(NEW YORK) — Communities have gravitated toward the shore for thousands of years, building their lives in proximity to major waterways for easy access to trade, seafood and recreation.
But those who reside near coastlines will need to learn to adjust as climate change continues to create conditions that chip away at these malleable geological structures, according to experts.
One of the recurring topics of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Cairo, Egypt, is how climate change is currently affecting people around the world. As coastlines change and become battered by an increase in the number of severe weather events, homes — and, in some cases, entire communities — are being condemned as they become inundated with seawater the more the natural barriers are broken down.
The transformation of coastlines is constant. Coastal erosion is a natural part of the Earth’s cycle as strong waves continually crash against the shore. But as global temperatures warm and sea levels rise, the damage to the coast’s natural barriers is being exacerbated with each subsequent monster storm with tropical force winds or higher — which typically causes the most damaging events of erosion, scientists say.
Erosion is a huge issue in the U.S., and it is made worse by sea level rise which increases the distance the wave energy moves inland, Dr. Ken Miller, geologist at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, told ABC News.
As melting glaciers and ice sheets cause sea levels to rise, the ocean waves around the coast become more intense, Raphael Crowley, associate professor at the University of North Florida’s Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment, told ABC News.
In addition, gradual effects from day-to-day erosion reaching farther inland, such as land that was previously above sea level being underwater more, will weaken the structure of the coastlines even more — allowing for strong storms to do more damage when they pass through, Ronadh Cox, a professor of geology and mineralogy at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, told ABC News. Each high tide that reaches previously dry land has a cumulative effect on shoreline retreat and the associated erosion.
“So, everything from nuisance flooding associated with tides rising higher, to storm surges penetrating farther inland, all contribute to these effects of the coast,” Cox said.
The types of natural infrastructures that can be destroyed are sand dunes, cliffs and even living shorelines, such as plants, marshes and oyster reefs — all of which can act as barriers to an influx of ocean water. A marsh measuring 15 feet deep can absorb about 50% of incoming wave energy, but these living barriers continue to dwindle, as well.
More than 80,000 acres of coastal wetlands are lost every year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The deterioration of coastlines can also be impacted by the human tendency to develop right on top of them, according to experts.
As populations increase and more housing is built near the coast, oftentimes the coastal wetlands are drained to make room for development, Cox said.
When the barriers along the coastlines fail to keep ocean water out, it wreaks havoc on communities, Crowley said. Roads become impassable. Homes become at risk of being destroyed or even swept away in some cases of extreme storm surge — like what happened in parts of southwest Florida due to Hurricane Ian.
“The combined effect of all of these things, of course, is increased erosion, land loss and infrastructure loss,” Cox said.
Coastal erosion is already tallying up to about $500 million annually in property damage, according to the U.S. Climate Resiliency Toolkit, an online resource that compiles data from the U.S. federal government.
“The problem with coastal engineering is that coasts are constantly evolving,” Crowley said.
If people want to live near the ocean, protection measures such as ensuring a high enough elevation and that there is a barrier between the structure and the water — such as a sand dune — should be implemented, Crowley said.
Severe storms can remove wide beaches in a single event. Following the passing of Hurricane Irma in 2017, Crowley witnessed what was previously a sand dune in north Florida’s Vilano Beach transformed into “a 40-foot cliff with a house hanging off of it,” he said. That structure was one of several dozen that Crowley knew would never be livable again, he said.
The research is suggesting that what was previously considered a once-in-a-generation storm, such as Ian, could start to occur more frequently, Crowley said.
In addition, Cox has witnessed famed coastal towns such as Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, both in Massachusetts, lose measurable levels of cliff retreat of several meters per year in some places, she said.
In Pinellas County, Florida, a half-foot of sea level rise in the past 50 years has led to the loss of 120 feet of beach, John Bishop, coastal management coordinator for the Pinellas County Government, told ABC News.
Sea levels have been rising about 3.5 millimeters per year since the early 1900s, Crowley said.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but then if you add that up over 100 years — that’s quite a bit of rise,” he said, adding that the rate of rise has since accelerated.
In the next 30 years, sea level along the U.S. coastline is projected to rise, on average, 10 to 12 inches — the same amount it rose in the past century, according to a new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2022 Sea Level Rise Technical Report. Experts believe the drastic rise will continue to exacerbate coastal erosion and the problems people living near the ocean will face.
About 2 feet of sea level rise along the U.S. coastline is increasingly likely between 2020 and 2100 because of emissions to date, according to the NOAA report. An additional 1.5 to 5 feet of sea level rise is possible by the end of the century should countries around the world fail to curb emissions, the report predicted.
Ashley Chan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(KYIV, Ukraine) — When Andy Huynh watched the news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, he started losing sleep. All he could think about was the struggle of the Ukrainian people against an aggressor he felt was violating their sovereignty and opening the world up to a third World War.
“All my personal problems didn’t feel important anymore … It felt wrong just to sit back and do nothing,” he said. “I had to go.”
The Alabama man was not alone. Two days after the invasion, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for “friends of Ukraine, freedom and democracy” to serve as volunteers in the Ukrainian military. More than 20,000 volunteers from 52 countries responded, many of whom had served in the U.S. Army, British Army, and, like Huynh, the U.S. Marine Corps, according to Ukrainian officials.
