World – Page 234 – 105.7 WDNY

Vehicle explodes in central Milan, releasing plumes of smoke

May 11, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(MILAN) — A parked van exploded in a busy section of central Milan in Italy on Thursday morning.

The carabinieri — or Italian police — said that it was not clear what caused the van to explode in the Porta Romana neighborhood of the city and that no further details are currently available.

The explosion left several other nearby vehicles on fire as black smoke billowed into the sky in the downtown area.

Story developing…

Death and sacrifice: How Ukrainians on the front line deal with loss

May 10, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(KYIV, Ukraine) — Six-year-old Sasha Pylypets watched, impassively, with a type of curious stare, as people threw handfuls of earth into her dad’s grave.

Days later, in another Ukrainian region, Tetyana Taranukha sobbed uncontrollably as she arched her grief-stricken body over her son’s flag-draped coffin.

She pressed her face down onto the wooden casket, hugging it with both arms, caressing the flag’s yellow-and-blue fabric with her neatly manicured hand.

Sasha’s dad, Oleksandr Pylypets, was 30. Tetyana’s son, Yuriy Taranukha, was 25.

Both men served in the Ukrainian army. They were both killed defending Ukraine against Russia’s invading army in a war which has now entered its 15th month.

It is unclear how many Ukrainian soldiers have died since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February of last year.

The Ukrainian government has never released figures and a suggestion by a top U.S. official last November that around 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been wounded or killed was denied by Ukrainian officials.

Over the past five months, Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region have largely been on the back foot.

Russia has, very slowly, taken land around the city of Bakhmut in a grinding, costly and, to date, unsuccessful offensive which Western officials say has “stalled.”

Ukrainian and Western officials consistently stress that Russia has lost many more men in the battle for Bakhmut. Moscow has denied a recent claim by U.S. officials that, in just the last five months of the war around 100,000 Russian troops have been killed or injured.

What can be said with certainty is that the fighting in the Donbas in recent months has been incredibly costly for both sides.

And accounts from Ukrainian soldiers provide us with insights into the scale of the loss.

Oleksiy Storozhez serves in an air reconnaissance unit in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

We met him on March 31, the day of the funeral of his friend, Yuriy Taranukha. The two men had worked construction together before the war in their local town of Zmiiv.

Storozhez said “a lot” of people who he knew in his local town had been killed in recent fighting, mainly in the area of Bakhmut, a city which Russia has been trying to capture for more than six months.

“There are funerals every day. Two or three people I know die every day,” Storozhez told ABC News.

Another soldier, Andriy Sheremet, who said he had been serving on the frontlines near to Bakhmut for around eight months said losses had sometimes been “notable,” however he added that Russian losses he had witnessed had been “much bigger.”

Visits to Ukrainian cemeteries also speak of the scale of sacrifice being made.

From one visit to the next, the long lines of blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags, each one marking the grave of a fallen soldier, grow longer. Freshly-dug graves, ready for the dead to be brought in, can often be spotted.

In one central cemetery in the western city of Lviv, ABC News counted around a hundred graves belonging to soldiers who were killed in the first three months of this year.

Oleg Rydvan was killed in Bakhmut in February. He was reportedly hit by shrapnel in the head after trying to rescue comrades who were surrounded by Russian forces.

In an interview with ABC News, his sister, Liudmyla Polio, described her brother as “a hero” who was killed while trying to save comrades who had become surrounded by Russian forces.

Liudmyla said her brother died for a cause, and, against the odds, helped Ukraine. The country’s forces have, so far, been able to hold onto Bakhmut in a battle that’s been bloody for both sides.

“We see coffins coming and coming,” Liudmyla said. “They are young men who are 30, 31. They had their whole life ahead of them.”

Liudmyla’s remaining brother, Slava, is still serving in the military and has vowed to take revenge against Russia for the death of his brother.

In the bitter and bloody battles in the trenches of eastern Ukraine, a soldier’s own mortality is unescapable.

Soldier Andriy Sheremet was a professional online poker player before Russia’s full-scale invasion and had no prior military experience. He said the only way to manage his intense fear was to “fully accept the possibility” he may die.

ABC News interviewed Andriy at a military rehabilitation center in the eastern Donbas.

Battle weary troops are sent there for two or three days to decompress, before they then return to ducking-down into the mud, out of the line of snipers and the constant thud of artillery and spray of shrapnel at their frontline positions.

The soldiers play table tennis, say prayers, are well fed, and are given trauma and meditation sessions before going back to what a military priest, Father Mykhailo, described as “hell on earth.”

For the soldiers serving in such hellish conditions there is also fear of a crude and simple concept; that to survive they almost certainly will have to kill, or be killed.

For many men, the ability to kill the enemy on the frontlines is automatic, explained Maryna Berko, a military psychologist at the rehabilitation center.

However, she said men with no previous military background can panic that life can begin to seem so fragile that they fear being dehumanized to such an extent that “they will not be able to return over the edge which they have crossed”.

Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion however means Ukrainians, perhaps understandably, rarely spare much thought for the enemy.

