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(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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

Jul 10, 11:41 am
15 killed in Russian missile strike on residential building in Donetsk region

At least 15 people were killed and two dozen more are feared trapped in rubble after Russian Uragan rockets slammed into a five-story apartment building in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, local officials said on Sunday.

Search-and-rescue workers were combing through the rubble for survivors on Sunday.

The missile strike came as Ukrainian officials reported clashes with Russian troops on the frontline in the eastern and southern Ukraine.

Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the strike on the apartment building occurred Saturday evening in the town of Chasiv Yar. The regional emergency service said Sunday that the death toll had climbed to 15 and that 24 more people could still be buried under the rubble.

“We ran to the basement, there were three hits, the first somewhere in the kitchen,” a local resident, who gave her name as Ludmila, told rescuers as they removed a body wrapped in a white sheet and cleared rubble using a crane as well as their hands. “The second (strike), I do not even remember, there was lightning, we ran towards the second entrance and then straight into the basement. We sat there all night until this morning.”

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a Telegram post that the strike was “another terrorist attack” and that Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism as a result.

Russian officials claimed its forces struck Ukrainian army hangars storing U.S.-produced M777 howitzers, a type of artillery, near Kostyantynivka in Donetsk region, but, so far, has not claimed responsibility for the missile strike on the residential building in Chasiv Yar.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Jul 10, 11:21 am
Blinken claims world food insecurity ‘significantly exacerbated’ by Russian invasion

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has “significantly exacerbated” a global food insecurity crisis and may have contributed to the economic collapse of Sri Lanka.

“What we are seeing around the world is growing food insecurity that has been significantly exacerbated by the Russian aggression against Ukraine and as we’ve had opportunity to discuss in recent days, there are more than 20 million tons of grain that are sitting in silos in Ukraine that can’t get out can’t get out to feed people around the world,” Blinken told reporters during his first official visit to Thailand.

He noted that he discussed the global food insecurity crisis during meetings with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and said a memorandum of understanding the two leaders signed commemorating a new collaboration will “make it easier for Thailand and the United States to quickly share information and consult on possible supply chain disruptions so that we can actually take early action to mitigate problems.”

Blinken added that the impact of this Russian invasion of Ukraine is being felt around the world, particularly in Sri Lanka, where the prime minister said late last month that the island nation’s debt-laden economy had “collapsed” and run out of money to pay for food and fuel. The economic turmoil has prompted massive protests in Sri Lanka and over the weekend demonstrators stormed the president’s residence in the capital of Colombo.

“So we’re seeing the impact of this Russian aggression to play out everywhere,” Blinken said. “Again, it may have contributed to the situation in Sri Lanka. We’re concerned about the implications that it has around the world.”

-ABC News’ Lauren Minore

Jul 08, 3:27 pm
US announces new $400M aid package for Ukraine, including more HIMARS

The Biden administration announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday that includes four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.

Ukraine will now have a total of 12 of these precision rocket launcher systems, which have been “especially important and effective in assisting Ukraine in coping with the Russian artillery battle in the Donbas,” a senior defense official told reporters Friday.

The rockets have a range of 43 miles. The official said that Ukraine has been striking at Russian targets deep behind enemy lines but has not used them to strike inside Russia.

The new aid package also includes 1,000 new “greater precision” artillery. The name of the system was not shared for security purposes, the official said.

The new aid package is the 15th use of the presidential drawdown authority to give existing U.S. military stocks to Ukraine.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez

Jul 07, 9:26 am
Moscow views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, Russian official says

Russia considers nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, according to Valentina Matviyenko, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council.

“Russia views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent,” Matviyenko said Thursday at a press conference.

The official noted that Russia has “clearly and strictly prescribed those exceptional cases when [nuclear weapons] can only be used in response to — God forbid that this never happens — a nuclear attack.”

“We behave like a civilized country, and we do it openly,” Matviyenko added.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko

Jul 07, 8:16 am
Russia claims no new ground for first time since invasion’s start

Russia claimed no territorial gains in Ukraine on Wednesday for the first time since the beginning of its invasion in late February, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest report.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed territorial gains every day from the start of the war but has not done so since completing the encirclement of the eastern town Lysychansk on July 3, the ISW said.

The Washington-based think tank said the lull in Russian ground force movements supports its assessment that Russian forces “have largely initiated an operational pause.”

The break in operations is not equal to a complete ceasefire, however, as Russian troops still conducted a number of unsuccessful attacks on all frontlines, the experts added.

Russian troops are instead trying to set up conditions for a bigger offensive as they rebuild their combat power, the ISW report said.

Russia has already increased its fleet in the Black Sea on the shores of Ukraine, local media reported on Wednesday. The Russian naval presence grew by several missile carriers, as well as submarines and an amphibious assault ship.

Ukrainian officials refuted Russian claims on Wednesday according to which Russian troops destroyed two HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems supplied by the U.S.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added that the Western supplied artillery “started working very powerfully” and at full capacity.

“Finally, it is felt that the Western artillery, the weapons we received from our partners, started working very powerfully,” Zelenskyy said in his Wednesday evening address. “Its accuracy is exactly as needed,” the president added.

Zelenskyy said the Western weapons have carried out strikes on depots and areas of logistical importance to Russian troops. “And this significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army,” Zelenskyy noted, adding that Russian losses “will only increase every week, as will the difficulty of supplying [Russian troops].”