Their experience is credited by Zelenskyy for bolstering the war effort for Ukraine, especially since NATO countries have rejected sending ground troops in fears of starting their own conflict with Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in March that 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East would be joining his country’s fight.
Tanya Mehra, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for Counterterrorism at The Hague, said the mobilization of foreign fighters on battlefields dates to 1816 and they have played prominent roles in conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and Somalia since the 1980s.
The evolution of foreign-born fighters has created distinct classes of fighters, from mercenaries who join conflicts primarily for financial gain, Mehra said, and others who are driven by ideological reasons. Mercenaries, she said, who are outsourced contractors for small governments, tend to be associated to “increases in violence and higher civilian casualties,” which can prolong the conflict, whereas foreign fighters become part of the state military, which makes them “accountable for the acts they have committed.”
Many of those foreign fighters serving in Ukraine tend to be older than your average soldier, and in a stage in their lives where they felt they could help through their years of experience.
John Harding, 59, joined the Ukrainian military in 2018, when the country was fighting Russian-backed separatists. As a professional combat medic who served in Syria, the British-born Harding put his experience to use on the battlefield. But he also found he was in demand as a trainer for other medics who had no idea how to apply first aid in a hostile combat environment
“Medics are notorious for getting themselves killed,” Harding said. “You may know how to apply a torniquet, but you also need to know how to apply a tourniquet while watching out for snipers.”
One American, who did not want to use his name because he is still fighting in Ukraine, said he joined the Ukrainian military in April because he felt “it is important for the world to stand up with the Ukrainians and resist aggression.” Having grown up in a military family and a U.S. Air Force veteran himself, the man took leave of his job in IT while living in central Europe to join the fight.
Today, he uses his background in engineering systems, cybersecurity and computer networks to operate drones in anti-tank and stinger missions. He said his squad was responsible for taking down a Mil Mi-28 Russian helicopter on July 18. The man said his homemade bombs and grenades are constructed using Coke cans and some of the 60 kilograms of TNT captured during an offensive in September. They take flight via off-the-shelf commercial drones.
The man said that the number of foreign fighters he encounters, the majority of whom were from the U.S., has decreased since the spring. The intensity of the fighting weeded away what he called the “TikTok warriors” who were not prepared for the danger, or length, of the missions. He remains fighting after seven months because of ideological reasons, but also because of the survivor’s guilt he felt when two men from his squad — Huynh and Alex Drueke, also from Alabama — were captured on June 9 following a firefight.
“I felt I lost my two brothers. They followed me to this unit. I felt very guilty,” he said. “Part of the reason I stayed this long is because of them.”
Huynh and Drueke, a U.S. Army veteran, spent 105 days in captivity, including a month in a Russian “black site,” where they endured daily torture. In late September they were released, along with eight other foreign-born volunteer fighters from England and Canada and more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers.
Harding was among those men released. He met Huynh and Drueke in a prison cell after having been captured in May when a Ukrainian unit he was with in Mariupol was forced to surrender. The torture he suffered has led to a diagnosis of permanent neurological damage to his hands, along with broken ribs and damage to his sternum. One aftereffect is “more psychological”: “I have mood swings which I don’t have control of,” he said.
He now lives close to family in Luton, a town in the southeast of England. The results of ongoing medical treatment will determine his ability to work.
“Would I do it again? Knowing what I know, probably not. Would I do it again if I didn’t know? Yes, I would,” he said. “The only thing I would have done different is I wouldn’t have surrendered. I would have fought to the very last round.”
Like Harding, Drueke and Hyunh also say they have no regrets. Back home in Alabama, they are adjusting to their former lives. Hyunh is engaged and will marry soon, while Drueke is contemplating his next career move. They have bonded, not just with one another, but with Harding and the other men in their unit who are either still in Ukraine or returned home. One day they hope to reunite, either in the U.S. or in England — or even Ukraine itself to help rebuild.
“Honestly, Ukraine has really surprised the world. We did not expect them to be that feisty, that strong, that determined,” said Drueke. “They are amazing people.”
(SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt) — Negotiators from around the world are gathering in Egypt this week for this year’s biggest international climate summit, called COP27.
The United Nations recently warned the world is far from its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than before the industrial revolution, the goal set by the Paris Climate Agreement.
Current policies would lead to 2.8 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century, according to the UN Emissions Gap Report, meaning countries need to reduce emissions significantly more to keep the Paris Agreement goal within reach. If every country and private company meets its climate goals, warming could be limited to 1.8 or 1.9 degrees Celsius, but there are still questions about whether enough is being done to make those goals a reality.
“Every degree does matter, 1.5 degrees is the scientific goal of a climate [that] remains stable. After that, things become exponentially more difficult,” Ani Dasgupta, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News.
“So it’s true, that argument the world won’t stop in 2030 if you did or didn’t reach 1.5, but it becomes that much more difficult and that much more risky for human life. So our goal is to be within that.”
Dasgupta said the pressure is more on the largest emitters like the US, Europe, China, and India to be more ambitious because they contribute far more greenhouse gas emissions.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to attend the summit in Egypt and is expected to tout his domestic policy wins on climate this year, including the infrastructure bill and Inflation Reduction Act which included historic amounts of money for clean energy and climate programs.