In order to cope with his fear of his own death, Andriy Sheremet said he isolated himself from bad thoughts and remained focused “on achieving victory.”

He says, he will, in the future, try and comprehend the current phase of his life.

When on the frontlines, soldier Oleksiy Storozhez said he “begs and prays” to come home “alive and unscathed.”

His biggest fear of being killed is the pain it would cause to his family. However protecting his daughter and wife from invading Russian forces is one of his main motivations to fight.

“I am fighting for my daughter, for her future”, Oleksiy said. “So she does not see, what we see on the front lines.”

Andriy Sheremet said he is partly driven by his desire to return to his former life and “the happiness from a simple walk in the park” or “drinking coffee in the morning with his wife.”

As Ukraine promises a major new offensive, it is almost certain that many more Ukrainian soldiers will be killed.

The inevitable apprehension about what the future months will bring is mixed with that trademark Ukrainian defiance.

Serhiy Pylypets fought back tears after burying his son at his funeral near Kyiv.

“No-one should have any doubt,” he said.

“Ukraine will win, but we will celebrate with tears in our eyes.”

ABC News’ Sohel Uddin, Natalya Kushnir, Yulia Drozd, Natalya Popova, Joe Sheffer and Bruno Roeber contributed to this report.

‘Outsourcing’ border enforcement: Biden’s migration policies rely on Mexico despite its grim record

May 10, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(MEXICO CITY) — When Emiliano, 51 years old, finally reached Mexico from his native Venezuela, he was detained by Mexico’s immigration authority, known by its Spanish-language initials as INM.

Imprisoned in a crowded room, he said he and other migrants were never given medications or access to their phones, even to let family know where they were.

“When you enter that place, you lost your human rights,” Emiliano, identified by only his last name to protect his identity, told Human Rights Watch, per the human rights monitor’s recent report. “There were so many of us, we slept one on top of the other … Half of us have COVID-19 symptoms. I was afraid I would die.”

Emiliano’s experience is one of hundreds of thousands of migrants who have overwhelmed Mexico’s migration authorities. But in an 11th-hour deal with the Biden administration, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has agreed to an unprecedented step — accepting non-Mexican migrants expelled by the U.S. under normal legal conditions.

“This agreement now where people of many nationalities can be expelled from the United States to Mexico is going to expose tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people to danger, to abuses, to violence in ways that we’ve seen now for years,” said Tyler Mattiace, the Mexico researcher for Human Rights Watch and one of the authors of that recent report.

President Joe Biden and López Obrador, often known by his initials as AMLO, spoke Tuesday as the U.S. prepares for an influx of migrants following the end of Title 42 restrictions, a public health policy used by the Trump and Biden administrations to expel migrants nearly 2.8 million times, even before they could request asylum.

“We’ve gotten overwhelming cooperation from Mexico,” Biden said after their hour-long call, pointing to the joint statement the U.S. and Mexico released last week announcing the new agreement.

But critics, including some U.S. lawmakers and human rights groups, say the U.S. has been shirking responsibility for enforcing immigration policy under Title 42, the Trump-era policy that authorized the rapid expulsion of migrants in a purported effort to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

“Title 42 was the latest example of the U.S. outsourcing law enforcement and migration and refugee policies not only to Mexico, but also to other countries,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Americas director, adding Biden is now “taking advantage of the apparatus that was left by the Trump administration.”

That outsourcing takes different forms, from pushing other countries to increase their border security and deportations to increasing visa restrictions for foreigners to creating processing centers in other countries.

But Mexico in particular has taken on unprecedented responsibility for U.S. migration policies, and with the country overwhelmed by record numbers of migrants, critics like Guevara Rosas say the results are increasingly deadly and in violation of U.S. and international law.

“The government of Mexico, including President López Obrador’s administration and the previous administration from different political parties, have been complicit in the committing of human rights violations against migrants and refugees that include massive pushbacks, forcibly returning people to countries where they are in danger, and not committing to provide protection to people who are stuck at the border in these communities that are experiencing high levels of violence,” she told ABC News.

After Title 42 ends Thursday, the U.S. will soon shift to new, more restrictive asylum policies, including making migrants ineligible if they enter the U.S. without permission or even fail to apply for protection in another country. For migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, that could mean immediate expulsion to Mexico, rather that removal flights to their own countries — a policy that started under Title 42, but Mexico has now agreed to continue.

A spokesperson for the Mexican Foreign Ministry did not respond to ABC News’ questions. A Biden administration official didn’t address questions about the risks to migrants in Mexico, saying only, “President Biden has led the largest expansion of legal pathways for protection in decades.”

The latest example of that violence came just six weeks ago when at least 39 migrants detained by INM were killed in a fire. The doors at the facility were locked, and guards were seen on surveillance footage fleeing without opening them.

INM’s chief, a close AMLO ally, was charged earlier this month for “unlawful exercise of public office,” although he remains out of jail and in his role. Mexico’s attorney general’s office said he and another high-level official failed “to complete their obligations to monitor, protect, and provide security to people and facilities under their charge, promoting crimes committed against migrants.”

But the detention center in Ciudad Juárez is not the first fire to kill detained migrants, and it’s not the only one where migrants have complained of severe overcrowding and poor conditions.

