World

(WASHINGTON) — Over an hourlong conversation this weekend, the top diplomats from China and the U.S. zigzagged through an agenda filled with contentious topics, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken issuing blunt warnings to his counterpart regarding Beijing’s expansive spy balloon program and fears the country could step up its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We had a very direct, very clear conversation about the Chinese surveillance balloon being sent over our territory in violation of our sovereignty, in violation of international law,” Blinken told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz in an interview just after his closed-door talk. “I told Wang Yi, my Chinese counterpart, that that action was unacceptable and must never happen again.”

The meeting, which came together in the late hours of Saturday evening on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, was the first in-person interaction between Blinken and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi since a suspected Chinese surveillance aircraft was spotted hovering over American airspace, prompting Blinken to scuttle plans for a visit to Beijing at the last minute.

The lengthy discussion showcased deep fractures between the two superpowers and prompted fears that what’s often described as the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship could be deteriorating to dangerous lows.

On “This Week” on Sunday, Blinken also made clear that U.S. concerns about China extend beyond espionage, saying he had voiced his “growing concern” that Beijing may be considering providing military aid to Russia to support its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, a focal point of the summit in Munich.

“China has been engaged in providing rhetorical, political, diplomatic support to Russia,” Blinken said. “But we have information that gives us concern that they are considering providing lethal support to Russia in the war against Ukraine. And it was important for me to share very clearly with Wang Yi that this would be a serious problem.”

Whether Wang will heed that warning remains unclear. U.S. officials, including Blinken, were hesitant to characterize China’s side of the conversation but said that no apology was offered for the surveillance balloon incident.

In fact, in the days since the aircraft was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, China has only doubled down on its claims that the balloon was a harmless, unmanned civilian vehicle — an explanation that directly conflicts with U.S. assessments.

In the hours before his meeting with Blinken, Wang described the Biden administration’s response as “absurd and hysterical.”

Raddatz pressed Blinken on the view among some U.S. officials that the path the balloon took over the continental United States may not have been the original plan.

“Martha, I can’t speak to their original intent,” Blinken said. But he stressed that once the balloon was over the country, “the balloon attempted to surveil very critical, important military installations.”

In an initial readout of Wang’s engagement with Blinken, Beijing said Wang “expressed China’s solemn position on the so-called airship incident, demanding that the United States change its course and face up to and solve the damage caused by the indiscriminate use of force.”

A subsequent readout provided by China’s Foreign Ministry took a sterner view of both the balloon altercation and China’s ties to Russia.

“If the US continues to dramatize, hype up or escalate the situation, it will be met in kind for as long as it takes. All consequences arising thereof shall be borne by the US side,” Chinese officials said of the balloon.

The officials said that in Wang’s meeting with Blinken, on Russia and Ukraine, Wang “stressed … China adheres to principles and stays committed to promoting peace talks.” The Chinese said their relationship with Russia was a “comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination” but insisted it “is built on the basis of non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third countries.”

In the days that followed the balloon shoot-down earlier this month, the State Department declassified intelligence that China has overflown surveillance balloons above 40 countries, something Blinken said on “This Week” was top of mind for many officials in Munich.

“There’s a real concern that I’m hearing here from other countries, from allies and partners alike, about this program. And I think countries are — I was gonna say ‘pleased,’ pleased is the wrong word — they appreciate the fact that we’ve exposed it,” Blinken told Raddatz.

Another key focus of the conference was sustaining support for Ukraine as the country girds itself for another Russian offensive.

Kyiv has requested F-16 fighter jets, and while the U.S. hasn’t ruled out the possibility, Blinken signaled the administration wasn’t ready to hand over the aircraft just yet.

“We’re in very close collaboration and coordination with the Ukrainians precisely on this question of what do they need at any given time. But what’s very important is this: What we should not do, any of us, is to focus or get fixated on any particular weapons system because the weapon system itself, as important as it is, is not is not sufficient. You have to make sure that Ukrainians are trained on the systems that are being provided,” Blinken said. “If they’re not trained on them, they can’t use them.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(GAZIANTEP, Turkey) — It was only a matter of time before the region surrounding Turkey and Syria experienced “the big one,” according to experts.

