(WASHINGTON) — U.S. officials confirm that the Biden administration is leaning toward sending M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine and that a decision could be announced as early as this week.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(LONDON) — Princess Eugenie, granddaughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II, is pregnant.
Eugenie, 32, and her husband Jack Brooksbank are expecting their second child, Buckingham Palace confirmed Tuesday.
Eugenie, the daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, and Brooksbank are already parents to a son named August, who will turn 2 in February.
Eugenie spoke recently in Davos, Switzerland, about her son and how becoming a mom has changed how she thinks about the world and preserving the environment.
“As a mother, you totally change. Now I’m scared of flying where I’d never be before. It’s the same with how you view the world,” she said. “Now all I think about is what happens to rising sea levels and the communities that are on the beaches who depend entirely on the sea, as well as what August can do about it in the future.”
“Everything is for them, right? Every decision we now make has to be about how August is going to be able to live his life,” Eugenie said.
Eugenie’s son and now his future sibling count Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s children, Archie and Lilibet, and Prince William and Princess Kate’s children, George, Charlotte and Louis, among his second cousins.
Eugenie’s older sister, Princess Beatrice, is the mother of a daughter, Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi, who was born in September 2021.
The baby will be the second grandchild for Sarah and Andrew, who continues to face scrutiny over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Eugenie and Brooksbank wed at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in 2018.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — Twelve countries have agreed to supply Ukraine with around 100 Leopard 2 tanks if the German government gives its consent, according to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke exclusively to ABC News.
Those agreements, the source said, were made at Friday’s summit at Ramstein US Air Force Base in Germany when allied nations discussed military support for Ukraine.
Countries such as Poland and Finland have already indicated publicly that they are willing to provide a number of their Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian official with knowledge of the matter said Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark were also willing to provide some of their tanks, however Germany’s consent was still necessary for the coalition of countries to proceed on the matter.
As the country where the military hardware is manufactured, Germany has to approve the export license if countries want to supply some of their tanks to a third nation, such as Ukraine.
The Biden administration and other western governments are working to increase Ukraine’s military capabilities ahead of a possible escalation in the fighting in the coming weeks or months.
During a briefing last week, a western diplomat called it “the right moment” to provide new capabilities such as tanks to Ukraine.
“Ukraine’s allies have the ability to increase the quantity and quality of Ukraine’s military capabilities in a way that Russia simply doesn’t”, the diplomat said.
However the senior Ukrainian official, who spoke with ABC News on condition of anonymity, said the German-made Leopard tanks were also urgently needed by Ukraine because its stocks of ammunition for its soviet-era tanks are “running out.”
Ukraine is unable to produce new ammunition for these Soviet era tanks, the official said, “so this forced us to find an alternative way.”
Earlier this month the U.K. made a symbolic gesture by pledging to supply Ukraine with 14 of its Challenger 2 tanks.
The move was an attempt by the U.K. government to convince Berlin to move on its Leopards. The senior Ukrainian official with knowledge of the matter told ABC News that it helped.
“It started to be realistic after the decision in the UK. (UK Defense) Minister Wallace broke through this wall,” the official said.
Germany has faced criticism for delaying its decision on whether to approve the export of Leopard tanks.
In an interview broadcast on German TV last Thursday, the day before the Ramstein summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested the delay was costing lives.
“People die here, every day”, he said. “In plain language, can you deliver Leopards or not?”
However the senior Ukrainian source told ABC News that there was a great “understanding” that the Ramstein summit took place on the second working day for the newly-appointed German Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius.
“It’s not the time to put pressure on a newly appointed minister of defense. We fully understand (the need) for him to discuss it further,” the official told ABC News.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — Siamak Namazi, a U.S. citizen who has been detained in Iran since 2015, has ended his seven-day hunger strike, according to a Monday news release.
Namazi, 51, began the hunger strike on Jan. 16 to mark the seventh anniversary of a prisoner swap with Iran that freed five other Americans while he remained detained in Evin Prison.
Namazi said last week that he was protesting to draw the attention of the Biden administration.
“I went on hunger strike because I’ve learned the hard way that U.S. presidents tend to rely more on their political thermometer than their moral compass when deciding whether or not to enter a prisoner deal with Iran – or indeed who to include in one,” Namazi said in a statement after ending his strike. “I denied myself food for an entire week so that maybe President [Joe] Biden will recognize just how desperate the situation of the U.S. hostages here has become.”
Namazi, who is classified as wrongly detained by the U.S. government, was arrested while on a 2015 business trip to Iran for “colluding with an enemy state.”
“I’ve been Iran’s prisoner for a very long time,” Namazi said in Monday’s statement. “I know better than most that a hunger strike is a prisoner’s weapon of last resort – to be used only if our cup of endurance has truly run over and after exhausting all other options.”
During his seven-day hunger strike, Namazi lost around 10 pounds and his blood pressure spiked above normal levels, according to the news release. He also suffered drops in energy and lacked the ability to focus and stay warm.
In 2016, the Obama administration negotiated the freedom of five Americans detained in Iran, but Namazi was not included.
In an open letter to President Biden that announced his hunger strike last week, Namazi wrote, “Seven years and two presidents later, I remain caged in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, holding that long overdue IOU along with the unenviable title of the longest held Iranian-American hostage in history.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday, “We received the letter, and our thoughts are with Namazi and his family.”
“The U.S. government is continuing to work to bring him home along with U.S. citizens who are wrongfully detained in Iran, including Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz,” Jean-Pierre said then.