Mexico detained nearly 450,000 migrants in 2022 — an increase of 44% over the year before and the highest ever recorded — but its roughly five-dozen detention centers have capacity for less than 7,000 people, according to federal data. That makes Mexico’s migrant detention program one of the largest in the world, with monitoring groups reporting some facilities — like the one Emiliano was detained in — lack access to running water, electricity, or medical care.

Mexico’s own National Human Rights Commission has documented similar poor conditions, especially overcrowding, as well as the detention of children in violation of Mexican law.

López Obrador has repeatedly cast himself as a friend to migrants and rhetorically defended the right to seek asylum. But under U.S. pressure, he’s increasingly relied on the military to act as immigration enforcement, deploying tens of thousands of National Guard troops to help detain migrants who are in the country illegally. Those detentions, including at checkpoints across the country and through random raids and searches, were declared unconstitutional by Mexico’s Supreme Court last year, particularly for targeting Black, brown, or Indigenous people.

But little has changed since that ruling, and migrants’ rights advocates say INM agents continue to mistreat migrants. A 2022 Human Rights Watch report documented INM agents expelling migrants seeking asylum, pressuring would-be asylum-seekers to sign papers to accept deportation, using violence to stop migrants’ movements and extorting migrants for money.

More than INM, however, most of those abuses have been carried out by criminal groups, who have trafficked, kidnapped, assaulted, extorted and killed thousands of migrants traveling through Mexico — especially those who have been waiting at the U.S.-Mexican border for a chance to cross.

Since President Joe Biden took office, there were at least 13,480 reports of murder, torture, kidnapping, rape and other violent attacks on migrants and asylum-seekers blocked in or expelled to Mexico under Title 42, according to the human rights group Human Rights First. Their report documenting those incidents, published in December, was “just a small fraction of the true number,” according to Julia Neusner, the group’s research and policy associate attorney.

“Organized crime is the one that has benefited more from these policies than anyone,” Guevera Rosas told ABC News.

Biden administration officials have said their rollout of additional legal pathways, their encouragement to migrants to not travel to the border, and their plans to open refugee processing centers in Latin America are all meant to undercut organized crime, including the coyotes who traffic migrants.

While migrants’ rights groups welcome those pathways, they argue it shouldn’t undercut migrants’ rights to seek asylum in the U.S. as well — a right that is enshrined under U.S. law, even if a migrant crosses the border illegally.

“It doesn’t seem that the goal of any of these policies is to streamline asylum. It seems like the goal of these policies is to make it more complicated for people to apply for asylum,” said Mattiace, adding, “It’s clear that Mexico’s immigration policies are centered around preventing people from reaching the U.S. border.”

Woman survives on candy and wine after being lost in the wilderness for five days: Police

May 10, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — A woman is lucky to be alive after she was stranded for five days in thick Australian bushland and managed to survive on some candy and a bottle of wine, police said.

The incident occurred when the 48-year-old woman — identified by the Wodonga Police only as Lillian — was making a journey to Bright, Australia, for a short vacation when she reportedly didn’t make her daily call to check in with loved ones on April 30 and they were able to raise the alarm to authorities that something was wrong.

Emergency services immediately began to search for the missing woman in the areas of Mitta Mitta, Wodonga, Bright and Albury — all approximately 200 miles northeast of Melbourne and about 40 miles away from the nearest town — but were unable to find any sign of Lillian for five days.

There was a break in the case last Friday when the police Air Wing from Wodonga Police were conducting a sweep of the hilly terrain in the area when they managed to spot Lillian’s car at the end of a dirt road in the Mitta Mitta bushland, police said.

“Lillian was found a good 60km away from the nearest town and due to health issues she was unable to try and walk for help so stayed with her car,” said Wodonga Police Station Sgt. Martin Torpey in a statement following the incident. “She used great common sense to stay with her car and not wander off into bushland, which assisted in police being able to find her.”

A local police van was directed by the helicopter that was conducting a sweep of the area to her location where she was located alive and well, police said.

Lillian had been attempting to drive to Dartmouth Dam when she hit a dead-end road at the end of Yankee Point Track and realized she had taken a wrong turn, according to authorities. But when she tried to turn around and backtrack to where she came from, her car became stuck in some mud and she was unable to call for help due to lack of mobile phone coverage in the area.

“She was only planning a short-day trip so had only taken a couple of snacks and [candy] with her but no water. The only liquid Lillian, who doesn’t drink, had with her was a bottle of wine she had bought as a gift for her mother so that got her through,” Torpey said.

“While she couldn’t move her car, she was able to use the heater overnight give her some warmth,” Torpey continued. “After being lost in the bush for five days, she was extremely relieved and grateful to see us and we were just as happy to see her.”

Lillian was subsequently taken to the hospital for observation and to be treated for dehydration suffered from her five-day ordeal. She is expected to fully recover.

New $1.2 billion US military aid package to Ukraine: What’s in it?

May 9, 2023 by WDNY Radio

New .2 billion US military aid package to Ukraine: What’s in it?

