(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 now launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 25, 6:13 am
Blinken says Russia ‘already failed’ to achieve war goals
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said Russian had “already failed” to achieve its stated goals in Ukraine.
“In terms of Russia’s war aims, Russia has already failed,” Blinken told reporters in Poland, near the Ukrainian border. “And Ukraine has already succeeded because the principal aim that President Putin brought to this, in his own words, was to fully subsume Ukraine, back into Russia to take away its sovereignty and independence. And that has not happened and clearly will not happen.”
Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met on Sunday with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv, the capital, becoming the highest-level U.S. officials to visit the war-torn country since Russia invaded in February.
Topics discussed during their three-hour meeting included defense assistance, further sanctions on Russia and financial support for Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy’s office.
“We appreciate the unprecedented assistance of the United States to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said, according to his office. “I would like to thank President Biden personally and on behalf of the entire Ukrainian people for his leadership in supporting Ukraine, for his personal clear position.”
He added, “To thank all the American people, as well as the Congress for their bicameral and bipartisan support. We see it. We feel it.”
Apr 25, 1:03 am
US to provide $322M in additional aid, diplomats to return to Ukraine, officials tell Zelenskyy
The United States will provide Ukraine with $322 million in new aid and some diplomats will return to the war-torn country, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday.
Blinken told Zelenskyy the U.S. would begin returning its diplomats to Ukraine this week, according to the senior State Dept. official. The U.S. will reopen offices in Lviv in western Ukraine, with diplomats traveling there from Poland each day, with the goal to “have our diplomats return to our embassy in Kyiv as soon as possible.”
President Joe Biden will also formally nominate Bridget Brink, currently serving as U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, according to the senior State Dept. official.
Among the new assistance announced last week, the first of the new Howitzers have arrived in Ukraine, Austin told Zelenskyy, a senior defense official told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 24, 5:23 pm
US secretary of state, defense chief meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv
An advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Chief Lloyd Austin are meeting with Ukraine’s leader on Sunday in Kyiv.
The adviser, Oleksii Arestovich, said in an interview on Ukrainian TV late Sunday that the talks are going on “right now.”
-ABC News’ Jason Volack
Apr 24, 5:08 pm
More than 2.9M people have fled Ukraine to Poland
More than 2.9 million people have fled Ukraine and sought refuge in Poland since the Russian invasion began in February, the Polish Border Guard said on Sunday.
In recent days, however, the number of people crossing the border into Poland has fallen, while the number of refugees going back into Ukraine has risen, according to the border guard.
On Saturday, about 21,100 people entered Ukraine from Poland, while 15,100 fled to Poland from Ukraine, the agency said on Twitter.
(PARIS) — Early estimates show that French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to win France’s presidential runoff election in which he faced his far-right rival Marine Le Pen.
According to the estimates, which were confirmed to ABC News by Ipsos polling institute deputy CEO Henri Wallard, Macron received 58% of the votes, which is higher than the polls predicted.
Votes will continue to be counted overnight with final results being released Monday afternoon by the interior ministry.
As French media announced the preliminary results on Sunday evening, supporters at Macron’s rally near the Eiffel Tower cheered: “We won, she lost!”
One Macron supporter told ABC News that he was “relieved” — “relieved because I was afraid Marine Le Pen would win,” he said.
Le Pen was the first to take the stage after the results of her loss came in. While admitting defeat, Le Pen said, “Tonight’s result represents in itself a dazzling victory.” The far-right leader gained an estimated 42% of the votes, a score never before reached by a far-right party in France’s modern history.
She promised to “pursue her engagement for France and for the French” and to “lead the battle of the legislative elections.”
Macron, the centrist incumbent, and Le Pen emerged as the top candidates after a first-round vote on April 10. Sunday’s runoff is a rematch of the 2017 presidential election, in which Macron beat Le Pen by a landslide.
Recent opinion polls reported by French media showed a close race before the election, with Macron leading Le Pen by 13 percentage points.
“The gap between the two candidates as measured in the polls is much more narrow than five years ago,” Wallard, the chairman of Ipsos in France and its global deputy CEO, told ABC News.
Le Pen, 53, has sought to soften her rhetoric and image as the leader of the far-right French political party National Rally. She is no longer directly calling for France to leave the European Union and abandon the euro currency. However, she has been likened to former U.S. President Donald Trump with her hard-line policies on Islam and immigration. She has proposed to ban Muslim headscarves in public and give French citizens priority over foreigners for housing and job benefits.
“Her image has considerably softened,” Wallard said. “She comes across as less extremist than before.”
Le Pen has also been criticized for her history of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. She has called Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine “unacceptable” and said she’s in favor of sanctions, but has publicly opposed restrictions on Russian energy imports, citing concerns about the rising cost of living in France. She has also pledged to withdraw France from NATO’s integrated military command, which could undermine support for Ukraine’s fight. Le Pen previously spoke out in favor of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
“Her victory would be a political earthquake,” Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C., told ABC News. “She would probably not wreck that coalition, but raise difficult questions.”
Meanwhile, Macron, 44, has been all but absent from the campaign trail as he has moderated talks between Putin and Western countries, which ultimately failed to prevent the war in Ukraine. Many French citizens are also feeling disenfranchised by Macron’s stringent COVID-19 policies, unpopular plans to raise the legal retirement age amid widespread inflation, and soaring gas prices.
For some, the former banker-turned-president is the lesser of two evils and a vote for Macron is considered a vote against Le Pen. Still, no one had ruled out the possibility of a triumph for Le Pen.