Tens of thousands of people died in a pair of cataclysmic earthquakes that rocked the region on Feb. 6. First, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey along the border of Syria, followed by a 7.5-magnitude quake nine hours later about 100 miles north of the first, with hundreds of aftershocks in between and beyond.

The quakes took down thousands of buildings in the two countries, killing at least 42,000 people.

While individual earthquake activity is difficult to predict, it was never out of the realm of possibility that a large earthquake would be on the horizon in the region, experts told ABC News.

Turkey lies at the crossroads of tectonic plate activity

The complex tectonic activity that lies beneath essentially ensured that a devastatingly strong earthquake would eventually rock the region, the scientists said.

There are four tectonic plates, massive slabs of rock made of up Earth’s lithosphere, that interact in Turkey. The Arabian and African plates are moving to the north and interacting with the Eurasian plate, which is essentially in place as a boundary to the north, Joshua Russell, a professor of seismology at Syracuse University, told ABC News.

“That stress is essentially squeezing Turkey out to the west into the Aegean,” Alexander Stewart, a professor of geology at St. Lawrence University, told ABC News.

Picture a banana being squeezed out from between the peels, and that is essentially how Turkey is being exuded out into the Aegean Sea as a result of the plate interactions, Stewart said.

What makes Turkey even more vulnerable is the movement from the Anatolian plate is essentially slipping along the fault lines of the North Anatolian fault zone, the most seismically active fault zone in the world, Stewart said.

However, it was the East Anatolian fault zone responsible for the most recent deadly quake, which extends down, through Syria. The energy released from the “rock-to-rock slippage” of the plates onto the East Anatolian fault, which is less active than the North Anatolian fault, is more catastrophic than earthquakes that are releasing the stress on a more consistent basis, Stewart said.

Although the earthquake had a significant magnitude, the readings, which measures the amplitude of the wave forms, or how much fault is moving, on the seismograph don’t tell the full story of the strength of the earthquake.

The earthquake involved a break on fault extended for 300 kilometers, or more than 186 miles, Susan Hough, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, told ABC News.

“The bigger the fault, the bigger the earthquake,” Russell said, adding that the shallower the earthquake, the more ground motion that occurs.

When the quake happens, it does not shake all at once. From the epicenter, the rupture travels down the fold at about 3 kilometers per second, Hough said. So if it continues for 300 kilometers, it’s actually moving for 100 seconds, Hough said.

So in addition to the very long duration of the quake, it’s also impacting a “huge” area, Hough said.

Stewart estimated that Turkey is in the top 20% of regions in the world that would experience devastation due to earthquakes.

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake in Fukushima, Japan, in March 2022 only killed four people. The magnitude of the earthquake was not “out of the ordinary,” but although Japan is an earthquake-prone region, the country’s economic system is able to provide and engineer structures to withstand moderate earthquake magnitudes.

The same can’t be said for regions like eastern Turkey and Haiti.

In 1936, the North Anatolian fault ruptured beneath Marmara Sea, which also led to tens of thousands of deaths. It was then that building codes began to be instated in the country. Another earthquake in 1999 prompted additional building codes, but they are not enforced, Stewart said.

“It takes a long time to re retrofit buildings, and it’s expensive,” Russell said.

Could a similar earthquake happen in the U.S.?

The West Coast of the continental U.S., as well as Alaska, are prone to earthquakes as well, the experts said.

One of the most destructive earthquakes to occur in the U.S. happened in 1906 when nearly 300 miles of the San Andreas fault ruptured, resulting in an estimated 7.9-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 3,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1933, the Newport-Inglewood Fault cased a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Long Beach, California, resulting in extensive damage and killing up to 120 people.

The Long Beach earthquake “taught engineers a lot about how strongly the ground can shake from a 6.5,” Hough said.

For decades, California has planned its engineering and building codes based on historical seismicity to survive earthquakes of similar magnitudes, the experts said. In addition, single family homes tend to be more resilient to earthquakes than high-rise apartment buildings, Hough said.

Highways in California, especially bridges and overpasses, have also been retrofitted with steel to protect drivers in the event of an earthquake, Hough said.

“In general, California, the overall resilience is is better than in Turkey,” Hough said.