(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon on Tuesday announced a new commitment of $1.2 billion in military aid for Ukraine.

The package includes air-defense systems to help Ukrainian forces defend against a near-constant barrage of Russian strikes.

The aid also includes equipment to help “integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine’s air defense systems,” according to the Pentagon.

“We’re going to continue to rush air-defense capabilities and munitions to help Ukraine control its sovereign skies and to help Ukraine defend its citizens from Russian cruise missiles and Iranian drones,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a briefing Tuesday.

At the same time, Ryder confirmed Ukrainian forces thwarted the Russian Kinzhal missile using an American-made Patriot system when asked during the briefing with reporters.

“We can confirm that the Ukrainians took down this Russian missile with a Patriot missile defense system,” Ryder said.

The new $1.2 billion in U.S. military aid will come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which the U.S. uses to purchase weapons and equipment from the defense industry or from partner nations on behalf of Ukraine.

Because the process involves defense contracts and, when not already on shelves, the need to build the requested items, it can take months or years before it reaches Ukraine.

Because of this, USAI represents longer-term support for Ukraine. For more immediate support, the U.S. has used another means called Presidential Drawdown Authority, which pulls equipment from existing American stockpiles to be sent to Ukraine.

“The United States will continue to work with our allies and our partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer term security assistance requirements,” Ryder said.

The new USAI funds will also go toward artillery rounds, commercial satellite imagery services, and ammunition for anti-drone weapons.

The new $1.2 billion package will take the total USAI funds committed to Ukraine so far in fiscal year 2023 to roughly $5 billion. It will take total U.S. security assistance since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February of 2022 to nearly $37 billion.

During a press availability at the State Department Tuesday, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was reserved when asked to comment on reports that the U.K. is preparing to send long-range missiles to Ukraine, weaponry Kyiv has long coveted and that the Biden administration has declined to supply.

“I’m sure you understand that anything to do with operational details, about the nature the timing, the scale of our support would be counterproductive for us to discuss publicly,” he said.

But Cleverly staunchly defended the support provided by the U.S. and the speed at which it has reached Ukraine.

“It is the largest donor of the allies. So I wouldn’t want to imply that there’s either competition in between us or anything else,” he said. “We have worked in close coordination from the very start,” he said.

“The natures of our militaries is different,” he continued. “The natures of our political system is different. There are some things that the UK is able to do more quickly because of the nature of our political system. And there are some things that the American system allows them to do different and better. It’s not about always trying to replicate what our allies do.”

Paul Whelan ‘is focused on getting through each day,’ brother says after US ambassador’s visit

May 9, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Paul Whelan, a former American Marine who has been detained in Russia since 2018, recently had a visit in prison with U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy, who said on Twitter that securing Whelan’s release “remains an absolute priority.”

The visit came weeks after Whelan told his parents in a phone call that he felt “abandoned” and “rattled like never before” in the wake of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s arrest, Whelan’s brother David previously told ABC News.

Both Whelan and Gershkovich have been accused of espionage, which both have denied and the U.S. government considers them wrongfully detained.

In a new interview with ABC News’ Linsey Davis, David Whelan spoke about the details of Tracy’s visit and concerns that his brother’s case is “beginning to languish.”

LINSEY DAVIS: David, thanks so much for joining us once again. Just last week, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynn Tracy, was able to meet with your brother at the prison camp where he’s being held. Tell us what you’ve learned from that meeting.

DAVID WHELAN: It sounds like they were able to speak for about 90 minutes, and I think it was a frank discussion. Paul is very appreciative every time a U.S. ambassador comes out to the prison or even consular staff. But this is the second time that a U.S. ambassador has come out to visit him and he values that, and he understands the risk that the ambassador took to come and see him and appreciated that she came to give him a personal message about the efforts that are going on back here in Washington, D.C..

DAVIS: And was she able to report back to you as far as his health, his overall well-being, state of mind?

WHELAN: We heard from Paul. He was able to speak to our parents, and it sounds like he’s stabilized since Mr. Gershkovich’s arrest. I think he is back to focusing on getting through each day, surviving as best he can and hoping that the U.S. government will be able to secure his release.

DAVIS: Your sister also appeared last month at the United Nations Security Council to call for Paul’s release. She got to look Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov directly in the eye. How significant was that moment?

WHELAN: I think that was really important. Elizabeth has done a lot of lobbying of the government. I think even from just trying to get the State Department’s attention four years ago, to be able to now have gotten to the U.N. Security Council and to have been able to make an address there. It’s really valuable, and I think Paul appreciated that really, we are not leaving any stone unturned to try and advocate for him and bring him home.

DAVIS: There’s been talk about a possible deal to get your brother home, a swap that could also include Evan Gershkovich. Is there calls for some optimism in those negotiations?

WHELAN: I don’t think so, not at the moment. We know that Secretary Blinken has spoken about an offer that was made, but it has been sitting there now for four or five months and the Kremlin doesn’t seem that interested in whatever the concession is. So either the US government is going to continue to wait, which means that Paul has to continue to sit in a labor camp for who knows how long or they will come up with other creative strategies. I hope that they’ll come up with creative strategies, and I hope that they’ll come up with something else that will bring Paul home.