The meeting takes place with the backdrop of several climate-driven disasters this year, including the devastating flooding in Pakistan and severe drought and famine conditions in East Africa. The world is about 1.2 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial average and experts said this year proves most countries are not prepared for even that amount of warming.
Dasgupta said many of these crises are not just weather disasters but they also bring huge economic impacts, which is one reason there will be so much focus on providing more finance for countries feeling the impacts of climate change.
“This particular year that we are ending, or almost ending, has been devastating in climate-related weather disasters, like a banner year,” he said.
“That is the context of what a 1.2-degree world looks like … so we’ve talked about 1.1, 1.2 [degrees] it always seemed like something you have to imagine. Literally this year you don’t have to imagine, you could just read the newspaper or watch television to see.”
Countries already experiencing dangerous and expensive impacts of climate change, like flooding or food and water insecurity, are expected to pressure wealthier countries like the U.S. to provide more funding to help them adapt or relocate.
This idea known as “loss and damage” financing suggests that countries that contributed emissions that have led to global warming should do more to help communities who contributed less to the problem, but are already feeling the impacts. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said the U.S. is committed to “engaging constructively” to find a way to address the issue but the U.S. has not yet supported a proposal for a new fund for loss and damage.
Kerry, who will represent the US at the summit, says he still believes the world can meet its climate goals but there are still big political and financial challenges to getting it done. Kerry said the transition underway now is bigger than the industrial revolution and will result in a cleaner and more secure energy system.
“While many of us are chagrined it has taken so long for us to get to a place where more and more people are accepting what’s happening, we are there. And the only way to be able to organize ourselves and get the job done when you have 200 or so nations that are involved in this is to come together somewhere and work at it,” he said at a press briefing this week.
The COP27 begins in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on Nov. 6 and is scheduled to conclude Nov. 18.
(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 06, 1:57 PM EST
Biden, German chancellor call Russian nuclear threats ‘irresponsible’
President Joe Biden spoke to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday and both agreed Russia’s nuclear threats stemming the war in Ukraine are “irresponsible,” according to the White House.
Both leaders said they would continue to “provide Ukraine with the economic, humanitarian, and security support it needs to defend against Russia,” the White House said in a statement.
Biden and Scholz also spoke of the chancellor’s recent trip to the People’s Republic of China and, according to White House officials “affirmed their shared commitment to upholding the rules-based international order, human rights, and fair trade practices.”
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Nov 03, 12:02 PM EDT
Western officials believe Russia is planning ‘orderly, well-planned and deliberate’ military withdrawal from Kherson
Western officials are “confident” Russia’s military is “setting the conditions” for withdrawal from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the only regional capital that has been occupied by Russian forces since the February.
The Russian military is preparing to make a “strategic” withdrawal and move its forces east across the Dnipro river, officials said.
“It looks like an orderly, well-planned and deliberate military process is taking place,” a Western official told ABC News.
The officials would not put a timeframe on when the withdrawal would happen and added that it is not guaranteed to take place. They downplayed, however, any speculation that the Russians are using the withdrawal to mask a more “nefarious” action in that area.
The officials said their assessment was that the Russians believe Kherson “is not worth fighting for.”
The advance of Ukrainian forces in Kherson has slowed over the past three weeks.
In mid-October, the newly appointed commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, General Surovikin, said “difficult decisions” may be necessary in Kherson.
Senior Ukrainian officials have suggested more recently that Russian forces are preparing to fight for Kherson and a source on the ground told ABC News that the Russian military is still moving in and out of the city.
-ABC News’ Tom Burridge
Nov 02, 12:14 PM EDT
North Korea covertly shipping ammunition to Russia for war in Ukraine, US says
North Korea was secreting sending ammunition to Russia to use in its invasion of Ukraine and is disguising the shipments as appearing to be destined to the Middle East or North Africa, the White House said Wednesday.
“Our information indicates that [North Korea] is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they’re being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby said North Korea was sending “a significant number of artillery shells.” He did not specify an exact number but said it was more than “dozens.”
“But we don’t believe that they are in such a quantity that they would tangibly change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum either in the east or in the south” of Ukraine, he said.
Kirby added, “We’re gonna continue to monitor whether these shipments are received.”
In September, the U.S. had said Russia is looking to purchase millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea, saying at the time that this indicated the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Nov 02, 12:01 PM EDT
Russia waives veiled threat on use of nuclear weapons
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning to nations with nuclear capabilities, calling on them to abandon attempts to infringe on each other’s vital interests, warning that direct armed conflict and provocations with weapons of mass destruction can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Russia claimed it believes there can be no winners of nuclear war and said it refarrims its commitment to the prevention of nuclear warm.
“A reaction with the use of nuclear weapons is hypothetically allowed by Russia only in response to aggression using weapons of mass destruction or aggression using conventional weapons, when the existence of the state is threatened,” the ministry said in a statement.
The White House has said it will not confirm or deny New York Times reporting that senior Russian military officials had recently discussed when and how Russia might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. The intelligence about the conversations was reportedly circulated inside the U.S. government in mid-October.
But, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not a part of these alleged conversations, according to the New York Times.