ABC News’ Jay Alpert, Guy Davies, Nicky de Blois and Grant Lawson contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — As the people of Ukraine continue to defend against a Russian onslaught, Yevheniia Kravchuk, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, says the nation is still looking for three main things from the United States: heavy weapons, sanctions on Russia and financial aid.
“We are capable of winning and we are capable of kicking Russians out.”
“We need more weapons… Because right now Russians are putting artillery, tanks, everything they have, and also they bombed civilians to terrorize the whole country,” Kravchuk told “This Week” Co-Anchor Martha Raddatz. “As long as we’re getting more than we burn every day, we are capable of winning and we’re capable of kicking Russians out because that’s the way how to end this — to end this war.”
Last week, President Joe Biden announced another $800 million to aid Ukrainian military efforts in the Donbas region and said he will send a supplemental budget request to Congress to keep supporting the nation. The new aid includes artillery weapons, anti-air missiles and helicopters.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also announced Thursday the department would provide an additional $500 million in financial aid.
Kravchuk, a member of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party in the nation’s parliament, said it’s important that the U.S. provide the offensive weapons “because it’s sort of a green light to other countries in Europe, for example, to give these weapons as well.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia had taken the eastern city of Mariupol, a claim Ukrainians have pushed back on with 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers holed up in a steel plant as they continue to fight.
There have also been reports of 120,000 civilians still trapped in the besieged city.
Last week, just four buses and a few private vehicles were able to escape the city — the first to leave in about two weeks.
“Is there any chance for [a] humanitarian corridor at this point?” Raddatz asked.
“Yesterday Russians did not let the humanitarian corridor to work,” Kravchuk said. “Hundreds of people were gathered at one point to go out of Mariupol and Russian soldiers just came and said no, we’re not allowing this to happen.”
She said Russian soldiers are making “forcible deportations” out of Ukraine to Vladivostok, a Russian city thousands of miles away.
“They’re trying to make forcible deportations to Russian territory from Mariupol…It’s sort of something that can’t be happening in the 21st century,” Ukrainian Parliament member Yevheniia Kravchuk tells @MarthaRaddatz. https://t.co/Ilk5doBFrVpic.twitter.com/DGIeHJ8eIi
“And we do not know how to bring them back to Ukraine. They have pulled these people from Mariupol — they are put to filtration camps,” Kravchuk said. “It’s sort of something that can’t be happening in the 21st Century. And we really hope that maybe with help of other Western leaders, other leaders of similar worlds, we will be able to take out the kids and women who are still in the basements of this factory and inside of Mariupol.”
Zelenskyy has announced that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will arrive in Kyiv on Sunday to discuss the logistics of providing more military assistance. U.S. officials have yet to confirm the visit.
Asked by Raddatz about the significance of that visit, Kravchuk called it “a really, really symbolical and powerful signal to Russia that Ukraine will not be left alone with this war.”
(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 now launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 23, 11:28 am
Russian missile attack kills 5 people in Odesa, including 3-month-old
Russian forces fired at least six cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city of Odesa, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on Telegram.
Five citizens were killed, including one 3-month-old baby and 18 people were injured, said Andriy Yermak, the head of the president’s office.
“These are only those who were found. And most likely, there will be more,” he wrote.
Ukrainian forces were able to shoot down several missiles, but at least one landed and exploded, Gerashchenko said.
“Residents of the city heard explosions in different areas,” Gerashchenko said in a post on Facebook. “Residential buildings were hit.”
“The only aim of Russian missile strikes on Odesa is terror. Russia must be designated a state sponsor of terrorism and treated accordingly. No business, no contacts, no cultural projects. We need a wall between civilization and barbarians striking peaceful cities with missiles,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet.
Apr 23, 9:08 am
Ukraine resists Russian advance in the East: UK defense ministry
Despite the increased activity, Russian forces have made no major gains in the last 24 hours as Ukrainian counterattacks continue to hinder their efforts, according to the UK Ministry of Defense.
Russian air and maritime forces have not established control in either domain, owing to the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air and sea defense.
Despite their stated conquest of Mariupol, heavy fighting continues to take place frustrating Russian attempts to capture the city, further slowing their desired progress in the Donbas.
Apr 23, 8:45 am
UN Secretary-General to meet with Zelenskyy
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on April 28.
Guterres will also meet with staff of U.N. agencies to discuss scaling up humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine.
Apr 22, 6:29 pm
1 dead, 27 missing from Moskva ship, Russian Defense Ministry says
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that one service member died and another 27 crew members went missing from its Black Sea Fleet flagship vessel Moskva last week.
“The remaining 396 crew members were evacuated from the cruiser to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet,” the defense ministry said Friday.
The warship sank on April 14 following what the Ukrainians claimed was a missile attack. Russia did not acknowledge an attack on the ship and continued to say a fire broke out after ammunition detonated.
The defense ministry’s latest announcement contradicts its earlier statement that all Moskva crew members had been rescued.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian
Apr 22, 4:28 pm
More than 20 countries to attend defense talks hosted by US
More than 20 countries have accepted an invitation to attend a Ukraine-focused defense talk on Tuesday hosted by the U.S., Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Friday.
More than 40 NATO and non-NATO countries have been invited to the talks, which will be hosted by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Kirby said.