Settlements along fault lines often have high population density because faults tend to present a nice place to live, Hough said. There’s typically surrounding water, mountains and more rain, and people will cluster around those regions, she said.

This can prove problematic, because the closer you are to the moving fault, the more shaking you will experience, Hough said.

“You have the settlements right on top of the fold, and then if you have the construction issues on top of that, it’s kind of a perfect storm for big damage,” she said.

However, biggest earthquakes in the U.S. tend to occur in Alaska.

“No one lives up there,” so those quakes are not publicized as much, Stewart said. But since those earthquakes are so large, they can present other rippling effects, such as tsunamis, Hough said.

Although the U.S. would not experience a death toll of similar caliber to Turkey and Syria, there would be severe economic damage, Stewart said.

“Our efforts in retrofitting and engineering to protect lives in Japan and North America is very high, but it is not going to minimize economic loss,” he said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Four U.S. service members were wounded by an explosion during a helicopter raid in northeast Syria on Thursday night. A senior ISIS leader was killed in the mission, officials said.

“The U.S. service members and working dog are receiving treatment in a U.S. medical facility in Iraq,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The ISIS leader killed in the raid was identified as Hamza al-Homsi.

A U.S. official said the four wounded service members are U.S. special operations forces. The extent of their injuries was not released.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — One of the longest commercial flights in the world did a U-turn over the Pacific Ocean to return to its departure airport over 16 hours later because of a closure of New York’s JFK Terminal One.

Air New Zealand 2 took off from Auckland, New Zealand, at 8:00 p.m. local time but rather than arrive at JFK as scheduled 16 hours later, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner landed back in Auckland at 12:25 p.m. the next day, according to FlightAware. The airplane was more than 2,000 miles from the coast of California when it abruptly turned around to return to New Zealand.

“Due to an electrical fire in Terminal 1 at JFK Airport and the terminal’s subsequent closure, NZ2 Auckland to New York was forced to divert back to Auckland,” a New Zealand Air spokesperson said in a statement.

Specifically asked why the airplane did not land at another U.S. airport, the spokesperson noted that “diverting to another U.S. port would have meant the aircraft would remain on the ground for several days,” which would affect other scheduled flights. The passengers on the flight have been rebooked to the next available service, according to the spokesperson.

JFK Terminal One, which serves over 80 international airlines according to a Port Authority website, closed on Thursday after a small fire prompted a power outage. According to the Port Authority, the terminal remains closed Friday due to continued electrical issues.

When the terminal closed Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice to air missions informing essential airline personnel about the closure; however, the Air New Zealand flight took off before the notice was issued.

When it does arrive at JFK as planned, Air New Zealand 2 has a flight time of roughly 16 hours, making it one of the longest commercial flights offered worldwide.

Thursday’s flight not only brought passengers back to their original departure airport but also landed 55 minutes late, according to FlightAware.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — Nearly 11 days after a massive earthquake and powerful aftershocks rocked southeastern Turkey, two men trapped beneath the rubble have been rescued as the odds of finding survivors diminish by the hour.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca posted about the rescues on Twitter, saying both men were pulled alive from the ruins of a collapsed building in hard-hit Hatay province on Thursday evening, 261 hours after the quake.

Mustafa Avci, 33, was rescued first, according to Koca. After initial treatment at a field hospital, Avci was allowed to call a relative whose telephone number he remembered. The health minister tweeted video of the emotional exchange, in which Avci is seen wearing a neck brace and lying on a stretcher as he speaks into a mobile phone held by a rescuer. Avci can be heard asking about his mother and the rest of their family as the man on the other end cries in disbelief. Avci then kisses the hand of the rescuer holding the phone and thanks him.

Hatay’da enkaz altından 261’inci saatte, bu gece kurtarılan Mustafa, tıbbi müdahalenin ardından ilk olarak, telefon numarasını hatırladığı bir yakınını aradı. Kardeşimiz Mustafa’yı bu kadar iyi görmekten çok mutluyuz. pic.twitter.com/t0jrmH0M6r

— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) February 16, 2023

Mehmet Ali Sakiroglu, 26, was rescued soon after, according to Koca. Sakiroglu was assessed at the field hospital before being transported to the Mustafa Kemal University Hospital in Antakya, where he remains for treatment, Koca said. The health minister tweeted a photo of first responders bringing Sakiroglu into the hospital on a stretcher.