A spokesperson for the State Department told ABC News after Namazi began his hunger strike last week that “our thoughts are with him and his family.”
“Iran’s use of wrongful detention as political leverage is outrageous, and Iran should release our wrongfully detained citizens,” the spokesperson said.
Despite the negative physical effects of the hunger strike, the positive international response has renewed Namazi’s hope for freedom, according to Monday’s news release.
“Everyone here for the sole crime of speaking their mind and for demanding their rights and the rule of law deserves our attention and respect,” Namazi said in his statement.
ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford and Cindy Smith contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — American Daniel Swift, a former Navy SEAL who deserted in 2019, was killed while fighting in Ukraine on Jan. 18, according to U.S. officials.
“The Navy can confirm that a former Sailor, Daniel W. Swift, was killed in Ukraine on Jan. 18, 2023,” the Navy said in a statement. “The Navy Absentee Collection and Information Center confirmed that the Sailor was is in an active deserter status since March 11, 2019. We cannot speculate as to why the former Sailor was in Ukraine.”
The U.S. State Department also confirmed the death of an American in Ukraine, though it did not identify him.
“”We can confirm the recent death of a U.S. citizen fighting in Ukraine,” the Department of State said in a statement. “We are in touch with his family and providing all possible consular assistance. Out of respect for the privacy of the family during this difficult time, we have nothing further to add.”
Swift had a 14-year military career, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(MEXICO CITY and LONDON) — The family of an American tourist found dead in Mexico said Tuesday that they believe he “was the victim of a brutal crime.”
California resident and Orange County public defender Elliot Blair died on Jan. 14 at Las Rocas Resort and Spa, located on the shores of Rosarito Beach, just south of Tijuana, along the western coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. While investigators initially believed that Blair died from a fall, there is a specific injury on his forehead “that would not have been caused by a fall,” a local law enforcement official told ABC News on Monday.
The State Attorney General’s Office of Baja California later released a statement saying an autopsy established that Blair’s death “was the result of an unfortunate accident due to the fall of the deceased from a third floor.” The office said the investigation is ongoing and that it is in contact with American authorities through the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI, “who are collaborating and have the information about the investigation to provide it to the relatives who require it.”
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for the FBI Los Angeles field office told ABC News on Tuesday that the agency, to their knowledge, has “no involvement.”
Meanwhile, in a press release obtained by ABC News on Tuesday, an attorney for Blair’s family said that Mexican authorities “still have not reached out to the family with this information.”
“The family is devastated that since this incident, no one from the Rosarito Beach Police Department, their district attorney’s office, or any other Mexican officials have reached out and spoken to them directly,” the attorney said. “The only communication that the family has received has been through a liaison to the coroner’s office.”
The coroner’s office liaison told Blair’s family on Monday that “the cause of death was severe head trauma and that the case had been forwarded to the district attorney’s office to conduct a possible homicide investigation,” according to the attorney.
“The family informed the liaison that they would be conducting their own independent investigation, specifically hiring a private investigation firm, retaining an independent forensic pathologist to conduct a medical examination, including their own toxicology analysis,” the attorney added.
The attorney said Blair was visiting Mexico with his “loving wife,” Kim Williams, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. The couple was staying in a third-floor room at Las Rocas Resort and Spa, where they had stayed “on multiple occasions” over the past five years, according to the attorney.
The “incident” that led to Blair’s death “occurred in an open-air walkway located outside the front door of their room,” the attorney said. Blair was found in the T-shirt he wore to sleep, underwear and socks. Williams was woken up by hotel staff asking if that was her boyfriend, according to the family’s attorney.
Blair “was very familiar” with the hotel’s layout, spoke Spanish fluently and “was not intoxicated at the time” of the incident, according to the attorney.
However, police said on Tuesday there was a “considerable” amount of alcohol in Blair’s body after doing a toxicology report.
Police also said there was no sign of a dispute or a struggle in the hotel room, which they searched again for evidence on Monday.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State told ABC News on Tuesday that they are aware of reports of the death of an American citizen in Rosarito Beach, Mexico. The State Department stands ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance, according to the spokesperson, who declined to comment further, citing respect to the family during this difficult time.
A spokesperson for the State Attorney General’s Office of Baja California told ABC News on Tuesday investigators have conducted a second inspection of the hotel and sent the evidence to a laboratory, where the results are pending.
The attorney for Blair’s family said Mexican authorities have continually suggested that the body be cremated.
“Yesterday, during a conversation with the funeral home liaison, it was again suggested he be cremated and the family insisted his body not be cremated in order to conduct a thorough, complete, independent investigation,” the attorney added.
Moreover, the attorney said that Blair’s wife, also an Orange County public defender, “has been given multiple versions of what happened to Elliot,” whom was described in the press release as “a brilliant attorney with a bright future” as well as “a loving husband, son and brother.”
“The family, which has extensive legal training in criminal law, wholeheartedly believes based on their initial investigation, that Elliot was the victim of a brutal crime,” the attorney said. “Elliot’s tragic, untimely, and suspicious death has left his family and community with a huge hole in their hearts that will never be repaired.”
Case Barnett, a lawyer representing Blair’s family, told ABC News on Thursday that Blair’s body was embalmed before they could have their own toxicology report performed. They do not have the body yet and are hoping it will be returned home on Thursday, he said.
ABC News’ Jennifer Leong contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NEW YORK) — More than 10 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Putin’s forces in November pulled out of key positions, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting the city. Russian drones have continued bombarding civilian targets throughout Ukraine, knocking out critical power infrastructure as winter sets in.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 19, 7:06 PM EST
CIA director held secret meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv: US Official
CIA Director William J. Burns traveled to Kyiv and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian intelligence officials last week, a U.S. official told ABC News.