“The goal is to bring together stakeholders from all around the world for a series of meetings on the latest [Ukrainian] defense needs and … ensuring that Ukraine’s enduring security and sovereignty over the long-term is respected and developed,” Kirby said.
Apr 22, 12:19 pm
UN chief to meet with Putin in Moscow
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday.
Guterres wrote separate letters to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday asking to meet “to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine,” a U.N. spokesperson said earlier this week.
The international swimming federation FINA said it has suspended swimmer Evgeny Rylov, a Russian Olympic gold medalist, for allegedly attending a March concert where Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine. The suspension will last nine months.
FINA also said Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials won’t be invited to any FINA events through the end of 2022.
Apr 22, 9:30 am
European Council president holds call with Putin
European Council President Charles Michel and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a call Friday. Michel said afterwards on Twitter that he “strongly urged for immediate humanitarian access and safe passage from Mariupol and other besieged cities all the more on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.”
Michel also said he “firmly reiterated” the EU’s support for Ukraine and “condemnation and sanctions for Russia’s aggression.”
According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Michel asked Putin to have direct contact with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Kremlin said Putin “reaffirmed the well-known position on this matter, noting that such a possibility depends, in particular, on concrete results in the ongoing negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives, during which the Ukrainian side is showing inconsistency and is not ready to seek mutually acceptable solutions.”
Apr 22, 8:15 am
UK to reopen embassy in Kyiv
The United Kingdom announced Friday that it will soon reopen its embassy in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
The U.K. Embassy in Kyiv, in northern Ukraine, was forced to temporarily close in late February due to Russia’s invasion. A contingent of British staff remained in western Ukraine to provide humanitarian and other support. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Friday that the embassy will reopen next week, “dependent on the security situation,” according to a press release from the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
“The extraordinary fortitude and success of President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people in resisting Russian forces, means we will shortly be re-opening our British Embassy in Kyiv,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. “I want to pay tribute to the bravery and resilience of the Embassy team and their work throughout this period.”
The embassy premises in Kyiv are currently being made secure before staff return, starting with U.K. ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons. The U.K. continues to advise its citizens against all travel to Ukraine, according to the FCDO.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Apr 22, 7:58 am
Russia aims to ‘contain Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol,’ UK says
Russia’s decision to blockade a steel plant in Mariupol “likely indicates a desire to contain Ukrainian resistance” in the strategic port city “and free up Russian forces to be deployed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Friday in an intelligence update.
The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant is the last holdout for Ukrainian fighters in besieged Mariupol.
“A full ground assault by Russia on the plant would likely incur significant Russian casualties, further decreasing their overall combat effectiveness,” the ministry said.
Meanwhile, heavy shelling and fighting continues across eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region as Russian forces seek to advance further toward settlements including Krasnyy Lyman, Buhayikva, Barvinkove, Lyman and Popasna, “as part of their plans for the region,” according to the ministry.
“Despite Russia’s renewed focus they are still suffering from losses sustained earlier in the conflict,” the ministry added. “In order to try and reconstitute their depleted forces, they have resorted to transiting inoperable equipment back to Russia for repair.”
Apr 22, 6:34 am
Putin to speak with European Council president
Russian President Vladimir Putin will have a telephone conversation with European Council President Charles Michel on Friday before meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Putin will now have an international conversation,” Peskov told reporters Friday. “It will be the President of the European Council, Michel. And then during the day, Putin is scheduled to have an operational meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council.”
The U.S. has assessed that the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol remains contested, and that Russian airstrike activity remains focused there and on the Donbas region, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
Russia now has 85 battalion tactical groups, each made up of roughly 800 to 1,000 troops, inside of Ukraine, the official said. More of these groups are headed to the Donbas region, the official said.
(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 now launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 22, 12:19 pm
UN chief to meet with Putin in Moscow
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday.
Guterres wrote separate letters to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday asking to meet “to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine,” a U.N. spokesperson said earlier this week.
The international swimming federation FINA said it has suspended swimmer Evgeny Rylov, a Russian Olympic gold medalist, for allegedly attending a March concert where Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine. The suspension will last nine months.
FINA also said Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials won’t be invited to any FINA events through the end of 2022.
Apr 22, 9:30 am
European Council president holds call with Putin
European Council President Charles Michel and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a call Friday. Michel said afterwards on Twitter that he “strongly urged for immediate humanitarian access and safe passage from Mariupol and other besieged cities all the more on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.”
Michel also said he “firmly reiterated” the EU’s support for Ukraine and “condemnation and sanctions for Russia’s aggression.”
According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Michel asked Putin to have direct contact with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Kremlin said Putin “reaffirmed the well-known position on this matter, noting that such a possibility depends, in particular, on concrete results in the ongoing negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives, during which the Ukrainian side is showing inconsistency and is not ready to seek mutually acceptable solutions.”
Apr 22, 8:15 am
UK to reopen embassy in Kyiv
The United Kingdom announced Friday that it will soon reopen its embassy in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
The U.K. Embassy in Kyiv, in northern Ukraine, was forced to temporarily close in late February due to Russia’s invasion. A contingent of British staff remained in western Ukraine to provide humanitarian and other support. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Friday that the embassy will reopen next week, “dependent on the security situation,” according to a press release from the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
“The extraordinary fortitude and success of President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people in resisting Russian forces, means we will shortly be re-opening our British Embassy in Kyiv,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. “I want to pay tribute to the bravery and resilience of the Embassy team and their work throughout this period.”