DAVIS: President Biden also mentioned Paul at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Are you seeing any meaningful shift in urgency surrounding Paul’s case or do you still have the same concerns about his case languishing?

WHELAN: Oh, absolutely. It was great to see President Biden speak out. We appreciate all of the verbal sentiment of support from the White House, from President Biden, from secretary of state, and so on. But it doesn’t mean that there’s anything moving in Paul’s case at this moment. And I think we do worry that it is beginning to languish. It is getting to that point where in many other wrongful detention cases, like Mark Swidan and Kai Li in China, Siamak Namazi and Emad Shargi in Iran, there comes a time after which the U.S. government isn’t really very effective at bringing people home.

DAVIS: We still continue to hold out hope nonetheless. David, we thank you once again for coming on the show. We’ll of course continue to check in with you and your brother’s case.

WHELAN: Thanks so much for having me.

Russia-Ukraine live updates: Putin says war was ‘unleashed’ on Russia

May 9, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces are readying a spring counteroffensive, but Putin appears to be preparing for a long and bloody war.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

May 09, 8:22 AM EDT
Putin says Ukraine war was ‘unleashed’ on Russia

During his annual Victory Day speech in Moscow’s Red Square on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the Ukraine war was “unleashed” on Russia and blamed “Western global elites” while calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a puppet.

Putin also directly compared his ongoing war in Ukraine to the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, which is what Victory Day commemorates. He claimed that Russia “once again” was fighting for “civilization” and he painted a topsy-turvy picture that Moscow wants peace with all nations.

“Today, the civilization is once again at a decisive, turning point and an actual war has been unleashed against our homeland again,” Putin said. “But we fended off international terrorism, we will protect residents of Donbas too and ensure our security.”

Putin’s speech made clear once more that the Russian president has no intention of negotiating currently or scaling back his ambitions to defeat Ukraine.

However, the Victory Day military parade in Moscow was a significantly shrunken version of itself on Tuesday, compared with previous years, due to Russia’s huge losses in Ukraine and its urgent need for equipment. There appeared to be approximately 50 military vehicles taking part in this year’s event compared with 130 during the 2019 parade. Tuesday’s parade was also comprised of nearly all high armored vehicles, similar to Humvees.

The flypast part of the event, which usually involves helicopters and fighter jets, was cancelled on Tuesday despite clear, sunny skies in the Russian capital. But perhaps what was most notable was the cancelling of the parade in at least 24 Russian cities due to security concerns that Ukrainian forces might be able to strike them, likely because of Russia’s shortages of troops and equipment.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

May 09, 8:22 AM EDT
Putin says Ukraine war was ‘unleashed’ on Russia

Putin’s speech made clear once more that the Russian president has no intention of negotiating currently or scaling back his ambitions to defeat Ukraine.

May 09, 12:05 AM EDT
Air raid sirens go off across Ukraine, air defense activated in Kyiv

Air raid sirens went off across Ukraine around 5 a.m. local time Tuesday.

Air defense systems were activated in the Kyiv region.

The Russian airstrike on Kyiv was the “fifth air attack” on the capital since the beginning of May, the Kyiv City Military Administration said on Telegram.

About 15 Russian missiles were launched at Kyiv and intercepted by the Ukrainian air defenses around Kyiv with “no casualties and major damage,” the city military administration added.

May 08, 1:45 AM EDT
4 injured in Kyiv from drone debris in Russian strike

Four people were injured from falling debris after a Russian drone was shot down above Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Three of the people injured were at the site of the explosion in Solomyanskyi district of Kyiv, and one was in the Svyatoshynskyi district of Kyiv, where wreckage fell on a residential building, the mayor added.

Debris also fell on runway at the Zhulyany airport in the Solomyansky district of Kyiv, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Serhiy Popko said on Telegram.

In Odesa, Russian troops launched a missile attack from strategic aircraft, Ukrainian Operational Command South said on Facebook. The X-22-type rockets used by the Russians were “aimed at one of the food companies and recreational zones on the Black Sea coast,” the Operational Command South said.

Rescue services are working to put fires out, and no information about the number of people injured was immediately available, they added.

-ABC News’ Max Uzol and Natalia Kushni

May 08, 1:45 AM EDT
4 injured in Kyiv from drone debris in Russian strike

Four people were injured from falling debris after a Russian drone was shot down above Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Debris also fell on runway at the Zhulyany airport in the Solomyansky district of Kyiv, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Serhiy Popko said on Telegram.

Rescue services are working to put fires out, and no information about the number of people injured was immediately available, they added.

-ABC News’ Max Uzol and Natalia Kushniir

May 07, 5:21 PM EDT
Russia launches widespread air attack on Ukraine

Air alert sirens went off in several regions of Ukraine late Sunday evening as Russian forces launched a widespread airstrike on the country.

Air alert sirens went off in central and southeastern Ukraine, including in the Odesa, Kyiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions of Ukraine.

Kh-22 missiles were launched toward Odesa, unofficial Telegram channels reported. The air defense systems were activated in response to the attack and repeated explosions were heard in the area, unofficial channels reported.