Ukrainian forces celebrated another symbolic victory on Thursday when they raised their national flag on Snake Island, a recaptured Black Sea isle located 90 miles south of the Ukrainian port of Odesa that became a symbol of defiance against Moscow, according to local reports.

Images released by Ukraine’s interior ministry on Thursday showed three Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue and yellow national flag on a patch of ground on Snake Island next to the remains of a flattened building.

But Russia responded to the flag-raising ceremony fast. It said one of its warplanes had struck Snake Island shortly afterwards and destroyed part of the Ukrainian detachment there.

Russia abandoned Snake Island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill, raising Ukrainian hopes of unblocking local ports shut off by Russia.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko

Jul 06, 10:02 am
Blinken to urge G20 to press Russia on grain deliveries

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to appeal to G20 countries to put pressure on Russia to make it support the U.N. initiative on unblocking the sea lanes for Ukraine and allow grain exports, according to local media reports.

“G20 countries should hold Russia accountable and insist that it supports ongoing U.N. efforts to reopen the sea lanes for grain delivery,” said Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs.

Toloui referred to a U.N. campaign aiming to expedite Ukrainian and Russian exports of harvest and fertilizer to global markets.

Around 22 million tons of grain remain blocked in Ukrainian ports due to the threat of Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.

Ukraine is in active negotiations with Turkey and the U.N. to solve the grain export stalemate, Zelenskyy added.

Blinken is also expected to once again warn China against backing Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

“[The upcoming G20 summit] will be another opportunity … to convey our expectations about what we would expect China to do and not to do in the context of Ukraine,” the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

Jul 06, 8:42 am
Russia aims to seize territory far beyond the Donbas, Putin’s ally suggests

Russia’s main objective in its invasion of Ukraine is still regime change in Kyiv and the dismantling of Ukrainian sovereignty, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev suggested in a speech on Tuesday.

Patrushev said the Russian “military operation” in Ukraine will continue until Russia achieves its goals of protecting civilians from “genocide,” “denazifying” and demilitarizing Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The Russian official added that Ukraine must remain permanently neutral between Russia and NATO. Petrushev’s remarks nearly mirrored the goals Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at the onset of the war to justify the military invasion.

Patrushev, a close Putin ally, repeated the Russian President’s stated ambitions despite Russia’s military setbacks in Ukraine and previous hints at a reduction in war aims following those defeats, the ISW pointed out.

Patrushev’s explicit restatement of Putin’s initial objectives “strongly indicates” that Russia does not consider its recent territorial gains in the Luhansk region to be sufficient, the ISW experts said.

Russia “has significant territorial aspirations beyond the Donbas” and “is preparing for a protracted war with the intention of taking much larger portions of Ukraine,” the observers added.

Patrushev’s comments dampened hopes for a “compromise ceasefire or even peace based on limited additional Russian territorial gains,” the experts concluded.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The twin brother of Paul Whelan, the former U.S. Marine detained in Russia on espionage charges, said he had mixed feelings about the responses to the cases involving Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner in comparison to his brother.

Reed, another former U.S. Marine who was released from a Russian prison in April after serving nearly three years, told Good Morning America that the Biden administration is “not doing enough” for Paul Whelan and Griner, an American WNBA player and Olympic athlete that was detained in February on drug charges.

Speaking about Reed’s recent release, David Whelan described his “mixed feelings.”

“You’re thrilled for Trevor Reed, and I would be thrilled for Brittney Griner if she was able to go home too,” David Whelan told ABC News’ podcast “Start Here,” and continued “separately from whether Paul gets to go home or not.”

“It’s a devastating call to have to make to our parents for Paul,” he added, “to tell him he was left behind once, and maybe we might have to have that conversation a second time.”

David Whelan said that during the phone call, his brother was “very angry and very upset” and said “why was I left behind?”

During a press briefing Thursday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed Paul Whelan’s detainment and that of others. .

“This President is doing everything that he can to make sure that they come home safely,” said Jean-Pierre. “We’re going to use any — every means that we have.”

Paul Whelan was detained in Russia in December 2018 and accused of spying. His brother said he was in Moscow for a friend’s wedding and was given a USB drive.

“I think one of the challenges for any wrongfully detained family is what are you going to do?” David Whelan said.. “What are you going to sacrifice?”

“One of the friends that he had made in Russia visited him the night of the wedding right before the wedding happened, and gave Paul USB,” he said. “As soon as he was given the USB stick and put it in his pocket, his door was opened by the FSB. And he was arrested.”

Paul Whelan pleaded not guilty, claiming it was a sting operation and that he thought the USB drive contained holiday photos. In June 2020, he was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years of “hard labor” in a Russian prison.

Before the Biden administration, the response of the White House to his brothers’ detainment was “radio silence,” said David Whelan. “Since January or February 2021, we’ve had a huge change.”

At one point, David Whelan said that somebody in the State Department asked his family to “make more noise” about Paul Whelan’s detention.

“We mostly pointed back at them and say, ‘Why would you ask a family to have to take on this responsibility,’” said David Whelan.

Asked by ABC News’ Brad Mielke to speak about the overlaps between the three cases, David Whelan said that “each of these cases is distinct. And each of them has different requirements. And so the resources that the U.S. government brings to bear on each case is going to be different.”

Later in the interview, he added, “I would hope that the U.S. government would look deep to find out what that concession is that they could make and to make it there. There’s got to be something that they can do.”

President Biden called Paul and David Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, Friday to reaffirm his commitment to bringing the former marine home.