The White House on Wednesday said it still sees “no indications that Russia is making preparations” to use nuclear weapons.
-ABC News’ Natalia Shumskaia and Ben Gittleson
Nov 02, 12:14 PM EDT
North Korea covertly shipping ammunition to Russia for war in Ukraine, US says
North Korea was secretly sending ammunition to Russia to use in its invasion of Ukraine and is disguising the shipments as appearing to be destined to the Middle East or North Africa, the White House said Wednesday.
“Our information indicates that [North Korea] is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they’re being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby said North Korea was sending “a significant number of artillery shells.” He did not specify an exact number but said it was more than “dozens.”
“But we don’t believe that they are in such a quantity that they would tangibly change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum either in the east or in the south” of Ukraine, he said.
Kirby added, “We’re gonna continue to monitor whether these shipments are received.”
In September, the U.S. had said Russia is looking to purchase millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea, saying at the time that this indicated the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine.
Nov 02, 12:01 PM EDT
Russia waives veiled threat on use of nuclear weapons
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning to nations with nuclear capabilities, calling on them to abandon attempts to infringe on each other’s vital interests, warning that direct armed conflict and provocations with weapons of mass destruction can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Russia claimed it believes there can be no winners of nuclear war and said it reaffirms its commitment to the prevention of nuclear warm.
“A reaction with the use of nuclear weapons is hypothetically allowed by Russia only in response to aggression using weapons of mass destruction or aggression using conventional weapons, when the existence of the state is threatened,” the ministry said in a statement.
The White House has said it will not confirm or deny New York Times reporting that senior Russian military officials had recently discussed when and how Russia might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. The intelligence about the conversations was reportedly circulated inside the U.S. government in mid-October.
But, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not a part of these alleged conversations, according to the New York Times.
The White House on Wednesday said it still sees “no indications that Russia is making preparations” to use nuclear weapons.
Nov 02, 8:40 AM EDT
Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports
Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday that Russia has agreed to resume its participation in a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to keep grain and other commodities shipping out of Ukraine’s ports amid the ongoing war.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, that the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative would “continue in the same way as before” as of noon Wednesday, according to Erdogan.
The renewed agreement, first reached over the summer, will prioritize shipments to African countries, including drought-ravaged Somalia, after Russia expressed concerns that most of the grain was ending up in richer nations.
Moscow agreed to return to the deal after receiving written guarantees from Kyiv that Ukraine would not use the safe shipping corridors through the Black Sea for military actions against Russian forces, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Russia had suspended its role in the deal over the weekend, after accusing Ukrainian forces of carrying out a “massive” drone attack on its Black Sea fleet on Saturday.
Turkey and the U.N. brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
Since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, the cost of grain, fertilizer and fuel has skyrocketed worldwide. Russia and Ukraine — often referred to collectively as Europe’s breadbasket — produce a third of the global supply of wheat and barley, but a Russian blockade in the Black Sea combined with Ukrainian naval mines have made exporting siloed grain and other foodstuffs virtually impossible. As a result, millions of people around the world — particularly in Africa and the Middle East — are now on the brink of famine.
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Ukraine does not have effective defenses against Iranian ballistic missiles, air force official claims
Iranian ballistic missiles, which Russia plans to purchase from Iran, will probably be placed on the northern border of Ukraine, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Airborne Forces Yuri Ignat said Tuesday.
Ignat claimed the ballistic missiles’ range was 300 km for one and 700 km for another.
“We have no effective defense against these missiles. It is theoretically possible to shoot them down, but in fact it is very difficult to do it with the means we have at our disposal. We have air defense, not missile defense,” he said.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Russia announces wider evacuation of occupied southern Ukraine
As Ukrainian forces advance to capture the city of Kherson, Russian forces are ordering civilians out of parts of the now-occupied city. Some 70,000 people along a 15 kilometer (10 mile) stretch of the left bank of the Dnipro River will be evacuated deeper into the Kherson region or to Russia, according to the Russian-installed leader of the occupied Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo.
Russia had previously ordered civilians out of an area it controls on the west bank of the river.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Oct 31, 7:07 PM EDT
Russia’s withdrawal from grain deal ‘collective punishment’ for world: State Department
State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Monday lambasted Russia’s recent decision to withdraw from the U.N.-brokered deal that allowed for grain to be exported through the Black Sea — likely to be a chief focus of this week’s G-7 ministerial meeting and potentially the G-20 Leaders’ Summit next month.
“We deeply regret Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is having immediate, harmful impacts on global food security,” Price said during a press briefing. “Russia should return to full participation in the initiative, and we urge all parties to swiftly agree to sustain this crucial program through the months to come.”
“Any disruption to the initiative risks spiking food prices, lowering the confidence of insurers and commercial shippers who have returned to Black Sea routes, and further imposing hardships on low-income countries already reeling from dire humanitarian crises and global food insecurity,” he added.
Price said Russia’s reneging had already caused future contracts for foodstuff to rise, even though some ships appear to have been allowed to pass through the water routes with their cargo following Moscow’s announcement.
“We’ve seen Russia engage in what appears to be collective punishment for the people of Ukraine,” he said. “But Moscow’s suspension of the initiative would be tantamount to collective punishment for the rest of the world — but especially lower- and middle-income countries that so desperately needed this grain.”