-ABC News’ Max Uzol and Anastasia Bagaeva

May 07, 9:45 AM EDT
Leader of Russian mercenary group appears to back down from threats of mutiny

The leader of of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group appeared on Sunday to ditch plans to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine after receiving promises overnight that they would get all the arms needed to capture the devastated city.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a new audio message that the Kremlin has promised to resupply his Wagner Private Military Company with as much ammunition and weapons as they need.

Prigozhin said that for the first time he received a response to the situation regarding the shortage of ammunition. He said on Saturday night that the relevant companies promised to deliver everything necessary to continue the offensive in Bakhmut.

“Overnight we received a combat order, for the first time in all this time,” Prigozhin said. “We have been promised as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue further operations. We have been promised that everything needed to prevent the enemy from cutting us off (from supplies) will be deployed on the flank,” he added.

In addition, Russian Army Gen. Sergei Surovikin will personally deal with issues of interaction between the Wagner PMC and the Ministry of Defense, Prigozhin said. “This is the only man with the star of an army general who knows how to fight,” Prigozhin said of the Russian Defense Ministry assigning Surovikin to work alongside Wagner.

Surovikin commanded Russia’s Ukraine campaign for several months before the chief of the General Staff, Army Gen. Valery Gerasimov, was given overall operational command above him.

May 05, 12:03 PM EDT
Russian official warns it is ‘on the edge’ of a conflict with US

Russia is ready to use all means at its disposal to prevent anyone from encroaching on the security of the country in response to the recent drone attacks targeting the Kremlin, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview on Russia’s Channel One Thursday.

Ryabkov said Washington is using its “puppets” in Kyiv to stage more and more dangerous provocations.

“I think that any reasonable person in any country will understand that the United States continues its escalatory policies and uses its subordinates in Kyiv, their puppets, to stage and carry out more and more audacious, more and more dangerous, acts of provocation,” he said.

He went on to say that U.S. officials may deny any responsibility and involvement in the attacks but nobody will believe them.

“We are working to prevent relations with the U.S. from plunging into the abyss of an open armed conflict. We are already standing on the edge, on the edge of this precipice,” he said.

May 05, 9:06 AM EDT
Wagner announces retreat from Bakhmut; blames Russian Defense Ministry

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said it will retreat from Bakhmut because of severe shortages in ammunition, according to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the group’s leader. He said his forces would withdraw on May 10, blaming Russia’s defense ministry for the retreat.

Wagner has played a crucial role for months in the fighting for Bakhmut, sustaining huge casualties. The announcement and the suggestion of bitter infighting within Russia’s military forces signals division and disorganization just as Russia is bracing for a major Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Prigozhin said he was taking the decision in retaliation against Russia’s military leadership, which he accused of deliberately starving his troops of ammunition because they are jealous of Wagner’s success.

Prigozhin and Russia’s defense ministry have been in a one-sided public feud for months. Prigozhin claims it’s now reached a breaking point, delivering a blistering attack on Russia’s senior military command in the video announcing the withdrawal. He accused them of being “cowards” and of denying Russians a victory in Bakhmut because of their “petty envy.”

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

May 04, 12:15 PM EDT
Zelenskyy makes unannounced visit to The Hague

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a war crimes tribunal in a surprise visit to The Hague on Thursday.

“There must be accountability for this crime. And this can only be achieved through the tribunal. … We must transform the experience of the Nuremberg trials into new operational rules. And that is why we advocate the creation of such a tribunal. We want to continue the tradition of mandatory punishment for such crimes as a guarantee of non-repetition of such aggression,” Zelenskyy said.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

May 04, 8:21 AM EDT
US calls Kremlin drone accusation ‘ludicrous’

Responding to Russia’s accusation that the U.S. was behind Wednesday’s drone attack on the Kremlin, White House spokesperson John Kirby said it was a “ludicrous claim.”

“There’s a word that comes to mind that I’m obviously not — not appropriate to using on national TV,” Kirby said on CNN on Thursday.

“I will just tell you Mr. Peskov is lying, and I mean, that’s obviously, it’s a ludicrous claim,” he added. “The United States had nothing to do with this. We don’t even know exactly what happened here, Kaitlin. But I can assure you, the United States had no role in it whatsoever.”

Kirby said the U.S. does not have any information on who is behind the strike but are “trying to learn more about this as best we can.”

May 04, 6:44 AM EDT
Kremlin blames US for drone attack in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman accused the United States of being involved in the drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday.

“We understand well that the decision about such terror attacks are taken not in Kyiv, but in Washington,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a briefing. “Often targets are determined not in Kyiv but in Washington. They don’t Kyiv the right everytime in choosing the means. In Washington they also clearly understand that we know that.”

He added, “Without question. Such decisions — the determining of targets and means — are all dictated to Kyiv from Washington.”

Peskov said it was important that Washington understand the “danger” of such involvement in an attack.

May 04, 12:08 AM EDT
Russia attacks Kyiv with drones and missiles; no casualties or injuries reported

Russian forces launched a “complex air strike” with “drones and missiles” on Kyiv early Thursday morning, the Kyiv City Military Administration said on Telegram.