“Today, President Biden called Elizabeth Whelan, the sister of Paul Whelan who has been wrongfully detained by Russia since 2018,” a White House official said.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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

Jul 08, 3:27 pm
US announces new $400M aid package for Ukraine, including more HIMARS

The Biden administration announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday that includes four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.

Ukraine will now have a total of 12 of these precision rocket launcher systems, which have been “especially important and effective in assisting Ukraine in coping with the Russian artillery battle in the Donbas,” a senior defense official told reporters Friday.

The rockets have a range of 43 miles. The official said that Ukraine has been striking at Russian targets deep behind enemy lines but has not used them to strike inside Russia.

The new aid package also includes 1,000 new “greater precision” artillery. The name of the system was not shared for security purposes, the official said.

The new aid package is the 15th use of the presidential drawdown authority to give existing U.S. military stocks to Ukraine.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez

Jul 07, 9:26 am
Moscow views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, Russian official says

Russia considers nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, according to Valentina Matviyenko, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council.

“Russia views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent,” Matviyenko said Thursday at a press conference.

The official noted that Russia has “clearly and strictly prescribed those exceptional cases when [nuclear weapons] can only be used in response to — God forbid that this never happens — a nuclear attack.”

“We behave like a civilized country, and we do it openly,” Matviyenko added.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko

Jul 07, 8:16 am
Russia claims no new ground for first time since invasion’s start

Russia claimed no territorial gains in Ukraine on Wednesday for the first time since the beginning of its invasion in late February, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest report.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed territorial gains every day from the start of the war but has not done so since completing the encirclement of the eastern town Lysychansk on July 3, the ISW said.

The Washington-based think tank said the lull in Russian ground force movements supports its assessment that Russian forces “have largely initiated an operational pause.”

The break in operations is not equal to a complete ceasefire, however, as Russian troops still conducted a number of unsuccessful attacks on all frontlines, the experts added.

Russian troops are instead trying to set up conditions for a bigger offensive as they rebuild their combat power, the ISW report said.

Russia has already increased its fleet in the Black Sea on the shores of Ukraine, local media reported on Wednesday. The Russian naval presence grew by several missile carriers, as well as submarines and an amphibious assault ship.

Ukrainian officials refuted Russian claims on Wednesday according to which Russian troops destroyed two HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems supplied by the U.S.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added that the Western supplied artillery “started working very powerfully” and at full capacity.

“Finally, it is felt that the Western artillery, the weapons we received from our partners, started working very powerfully,” Zelenskyy said in his Wednesday evening address. “Its accuracy is exactly as needed,” the president added.

Zelenskyy said the Western weapons have carried out strikes on depots and areas of logistical importance to Russian troops. “And this significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army,” Zelenskyy noted, adding that Russian losses “will only increase every week, as will the difficulty of supplying [Russian troops].”

Ukrainian forces celebrated another symbolic victory on Thursday when they raised their national flag on Snake Island, a recaptured Black Sea isle located 90 miles south of the Ukrainian port of Odesa that became a symbol of defiance against Moscow, according to local reports.

Images released by Ukraine’s interior ministry on Thursday showed three Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue and yellow national flag on a patch of ground on Snake Island next to the remains of a flattened building.

But Russia responded to the flag-raising ceremony fast. It said one of its warplanes had struck Snake Island shortly afterwards and destroyed part of the Ukrainian detachment there.

Russia abandoned Snake Island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill, raising Ukrainian hopes of unblocking local ports shut off by Russia.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko

Jul 06, 10:02 am
Blinken to urge G20 to press Russia on grain deliveries

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to appeal to G20 countries to put pressure on Russia to make it support the U.N. initiative on unblocking the sea lanes for Ukraine and allow grain exports, according to local media reports.

“G20 countries should hold Russia accountable and insist that it supports ongoing U.N. efforts to reopen the sea lanes for grain delivery,” said Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs.

Toloui referred to a U.N. campaign aiming to expedite Ukrainian and Russian exports of harvest and fertilizer to global markets.

Around 22 million tons of grain remain blocked in Ukrainian ports due to the threat of Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.

Ukraine is in active negotiations with Turkey and the U.N. to solve the grain export stalemate, Zelenskyy added.

Blinken is also expected to once again warn China against backing Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

“[The upcoming G20 summit] will be another opportunity … to convey our expectations about what we would expect China to do and not to do in the context of Ukraine,” the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

Jul 06, 8:42 am
Russia aims to seize territory far beyond the Donbas, Putin’s ally suggests

Russia’s main objective in its invasion of Ukraine is still regime change in Kyiv and the dismantling of Ukrainian sovereignty, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev suggested in a speech on Tuesday.

Patrushev said the Russian “military operation” in Ukraine will continue until Russia achieves its goals of protecting civilians from “genocide,” “denazifying” and demilitarizing Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The Russian official added that Ukraine must remain permanently neutral between Russia and NATO. Petrushev’s remarks nearly mirrored the goals Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at the onset of the war to justify the military invasion.

Patrushev, a close Putin ally, repeated the Russian President’s stated ambitions despite Russia’s military setbacks in Ukraine and previous hints at a reduction in war aims following those defeats, the ISW pointed out.

Patrushev’s explicit restatement of Putin’s initial objectives “strongly indicates” that Russia does not consider its recent territorial gains in the Luhansk region to be sufficient, the ISW experts said.