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Oct 31, 3:32 PM EDT
Ukraine energy company warns about attacks on energy infrastructure
Following a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine this Monday morning, Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK says it’s running out of equipment and spare parts needed for repairs of the damaged infrastructure facilities.
“Unfortunately, we have already used up the stock of equipment that we had in our warehouses after the first two waves of attacks that have been taking place since Oct. 10,” said DTEK Executive Director Dmytro Sakharuk. “We were able to purchase some equipment. But unfortunately, the cost of the equipment is now measured in hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Most parts have been already used for repairs following previous Russian strikes, he added.
Oct 31, 4:54 AM EDT
Russia launches waves of missiles at energy targets
Russia on Monday morning again launched a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine, targeting energy infrastructure, including in the Kyiv region.
Ukraine’s military said it shot down 44 cruise missiles as the Russians launched “several waves of missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities” across the country.
About five distant booms could be heard in central Kyiv at about 8 a.m. local time.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, confirmed that a power plant has been hit, meaning mid-morning around 350,000 homes in the capital were left without power. Kyiv’s water supply has also been compromised, according to a water company.
A local official said “critical infrastructure” had also been hit in the Chernivtsi region in southwestern Ukraine.
Critical infrastructure has also been hit and damaged in Zaporizhzhia in the south, according to another local official.
Other regions of Ukraine appear to have been targeted, including Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Poltava and Lviv.
There are currently no reports of significant casualties.
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Oct 30, 10:02 AM EDT
Blinken accuses Russia of ‘weaponizing food’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed Russia’s decision to pull out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative as a statement from the Kremlin that “people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry.”
Russia announced it is withdrawing from the U.N.-brokered grain deal in response to a drone attack Saturday in the waters of the Sevastopol Bay, in the Black Sea near Crimea.
Russia’s decision, Blinken said, is jeopardizing grain shipments he described as “life-saving.”
“In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity,” Blinken said in a statement released Saturday night.
He said 9 million metric tons of food has been shipped under the agreement, which was signed and launched in July. He said the shipments have reduced food prices around the world.
“We urge the Government of Russia to resume its participation in the Initiative, fully comply with the arrangement, and work to ensure that people around the world continue to be able to receive the benefits facilitated by the Initiative,” Blinken said.
Blinken’s statement echoed what President Joe Biden said earlier Saturday, calling Russia’s withdrawal from the initiative, “purely outrageous.”
“It’s going to increase starvation. There’s no reason for them to do that, but they’re always looking for some rationale to be able to say the reason they’re doing something outrageous is because the West made them do it. And it’s just not,” Biden said. “There’s no merit to what they’re doing. The UN negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.”
(SEOUL, South Korea) — Air Force military trainings took place in both North and South Korean airspaces as the two nations continue to ratchet up tensions on the Korean Peninsula as 180 North Korean warplanes flying over four hours just north of the military border were detected by South Korea’s military on Friday.
“North’s military planes were active in multiple areas such as the inland area in the North and above the East and West Sea,” South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
In response, South Korea’s air force “urgently scrambled its predominant air force,” including 80 F-35As. The JCS added that 240 planes that were already participating in the ROK-US “Vigilant Storm” joint training “maintained a readiness posture” while conducting the planned exercises.
North Korea had test fired a mix of almost 30 long- and short-range ballistic missiles, including a failed intercontinental ballistic missile, this week.
These provocations prompted the U.S. and South Korea to extend air force drills which North Korea considers as joint training to invade and topple their regime.
This week’s provocations by the North is more or less Pyongyang responding to ROK-US drills, analysts say.
“Since denuclearization talks stalled, North Korea is in an unfavorable situation. Biden administration in and South Korean government now are both hardline, so North Korea is reacting even more strongly,” Wi Sung-Lak, Secretary general in the Seoul-based Korea Peace Foundation, told ABC News.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea test-fired six missiles on Thursday, a day after launching its most tests in a single day.
One long-range and two short-range ballistic missiles were tested Thursday morning, South Korean officials said. Tokyo initially said the longer-range ballistic missile had flown over Japan, warning residents of Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata prefectures to take shelter. But Japan’s Defense Ministry later said the missile did not fly over Japan.
Authorities said they were still analyzing the details. Analysts suggested that the missile, which flew 472 miles and reached a height of 1,200 miles, was presumably an intercontinental ballistic missile that failed.
Three more short-range ballistic missiles were launched Thursday night, according to the South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff. The missiles were fired toward the eastern seas from North Hwanghae province between 9:35 p.m. and 9:49 p.m. local time.
“We can sense North Korea’s anxiety from recent launches. In fact, these missile launches are a huge burden for their military, especially when North Korea is so economically cut off,” Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Womans University, told ABC News.
The provocations are a typical brinkmanship tactic to either bring the U.S. and South Korea into nuclear talks or a prelude to justifying an imminent seventh nuclear underground test.
“It’s possible to assume that North Korea will decorate the grand finale of its tactic with the seventh nuclear test, and then suggest a deal,” said Park.