The embassy premises in Kyiv are currently being made secure before staff return, starting with U.K. ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons. The U.K. continues to advise its citizens against all travel to Ukraine, according to the FCDO.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Apr 22, 7:58 am
Russia aims to ‘contain Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol,’ UK says
Russia’s decision to blockade a steel plant in Mariupol “likely indicates a desire to contain Ukrainian resistance” in the strategic port city “and free up Russian forces to be deployed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Friday in an intelligence update.
The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant is the last holdout for Ukrainian fighters in besieged Mariupol.
“A full ground assault by Russia on the plant would likely incur significant Russian casualties, further decreasing their overall combat effectiveness,” the ministry said.
Meanwhile, heavy shelling and fighting continues across eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region as Russian forces seek to advance further toward settlements including Krasnyy Lyman, Buhayikva, Barvinkove, Lyman and Popasna, “as part of their plans for the region,” according to the ministry.
“Despite Russia’s renewed focus they are still suffering from losses sustained earlier in the conflict,” the ministry added. “In order to try and reconstitute their depleted forces, they have resorted to transiting inoperable equipment back to Russia for repair.”
Apr 22, 6:34 am
Putin to speak with European Council president
Russian President Vladimir Putin will have a telephone conversation with European Council President Charles Michel on Friday before meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Putin will now have an international conversation,” Peskov told reporters Friday. “It will be the President of the European Council, Michel. And then during the day, Putin is scheduled to have an operational meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council.”
The U.S. has assessed that the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol remains contested, and that Russian airstrike activity remains focused there and on the Donbas region, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
Russia now has 85 battalion tactical groups, each made up of roughly 800 to 1,000 troops, inside of Ukraine, the official said. More of these groups are headed to the Donbas region, the official said.
(NEW YORK) — As Russia’s military gears up for what it hopes will be a decisive victory over Ukraine in the eastern part of the country, the U.S. is rushing to send weapons and equipment needed to hold off the larger invading force in the rural and open Donbas terrain — a far different battlefield from the urban fighting where Ukrainian forces held an advantage.
What could make all the difference now is the new $800 million military aid package for Ukraine President Joe Biden announced Thursday.
It’s a race against time — maybe a matter of weeks, a U.S. defense official said.
“Now they’ve launched and refocused their campaign to seize new territory in eastern Ukraine, and we’re in a critical window now of time where they’re going to set the stage for the next phase of this war,” Biden said of the Russian offensive, which U.S. military officials believe is just getting started.
“We know that time is not our friend,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.
Russia gains by being closer to its border
With Ukrainian forces focused in the east, Russia intends to push down from the north, near the city of Izium, and up from the south, surrounding the Ukrainian defenders to “finish them or force them to surrender,” a senior U.S. official said Thursday.
If Russia takes the beleaguered city of Mariupol in the south, it could free up thousands of troops to join the push north to trap Ukraine forces, according to the official.
Although Russia and Ukraine have been battling over Donbas for eight years, Russia’s concentrated flow of troops and weapons into the region could bring “a whole different level of fighting,” Kirby said Tuesday.
There are now 85 battalion tactical groups (BTGs), Russia’s main fighting units, inside Ukraine, according to the official. Each BTG is made up of roughly 800-1,000 troops. About 10 of them crossed into the country this week, most heading to the Donbas region.
Kirby said the U.S. is focused on sending Ukraine weapons and systems that are not only useful for the rural eastern terrain, but that the Ukrainians can use in the fight without much training.
Russia, meanwhile, is trying not to repeat blunders it committed in northern Ukraine, and will enjoy certain geographic advantages in Donbas.
Early on, Russian invaders in the north were beset by supply problems, running out of food for troops and fuel for vehicles, failing to achieve any major victories. Pentagon officials believe they did not expect such strong resistance from Ukrainians so they didn’t adequately prepare for a prolonged fight.
But since withdrawing its troops in the north to focus on Donbas, Russia has been putting equipment and support forces in place ahead of its combat troops to favorably condition the battlefield.
“We believe that they are trying to learn from past mistakes, and you can see that in just the way they are conducting these shaping operations,” Kirby told reporters Monday. “They’re conducting themselves in ways that we didn’t see around Kyiv, for instance.”
Another advantage for Russia is that its logistics will be simplified by fighting closer to its own border, while Ukraine will now face the challenge of transporting heavy weapons and ammunition coming over its western border all the way across the country, meaning more miles for something to go wrong, and more chances for Russia to strike these vital shipments.
How US-provided artillery and radars could make a difference
To stand a chance fighting in the open Donbas landscape, Ukraine will need more long-range weapons and the ability to quickly move troops on the ground and in the air, according to Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and ABC News contributor.
The U.S. has sent Ukraine $3.4 billion of aid since the beginning of the invasion, including many thousands of shoulder-fired missiles, small arms and ammunition, body armor, and medical supplies. The two most recent packages, dedicating $800 million of aid each, announced April 13 and 21, were tailored to reflect the new battle space.
“It’s different,” Biden said Thursday. “It’s flat, it’s not in the mountains, and it requires different kinds of weapons to be more effective.”
To that end, the U.S. is sending 90 of its 155mm howitzers, which officials say will begin arriving over the weekend.
“This is going to be the king of battle out there,” Mulroy said.
While Ukraine already has Russian-made artillery pieces, the U.S. and most Western nations do not have the corresponding 152mm ammunition to offer as it runs through its limited stockpiles. The incoming U.S.-made 155mm guns will bring Ukrainian forces extra firepower, but also the ability to be better resupplied by the West.