Russia “has significant territorial aspirations beyond the Donbas” and “is preparing for a protracted war with the intention of taking much larger portions of Ukraine,” the observers added.

Patrushev’s comments dampened hopes for a “compromise ceasefire or even peace based on limited additional Russian territorial gains,” the experts concluded.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NARA, Japan) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed during a campaign speech in western Japan on Friday, hospital officials said.

Abe, 67, was just minutes into his speech on a street in Nara when he was shot from behind. He was airlifted to Nara Medical University Hospital for emergency treatment, but his heart had already stopped and he had no vital signs. He was later pronounced dead, hospital officials said at a press conference Friday.

Abe sustained two gunshot wounds to the right side of his neck. Doctors tried to stop the bleeding but the bullet had traveled to Abe’s heart and they could not resuscitate him. Abe’s wife was by his side at the hospital when he died, according to hospital officials.

Nara prefectural police arrested the alleged gunman — identified as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami — and recovered a weapon — described as a handmade shotgun — at the scene of the attack on Friday, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, a partner of ABC News.

Citing Japanese defense sources, NHK reported that Yamagami served in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years in the 2000s.

The attack and a motive remains under investigation, but police said the suspect told investigators that he was dissatisfied with the former prime minister and intended to kill him, according to NHK.

Abe was in Nara stumping for his party’s candidates in the upcoming elections for the upper house of Japan’s bicameral legislature when he was gunned down. Despite no longer being Japan’s prime minister, Abe wheeled great influence on national security and economic policies and is the longest-serving premier in the country’s history.

U.S. President Joe Biden released a statement Friday, saying he was “stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened by the news that my friend Abe Shinzo, former Prime Minister of Japan, was shot and killed while campaigning.”

“This is a tragedy for Japan and for all who knew him,” Biden said. “I had the privilege to work closely with Prime Minister Abe. As Vice President, I visited him in Tokyo and welcomed him to Washington. He was a champion of the Alliance between our nations and the friendship between our people. The longest serving Japanese Prime Minister, his vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific will endure.”

“Above all, he cared deeply about the Japanese people and dedicated his life to their service,” Biden added. “Even at the moment he was attacked, he was engaged in the work of democracy. While there are many details that we do not yet know, we know that violent attacks are never acceptable and that gun violence always leaves a deep scar on the communities that are affected by it. The United States stands with Japan in this moment of grief. I send my deepest condolences to his family.”

The deadly shooting shocked many in Japan, which is one of the world’s safest countries and has some of the strictest gun control laws.

In an emotional speech from Tokyo on Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was “lost for words” upon learning of Abe’s death. He said Abe had led the country “with great leadership” was his “personal friend,” someone he has “spent a lot of time with.”

“I have great respect for the legacy Shinzo Abe left behind and I pay the deepest condolences to him,” Kishida said.

The prime minister called Abe’s killing a “heinous act.”

“It is barbaric and malicious and it cannot be tolerated,” he added. “We will do everything we can, and I would like to use the most extreme words available to condemn this act.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(SEOUL, South Korea) — Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by a gunman during a campaign speech Friday in Nara, Japan.

Abe was in the middle of a speech on the street when he was shot. Witnesses heard two loud bangs accompanied by smoke, causing confusion at the scene, according to local reports.

Police arrested a 41-year old local man on charges of attempted murder and confiscated a homemade gun. The shooter, dressed in a gray shirt and khaki pants, has been identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, and had worked for the Maritime Self Defense Force for three years until around 2005, according to Defense sources.

There is currently no known motive over the attack but the shooter allegedly had “no grudge against Abe’s political beliefs,” according to Japanese police.

Gun violence in Japan is very rare because the country has one of the strictest gun control laws in the world. No handguns are allowed but hunters are licensed to own shotguns and air rifles after training and background checks.

Abe was in the western city of Nara stumping for his party’s candidates in the upcoming upper house election when the shooting occurred. Despite no longer being Japan’s prime minister, Abe remained influential on national security and economic policies, and as a central figure within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Known to be a hard-line conservative inside his party, Abe served as chief cabinet secretary from 2005 to 2006 under Junichiro Koizumi. He was then elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party and became Japan’s prime minister in 2006 at the age of 52 — the country’s youngest prime minister since World War II.

He served from 2006 to 2007 and then again from 2012 to 2020, before stepping down due to chronic health issues. He later revealed he was being treated for ulcerative colitis, a chronic intestinal disease.

His visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine to honor World War II criminals as well as laws passed during his time in office allowing Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to participate in wars alongside allies overseas had strained relationships with neighboring countries. Abe was also a strong vocal critic of Beijing as he sided with Taiwan’s desire to be recognized as a democratic independent state.

Abe was the first foreign leader to meet former President Donald Trump after Trump was elected in 2016. Trump called Abe “the greatest prime minister in Japan’s history” and the two leaders held a total of 14 official meetings. They were also known to have been “golf buddies” playing together five times during Abe’s second term as prime minister.

During his tenure, Abe pursued aggressive economic policies, dubbed “Abenomics” to bolster Japanese economic growth which had become stagnant after two decades of sustained success. His so-called three arrows strategy was characterized by monetary easing from the Bank of Japan, government spending and economic structural reforms. Abe’s policy reforms reduced real interest rates and generated inflationary expectations in the market but, overall, there are debates in Japan as to whether “Abenomics” was ultimately effective.