Hayat dolu haberler bu gece birbirini izliyor. Kardeşimiz Mehmet Ali, Hatay’da enkaz altından 261’inci saatte kurtarılan ikinci vatandaşımız. İlk tıbbi müdahalesi Sahra Hastanesinde yapıldı. Şu an Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Hastanesinde tedavi altında. pic.twitter.com/3WNgR8KkKW

— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) February 17, 2023

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the region before dawn on Feb. 6 and was followed by hundreds of aftershocks. The quake’s epicenter was in Turkey’s southeastern Kahramanmaras province, not far from the border with Syria. Thousands of buildings were toppled on both sides, according to Turkish and Syrian officials.

The death toll in Turkey and Syria has continued to rise in the days since, reaching 42,000 on Thursday, according to combined figures from both countries.

Although most rescues happen within the first 24 hours after a natural disaster, experts told ABC News that people can survive for up to a week or more while trapped under fallen debris depending on several factors, including weather conditions, the extent of their injuries and whether they have access to air and water.

ABC News’ Kerem Inal and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(THWAITES GLACIER, Antarctica) — Scientists studying one of the most crucial glaciers that’s been deteriorating by climate change got a new look at what’s going on underneath the surface.

In two studies published in the science journal “Nature,” scientists from the UK-US International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration said they were able to measure the bottom of the Thwaites Glacier and insert cameras and probes through a borehole to study the object from underwater.

The images showed researchers that while the glacier overall is melting slower than models projected, the warmer water underneath the ice is creating cracks and crevasses where the ice is melting much faster than the rest of the glacier.

The glacier, nicknamed the “Doomsday glacier” which is roughly the size of Florida, has been sensitive to climate change over the last 30 years and accounts for about 4% of global sea level rise, according to scientists. If the glacier collapses it could add 25 inches to the global sea level rise in the coming centuries, according to researchers.

Britney Schmidt, who’s an Associate Professor at Cornell University and lead author of one of the studies told ABC News that the initial data that was collected changes scientists’ understanding baseline conditions of what is happening with the glacier.

“Now we know that this collapse has happened under less melting than we thought and it means it can be easier to collapse,” she said.

Scientists undertook observations of the grounding line, where the ice first meets the ocean, beneath the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf to understand how the ice and ocean interact.

Peter Davis, an oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey who was the lead author on one of the studies, took ocean measurements through a 600-meter deep borehole around two kilometers from the grounding line, created by a hot water drill in late 2019. These measurements were compared with melt rate observations taken at five other sites underneath the ice shelf.

Over nine months, the ocean near the grounding line became warmer and saltier but the melt rate at the ice base averaged two to five meters per year, which were less than previously modeled, researchers said.

Davis said in a statement that the results were surprising but still not good news for the state of the glacier.

“If an ice shelf and a glacier are in balance, the ice coming off the continent will match the amount of ice being lost through melting and iceberg calving. What we have found is that despite small amounts of melting there is still rapid glacier retreat, so it seems that it doesn’t take a lot to push the glacier out of balance,” he said in a statement.

Schmidt’s team of researchers used a robot called Icefin to go underwater and into the glacier through a 600-meter deep borehole created in 2019 by a research drill. The robot was able to get photos, video and other data from both the ocean floor and the underside of the glacier as it moved, according to the researchers.

“We never had this data before so we had our best guess,” Schmidt said. “We now have the measurements we need to fine-tune our models.”

Schmidt said researchers will continue to take data from the glacier and get a better sense of how bad the climate change damage will be.

“We need those details to inspire our response as people for the change we’ve signed up for,” she said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Almost a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.

Putin’s forces pulled out of key positions in November, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting the southern port city. Russian drones have continued bombarding civilian targets throughout Ukraine, knocking out critical power infrastructure as winter sets in.

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

Feb 16, 5:28 PM EST
Ukrainian vice prime minister tells remaining civilians in Bakhmut to evacuate

Vice Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk called on the roughly 6,000 civilians still in Bakhmut to evacuate “immediately.”