To start, the U.S. is sending 184,000 artillery rounds along with the 90 weapons.
Russia has been flowing its own artillery into Donbas in preparation for its renewed offensive. To help Ukraine counter the threat, the U.S. is sending 14 radar systems that can detect incoming artillery and other indirect-fire attacks and find where they’re coming from.
“Right now the Russians are kind of just lobbing artillery without any consequence,” Mulroy said. “They want to give them a whole lot of consequence.”
The radar systems can help the Ukrainians accurately fire back.
“The counter radar is moving to theater this week,” a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday, adding that the howitzers and radar systems complement each other, but can also be used independently.
Training will be critical
About 50 Ukrainians are being trained on the U.S. howitzers outside of the country. This first group of trainees is expected to finish around the same time as the first artillery pieces arrive in their country, likely Sunday or Monday, according to a U.S. official. The U.S. is using a “train-the-trainer” approach so as not to pull too many high-demand troops away from the front — the small group of Ukrainians learning to use the new systems will return to their country to train fellow Ukrainian troops there.
The U.S. took a similar approach with the small, explosive Switchblade drones, hundreds of which are headed to Ukraine.
A small number of Ukrainians were in the U.S. for pre-scheduled military education when Russia invaded their country. The U.S. capitalized on their presence to add a couple days of training on the Switchblades, which are designed to fly directly into targets and explode.
“Although it’s not a very difficult system to operate, we took advantage of having them in the country to give them some rudimentary training on that,” a U.S. defense official said on April 6.
U.S. officials have said other systems being sent to Ukraine will also require a small period of training, likely to also take place outside of the country. Officials have declined to specify where such training could take place, citing operational security concerns.
With Russia intent on surrounding and trapping Ukrainian forces, the ability to move troops quickly by ground and air will be essential, according to Mulroy.
“They’re going to try to envelope the Ukrainians and cut them off and starve them,” he said. “So, the Ukrainians need to have the ability not to let that happen.”
Since the beginning of the invasion, the U.S. has given Ukraine 16 Mi-17 transport helicopters, each able to carry a three-person crew and up to 30 passengers.
Mulroy said an advantage of the Soviet-designed Mi-17 is that Ukrainian pilots already know how to fly them.
The U.S. has also offered Ukraine hundreds of armored personnel carriers that have tracks similar to those of tanks, as well as armored Humvees.
Weather will likely play a factor, and muddy conditions during Spring could limit vehicle mobility for both sides.
“Even just this week, the ground as it is makes it harder for them to operate off of paved roads and highways,” Kirby said.
Time is of the essence
Mulroy said the U.S. is doing a great job shipping military aid to the region, but believes more can be done to speed things up.
“We just have to take every opportunity to increase production and improve the flow, because it is going to make a difference,” he said.
The U.S. has not sent Ukraine any of its M1 Abrams tanks, officials saying they are too different from Ukraine’s T-72s to be useable in the short term. But other nations with the Soviet-era tanks have given theirs.
In total, Ukrainian forces have more tanks in their country than Russia’s military, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
A less tangible but very real factor in the fighting so far has been troop morale.
The Pentagon sees evidence Russian forces are still suffering from low motivation and poor unit cohesion, according to officials.
“Almost half of their enlisted troops are conscripts who don’t receive a lot of training and who we have evidence, even recent evidence, that they’ve been disillusioned by this war,” the senior U.S. defense official said.
Meanwhile Russian officers are frustrated with the performance of other officers and of their own troops, according to the official.
Ukrainian troops have not seemed to suffer any significant morale problems, and throughout the war have been described by U.S. officials as brave and wily in defense of their homeland.
Biden praised the resolve of Ukrainians in a meeting with top military leaders at the White House Wednesday.
“I knew they were tough and proud, but I tell you what, they’re tougher and more proud than I thought,” Biden said.
(NEW YORK) — The ability for polar bears to survive in coming decades is becoming more uncertain as global warming continues to melt the Arctic at unprecedented rates, experts warn.
Now, biologists and conservationists determined to save the species have zeroed in on a plan to increase populations: focus on the survival of mothers and cubs, who find themselves increasingly vulnerable to dwindling habitat and food sources, they tell ABC News.
The “fundamental” key to the survival of polar bears is the availability of sea ice cover, Louise Archer, a researcher at the University of Toronto Scarborough’s Department of Biological Sciences, told ABC News.
The Arctic is currently warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, according to the Arctic Report Card published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in December, leaving the Arctic in a “dramatically different state,” with a substantial decline since 1979.
It takes an incredible amount of energy for mothers to raise their cubs, but ironically they are not the most efficient hunters, Archer said. They rely on the sea ice as a platform from which to access marine mammals from.
“So having access to sea ice is extremely important to ensure the survival of adults, but also, so that females can support the survival of their cubs,” Archer said.
One of the “biggest challenges” from global warming is bears will have to respond to sea ice conditions, or the lack thereof, that have never been experienced in the Arctic before, she said.
Polar bear mothers, especially, need nutrients because they lactate for up to two-and-a-half years, the entire time “the cubs are taking in energy from their moms,” Archer said.
When the cubs are born in the den, they only weigh about a pound or two, she said. But their mother has to raise them to about 10 to 20 pounds before she can go out onto the sea ice and hunt again.