The director “reinforced our continued support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression,” according to the official.
The Washington Post first reported the meeting earlier Thursday.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith
Jan 19, 6:13 PM EST
Pentagon announces $2.5B more aid for Ukraine
The Pentagon announced Thursday evening that it will provide Ukraine with $2.5 billion in additional aid for its efforts fighting Russian forces.
This is the 13th drawdown of equipment from the Department of Defense’s inventories for Ukraine since August 2021, the agency said.
The package includes several weapons and equipment such as 59 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and 90 Stryker armored personnel carriers, the DoD said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jan 19, 4:34 PM EST
UN nuclear watchdog chief ‘worried’ about a disaster in Ukraine
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog group said Thursday that he is worried the world is becoming complacent about the “very precarious” situation posed by the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine.
Russian forces seized the plant, Europe’s largest, in March 2022 and it has repeatedly come under fire in recent months, raising fears of a nuclear disaster. Rafael Grossi, director general of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is working to set up a safe zone around the facility.
“I think the situation is very precarious,” Grossi told reporters in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. “I worry that this is becoming routine, that people may believe that nothing has happened so far, so is the director general of the IAEA crying wolf?”
Grossi said two major explosions occurred near the plant on Thursday, adding to the alarming situation.
“We know every day that a nuclear accident or an accident having serious radiological consequences may take place,” said Grossi before travelling to Moscow for talks with Russian officials.
Jan 19, 1:53 PM EST
Zelenskyy calls for new sanctions against Russia’s nuclear industry
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday pleaded with leaders of the European Union to pursue new sanctions against Russia’s nuclear industry and energy carriers.
During a joint news conference in Kyiv with European Council President Charles Michel, Zelenskyy said he believes a tenth package of sanctions “could be even more effective” than the previous ones.
“The time has come, in particular, for sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry, against all its branches, organizations and all entities that work for the Russian missile program,” Zelenskyy said.
He also expressed his frustration over Germany’s hesitation to send Leopard tanks Ukraine.
“The issue of tanks remains relevant and very sensitive,” Zelenskyy said. “It depends on many reasons and, unfortunately, does not depend on the will of Ukraine. We create pressure as hard as we can politically, but the essential thing is that our pressure is well-reasoned.”
Zelenskyy added, “Against thousands of tanks of the Russian Federation, as I told our colleagues, only the courage of our military and the motivation of the Ukrainian people are not enough.”
Since the United Kingdom announced last week it will send Challenger 2 tanks to Russia, the German government has faced mounting pressure to follow suit, or at least allow NATO allies such as Poland to supply Ukraine with German-made Leopard tanks.
“The delivery of Leopard tanks to Ukraine is still a matter of dispute in the Bundestag (national parliament),” according to a statement released Thursday by the German government, which added that the issue is still the subject of “heated debate.”
Jan 18, 6:10 PM EST
Close to 100 Stryker armored vehicles part of next aid package: US official
A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that the upcoming aid package to Ukraine will include close to 100 Stryker Armored Vehicles and additional Bradley fighting vehicles.
The Stryker is a wheeled armored vehicles that can carry as many as 11 soldiers inside and is equipped with a 30mm gun and or machine gun that are remotely fired from inside the vehicle. It’s fast moving and can be used on roads or off roads, though the off road option is better handled by the tracked Bradley fighting vehicles.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jan 18, 5:49 PM EST
Zelenskyy provides update on helicopter crash
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy provided an update on the helicopter crash near Kyiv near a kindergarten.
Zelenskyy said 14 people were killed in total including Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrski and one child.
Twenty-five people were injured, including 11 kids, the president added.
“Hundreds of people were involved in extinguishing the fire, searching and rescuing the injured, carrying out the initial investigative actions,” Zelenskyy said.
The president praised the efforts of kindergarten teachers who rushed in to help.
“Thank you for your bold actions, for taking the children out,” he said.
Zelenskyy said the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be temporarily led by the head of the National Police of Ukraine.
“The tasks for which the Minister was responsible in the context of our defense operation and ensuring the security of the state have also been distributed,” he said.
The cause of the helicopter crash is still under investigation.
-ABC News’ Wil Gretsky
Jan 18, 12:38 PM EST
Putin prepared for long war, Nato says
Russia is preparing for an extended war so NATO must get ready “for the long haul” and support Ukraine for as long as it takes, the alliance’s Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana told top European military chiefs Wednesday.
NATO nations must invest more in defense, ramp up military industrial manufacturing and harness new technologies to prepare for future wars, Geoana said, speaking at the opening of the military chiefs’ meeting in Brussels.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jan 18, 9:40 AM EST
Sixteen people dead in helicopter crash, including three children
Sixteen people, including Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, died in a helicopter crash near Kyiv, according to national police, the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office and Ukraine’s security service.
Monastyrsky is considered the most senior government official to die since the war started 11 months ago.
Jan 18, 3:57 AM EST
Helicopter crash near Kyiv kills interior minister
Ukrainian officials were killed on Wednesday morning in a helicopter crash near Kyiv.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, deputy Evgeniy Yenin and the state secretary of the interior ministry, Yuriy Lunkovych, died when a helicopter crashed in Brovary, a town on the outskirts of Kyiv, chief of the national police Igor Klymenko said on Facebook.
The emergency services helicopter crashed near a kindergarten in a residential area, according to officials.