Abe was born to a politically powerful household. His maternal grandfather Nobusuke Kishi helped found the governing conservative Liberal Democratic Party in 1955 and led Japan from 1957 to 1960. His father, Shintaro Abe, was also a leading member of the LDP and was Japan’s foreign minister from 1982 to 1986.

Plans for Abe’s funeral have not yet been announced.

ABC News’ Hakyung Kate Lee, Eunseo Nam and Hyerim Lee contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — After more than 50 resignations from government ministers and aides, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation Thursday.

For a moment on Tuesday evening, it seemed as though the prime minister, who had vowed to carry on despite the collapse of his authority and allies deserting him on all sides, would remain in office, sparking a potential constitutional crisis. But outside Downing Street on Thursday, Johnson caved into the pressure.

Soon enough, from within their ranks, the Conservative Party, who still hold a sizeable majority in the U.K. Parliament, will elect a replacement, and that person will become the fourth prime minister in the six years since the Brexit referendum of 2016.

What happens next?

While he did not specifically use the word “resign,” Johnson said, “The process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week.”

In the election process, Conservative MPs nominate their preferred candidate. There is then a run-off with the two most popular candidates, and then Conservative Party members (of the card-carrying, fee-paying kind), vote on who they want to be the next leader.

As the Conservatives have a majority in Parliament (thanks to Johnson’s big election win in 2019) — the winner of their leadership will become the next prime minister.

Reported polls in the U.K. have suggested Ben Wallace, the U.K.’s current secretary of state for defense who has been widely praised for his handling of support for Ukraine, as an early favorite in the race.

But the process is by no means instant. To put the transition into perspective, when Theresa May announced her resignation on the steps of Downing Street on May 24, 2019, Johnson, her successor, did not take office until July 24 — a gap of two months.

Johnson as caretaker?

Boris Johnson has already appointed new ministers to fill some of the gaps left by the dozens of resignations from his government, in a sign that he will attempt to hold true on his promise to stay in charge until a new leader is elected.

However, his resignation speech has not gone down well with embittered members of his party. He has already been accused of arrogance and blaming others for his own faults, instead of facing up to any of the mistakes that led to his departure.

And such is the nature of Johnson’s acrimonious departure, and his defiance in the face of so many calls to resign, that some lawmakers — both Conservative and in the opposition Labour Party — want him gone now.

The Conservative Party may feel that they need a clean slate, and, even on his way out, Johnson may hurt their chances of re-establishing trust with the country. There are indications already that the prime minister sees himself staying in office until the fall. A former Conservative Prime Minister, John Major, has already expressed that Johnson should be removed as soon as possible.

The opposition Labour Party have said they will call for a vote in Parliament to eject him from if Johnson’s removal does not happen.

In that event, Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, would take over as prime minister interim until they appoint a new leader.

A divided legacy

Johnson will always be known at home and on the international stage as one of the main architects of Brexit. He was the face of the campaign to leave the EU in 2016, and as prime minister, secured Britain’s exit from the bloc by winning a huge majority in 2019.

His election victories and unconventional style resonated with the public on the campaign trail, exemplified by the two terms he served as Mayor of London before his time in parliament, surprising in a Labour city.

But controversy has always followed him. “Partygate” proved a further stain on his reputation, presiding, to many, over a culture of drinking and lawbreaking while the country was locked down and families were separated from their loved ones, even after he spent time in the ICU with COVID himself. When he was fined by the Metropolitan Police for attending one of those gatherings he became the only sitting British PM in history to have been censured for breaking the law while in office.

Johnson also denied that he had knowledge of a lawmaker’s alleged past misconduct, which he had been told about in 2019, and then promoted him anyway, only for that colleague to repeat his offence.

Johnson’s authority was wounded by “Partygate,” but the latest scandal proved to be the straw the broke the camel’s back.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — A new dinosaur species was discovered by paleontologists on Thursday, who have now named the giant carnivorous dinosaur species Meraxes gigas.

The new species is similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, with a large head and tiny arms.

According to the researchers’ findings, published in Current Biology, the creatures’ small forelimbs were no evolutionary accident, but rather gave apex predators of the time certain survival advantages.

The findings were obtained over a four-year period, as researchers conducted field expeditions in the northern Patagonia region of Argentina, starting with unearthing the skull which was found in 2012.

The species name, Meraxes gigas, was named after a dragon in the “Song of Ice and Fire” book series that inspired the TV show, “Game of Thrones.”

The Meraxes remains indicated that the dinosaur died at about 45 years of age and about four metric tons of weight, researchers said in their findings. They believe the dinosaur lived 90 to 100 millions years ago in what is now Argentina.

According to the researchers’ findings, the new species is the most complete carcharodontosaurid yet from the Southern Hemisphere, and it documents peak diversity of carcharodontosauridae just before they went extinct.

Carcharodontosaurid refers to a group of carnivorous theropod dinosaur species.

The anatomy of this group, as well as the T. rex and abelisaurids — other giant carnivorous dinosaurs — is defined by large skulls and feet and tiny arms.

According to the researchers, this kind of anatomy is still weakly understood.

But M. gigas may be putting some of the more pieces of the puzzle together.

The skeletal findings in Argentina produced groundbreaking anatomical information, as they included an almost complete forelimb that allowed the researchers to understand a “remarkable degree of parallelism” between the latest-diverging tyrannosaurids and carcharodontosauridae.

Findings also increased the researchers’ understanding of the species’ skulls.