All the months in hibernation are not spent sleeping. The mother is nursing, grooming the cubs and maintaining the den, which involves scratching the ceiling and walls with her claws to allow airflow. Otherwise, the den would get completely iced over, and no oxygen would be able to get in, Geoff York, senior director of conservation group Polar Bears International, told ABC News.
The mothers and cubs begin to emerge from their dens after four to eight months of not eating or drinking. The priority is to build up fat stores before the sea ice begins to melt in the summer. But if the sea ice is melting sooner, that’s less time for the mothers to hunt — and to teach her children to do so — and less time to regain the fat stores they lost while fasting and lactating in the den.
“Anything that sort of interrupts that sequence is potentially fatal to the reproductive attempt of the female,” Andrew Derocher, a professor of biological science at the University of Alberta, told ABC News. “It’s a chain of events that is incredibly sensitive to things like sea ice break up in the springtime — and that’s one of the key metrics that we monitor, is when is the ice breaking out.”
Derocher believes the mother-cub relationship is so integral because it is an “incredible part of their life history.” After they leave the den, the mothers have an incredible task of teaching the cubs to swim, hunt and one day survive on their own.
It is that relationship that provides a “powerful emotion and a very forceful narrative” for Disney’s new film Polar Bear, which follows a mother with her cubs as they embark on that journey, Alastair Fothergill, one of the directors of the film, told ABC News.
In the first years of a polar bear’s life, they are “extraordinarily dependent on their mother,” said Fothergill, who has been filming in the Arctic for more than 25 years.
The biggest change Fothergill has witnessed as a result of the ice melting is the new tricks mothers are teaching their cubs, such as climbing cliffs to get bird eggs and chicks, as well as learning to hunt walrus calves — a dangerous feat, as the mother walruses defend their young with their tusks. Previously, seals served as their primary source of food.
Experts have found that the health of a polar bear population can be determined by “three good winters,” York said. Last year, he witnessed a mother with triplet cubs in the Western Hudson Bay of Canada — an increasingly rare sight in a population that has declined 30% in the last 40 years.
“That’s kind of what polar bears need,” he said. “They need three good years to bring cubs from birth to sub adulthood and get them out of the sub population.”
One of the most profound phases of the mother-cub relationship is the moment the mother must leave her cubs, a “really risky and dangerous time for the polar bear,” he said.
“We say in the narrative that she knew she had taught her cubs everything she could, which is true,” he said. “But at the same time, she has to move on. She has to go and have another set of cubs.”
Researchers have found that in more solitary populations of polar bears that have had less access to sea ice, the bears are forced to fast for longer periods of time, Archer said. This has led to a decline of body condition, the decline in the survival of colds and the decline in the overall population abundance, she added.
The bears who live in the most southern regions are more at risk, and there could very well be a time when the subpopulations in the Arctic are the only ones to persist, Archer said. Places like Wrangel Island off of Russia offer a place for polar bears to retreat during times of significant ice loss, where they have access to walrus, York said.
Given the current climate change conditions, the ability for polar bears to feed and survive will become increasingly precarious — unless they can adapt and learn how to survive on terrestrial land, Archer hypothesized.
“Once the ice is inaccessible to bears, survival of bears is severely compromised,” she said.
When Derocher published a paper in 1993 about the potential effects of warming on polar bears, he did not think he would see those effects within his lifetime, he said.
“We thought this is something for future generations far away,” he said. “And what has surprised me is that the changes have been manifest in the populations so much sooner than we anticipated.”
It will be human activity and the ability for it to properly mitigate climate change that will ultimately determine the chances for polar bears to survive, York said. They are currently listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
“That’s directly tied to actions we may or may not take to curb our greenhouse gas reductions,” he said.
You can stream Disney’s Polar Bear”starting on April 22 on Disney+. The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC News.
(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 now launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 22, 9:30 am
European Council president holds call with Putin
European Council President Charles Michel and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a call Friday. Michel said afterwards on Twitter that he “strongly urged for immediate humanitarian access and safe passage from Mariupol and other besieged cities all the more on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.”
Michel also said he “firmly reiterated” the EU’s support for Ukraine and “condemnation and sanctions for Russia’s aggression.”
According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Michel asked Putin to have direct contact with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Kremlin said Putin “reaffirmed the well-known position on this matter, noting that such a possibility depends, in particular, on concrete results in the ongoing negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives, during which the Ukrainian side is showing inconsistency and is not ready to seek mutually acceptable solutions.”
Apr 22, 8:15 am
UK to reopen embassy in Kyiv
The United Kingdom announced Friday that it will soon reopen its embassy in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
The U.K. Embassy in Kyiv, in northern Ukraine, was forced to temporarily close in late February due to Russia’s invasion. A contingent of British staff remained in western Ukraine to provide humanitarian and other support. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Friday that the embassy will reopen next week, “dependent on the security situation,” according to a press release from the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
“The extraordinary fortitude and success of President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people in resisting Russian forces, means we will shortly be re-opening our British Embassy in Kyiv,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. “I want to pay tribute to the bravery and resilience of the Embassy team and their work throughout this period.”
The embassy premises in Kyiv are currently being made secure before staff return, starting with U.K. ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons. The U.K. continues to advise its citizens against all travel to Ukraine, according to the FCDO.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Apr 22, 7:58 am
Russia aims to ‘contain Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol,’ UK says
Russia’s decision to blockade a steel plant in Mariupol “likely indicates a desire to contain Ukrainian resistance” in the strategic port city “and free up Russian forces to be deployed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Friday in an intelligence update.