Officials said they don’t want the people still in the city to put themselves and their children at risk and don’t want them to interfere with the Ukrainian army. Five civilians were killed and nine others were injured on Thursday, according to the vice prime minister.

“Frankly speaking, I am very surprised that 6,000 civilians are still working there,” Vereshchuk said in a statement.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Feb 16, 3:25 PM EST
Belarus will fight alongside Russia if it is attacked, president warns

Belarus would only join the war in Ukraine, fighting alongside Russia, if it is attacked, President Alexander Lukashenko told state-run Belta news agency.

“We don’t want a war. And in no case are we going to send our troops into the territory of Ukraine. Unless you commit aggression against the territory of Belarus from there. Here is my answer. It was given a long time ago,” Lukashenko said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Lukashenko’s threat in an interview with the BBC.

“I hope [Belarus] won’t join [the war],” he said. “If it does, we will fight and we will survive.”

Allowing Russia to use Belarus as a staging post for an attack again would be a “huge mistake,” he added.

Russian forces launched part of their full-scale invasion from Belarus 12 months ago. They drove south toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, but were fought back and made to retreat within weeks, after suffering heavy casualties.

Lukashenko is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Tanya Stukalova

Feb 16, 3:11 PM EST
Zelenskyy rules out territorial deal with Putin in BBC interview

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out giving up any of his country’s territory in a potential peace deal with Russia.

In a BBC interview to mark a year since Russia’s full-scale invasion, he warned conceding land would mean Russia could “keep coming back,” while Western weapons would bring peace closer.

However, he does believe Ukrainian forces can keep resisting Russia’s advance until they are able to launch a counteroffensive — although he repeated his calls for more military aid from the West.

“Of course, modern weapons speed up peace. Weapons are the only language Russia understands,” Zelensky told the BBC.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Feb 16, 12:13 AM EST
Russian strikes hit infrastructure in Lviv, Ukrainians shoot down eight Russian missiles: Officials

An infrastructure object was hit in Lviv in the early morning hours of Thursday, the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, said on Telegram.

There were no casualties, and the fire from the impact has since been put out, Kozytskyi said.

Six Kalibr missiles were also shot down over the Mykolaiv region, and two Kalibr missiles were shot down over the Kherson region overnight, Odesa Military Administration spokesman Serhii Bratchuk posted on Telegram.

All eight of the missiles were fired from a Russian ship in the Black Sea, Bratchuk said in the post.

Feb 15, 2:48 PM EST
6 ‘reconnaissance’ balloons shot down over Kyiv

Authorities in Kyiv are investigating who owns six balloons that were in Ukraine’s airspace and what the balloons were doing over Kyiv. The balloons were shot down by Ukrainian air defense.

After a preliminary assessment, authorities think the balloons had intelligence gathering equipment.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Feb 14, 11:43 AM EST
If Bakhmut falls, won’t have ‘strategic impact’ on Ukraine war: White House

White House spokesman John Kirby said during a briefing Tuesday that the U.S. could not “predict one way or the other” whether Bakhmut will fall to the Russians and if it does fall, “on what timeline.”

“We’re watching this every day, and it is certainly true that the Russians are continuing to make incremental progress there,” Kirby said. “Again, I can’t predict one way or the other whether it falls or it doesn’t fall or on what timeline. They have made incremental progress again in just the last 24, 48 hours.”

He added that the U.S. did not think Russia obtaining control of Bakhmut would have any “strategic impact” on either the overall war or even fighting in that part of the country.

The U.S. thinks Russia — and specifically the Wagner Group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, which is doing much of the fighting for Bakhmut — wants to take over and benefit financially from gypsum and salt mines located in the area, Kirby said.

“Even if Bakhmut were to fall, it would not have a strategic impact on the overall war,” Kirby said. “I would go so far as to say it won’t even have, necessarily, a strategic impact on the fighting in that part of the country. We think one of the reasons why Prigozhin is so interested in Bakhmut is because there’s a gypsum mine there, and up in Soledar, there’s a salt mine. And it’s entirely possible that Mr. Prigozhin sees some economic benefit to him and his company to take Bakhmut and to take and hold Soledar.”

-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson

Feb 11, 9:43 AM EST
US surveillance data ‘crucial’: Ukrainian commander

Ukrainian Lt. Gen. Serhiy Nayev told ABC News in an interview that the U.S. provides “surveillance data,” allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to more accurately pinpoint Russian targets within Ukraine’s borders.