The findings add that the skeletal discovery of M. gigs shows “that carcharodontosauridae reached peak diversity shortly before their extinction with high rates of trait evolution in facial ornamentation possibly linked to a social signaling role.”

The researchers told Reuters that the short forearms have now become understood to indicate that such dinosaurs relied on their skulls to attack prey.

“Despite their powerful appearance, it’s hard to imagine they were used much as they barely extend beyond the body and could not have reached the huge mouth,” University of Minnesota paleontologist and study co-author Pete Makovicky told Reuters.

Instead, researchers believe that the forearms were used primarily for mating activities.

Whatever the tiny forearms may have done for these gigantic beasts, scientists now can understand how some of the planet’s perhaps most terrifying ancestors came to evolve.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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

Jul 07, 9:26 am
Moscow views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, Russian official says

Russia considers nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, according to Valentina Matviyenko, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council.

“Russia views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent,” Matviyenko said Thursday at a press conference.

The official noted that Russia has “clearly and strictly prescribed those exceptional cases when [nuclear weapons] can only be used in response to — God forbid that this never happens — a nuclear attack.”

“We behave like a civilized country, and we do it openly,” Matviyenko added.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko

Jul 07, 8:16 am
Russia claims no new ground for first time since invasion’s start

Russia claimed no territorial gains in Ukraine on Wednesday for the first time since the beginning of its invasion in late February, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest report.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed territorial gains every day from the start of the war but has not done so since completing the encirclement of the eastern town Lysychansk on July 3, the ISW said.

The Washington-based think tank said the lull in Russian ground force movements supports its assessment that Russian forces “have largely initiated an operational pause.”

The break in operations is not equal to a complete ceasefire, however, as Russian troops still conducted a number of unsuccessful attacks on all frontlines, the experts added.

Russian troops are instead trying to set up conditions for a bigger offensive as they rebuild their combat power, the ISW report said.

Russia has already increased its fleet in the Black Sea on the shores of Ukraine, local media reported on Wednesday. The Russian naval presence grew by several missile carriers, as well as submarines and an amphibious assault ship.

Ukrainian officials refuted Russian claims on Wednesday according to which Russian troops destroyed two HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems supplied by the U.S.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added that the Western supplied artillery “started working very powerfully” and at full capacity.

“Finally, it is felt that the Western artillery, the weapons we received from our partners, started working very powerfully,” Zelenskyy said in his Wednesday evening address. “Its accuracy is exactly as needed,” the president added.

Zelenskyy said the Western weapons have carried out strikes on depots and areas of logistical importance to Russian troops. “And this significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army,” Zelenskyy noted, adding that Russian losses “will only increase every week, as will the difficulty of supplying [Russian troops].”

Ukrainian forces celebrated another symbolic victory on Thursday when they raised their national flag on Snake Island, a recaptured Black Sea isle located 90 miles south of the Ukrainian port of Odesa that became a symbol of defiance against Moscow, according to local reports.

Images released by Ukraine’s interior ministry on Thursday showed three Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue and yellow national flag on a patch of ground on Snake Island next to the remains of a flattened building.

But Russia responded to the flag-raising ceremony fast. It said one of its warplanes had struck Snake Island shortly afterwards and destroyed part of the Ukrainian detachment there.

Russia abandoned Snake Island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill, raising Ukrainian hopes of unblocking local ports shut off by Russia.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko

Jul 06, 10:02 am
Blinken to urge G20 to press Russia on grain deliveries

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to appeal to G20 countries to put pressure on Russia to make it support the U.N. initiative on unblocking the sea lanes for Ukraine and allow grain exports, according to local media reports.

“G20 countries should hold Russia accountable and insist that it supports ongoing U.N. efforts to reopen the sea lanes for grain delivery,” said Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs.

Toloui referred to a U.N. campaign aiming to expedite Ukrainian and Russian exports of harvest and fertilizer to global markets.

Around 22 million tons of grain remain blocked in Ukrainian ports due to the threat of Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.

Ukraine is in active negotiations with Turkey and the U.N. to solve the grain export stalemate, Zelenskyy added.

Blinken is also expected to once again warn China against backing Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

“[The upcoming G20 summit] will be another opportunity … to convey our expectations about what we would expect China to do and not to do in the context of Ukraine,” the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

Jul 06, 8:42 am
Russia aims to seize territory far beyond the Donbas, Putin’s ally suggests

Russia’s main objective in its invasion of Ukraine is still regime change in Kyiv and the dismantling of Ukrainian sovereignty, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev suggested in a speech on Tuesday.

Patrushev said the Russian “military operation” in Ukraine will continue until Russia achieves its goals of protecting civilians from “genocide,” “denazifying” and demilitarizing Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The Russian official added that Ukraine must remain permanently neutral between Russia and NATO. Petrushev’s remarks nearly mirrored the goals Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at the onset of the war to justify the military invasion.

Patrushev, a close Putin ally, repeated the Russian President’s stated ambitions despite Russia’s military setbacks in Ukraine and previous hints at a reduction in war aims following those defeats, the ISW pointed out.

Patrushev’s explicit restatement of Putin’s initial objectives “strongly indicates” that Russia does not consider its recent territorial gains in the Luhansk region to be sufficient, the ISW experts said.

Russia “has significant territorial aspirations beyond the Donbas” and “is preparing for a protracted war with the intention of taking much larger portions of Ukraine,” the observers added.