The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant is the last holdout for Ukrainian fighters in besieged Mariupol.
“A full ground assault by Russia on the plant would likely incur significant Russian casualties, further decreasing their overall combat effectiveness,” the ministry said.
Meanwhile, heavy shelling and fighting continues across eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region as Russian forces seek to advance further toward settlements including Krasnyy Lyman, Buhayikva, Barvinkove, Lyman and Popasna, “as part of their plans for the region,” according to the ministry.
“Despite Russia’s renewed focus they are still suffering from losses sustained earlier in the conflict,” the ministry added. “In order to try and reconstitute their depleted forces, they have resorted to transiting inoperable equipment back to Russia for repair.”
Apr 22, 6:34 am
Putin to speak with European Council president
Russian President Vladimir Putin will have a telephone conversation with European Council President Charles Michel on Friday before meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Putin will now have an international conversation,” Peskov told reporters Friday. “It will be the President of the European Council, Michel. And then during the day, Putin is scheduled to have an operational meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council.”
The U.S. has assessed that the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol remains contested, and that Russian airstrike activity remains focused there and on the Donbas region, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
Russia now has 85 battalion tactical groups, each made up of roughly 800 to 1,000 troops, inside of Ukraine, the official said. More of these groups are headed to the Donbas region, the official said.
Train is teaming with Spice Girls singer Melanie C for a brand-new remix of their song “AM Gold.” The band teased of their upcoming release, “I’ll tell ya what I want, what I really really want… and it’s for the #AMGold (@tobtokmusic Remix) with @melaniecmusic to be out already.” The track drops on Friday.
Got a Mork & Mindy lunchbox? Pink is looking for one. “When I was a kid I had a mork and mindy lunchbox with matching thermos,” she tweeted Thursday. “Anyone have one they wanna sell me?” Soon after, she announced, “Thanks y’all! I knew I could count on you! Got it!”
Taylor Swift will be honored by the GRAMMY museum in a new exhibit, called The Power of Women in Country Music, which honors the genre’s biggest stars. Taylor will be featured alongside the likes of Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, and Maren Morris. The exhibit opens May 27 and runs through October.
Speaking of Taylor, Josh Groban is super-pumped she had a millipede named after her. He told TMZ, “I’m delighted for her, personally. That’s awesome! I love the animal kingdom! I’d love to have a bug named after me.” As previously reported, the Nannaria swiftae millipede, otherwise known as the Swift-claw millipede, was named after the “Shake It Off” singer.
(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 now launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 21, 3:02 pm
US calls Putin’s victory claim in Mariupol ‘disinformation’
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments Thursday morning claiming victory in Mariupol was “yet more disinformation” from Russia’s “well-worn playbook,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.
Price called Putin’s comments an attempt to “distract from what can only be considered the underperformance of Russia’s military forces and its failure to achieve its original objectives in Ukraine.”
Price said Ukrainian forces in Mariupol “continue to hold their ground.”
“Their ferocious stand stands in stark contrast to the plummeting morale that we’ve seen among Russia’s forces. It stands in stark contrast to the tactics that we’ve seen Russia impose against those in Mariupol,” he added.
Price said the U.S. has called for humanitarian access — aid to get in and people to get out — and has supported humanitarian groups working to do so. But he blamed Russia’s attacks on humanitarian corridors for preventing it from happening.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 21, 2:20 pm
Most Russian forces focused on Donbas: US
The U.S. has assessed that the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol remains contested, and that Russian airstrike activity remains focused there and on the Donbas region, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
Russia now has 85 battalion tactical groups, each made up of roughly 800 to 1,000 troops, inside of Ukraine, the official said. More of these groups are headed to the Donbas region, the official said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Apr 21, 1:01 pm
Mariupol mayor thinks city will hold out
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told ABC News he thinks his city will hold out, saying Russian forces have “been fighting our boys for 57 days and they still can’t win.”
The mayor’s comments come hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that his siege of Mariupol had been a success, congratulating his defense minister and thanking Russian troops. Putin also ordered troops to abandon their assault on the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, the last holdout for Ukrainian troops in the port city.
Boychenko said 100,00 civilians remain, including 1,000 in the steel plant.
Apr 21, 12:50 pm
19 Ukrainians released from Russian captivity in 2nd second prisoner swap this week
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 19 Ukrainians, 10 military and nine civilians, have been released from Russian captivity in the second prisoner swap this week.
-ABC News’ Alexandra Faul
Apr 21, 11:08 am
Biden announces $800 million new security assistance package
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a new $800 million security assistance package to help Ukrainians fighting in the eastern Donbas region. This funding includes heavy artillery weapons, tactical drones and howitzers.
This package includes 72 new howitzers. Combined with the 18 howitzers announced last week, the 90 howitzers headed to Ukraine can equip five battalions, according to the administration.
Biden noted that he’s run out of pre-approved money and equipment to send to Ukraine and he appealed to Congress to approve more.
When pressed by ABC News on how long the U.S. can sustain this level of spending, Biden said, “We have the capacity to do this for a long time.”
He went on, “The question is, are we going to continue to maintain the support of the international community? And keep the pressure on Putin to prevent him from overrunning the country, No. 1, and No. 2, make sure we continue to maintain the economic sanctions, which, over time, and we’re beginning to see, they’re devastating their economy and their ability to move forward.”
Biden also announced a separate $500 million in economic aid to Ukraine to help fund government operations like salaries, pensions and social programs.
The president added that the U.S. is now banning Russian-affiliated ships from American ports.