The two Koreas test-fired missiles one after another throughout Wednesday in a series of tit-for-tat moves. North Korea fired a total of 23 missiles that were a combination of ballistic and surface-to-air weapons, and 100 artillery shells from various locations toward the east and west. In a retaliatory move, South Korea quickly responded in between by launching its own air-to-surface missiles into a similar area above the NLL, launched by two F-15K and KF-16 jet fighters.
Pyongyang claimed the missile tests are “self-defensive” in nature. Officials called for the U.S. and South Korea to stop their annual joint military drills, which they said were “aggressive and provocative.”
“They are going on a full-scale sprint. Not only are there a variety of missiles, but also a great number of them,” Park added.
Dr. Yang Uk, of Seoul-based Asan Institute, told ABC News that the missile launches are a way to show off Pyongyang’s tactical nuclear capabilities.
“It’s an adamant statement that they will respond with all forces by fully mobilizing all the means they have,” Yang explained.
South Korea’s air force announced Wednesday shortly after North Korea’s ballistic missile provocation, that the joint air drill between the U.S. will be extended. It was originally planned for five days from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4.
(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 02, 12:14 PM EDT
North Korea covertly shipping ammunition to Russia for war in Ukraine, US says
North Korea was secretly sending ammunition to Russia to use in its invasion of Ukraine and is disguising the shipments as appearing to be destined to the Middle East or North Africa, the White House said Wednesday.
“Our information indicates that [North Korea] is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they’re being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby said North Korea was sending “a significant number of artillery shells.” He did not specify an exact number but said it was more than “dozens.”
“But we don’t believe that they are in such a quantity that they would tangibly change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum either in the east or in the south” of Ukraine, he said.
Kirby added, “We’re gonna continue to monitor whether these shipments are received.”
In September, the U.S. had said Russia is looking to purchase millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea, saying at the time that this indicated the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine.
Nov 02, 12:01 PM EDT
Russia waives veiled threat on use of nuclear weapons
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning to nations with nuclear capabilities, calling on them to abandon attempts to infringe on each other’s vital interests, warning that direct armed conflict and provocations with weapons of mass destruction can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Russia claimed it believes there can be no winners of nuclear war and said it reaffirms its commitment to the prevention of nuclear warm.
“A reaction with the use of nuclear weapons is hypothetically allowed by Russia only in response to aggression using weapons of mass destruction or aggression using conventional weapons, when the existence of the state is threatened,” the ministry said in a statement.
The White House has said it will not confirm or deny New York Times reporting that senior Russian military officials had recently discussed when and how Russia might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. The intelligence about the conversations was reportedly circulated inside the U.S. government in mid-October.
But, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not a part of these alleged conversations, according to the New York Times.
The White House on Wednesday said it still sees “no indications that Russia is making preparations” to use nuclear weapons.
Nov 02, 8:40 AM EDT
Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports
Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday that Russia has agreed to resume its participation in a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to keep grain and other commodities shipping out of Ukraine’s ports amid the ongoing war.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, that the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative would “continue in the same way as before” as of noon Wednesday, according to Erdogan.
The renewed agreement, first reached over the summer, will prioritize shipments to African countries, including drought-ravaged Somalia, after Russia expressed concerns that most of the grain was ending up in richer nations.
Moscow agreed to return to the deal after receiving written guarantees from Kyiv that Ukraine would not use the safe shipping corridors through the Black Sea for military actions against Russian forces, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Russia had suspended its role in the deal over the weekend, after accusing Ukrainian forces of carrying out a “massive” drone attack on its Black Sea fleet on Saturday.
Turkey and the U.N. brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
Since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, the cost of grain, fertilizer and fuel has skyrocketed worldwide. Russia and Ukraine — often referred to collectively as Europe’s breadbasket — produce a third of the global supply of wheat and barley, but a Russian blockade in the Black Sea combined with Ukrainian naval mines have made exporting siloed grain and other foodstuffs virtually impossible. As a result, millions of people around the world — particularly in Africa and the Middle East — are now on the brink of famine.
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Ukraine does not have effective defenses against Iranian ballistic missiles, air force official claims
Iranian ballistic missiles, which Russia plans to purchase from Iran, will probably be placed on the northern border of Ukraine, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Airborne Forces Yuri Ignat said Tuesday.
Ignat claimed the ballistic missiles’ range was 300 km for one and 700 km for another.
“We have no effective defense against these missiles. It is theoretically possible to shoot them down, but in fact it is very difficult to do it with the means we have at our disposal. We have air defense, not missile defense,” he said.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Russia announces wider evacuation of occupied southern Ukraine
As Ukrainian forces advance to capture the city of Kherson, Russian forces are ordering civilians out of parts of the now-occupied city. Some 70,000 people along a 15 kilometer (10 mile) stretch of the left bank of the Dnipro River will be evacuated deeper into the Kherson region or to Russia, according to the Russian-installed leader of the occupied Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo.
Russia had previously ordered civilians out of an area it controls on the west bank of the river.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Oct 31, 7:07 PM EDT
Russia’s withdrawal from grain deal ‘collective punishment’ for world: State Department
State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Monday lambasted Russia’s recent decision to withdraw from the U.N.-brokered deal that allowed for grain to be exported through the Black Sea — likely to be a chief focus of this week’s G-7 ministerial meeting and potentially the G-20 Leaders’ Summit next month.