Patrushev’s comments dampened hopes for a “compromise ceasefire or even peace based on limited additional Russian territorial gains,” the experts concluded.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation Thursday, after dozens of ministers quit his cabinet and urged him to go.

In a statement delivered outside his office at no. 10 Downing Street in London, Johnson said he has agreed to resign as leader of the ruling Conservative Party, which would result in his departure as prime minister once the party selects a successor through a leadership election, possibly in the fall. He said that process “should begin now” and the timetable will be announced next week. He also noted that he has appointed a new cabinet of ministers who, along with him, will serve “until a new leader is in place.”

“It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister,” Johnson said.

“I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world,” he added. “But them’s the breaks.”

Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, released a statement earlier Thursday, saying: “It is good news for the country that Boris Johnson has resigned as Prime Minister. But it should have happened long ago.”

The embattled, 58-year-old British premier had initially vowed to cling on to power, quickly appointing two replacements for U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid after they announced their resignations on Tuesday. But dozens more departures — a growing mutiny among his cabinet — ultimately made Johnson’s position untenable, with some lawmakers in his own Conservative Party even suggesting that the rules would have to be changed in order to remove him from office.

It was unclear Thursday whether Johnson’s party would force him out before a successor is appointed, amid fears that he could remain in office until the fall. If they do not, the opposition has threatened to push for a parliamentary vote of no confidence to oust him.

Controversy has long followed Johnson since he became prime minister of the United Kingdom in 2019. In recent months, he faced immense criticism over the number of illegal gatherings held at government offices and residences while the country was under a strict pandemic-related lockdown in 2020 — a scandal the British media quickly dubbed “Partygate.”

Johnson himself was issued a fine by London’s Metropolitan Police Service for attending a birthday party held in his honor at no. 10 Downing Street, when indoor mixing was barred to stem the spread of COVID-19 — making him the first prime minister in U.K. history to have been found guilty of breaking the law while in office. He then survived a vote of confidence brought forward by disgruntled lawmakers in his party, which left him wounded politically but still in charge. Surviving the vote meant he was immune from facing a similar challenge for at least a year.

But it was a very different crisis which ultimately forced Johnson’s resignation on Thursday — one that concerned the personal conduct of a minister in his cabinet, one of his appointees, Conservative lawmaker Chris Pincher.

Last week, Pincher offered his resignation from the Conservative whips’ office, after he was accused of drunkenness and sexual misconduct while at a bar in the presence of colleagues. Then reports emerged in the British media that Pincher had previously faced complaints, which were upheld, about similar conduct; but Downing Street denied that Johnson was aware of such complaints.

This, however, turned out to be false, as further information later revealed that Johnson had been briefed about Pincher’s conduct prior to rehiring him in 2019.

In a raucous session of the U.K. House of Commons on Wednesday, Johnson defended his record in government as he faced mounting pressure to step down.

“He knew the accused minister had previously committed predatory behavior, but he promoted him to a position of power anyway,” Starmer, who has repeatedly called for Johnson’s resignation, told lawmakers Wednesday.

In response, Johnson defended his handling of Pincher’s conduct, which he said was now being investigated, and said he “abhorred” bullying and “abuses of power.”

“I greatly regret that [Pincher] continued in office and I have said that before,” Johnson told lawmakers.

Referring to the number of resignations from Johnson’s administration, Starmer said the U.K. government was facing a case of the “sinking ship leaving the rat.”

As Johnson pledged to stay on, a group of senior cabinet ministers told him this week that he should go. More resignations at all levels of government followed and Johnson ultimately caved to the pressure before he was to be forced out by his own party.

“The reason I have fought so hard in the last few days to continue to deliver that mandate in person was not just because I wanted to do so, but because I felt it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you to continue to do what we promised in 2019,” he said Thursday. “And of course, I’m immensely proud of the achievements of this government.”

As one of the chief proponents of Britain’s historic exit from the European Union, or “Brexit,” and then as prime minister at the helm of the country’s coronavirus crisis, Johnson will go down in history as one of the most divisive leaders the U.K. has ever had.

Johnson burst onto the political scene when he was elected to be the mayor of London in 2008, winning two elections and overseeing the response to the London riots of 2011, as well as hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics. He had previously served as a member of Parliament from 2001.

Johnson’s trademark tousled blond hair, sense of humor and carefully crafted bumbling persona made him an instantly recognizable public figure at home and abroad. Embarrassing situations that would have humiliated some politicians — such as being stuck on a zipline while waving a Union Jack flag near Olympic Park in east London — Johnson embraced.

But with that came caveats, particularly during the most crucial phase of his political career when he led the U.K. out of the European Union.

Under the prime ministership of Theresa May, it seemed as if the U.K. might not be leaving the trading bloc at all. But after Johnson replaced her in the summer of 2019 and a chaotic first few months in office, he won a resounding general election victory that ensured Brexit.

Using clear, simple messaging, Johnson spearheaded a number of successful election campaigns. As a member of Parliament at the time of the 2016 Brexit referendum vote, he deployed the phrase “Take Back Control” to decisive effect, garnering 52% of the vote. He went on to become foreign secretary later that year, a position he held until the summer of 2018. In his general election campaign of 2019, the slogan “Get Brexit Done” again saw him win a decisive vote, seemingly against the odds, as his campaigning style and character seemed to connect with ordinary people in a way that bamboozled rival politicians.