Biden met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal Thursday morning ahead of his remarks.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez and Sarah Kolinovsky
Apr 21, 9:30 am
Biden administration to fast-track refugees trying to come to US
The Biden administration on Thursday is moving to fast-track Ukrainian refugees trying to come to the U.S. with an operation called “Uniting for Ukraine.”
Beginning April 25, U.S. based individuals and entities can apply to the Department of Homeland Security to sponsor Ukrainian citizens, the administration said.
Any U.S. citizen or entity can apply to sponsor Ukrainians and there’s no limit on how many Ukrainians a person or entity can sponsor, administration officials said. A background check is required.
Any Ukrainian who has been a resident of the country since Feb. 11 and has up-to-date vaccinations will be eligible for the program. They will be subject to a background check, biometric screening and other security checks.
Ukrainians who don’t have a visa to enter the U.S. will be encouraged to apply for this program.
Administration officials said this was part of President Joe Biden’s promise to take in 100,000 Ukrainians into the U.S.
For those who don’t have sponsors or friends or family in the U.S., the administration is working with non-governmental organizations and nonprofit organizations to help connect people to them.
“One of the reasons we are having sponsors that are entity based … is precisely to deal with those situations,” one administration official said.
In addition to this new program, officials said the State Department will expand resettlement operations in Europe for Ukrainian citizens.
Apr 21, 6:44 am
Putin claims ‘success’ in Mariupol siege
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Thursday that his siege of Mariupol had been a success, congratulating his defense minister and thanking Russian troops.
“The completion of the combat work to liberate Mariupol is a success,” Putin said. “I congratulate you. Convey words of gratitude to the troops.”
Putin’s claim of victory came as he ordered troops to abandon their assault on the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, the last holdout for Ukrainian troops in the port city.
A Ukrainian commander of the regiment at the site said Ukrainian troops there are ready to surrender, if their safety can be guaranteed by a third party and they are allowed to take the bodies of their dead with them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office called for negotiations inside Mariupol to get anyone left in the factory out of the area alive.
Apr 21, 5:13 am
Putin cancels Mariupol plant attack, orders site blocked off
Russian President Vladimir Putin canceled his military’s attack on a Mariupol steel plant, one of the last areas in the port city held by Ukrainian forces, ordering his troops to instead seal all exit routes from the sprawling plant.
“I consider the proposed assault on the industrial zone impractical,” Putin told Sergei Shoigu, his defense minister, during a meeting televised on Thursday by Russian state media, according to a translation of the Kremlin’s official transcript.
The Mariupol city council claimed Tuesday that there are at least 1,000 civilians, mostly women with children and the elderly, seeking shelter in the Azovstal Steel and Iron Works plant. It was unclear how many Ukrainian troops were defending the site.
Putin in the televised meeting ordered his troops to “block” the industrial zone. He repeated the claim that Moscow would let troops leave unharmed if they lay down their weapons and surrender.
“There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground on these industrial facilities,” Putin said. “Block this industrial area so that the fly does not fly.”
Apr 20, 4:37 pm
Delegations walk out on Russian official
During a G20 meeting of economic and finance ministers on Wednesday, delegations from several countries, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, walked out of the room while Russia’s delegate began his remarks, the White House confirmed.
Canada’s Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, tweeted a photo of several officials, including herself, Yellen, U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde, outside of the meeting room, standing in solidarity with Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko.
“It’s an indication of the fact that President Putin and Russia has become a pariah on the global stage,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
The Treasury also unveiled new sanctions Wednesday against dozens of Russian and Belarusian people and institutions, including a key commercial bank and a virtual currency mining company.
“This is part of our stepped-up effort to crack down on those attempting to evade our unprecedented sanctions,” Psaki said.
The State Department has also imposed visa restrictions on over 600 Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainian separatists backed by the Kremlin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Apr 20, 3:59 pm
UN chief seeks peace talks with Putin, Zelenskyy
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres wrote separate letters to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday asking to meet “to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine,” a UN spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the head of the president’s office, tweeted that Ukraine is ready to hold a special round of negotiations in Mariupol.
Apr 20, 3:25 pm
Thousands more Russians enter Donbas: US official
Four more Russian battalions, each made up of roughly 800 to 1,000 troops, have crossed into Ukraine over the last 24 hours, a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday. Three of those battalions — or up to 3,000 troops — moved to the disputed Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, the official said.
Four flights carrying military aid, including artillery, from the Biden administration’s most recent $800 million package arrived in Ukraine over the last 24 hours, the official said. More supplies are set to arrive over the next day, the official said.
When ABC News asked why the U.S. decided to send artillery, the official responded: “We’re mindful of the importance of artillery in the fight that they’re in right now and in the fighting in the days to come because of the terrain, and because of what we think they’re going to be up against with Russian forces.”
Another reason was “the fact that it wouldn’t require an onerous amount of training for the Ukrainians to know how to use them” and the ability to ship them quickly, according to the official.
Apr 20, 2:12 pm
Humanitarian corridor from Mariupol didn’t work as planned Wednesday
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Wednesday’s humanitarian corridor from Mariupol didn’t work as planned but evacuation efforts will continue Thursday morning.
“Due to the lack of control over their own military on the ground, the occupiers were unable to ensure a proper ceasefire,” Vereshchuk said in a statement.
There also wasn’t “timely transportation of people to the point where dozens of our buses and ambulances were waiting,” Vereshchuk said.