“This help is crucial for us,” he said.

Nayev said he was in “constant contact” with American generals stationed in other parts of Europe. An exchange of data between the Ukrainians and Americans helped the Ukrainian military to pinpoint targets using US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems.

“This work goes perfectly in real time,” he said.

-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Dragana Jovanovic and Ale Pavone

Feb 10, 3:09 PM EST
Biden to visit Poland on eve of first anniversary of invasion of Ukraine

President Joe Biden will visit Poland on Feb. 20, on the eve of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda as well as the leaders of the Bucharest Nine, a group of our eastern flank NATO allies, and he’ll deliver remarks to mark the one-year anniversary, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday.

“President Biden will deliver remarks ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, addressing how the United States has rallied the world, to support the people of Ukraine, as they defend their freedom and democracy, and how we will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Jean-Pierre said.

-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson

Feb 10, 12:25 PM EST
Russian missile comes within 22 miles of Romanian border with Ukraine

Romania, a member of NATO, said Friday a Russian missile had come within 22 miles of its border but that it did not cross into the country’s territory, countering a claim made by the Ukrainian military.

“The Romanian Air Forces’ air surveillance system detected on Friday, February 10th, an aerial target launched by a Russian Federation’s ship, navigating in the Black Sea, nearby the Crimean Peninsula. The target is most likely a cruise missile, which flew over the air space of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and reentered the Ukrainian air space without ever infringing Romania’s air space,” Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tîlvăr said in a statement Friday.

Ukrainian officials had said earlier Friday that two Russian missiles crossed into the airspace of Moldova and Romania before entering Ukraine and being directed at targets in the country.

“Several Russian missiles passed through the airspace of Moldova and Romania. These missiles are a challenge to NATO and collective security. This is terror that can and must be stopped,” Zelenskyy said Friday.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. intercepted Russian aircraft flying off Alaska in international airspace as they approached an identification zone for two straight days this week, according to officials.

Planes are required to identify themselves when they approach the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ. If they don’t, U.S. aircraft are launched to check on them.

The Alaskan Region of North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, announced on Thursday an incident that took place on Feb. 14 in which U.S. Air Force F-35s intercepted four Russian aircraft, including two Tu-95 bombers. The U.S. announced on Tuesday it had intercepted two Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bombers on “a seven-hour flight over neutral waters of the Chukchi Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk” on Feb. 13.

Neither time did the Russian aircraft enter the U.S. or Canadian airspace, according to officials.

“This Russian activity near the North American ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative,” NORAD said in a statement Thursday.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Almost a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.

Putin’s forces pulled out of key positions in November, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting the southern port city. Russian drones have continued bombarding civilian targets throughout Ukraine, knocking out critical power infrastructure as winter sets in.

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

Feb 16, 12:13 AM EST
Russian strikes hit infrastructure in Lviv, Ukrainians shoot down eight Russian missiles: Officials

An infrastructure object was hit in Lviv in the early morning hours of Thursday, the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, said on Telegram.

There were no casualties, and the fire from the impact has since been put out, Kozytskyi said.

Six Kalibr missiles were also shot down over the Mykolaiv region, and two Kalibr missiles were shot down over the Kherson region overnight, Odesa Military Administration spokesman Serhii Bratchuk posted on Telegram.

All eight of the missiles were fired from a Russian ship in the Black Sea, Bratchuk said in the post.

Feb 15, 2:48 PM EST
6 ‘reconnaissance’ balloons shot down over Kyiv

Authorities in Kyiv are investigating who owns six balloons that were in Ukraine’s airspace and what the balloons were doing over Kyiv. The balloons were shot down by Ukrainian air defense.

After a preliminary assessment, authorities think the balloons had intelligence gathering equipment.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Feb 14, 11:43 AM EST
If Bakhmut falls, won’t have ‘strategic impact’ on Ukraine war: White House

White House spokesman John Kirby said during a briefing Tuesday that the U.S. could not “predict one way or the other” whether Bakhmut will fall to the Russians and if it does fall, “on what timeline.”