The air raid siren went off in Kyiv for three and a half hours during the attack, the Kyiv City Military Administration said.

There were no casualties or injuries from the strikes.

“According to preliminary information, all the missiles and UAVs were destroyed,” the Kyiv City Military Administration added.

This was the third attack on the capitol in four days, the administration said.

May 03, 5:11 PM EDT
US Embassy in Ukraine warns of ‘ongoing heightened threat of missile attacks’

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine sent an alert to Americans on Wednesday warning of an “ongoing heightened threat of missile attacks,” including in Kyiv.

“In light of the recent uptick in strikes across Ukraine and inflammatory rhetoric from Moscow, the Department of State cautions U.S. citizens of an ongoing heightened threat of missile attacks, including in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast,” the alert stated.

The U.S. Embassy urged U.S. citizens to follow guidance from local authorities and to observe air alarms and shelter appropriately.

May 03, 2:43 PM EDT
At least 21 killed in Kherson region shelling: Ukrainian officials

At least 21 people were killed and 48 injured by shelling in the Kherson region on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said, as the death toll continues to rise.

A railway station and market in the city of Kherson were hit in strikes, which occurred across the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, officials said.

“A railway station and a crossing, a house, a hardware store, a grocery supermarket, a gas station — do you know what unites these places? The bloody trail that [Russia] leaves with its shells, killing civilians in Kherson and Kherson region,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter.

All the victims were civilians, Zelenskyy said.

An ambulance was also damaged in the strikes, according to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin.

“No military objects here. Just civilians, including children,” Kostin said on Twitter.

At least one person was killed and three injured in the strike on the railway station, officials previously said.

May 03, 2:00 PM EDT
White House announces $300M military aid package for Ukraine

The Biden administration has announced a new $300 million military aid package for Ukraine.

The package includes additional ammunition for U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, as well as “additional howitzers, artillery and mortar rounds, and anti-armor capabilities that Ukraine is using to push back against Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression,” the Department of Defense said in a statement.

This marks the Biden administration’s 37th drawdown of equipment from Defense Department inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.

May 03, 11:50 AM EDT
At least 12 killed in Kherson shelling: Ukrainian officials

At least 12 people were killed and 22 injured by shelling in Kherson on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said.

A market and railway station were hit in the strikes in the southern Ukrainian city, according to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin. An ambulance was also damaged, he said.

“No military objects here. Just civilians, including children,” Kostin said on Twitter.

At least one person was killed and three injured in the strike on the railway station, officials said.

Four additional fatalities were reported from shelling throughout the Kherson region Wednesday, officials said.

May 03, 9:48 AM EDT
Zelenskyy denies involvement in Kremlin attack

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Russia’s claim that his country was involved in the drone attack on the Kremlin early Wednesday.

Zelenskyy, who is currently in Finland, said the claim was the prelude to a “large-scale terrorist attack” from Russia.

“First of all, Ukraine wages an exclusively defensive war and does not attack targets on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. “What for? This does not solve any military issue. But it gives RF grounds to justify its attacks on civilians.”

Zelenskyy went on to say that various attacks in Russia could be the result of “guerrilla activities of local resistance forces.”

May 03, 8:31 AM EDT
Russia says Ukraine tried to kill Putin in Kremlin with two drones

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has accused Ukraine of trying to strike Putin’s residence in the Kremlin with two drones overnight, but said they were brought down before they could reach their target.

No injuries were reported, Kremlin officials said. Putin was not at the residence at the time, they said.

Videos released on official social media channels appeared to show a drone strike the roof of the Senate Palace at the Kremlin.

The Kremlin said “the Russian side reserves the right to retaliate whenever and wherever it deems necessary.”

May 03, 1:30 AM EDT
Ukrainian drone hits Russian port, causing fire

A Ukrainian drone hit a Tamanneftegaz fuel tank in the Port of Taman, Russia, at about 2:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, Kirill Fedorov, a pro-Russian blogger, said on his Telegram channel. The Port of Taman is in the Black Sea near the Kerch Strait.

The fire could be seen in a video circulating online.

Local authorities confirmed the fire, which “has been assigned the highest rank,” the governor of the region said. A tank with petroleum products was hit by the drone and is burning, the governor said. No injuries were reported and there was no threat to residents, he added on his Telegram channel.

May 02, 11:45 PM EDT
All drones targeting Kyiv shot down; third attack on capital in six days

All drones that were used by Russians to attack Kyiv early Wednesday morning local time were shot down by Ukrainian air defense systems, the Kyiv City Military Administration said on Telegram.

There were no reported injuries or casualties, the military administration said.

This was the third attack on Kyiv in six days, the administration added.

May 02, 6:58 PM EDT
Explosions reported in Kyiv

Explosions were reported in Kyiv around 1:00 a.m. Wednesday local time, according to Suspilne, the Ukrainian public broadcaster.

The Ukrainian Air Defense Forces were activated in response, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported.

S-300 missiles belonging to Ukrainian Armed Forces were hit in Zaporizhzhia, the spokesman of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Serhiy Bratchuk, said on Telegram.

