. “As they go into the fall and into the winter, there may be some movement in terms of the negotiations. But at this point, neither side can afford to give up the kinds of military actions that we see on the ground to this point.”