“We deeply regret Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is having immediate, harmful impacts on global food security,” Price said during a press briefing. “Russia should return to full participation in the initiative, and we urge all parties to swiftly agree to sustain this crucial program through the months to come.”
“Any disruption to the initiative risks spiking food prices, lowering the confidence of insurers and commercial shippers who have returned to Black Sea routes, and further imposing hardships on low-income countries already reeling from dire humanitarian crises and global food insecurity,” he added.
Price said Russia’s reneging had already caused future contracts for foodstuff to rise, even though some ships appear to have been allowed to pass through the water routes with their cargo following Moscow’s announcement.
“We’ve seen Russia engage in what appears to be collective punishment for the people of Ukraine,” he said. “But Moscow’s suspension of the initiative would be tantamount to collective punishment for the rest of the world — but especially lower- and middle-income countries that so desperately needed this grain.”
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Oct 31, 3:32 PM EDT
Ukraine energy company warns about attacks on energy infrastructure
Following a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine this Monday morning, Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK says it’s running out of equipment and spare parts needed for repairs of the damaged infrastructure facilities.
“Unfortunately, we have already used up the stock of equipment that we had in our warehouses after the first two waves of attacks that have been taking place since Oct. 10,” said DTEK Executive Director Dmytro Sakharuk. “We were able to purchase some equipment. But unfortunately, the cost of the equipment is now measured in hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Most parts have been already used for repairs following previous Russian strikes, he added.
Oct 31, 4:54 AM EDT
Russia launches waves of missiles at energy targets
Russia on Monday morning again launched a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine, targeting energy infrastructure, including in the Kyiv region.
Ukraine’s military said it shot down 44 cruise missiles as the Russians launched “several waves of missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities” across the country.
About five distant booms could be heard in central Kyiv at about 8 a.m. local time.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, confirmed that a power plant has been hit, meaning mid-morning around 350,000 homes in the capital were left without power. Kyiv’s water supply has also been compromised, according to a water company.
A local official said “critical infrastructure” had also been hit in the Chernivtsi region in southwestern Ukraine.
Critical infrastructure has also been hit and damaged in Zaporizhzhia in the south, according to another local official.
Other regions of Ukraine appear to have been targeted, including Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Poltava and Lviv.
There are currently no reports of significant casualties.
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Oct 30, 10:02 AM EDT
Blinken accuses Russia of ‘weaponizing food’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed Russia’s decision to pull out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative as a statement from the Kremlin that “people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry.”
Russia announced it is withdrawing from the U.N.-brokered grain deal in response to a drone attack Saturday in the waters of the Sevastopol Bay, in the Black Sea near Crimea.
Russia’s decision, Blinken said, is jeopardizing grain shipments he described as “life-saving.”
“In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity,” Blinken said in a statement released Saturday night.
He said 9 million metric tons of food has been shipped under the agreement, which was signed and launched in July. He said the shipments have reduced food prices around the world.
“We urge the Government of Russia to resume its participation in the Initiative, fully comply with the arrangement, and work to ensure that people around the world continue to be able to receive the benefits facilitated by the Initiative,” Blinken said.
Blinken’s statement echoed what President Joe Biden said earlier Saturday, calling Russia’s withdrawal from the initiative, “purely outrageous.”
“It’s going to increase starvation. There’s no reason for them to do that, but they’re always looking for some rationale to be able to say the reason they’re doing something outrageous is because the West made them do it. And it’s just not,” Biden said. “There’s no merit to what they’re doing. The UN negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.”
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea test-fired three missiles on Thursday, a day after launching its most-ever tests in a single day.
One long-range and two short-range ballistic missiles were tested, South Korean officials said. Tokyo initially said the longer-range ballistic missile had flown over Japan, warning residents of Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata prefectures to take shelter. But Japan’s Defense Ministry later said the missile did not fly over Japan.
Authorities said they were still analyzing the details. Analysts suggested that the missile, which flew 472 miles and reached a height of 1,200 miles, was presumably an intercontinental ballistic missile that failed.
“We can sense North Korea’s anxiety from recent launches. In fact, these missile launches are a huge burden for their military, especially when North Korea is so economically cut off,” Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Womans University, told ABC News.
The provocations are a typical brinkmanship tactic to either bring the U.S. and South Korea into nuclear talks or a prelude to justifying an imminent seventh nuclear underground test.
“It’s possible to assume that North Korea will decorate the grand finale of its tactic with the seventh nuclear test, and then suggest a deal,” said Park.
The two Koreas test-fired missiles one after another throughout Wednesday in a series of tit-for-tat moves. North Korea fired a total of 23 missiles that were a combination of ballistic and surface-to-air weapons, and 100 artillery shells from various locations toward the east and west. In a retaliatory move, South Korea quickly responded in between by launching its own air-to-surface missiles into a similar area above the NLL, launched by two F-15K and KF-16 jet fighters.
Pyongyang claimed the missile tests are “self-defensive” in nature. Officials called for the U.S. and South Korea to stop their annual joint military drills, which they said were “aggressive and provocative.”
“They are going on a full-scale sprint. Not only are there a variety of missiles, but also a great number of them,” Park added.