According to the interior ministry, at least 18 people died, including three children. Another 22 people, including 10 children, were wounded, officials said.
The cause of the crash is unclear for now.
Jan 17, 5:06 PM EST
Zelenskyy confirms Netherlands sending Patriot Missile System
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the Netherlands will provide Ukrainian forces a Patriot Missile System.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces will now have three guaranteed Patriot batteries.
-ABC News Will Gretsky
Jan 17, 3:34 PM EST
White House condemns Dnipro attack
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre talked about the latest developments in Ukraine and slammed Russia over its missile strike on the apartment building in Dnipro.
“This weekend’s strikes are another example, as you’ve heard us say, of the brutal and barbaric war that Russia is waging against the Ukrainian people,” she told reporters during a White House press briefing.
“And we have seen this over and over again,” she added.
Jean-Pierre also praised the UK’s announcement Monday that it plans to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.
The press secretary didn’t say whether the U.S. would provide tanks to Ukraine or if Biden would pressure other countries to do so.
She noted that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was going to host another multinational meeting on Friday of the “Ukraine Contact Group” — a gathering of defense ministers to discuss security assistance to Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Jan 17, 12:39 PM EST
Death toll from Dnipro missile attack rises to 45: Mayor
The death toll from Saturday’s missile attack on an apartment building in Dnipro has risen to 45, including six children, according to Borys Filatov, the city’s mayor.
The search and rescue operations have ended, according to the emergency services.
In addition to the fatalities, there were 79 people wounded, including 16 children, according to emergency services.
Thirty-nine people were rescued from the rubble, including six children, emergency services said.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Jan 16, 4:56 PM EST
Ukrainian soldiers arrive in US for Patriot missile training
Ukrainian soldiers arrived in the United States on Sunday to begin training on the Patriot air defense missile system at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, a U.S. military official said.
The training at Fort Sill is expected to last several months, and then switch briefly to Europe, officials said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jan 16, 4:33 PM EST
39 people, including 6 children, rescued from rubble in Dnipro
Emergency crews have rescued 39 people, including six children, who were buried under the rubble caused by a missile strike on a high-rise apartment complex in Dnipro over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his Monday evening address.
The death toll remains at 40, including three children, he said.
The Kremlin denied being responsible for the attack, saying Russia doesn’t strike residential areas and claiming the destruction was a result of Ukrainian air defense.
“The debris of the house destroyed by the Russian missile is still being dismantled in Dnipro,” Zelenskyy said. “I thank everyone who is carrying out this rescue operation. Every employee of the State Emergency Service and police, every doctor, every volunteer. Everyone who is involved.”
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Jan 16, 4:09 PM EST
Civilian survivors speak out after missile strike in Dnipro
Emergency workers were still looking for survivors Monday following a strike on a high-rise apartment building on Saturday in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
The death toll rose to 40 dead, including three children, making it the deadliest strike on a residential area in Ukraine in the last three months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “Russian terror,” saying Ukraine was “fighting for every person, every life” under in rubble in Dnipro and would “find everyone involved in this terror.”
The attack on an apartment building destroyed 72 units and wounded 75 residents.
Rescuers have been using cranes to remove chunk after chunk of rubble, looking for survivors.
One of the survivors, Yevgeni, told ABC News that he was in his bed when the missile struck his apartment.
“I can’t understand. I didn’t hear any bang, any voice, any sound of the missile,” said Yevgeni, adding that he suffered a head injury and that his broken window frame fell on him.
He described seeing smoke and “a lot of dust” at the scene. He said “the most scary thing (was hearing) the voices of people screaming.”
Local resident Natali Nodykova told ABC News that a friend called her to tell her there was a bombing in her neighborhood.
“My son was alone at home and of course I was afraid,” Nodykova said.
Emergency workers rescued 39 people, Ukrainian officials said. Twelve people remained unaccounted for Monday.
The attack was caused by a Soviet-made Kh-22, a long-range missile used to take down aircraft carriers, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
The massive 13,000-pound missile causes huge amounts of casualties when used in civilian areas.
The Kremlin denied the attack, saying Russia doesn’t strike residential areas and claiming the destruction was a result of Ukrainian air defense.
The same type of weapon had been used in a previous attack on a shopping mall in the town of Kremenchuk back in July that killed 22 people, according to Ukrainian authorities.
-ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud, Bruno Roeber, Oleksii Pshemyskiy, Matt Gutman and Max Uzol
Jan 16, 10:24 AM EST
Three children among 40 killed in Dnipro missile strike
The death toll climbed to 40 on Monday from a weekend missile strike on a high-rise apartment complex in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to Ukrainian officials.
At least three children were among those killed, officials said. Another 70 people were injured.
The death toll is expected to rise as 30 people remain unaccounted for, officials said.
On Saturday, a missile slammed into a block of high-rise apartment buildings in the central Dnipro. While Ukrainian officials blamed Russia for the strike, one of the deadliest attacks since the war began, the Kremlin denied Russia was involved.
“The Russian armed forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure, they strike military targets,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday.
Jan 15, 3:40 PM EST
Survivor pulled from rubble in Dnipro as death toll rises
The death toll from a Russian missile strike on a block of high-rise apartment buildings in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 29 on Sunday.
Amidst the devastation, rescuers pulled one woman alive from the rubble on Sunday and officials said she was saved by a cocoon of concrete that surrounded her.
The survivor was rescued from a block of apartment buildings hit by a Russian missile on Saturday in the city about 500 miles southeast of the capital of Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a child was among those killed in the Dnipro missile attack.
Despite Sunday’s rescue, emergency workers said the hope of finding more survivors is fading.