Reports of damage, and number of people injured or killed were not immediately available.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Max Uzol

May 02, 6:12 PM EDT
Explosions reported in Kyiv

Explosions were reported in Kyiv around 1:00 a.m. Wednesday local time, according to Suspilne, the Ukrainian public broadcaster.

The Ukrainian Air Defense Forces were activated in response, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported.

Reports of damage, and number of people injured or killed were not immediately available.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Max Uzol

May 02, 12:38 PM EDT
Marine veteran killed while evacuating civilians in Ukraine

A 26-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran was killed in a mortar strike last month in Ukraine while working to evacuate civilians, his family confirmed to ABC News this week.

Cooper Andrews died on April 19 in the Bakhmut area, his cousin Willow Pastard, who is speaking on his family’s behalf, told ABC News.

The State Department announced Monday that an American citizen died in Ukraine, though did not provide more details or an identity “out of respect for the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”

“We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.

At least nine deaths of U.S. citizens who have volunteered to fight in Ukraine have been officially reported since the war began last year, according to the State Department.

-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford

May 01, 3:54 PM EDT
2 dead, 40 wounded in latest Russian strikes

Two men were killed and at least 40 people, including children, were injured after Russian missiles struck Pavlograd, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials said.

Serhii Lysak, the head of the military administration of the Dnipropetrovsk, said 19 high-rise buildings, 25 private houses, six schools and preschool education institutions and five shops were hit by the missiles.

Five children were among the wounded officials said. The youngest victim is 8 years old, according to officials.

-ABC News’ Wil Gretsky

May 01, 3:07 PM EDT
Russia suffered 100K casualties in Bakhmut since December: White House

The U.S. estimates that Russia has suffered over 100,000 casualties, including over 20,000 killed in action, from the battles in Bakhmut since December, White House spokesman John Kirby said Monday

Half of the 20,000 killed in action were members of the Russian-backed private military Wagner Group, according to Kirby. The majority of Wagner fighters killed were allegedly ex-convicts, according to Kirby.

Kirby said that the data came from “some downgraded intelligence,” that the U.S. has been able to collect. He was unable to provide data on deaths of Ukrainian fighters.

Kirby emphasized that the U.S. thinks Bakhmut holds “very little strategic value for Russia” and if captured by Russia it “would absolutely not alter the course of the war in Russia’s favor.”

-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson

May 01, 1:41 PM EDT
State Department confirms US citizen dies in Ukraine

The State Department announced Monday that an American citizen died in Ukraine.

“We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.

The State Department declined to provide more details or an identity “out of respect for the family’s privacy during this difficult time.” It is not immediately clear when the death took place.

At least 10 U.S. citizen deaths in Ukraine have been officially confirmed by the State Department since the war began last year. The majority of those deaths were of Americans who volunteered to fight alongside Ukrainians, according to officials.

-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford

During shrunken Victory Day parade, Putin says Ukraine war was ‘unleashed’ on Russia

May 9, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Russia’s Victory Day parade is meant to be a projection of President Vladimir Putin’s military might. But this year, it was effectively the opposite.

The military parade in Moscow’s Red Square on Tuesday was a significantly shrunken version of itself — thinned out due to Russia’s huge losses in Ukraine and its urgent need for equipment on the front lines. Analysts noted there was seemingly only one heavy tank in the entire parade this year — a World War II-era T-34 museum piece that led the procession. Instead, the parade was almost exclusively light armored vehicles, similar to Humvees.

There appeared to be approximately 50 military vehicles taking part in the Victory Day parade in Moscow on Tuesday. That’s compared to 130 during the 2019 parade.

Meanwhile, Putin delivered his annual Victory Day speech during the parade in Moscow’s Red Square on Tuesday, which was fairly standard. As he has done in previous remarks, Putin claimed that the Ukraine war was “unleashed” on Russia and blamed “Western global elites” while calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a puppet. He also directly compared his ongoing war in Ukraine to the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, which is what Victory Day commemorates. He claimed that Russia was fighting for “civilization” “once again” and painted a topsy-turvy picture that Moscow wants peace with all nations.

Putin’s speech made clear once more that the Russian president has no intention of negotiating currently or scaling back his ambitions to defeat Ukraine.

On Monday, Zelenskyy announced that he was moving the date of Ukraine’s own Victory Day celebration and renaming it Europe Day. He signed and submitted a draft law to the Ukrainian Parliament that moves the holiday to May 8, which is the date when the rest of the Western allies mark the World War II victory over the Nazis.

The Ukrainian president also compared the current war to the allied efforts to defeat the Nazis.

“We will not allow lies as if the victory in that war could have taken place without the participation of any country or nation. As then we destroyed evil together, so now we are destroying a similar evil together,” Zelenskyy said. “Unfortunately, evil has returned. Although now it is another aggressor, the goal is the same — enslavement or destruction. And just as then we relied on the joint strength of free nations, so now we fight against evil together with the free world, together with free Europe. And we will prevail! It will be the Day of our victory.”

Russia-Ukraine live updates: Four injured in Kyiv from drone debris in Russian strike