“We’re watching this every day, and it is certainly true that the Russians are continuing to make incremental progress there,” Kirby said. “Again, I can’t predict one way or the other whether it falls or it doesn’t fall or on what timeline. They have made incremental progress again in just the last 24, 48 hours.”

He added that the U.S. did not think Russia obtaining control of Bakhmut would have any “strategic impact” on either the overall war or even fighting in that part of the country.

The U.S. thinks Russia — and specifically the Wagner Group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, which is doing much of the fighting for Bakhmut — wants to take over and benefit financially from gypsum and salt mines located in the area, Kirby said.

“Even if Bakhmut were to fall, it would not have a strategic impact on the overall war,” Kirby said. “I would go so far as to say it won’t even have, necessarily, a strategic impact on the fighting in that part of the country. We think one of the reasons why Prigozhin is so interested in Bakhmut is because there’s a gypsum mine there, and up in Soledar, there’s a salt mine. And it’s entirely possible that Mr. Prigozhin sees some economic benefit to him and his company to take Bakhmut and to take and hold Soledar.”

-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson

Feb 11, 9:43 AM EST
US surveillance data ‘crucial’: Ukrainian commander

Ukrainian Lt. Gen. Serhiy Nayev told ABC News in an interview that the U.S. provides “surveillance data,” allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to more accurately pinpoint Russian targets within Ukraine’s borders.

“This help is crucial for us,” he said.

Nayev said he was in “constant contact” with American generals stationed in other parts of Europe. An exchange of data between the Ukrainians and Americans helped the Ukrainian military to pinpoint targets using US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems.

“This work goes perfectly in real time,” he said.

-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Dragana Jovanovic and Ale Pavone

Feb 10, 3:09 PM EST
Biden to visit Poland on eve of first anniversary of invasion of Ukraine

President Joe Biden will visit Poland on Feb. 20, on the eve of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda as well as the leaders of the Bucharest Nine, a group of our eastern flank NATO allies, and he’ll deliver remarks to mark the one-year anniversary, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday.

“President Biden will deliver remarks ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, addressing how the United States has rallied the world, to support the people of Ukraine, as they defend their freedom and democracy, and how we will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Jean-Pierre said.

-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson

Feb 10, 12:25 PM EST
Russian missile comes within 22 miles of Romanian border with Ukraine

Romania, a member of NATO, said Friday a Russian missile had come within 22 miles of its border but that it did not cross into the country’s territory, countering a claim made by the Ukrainian military.

“The Romanian Air Forces’ air surveillance system detected on Friday, February 10th, an aerial target launched by a Russian Federation’s ship, navigating in the Black Sea, nearby the Crimean Peninsula. The target is most likely a cruise missile, which flew over the air space of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and reentered the Ukrainian air space without ever infringing Romania’s air space,” Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tîlvăr said in a statement Friday.

Ukrainian officials had said earlier Friday that two Russian missiles crossed into the airspace of Moldova and Romania before entering Ukraine and being directed at targets in the country.

“Several Russian missiles passed through the airspace of Moldova and Romania. These missiles are a challenge to NATO and collective security. This is terror that can and must be stopped,” Zelenskyy said Friday.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Never-before-seen footage from the 1986 exploration of the site of the Titanic shipwreck was released Wednesday.

The footage was captured by cameras in a three-person research submersible named Alvin and the remotely operated Jason Jr. in July 1986, which marked the first time humans saw the ship since its doomed maiden voyage in 1912.

Most of the footage had never before been seen by the public, according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution premiered more than 80 minutes worth of footage Wednesday night.

The footage begins with Alvin approaching the Titanic, then exploring the bow and parking on its deck. It also includes interior shots of the Titanic from Jason Jr.

It also shows the chief officer’s cabin and a promenade window, the exterior of the ship and the telemotor used to transmit steering and engine controls to the engine room.

The Titanic hit an iceberg on its trip from Southampton, England, to New York City on April 14, 1912. It was carrying over 2,200 passengers and crew.

More than 1,500 people died when the ship sank.

A joint exploration run by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a French oceanographic exploration organization, Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer, found the ship wreckage in September 1985.

Scientists then returned to the site nine months later and captured the footage.

In 1986, 11 dives were made to the Titanic’s resting place almost 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.