The rocket attack reduced part of a high-rise apartment building to a pile of rubble that was still smoldering on Sunday. Noxious fumes from burning couches, curtains and TVs emanated from the pile as firefighters sprayed water hoses on it and rescue workers dug through the debris with their bare hands, an ABC News crew in Dnipro reported.
In addition to the now 29 killed in the attack, more than 70 people were injured, Ukrainian officials said. The strike left hundreds of apartments uninhabitable, officials said.
Emergency crews brought in cranes Sunday to help move large pieces of debris.
As the rescue operation went on Sunday, periodic moments of silence were called for so rescuers could listen for cries for help from people feared missing in the rubble.
-ABC News’ Matt Gutman
Jan 14, 11:07 AM EST
5 killed, dozens hurt in attack in Dnipro
Five people were killed and at least 27 were wounded in a Russian attack in Dnipro in central Ukraine, according to the governor.
An apartment block was struck and at least two children are among the injured, according to the deputy head of the president’s office.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Jan 14, 9:27 AM EST
Kyiv under Russian missile attack Saturday morning
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said explosions occurred in different districts on both banks in the city on Saturday morning and, in one of the districts, fire broke out in a non-residential area.
There were no casualties as a result of the attack that happened at approximately 6 a.m. but 18 residential houses were damaged in the region, according to the governor Oleksiy Kuleba.
The spokesman for the Ukrainian Airborne Forces, Yuri Ignat, told ABC News that Ukrainian authorities think it could have possibly been a ballistic attack by Russia but could not confirm this.
“Most likely, these are missiles that flew along a ballistic trajectory from the north. Ballistics are not available for us to detect and shoot down,” Ignat said on Ukrainian television.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Jan 13, 4:02 PM EST
Russian forces claim to have taken Soledar
Russian military leaders claim their forces took over the salt-mining town of Soledar.
Video showed Russian soldiers evacuating civilians from Soledar and nearby villages to the city of Shakhtarsk as fighting took place on the outskirts on Friday.
Serhiy Cherevaty, the Ukrainian commander of the Eastern Group of Forces, however, confirmed that fighting was going on in the region but contested Russia’s claims about the status of the city in a statement to ABC News.
“We have a clear understanding of who controls which streets in the city, but I cannot reveal those details,” he told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Patrick Reevell
Jan 12, 1:51 PM EST
Pressure mounts on NATO countries to send tanks to Ukraine
Pressure is mounting for key NATO allies to send tanks to Ukraine.
After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, Polish President Andrzej Duda said his country plans to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine but only as part of an “international coalition.”
“They will be provided within the coalition, because you know that it is necessary to obtain certain official consents. But first we need to build an international coalition and we have decided to form this international coalition,” Duda said.
Duda “expressed hope” other NATO countries would provide Ukraine with tanks as well.
The United Kingdom has not made a final decision on whether to send tanks to Ukraine, according to the spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The United Kingdom is considering supplying Ukraine with the British Army’s Challenger 2 main battle tank, according to British media reports.
Germany is also facing pressure from Ukraine and other NATO allies to send tanks to Ukraine. So far, they have not committed to sending any tanks to the country and neither has the United States.
Germany and the United States have both agreed to supply Ukraine with armored carriers and the Patriot air defense system.
Jan 12, 12:52 PM EST
Russians, Ukrainians give conflicting views in the battle for Soledar
Russian and Ukrainian officials offered conflicting views Thursday on the battle being waged over the eastern Ukraine city of Soledar.
Both sides described their forces as making progress in the fight for the salt mining town in the Donbas region.
“Our defenders continue to hold their positions on the most difficult frontlines and in the battle for (the) Donbas,” said Hanna Maliar, the Ukrainian deputy of defense. “Today, fierce and heavy battles continue in the direction of Bakhmut, in the area of Soledar city.”
Despite the “difficult situation,” Ukrainian soldiers are desperately battling for control of Soledar, Maliar said.
“The enemy is suffering heavy losses, unsuccessfully trying to break through our defenses and capture Soledar,” Maliar said. “Today, the city’s approaches are literally littered with the bodies of Putin’s destroyed troops. Nevertheless, they move over the bodies of their fallen fighters. Our defenders show maximum resilience and heroism.”
But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Russian forces and mercenaries from the Wagner private military company are doing a “truly colossal job” in Soledar.
“These are absolutely selfless, heroic deeds,” Peskov told journalists on Thursday.
Peskov said the hostilities in the region will continue.
“There is still a lot of work to be done. No time to stop, no time to rub our hands and so on. The main work is yet to come,” Peskov said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Russia’s airborne units had blocked Soledar from the north and the south and assault teams were fighting within the town limits.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address on Wednesday that Ukrainian troops are holding onto Soledar.
“The terrorist state and its propagandists are trying to pretend” to have achieved some successes in Soledar, Zelenskyy said. “But the fighting continues.”
Jan 11, 4:51 PM EST
Russian shake-up as military chief in Ukraine replaced
Russia has replaced the military chief in charge in Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.
Army Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, will replace Sergei Surovikin, who has been commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine for the past three months. Surovikin will become one of Gerasimov’s deputies, according to Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s minister of defense, who made the new appointments.
The changes come as the progress of the Russian forces in Ukraine continues to stall.
“The increase in the level of leadership of the special operation is linked to the expansion of the scale of the tasks at hand and the need to organize closer interaction between troops,” Shoigu said.