However, his time as prime minister proved tumultuous. Johnson was criticized for not taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously enough in March 2020, and ultimately contracted the virus himself and was hospitalized in intensive care for several days. Observers have long seen Johnson as a “populist,” with comparisons repeatedly drawn between him and former U.S. President Donald Trump. Opposition lawmakers have regularly accused Johnson’s government of having “one rule for them, one rule for everyone else.”

Just weeks after taking office, Johnson asked Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II to suspend Parliament — a move that observers said was designed to thwart opposition lawmakers from blocking Brexit in the lead up to the Oct. 31 deadline, prompting protests across the U.K. The queen approved Johnson’s request for prorogation, but the U.K. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in a historic judgement a month later that Johnson’s advice was “unlawful.”

Then there was the controversy over government-paid refurbishments at Downing Street in 2021, which became known in the British media as “Wallpapergate.” U.K. prime ministers are given an annual allowance of up to £30,000 ($41,000) a year to renovate the official residence. But Johnson was accused of potentially using Conservative Party funds to top that up and pay for a more lavish redecoration of his apartment at no. 11 Downing Street, where he lived with his fiancée, Carrie Symonds, and their two young children.

Johnson’s colorful political life was matched by a controversial private one. Johnson regularly refused to answer questions about how many children he had when asked by journalists on a number of occasions. It was Johnson’s evasiveness on such topics and what many saw as his flexible relationship with the truth that made him such a controversial figure with the public — and ultimately lead to his downfall.

It was an ignominious end to a premiership plagued by controversy and scandal. Johnson will likely remain in office until a new leader from within the Conservative Party, which still holds a sizeable majority in U.K. Parliament, is elected. Whoever is chosen will become the fourth prime minister the country has had in six years, since the U.K. voted to leave the E.U. in 2016.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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

Jul 06, 10:02 am
Blinken to urge G20 to press Russia on grain deliveries

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to appeal to G20 countries to put pressure on Russia to make it support the U.N. initiative on unblocking the sea lanes for Ukraine and allow grain exports, according to local media reports.

“G20 countries should hold Russia accountable and insist that it supports ongoing U.N. efforts to reopen the sea lanes for grain delivery,” said Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs.

Toloui referred to a U.N. campaign aiming to expedite Ukrainian and Russian exports of harvest and fertilizer to global markets.

Around 22 million tons of grain remain blocked in Ukrainian ports due to the threat of Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.

Ukraine is in active negotiations with Turkey and the U.N. to solve the grain export stalemate, Zelenskyy added.

Blinken is also expected to once again warn China against backing Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

“[The upcoming G20 summit] will be another opportunity … to convey our expectations about what we would expect China to do and not to do in the context of Ukraine,” the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

Jul 06, 8:42 am
Russia aims to seize territory far beyond the Donbas, Putin’s ally suggests

Russia’s main objective in its invasion of Ukraine is still regime change in Kyiv and the dismantling of Ukrainian sovereignty, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev suggested in a speech on Tuesday.

Patrushev said the Russian “military operation” in Ukraine will continue until Russia achieves its goals of protecting civilians from “genocide,” “denazifying” and demilitarizing Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The Russian official added that Ukraine must remain permanently neutral between Russia and NATO. Petrushev’s remarks nearly mirrored the goals Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at the onset of the war to justify the military invasion.

Patrushev, a close Putin ally, repeated the Russian President’s stated ambitions despite Russia’s military setbacks in Ukraine and previous hints at a reduction in war aims following those defeats, the ISW pointed out.

Patrushev’s explicit restatement of Putin’s initial objectives “strongly indicates” that Russia does not consider its recent territorial gains in the Luhansk region to be sufficient, the ISW experts said.

Russia “has significant territorial aspirations beyond the Donbas” and “is preparing for a protracted war with the intention of taking much larger portions of Ukraine,” the observers added.

Patrushev’s comments dampened hopes for a “compromise ceasefire or even peace based on limited additional Russian territorial gains,” the experts concluded.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

Jul 06, 6:06 am
Eastern town in Donetsk could become next ‘key’ battleground

The town of Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast will likely become the next “key” battleground in Russia’s push to seize the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Wednesday in an intelligence update.

“Russian forces from the Eastern and Western Groups of Forces are likely now around 16 km north from the town of Sloviansk,” the ministry said. “With the town also under threat from the Central and Southern Groups of Forces, there is a realistic possibility that the battle for Sloviansk will be the next key contest in the struggle for the Donbas.”

In the meantime, Russian forces likely continue to consolidate control over the town of Lysychansk and the wider Luhansk Oblast, about 45 miles east of Sloviansk.

“To the north, it has committed most of the remaining available units from the Eastern and Western Groups of Forces to the Izium axis,” the ministry added. “Over the last week, Russian forces have likely advanced up to another 5 km down the E40 main road from Izium, in the face of extremely determined Ukrainian resistance.”

Jul 05, 8:43 am
NATO completes negotiations with Sweden and Finland

NATO announced on Monday it has concluded negotiations with Sweden and Finland on their accession to the organization.

“Finland and Sweden have completed accession negotiations at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, as agreed last week by the leaders of the countries at the summit in Madrid,” a NATO press release said.

“Both countries have officially confirmed their desire and ability to fulfill their political, legal and military obligations as NATO members,” the NATO press service added.

The countries will sign their accession protocols on Tuesday. All member countries will then have to ratify the documents according to their national laws.

Finland and Sweden jointly submitted applications to join NATO on May 18, ending decades of neutrality in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.