Jan 11, 12:17 PM EST
Ukrainians deny reports the city of Soledar on verge of falling to Russia
Ukrainian officials on Wednesday denied reports that the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar is on the verge of being captured by Russian forces and claimed the battle for the city is ongoing.
The report contradicts British intelligence officials who on Tuesday said it appeared that Russian troops were close to capturing a salt mining town in an apparent attempt to cut off the enemy’s supply routes. The British officials said Russian forces, along with mercenaries from the Wagner private military company, were likely in control of the city of Soledar, which is about six miles north of Bakhmut in the Donbas region, where heavy fighting has been reported in recent days.
The head of the Wagner group also released a statement on Telegram Tuesday, saying his mercenaries were in control of Soledar.
But Ukrainian officials said Wednesday the city has not fallen into the hands of Russian forces and the Russian mercenary group.
“Russians say that it is under their control; it is not true,” said Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian eastern military command.
The Russian attack on Soledar is an apparent attempt to bypass Bakhmut from the north and disrupt Ukrainian supply routes, the British intelligence officials said. Part of the fighting is being waged near the entrances to the 124 miles of abandoned salt mine tunnels that run under the area.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the fighting in Soledar as “very difficult.”
Jan 10, 4:09 PM EST
Russia not ready to launch new offensive from Belarus: Ukrainian officials
Senior Ukrainian officials said Tuesday that they believe any prospect of Russia launching a new offensive toward Kyiv from Belarus is “not likely at this moment.”
The latest statement from Ukrainian officials contrasted with a series of interviews they gave last month in which they suggested Russia could mount an offensive early this year and even try to take Kyiv.
“Our assessment is that the Russians aren’t in a position to make an advance on Kyiv from Belarus. And if that were their intention, it wouldn’t happen for some time,” a senior Ukrainian official said Tuesday.
The Ukrainian officials added that the mere threat of an assault from Belarus means that Ukrainian forces are “fixed” along the Ukraine-Belarus border.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Jan 10, 2:15 PM EST
Ukrainians set to begin Patriot air defense training in Oklahoma
As many as 100 Ukrainians troops will soon begin training on the Patriot air defense system at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, two U.S. officials told ABC News Tuesday.
Fort Sill is the main artillery school for the U.S. Army and where months-long training on Patriot systems already takes place.
Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, said the Ukrainians could begin training on the Patriot system as soon as next week.
“The training will prepare approximately 90 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers to operate, maintain and sustain the defensive system over a training course expected to last several months,” Ryder said.
Once deployed, the Patriot batteries will fortify Ukraine’s air defense capabilities and provide an additional way for the “Ukrainian people to defend themselves against Russia’s ongoing aerial assaults,” Ryder said.
Ryder would not give a precise time frame, but said that once the training is completed, the system will be sent to Ukraine to be put to use.
President Joe Biden announced last month that the United States will provide Ukraine with a Patriot missile defense system. The German government also agreed this month to supply Ukraine with a second Patriot missile battery.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Jan 10, 1:30 PM EST
Russians on verge of overtaking eastern Ukrainian city
Russian troops were on the verge Tuesday of capturing a salt mining town in eastern Ukraine in an apparent attempt to cut off the enemy’s supply routes, according to British intelligence officials.
The Russian forces, along with mercenaries from the Wagner private military company, were likely in control of the city of Soledar, which is about six miles north of Bakhmut in the Donbas region, where heavy fighting has been reported in recent days, the British officials said.
The attack on Soledar is an apparent attempt to bypass Bakhmut from the north and disrupt Ukrainian supply routes, the British intelligence officials said. Part of the fighting is being waged near the entrances to the 124 miles of abandoned salt mine tunnels that run under the area.
Despite the increased pressure on Bakhmut, Russia is unlikely to be able to encircle the city in the near future because Ukrainian forces have created a stable line of defense and control supply routes in the area, the British officials said.
The Ukrainian Army said Russian troops carried out 86 artillery strikes on Soledar in a 24-hour period, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the fighting there as “very difficult.”
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NEW YORK) — Over the last two months, following lengthy periods of detention in Russia, Americans Brittney Griner, Sarah Krivanek and Taylor Dudley were all allowed to return home — but Alabama native David Barnes continues to be held by Russian authorities.
Now, after more than a year of incarceration in Russia, Barnes’ trial resumed this week before a judge in Moscow.
Barnes, a 65-year-old father who was living in The Woodlands, Texas, prior to his arrest during a trip to Russia, appeared in district court on Thursday for the beginning of testimony.
Barnes is being tried on allegations by Russian authorities that he abused his two sons in suburban Houston, even though law enforcement in Texas previously investigated Barnes following similar accusations from his ex-wife, Svetlana Koptyaeva, and did not find cause to file charges.
With his hands cuffed, Barnes was seen being escorted up a courthouse staircase in jeans and a long sleeve shirt at 1:00 p.m. local time before the hearing began.
When asked by an ABC News reporter if he had anything that he wanted to say, Barnes said, “I love my boys.”
The hearing lasted for more than four hours. Koptyaeva, who is wanted in the U.S. on a felony interference with child custody charge, was questioned on the stand.
Koptyaeva’s mother also provided testimony, but details from inside the courtroom are scarce due to restrictions in Russia on public access to trials involving minors.
“It is a civil matter. It should not be a criminal case,” Barnes told ABC News. He was also asked whether he is currently having any health issues, but said he is not.
Two additional people are expected to be called to the stand to testify during the next hearing. Since the trial is not occurring on consecutive days, Barnes is not due back in court until February 22.
A U.S. State Department official told ABC News that they are aware of media reporting about the resumption of Barnes’ trial this week, adding, “We have requested permission for another consular visit and are awaiting a response from Russian authorities.”
“Generally, the Russia[n] Federation does not abide by its obligations to provide timely notification of the detention of U.S. citizens in Russia,” the State Department official said. “Additionally, Russian authorities also do not regularly inform the U.S. Embassy of the trials, sentencing, or movement of U.S. citizens detained in Russia.”
Griner was released from a Mordovia penal colony in December 2022 through a highly-publicized prisoner exchange. Krivanek’s detention ended the same day while Dudley was transported across the border to Poland last week as part of his release.
“There are still no charges in Montgomery County related to David Barnes,” Kelly Blackburn of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office told ABC News in November.
Texas authorities did file a felony charge of interference with child custody against Koptyaeva, a native of Russia, after she allegedly took the children out of the United States on March 26, 2019, in violation of a court judgment.
Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, considers the children to have been missing since that date, and Barnes’ family says he has not seen his children since.
In late 2021, following a Texas judge’s 2020 decision to designate Barnes as the sole managing conservator of his children, Barnes traveled to Russia in the hope of being granted similar custody or visitation rights in Russian family court, according to Barnes’ family. But he was detained just over a month after arriving in Moscow.
Koptyaeva continues to say that the children suffered abuse from Barnes, writing in part in a September 2022 email to ABC News, “We were running away just to protect the boys. Do you really think that a person would take two kids and go into [the] unknown, without [a] job, without any source of income, into nothing just to hurt someone?”
Barnes’ trial began in November following a series of delays that, according to his family, were caused by issues associated with transporting him to the courthouse. The trial, which is not occurring on consecutive days, was previously slated to continue on Dec. 15, but was adjourned until January after court representatives reported that there were absences involving trial participants.
“My hope is that they can actually get him transported to the courthouse and there’s no confusion again as to when the trial is scheduled to begin,” Carol Barnes, David’s older sister, said in an email to ABC News on Tuesday. “My real hope is that they dismiss the case, but we know that’s not going to happen.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said in December that representatives from the agency have visited Barnes in custody five times since his arrest.
“Our last visit to Mr. Barnes in detention was on December 13, 2022,” the State Department spokesperson told ABC News. “U.S. Embassy representatives attempted to attend his trial on December 15, but were denied entry.”
Barnes maintains his innocence, writing to his family in December that he is hoping that he can be part of another prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia, but adding, “I still want a shot at the trial … but who knows how long the trial could last.”
ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova and Anastasia Bagaeva contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(LONDON) — A new law designed to increase the number of women in positions of power in both private and public sectors came into force in Sierra Leone on Thursday.
More than a year after the legislation was first tabled in Sierra Leone’s Parliament, lawmakers voted unanimously to pass the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act in November. Now, Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio has signed the bill into law, just five months before general elections.
The Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act includes a legal requirement for all designated private and public bodies in the small West African nation to ensure at least 30% of their workforce is female. That ratio must be maintained across all levels within the organizations, with the legislation explicitly stating that 30% of leadership or decision-making roles must be set aside for women.
The act also specifies a 30% minimum quota of women for all elective and appointive positions in Sierra Leone’s government or public offices, along with the requirement that every government department has its own gender unit within its planning office. The country’s current electoral rules call for one in three candidates for elected office to be female.
Sierra Leone’s president, who is running for a second and final five-year term in office, took to Twitter on Thursday after signing the “landmark” law, saying in a series of posts that “REAL CHANGE has been ushered into our great nation.”
“The Bill will also revolutionise our government’s engagement with WOMEN – making them equal partners in our task to build a strong and vibrant country,” Bio tweeted. “Women’s rights are Human rights.”
Under the new law, employers in Sierra Leone must provide at least 14 weeks of maternity leave as well as equal pay, training and treatment for women as compared to men. Previously, female employees were generally entitled to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave.
Moreover, employers are now legally required to prohibit discrimination on grounds of gender. For instance, the new law makes it illegal for an employer to fire a woman when she becomes pregnant, and a bank criminally liable if it fails to provide the same commercial support opportunities to women as it does for men.
The act states that any employer who discriminates against women in violation of the 30% quota or any other aspect of employment law faces a fine of at least 50,000 new leones (about $2,500). Meanwhile, any breach of the credit fairness rules by financial institutions is punishable by prison sentences of at least three years as well as fines.
Sierra Leonean Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs Manty Tarawalli is responsible for designating the organizations to which the new law applies — a status that’s expected to be given to any group with more than 25 employees. Tarawalli praised the “groundbreaking” law,” which she said “will break the economic and political exclusion shackles for urban and rural women across the country.”
“Today is a historic day when Sierra Leone can rightly say it has legislation carefully designed to do away with gender inequality,” Tarawalli said in a statement Thursday. “Today is an important step in the right direction, but more steps will have to be taken before the country can say fairness has been achieved across the genders.”
ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(HONG KONG and BEIJING) — With just days to go until the Lunar New Year, throngs of bundled-up travelers shuffle their way through the freezing temperatures towards Beijing Railway Station, the distinctive mishmash of eastern and western styles built in the 1950s to triumphantly herald Mao’s “New China.”
“We wish Beijing Railway Station all the best for the Year of Rabbit!” shouts a group of youthful security guards, grinning while hoisting up red new year’s scrolls. Their crouching colleague preserving it on his phone for social media.
There is almost a sense of normalcy until a lone traveler in a full head-to-toe white hazmat suit, one that had become so ubiquitous in China’s age of COVID, scurries past, rattling the wheels of his suitcase on the plaza tiles.
They are all rushing towards long-awaited reunions.
This is the first Lunar New Year holiday, also known as the Spring Festival in China, after Beijing dropped nearly all of its zero-COVID measures and the first in over three years without any COVID-related travel restrictions. Chinese officials expect nearly 2.1 billion passenger trips to be made during the 40-day travel period around the holiday, normally regarded as the largest annual human migration in the world, doubling the trips made just a year ago when Beijing dissuaded travel to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Amongst the crowds is a Beijing-based office worker in her early 30s surnamed Liu, who is going back home to the northeastern city of Harbin for first time since the pandemic.
China’s massive wave of infections after its abandonment of zero-COVID measures appears to be ebbing just as the celebrations and reunions this coming weekend threatens to reignite a new wave.
Liu, however, is not worried. She had recovered recently from the coronavirus and her entire family and her friends back in Harbin have already been through a bout with COVID as well.
The true size and scale of China’s “Exit Wave” from nearly three years of restrictions remains unclear, as authorities abandoned the once-ubiquitous mass testing regime almost overnight. Anecdotally, infections seemed to have affected everyone, everywhere all at once.
Scenes of long lines outside Beijing crematoriums and bodies having to be placed on the floor of hospital morgues because of full freezers, repeated themselves in major cities across the country in videos circulated on social media, undercutting China’s official toll of 37 COVID-related deaths for much of December.
Space technology firm Maxar released satellite images of increased traffic outside funeral homes across China. One image of a funeral home in eastern city of Huzhou showed a significantly packed parking lot compared to images from a year earlier. When reached by ABC News, a worker there was dismissive, saying the situation “was not the same as been reported by media” before promptly hanging up.
A study released by Peking University’s National School of Development last week estimated that up to 900 million or some 64% of the entire population had been affected by COVID-19 by Jan. 11. The study used data extrapolated from online search queries across the country because of the lack of official figures. Articles referencing the study were promptly censored.
In the following days, after weeks of calls for transparency domestically and internationally over China’s official numbers, including from World Health Organization, Chinese health officials finally announced that there were nearly 60,000 COVID-19 related deaths at government health facilities in the period since restrictions were relaxed. The majority of deaths were seniors over 65 with underlying diseases, officials said. China had only recorded 5,273 official deaths during most of the pandemic.
Jiao Yahui, director of medical affairs at China’s National Health Commission said, “The number of fever clinic visitors is generally on a downward trend after peaking, both in cities and rural areas.”
According to officials, emergency patients nationwide peaked at 1.526 million on Jan. 2 and then continued to decline. By Jan. 12, they were down 28.4% from the peak.
Two packed hospitals in Central Beijing visited by ABC News during the height of the wave in December were now relatively quiet this week. The inundated fever clinics at Chaoyang Hospital from mid-December now only had less than a handful of waiting patients. At the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, patients lining up at the respiratory medicine clinic had visibly halved. The constant stream of ambulances to the hospital was noticeably absent and the non-emergency medicine clinics of the hospital were bustling again.
Beijing’s Dongjiao crematorium told ABC News that they were still operating around the clock but demand was less than what they were seeing in December when hearses lined for hours outside.
In the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, a suburban funeral cerement store in the Shapingba district told ABC News their business was back to normal. They saw a spike in sales beginning on Dec. 5, even before the zero-COVID U-turn on Dec. 7. They reached their peak sales just few days later on Dec. 10, meaning the virus was likely spreading widely weeks before authorities abandoned their harsh COVID restrictions. At their peak, the store was selling 20 sets of burial garments a day when they would normally only sell four sets.
ABC News reached a family in Chongqing that lost a relative in recent days. They said that the demand at funeral homes appears to have eased and they were able to secure a memorial hall without waiting, though prices remained elevated.
The abrupt shift away from the government’s signature zero-COVID strategy which was trumpeted as late as October by Chinese President Xi Jinping as an “all-out people’s war” that “protected the people’s health and safety” surprised many around the world and within China.
On Tuesday, figures released China’s National Bureau of Statistics, showed that China’s economy was buckling under the zero-COVID restrictions, missing Beijing’s target of 5.5% annual growth, collapsing to only 3% from 8.4% in 2021, the slowest since the 1970s apart from the first year of the pandemic.
“Data still confirms a depressing end to a challenging year for the Chinese economy,” said Aidan Yao, Senior Economist at AXA Investment Managers.
Yao, however, believes the Chinese economy bottomed out in December and figures even reflected the beginning of a recovery in the later part of the month as the COVID wave moved past its peak.
“December has likely marked the darkest before the dawn for the Chinese economy. As COVID comes and goes at an extremely fast speed, normalcy is being restored in cities that have passed the peak of infections,” said Yao. “Given the current run rate, it is likely that the majority of the country would pass the peak wave by late-January or early-February, paving the way for a sustained and broad-based recovery thereafter.”
However, Yao warned, “the spread of the virus in rural China is of a particular concern, given the limited medical infrastructure in many in-land provinces.”
“If migrant workers cannot return to cities on time after the Lunar New Year as they have to look after the sick” it would present an added challenge for the economy, he said.
Back outside the Beijing Railway Station, a 26-year old migrant construction worker surnamed Wang is making his way slowly to back home to the city of Yinchuan in the northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. It’s also his first trip home in three years.
Forced to transit in Beijing because all direct trains from Shanghai, where he works, were sold out because of this year’s demand, Wang admits he’s a little apprehensive of a new wave hitting his hometown. He remains one of the few he knows who still hasn’t been infected.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.