Dr. Yang Uk, of Seoul-based Asan Institute, told ABC News that the missile launches are a way to show off Pyongyang’s tactical nuclear capabilities.
“It’s an adamant statement that they will respond with all forces by fully mobilizing all the means they have,” Yang explained.
South Korea’s air force announced Wednesday shortly after North Korea’s ballistic missile provocation, that the joint air drill between the U.S. will be extended. It was originally planned for five days from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4.
(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 02, 8:40 AM EDT
Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports
Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday that Russia has agreed to resume its participation in a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to keep grain and other commodities shipping out of Ukraine’s ports amid the ongoing war.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, that the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative would “continue in the same way as before” as of noon Wednesday, according to Erdogan.
The renewed agreement, first reached over the summer, will prioritize shipments to African countries, including drought-ravaged Somalia, after Russia expressed concerns that most of the grain was ending up in richer nations.
Moscow agreed to return to the deal after receiving written guarantees from Kyiv that Ukraine would not use the safe shipping corridors through the Black Sea for military actions against Russian forces, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Russia had suspended its role in the deal over the weekend, after accusing Ukrainian forces of carrying out a “massive” drone attack on its Black Sea fleet on Saturday.
Turkey and the U.N. brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
Since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, the cost of grain, fertilizer and fuel has skyrocketed worldwide. Russia and Ukraine — often referred to collectively as Europe’s breadbasket — produce a third of the global supply of wheat and barley, but a Russian blockade in the Black Sea combined with Ukrainian naval mines have made exporting siloed grain and other foodstuffs virtually impossible. As a result, millions of people around the world — particularly in Africa and the Middle East — are now on the brink of famine.
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Ukraine does not have effective defenses against Iranian ballistic missiles, air force official claims
Iranian ballistic missiles, which Russia plans to purchase from Iran, will probably be placed on the northern border of Ukraine, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Airborne Forces Yuri Ignat said Tuesday.
Ignat claimed the ballistic missiles’ range was 300 km for one and 700 km for another.
“We have no effective defense against these missiles. It is theoretically possible to shoot them down, but in fact it is very difficult to do it with the means we have at our disposal. We have air defense, not missile defense,” he said.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Russia announces wider evacuation of occupied southern Ukraine
As Ukrainian forces advance to capture the city of Kherson, Russian forces are ordering civilians out of parts of the now-occupied city. Some 70,000 people along a 15 kilometer (10 mile) stretch of the left bank of the Dnipro River will be evacuated deeper into the Kherson region or to Russia, according to the Russian-installed leader of the occupied Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo.
Russia had previously ordered civilians out of an area it controls on the west bank of the river.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Oct 31, 7:07 PM EDT
Russia’s withdrawal from grain deal ‘collective punishment’ for world: State Department
State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Monday lambasted Russia’s recent decision to withdraw from the U.N.-brokered deal that allowed for grain to be exported through the Black Sea — likely to be a chief focus of this week’s G-7 ministerial meeting and potentially the G-20 Leaders’ Summit next month.
“We deeply regret Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is having immediate, harmful impacts on global food security,” Price said during a press briefing. “Russia should return to full participation in the initiative, and we urge all parties to swiftly agree to sustain this crucial program through the months to come.”
“Any disruption to the initiative risks spiking food prices, lowering the confidence of insurers and commercial shippers who have returned to Black Sea routes, and further imposing hardships on low-income countries already reeling from dire humanitarian crises and global food insecurity,” he added.
Price said Russia’s reneging had already caused future contracts for foodstuff to rise, even though some ships appear to have been allowed to pass through the water routes with their cargo following Moscow’s announcement.
“We’ve seen Russia engage in what appears to be collective punishment for the people of Ukraine,” he said. “But Moscow’s suspension of the initiative would be tantamount to collective punishment for the rest of the world — but especially lower- and middle-income countries that so desperately needed this grain.”
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Oct 31, 3:32 PM EDT
Ukraine energy company warns about attacks on energy infrastructure
Following a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine this Monday morning, Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK says it’s running out of equipment and spare parts needed for repairs of the damaged infrastructure facilities.
“Unfortunately, we have already used up the stock of equipment that we had in our warehouses after the first two waves of attacks that have been taking place since Oct. 10,” said DTEK Executive Director Dmytro Sakharuk. “We were able to purchase some equipment. But unfortunately, the cost of the equipment is now measured in hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Most parts have been already used for repairs following previous Russian strikes, he added.
Oct 31, 4:54 AM EDT
Russia launches waves of missiles at energy targets
Russia on Monday morning again launched a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine, targeting energy infrastructure, including in the Kyiv region.
Ukraine’s military said it shot down 44 cruise missiles as the Russians launched “several waves of missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities” across the country.
About five distant booms could be heard in central Kyiv at about 8 a.m. local time.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, confirmed that a power plant has been hit, meaning mid-morning around 350,000 homes in the capital were left without power. Kyiv’s water supply has also been compromised, according to a water company.
A local official said “critical infrastructure” had also been hit in the Chernivtsi region in southwestern Ukraine.
Critical infrastructure has also been hit and damaged in Zaporizhzhia in the south, according to another local official.
Other regions of Ukraine appear to have been targeted, including Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Poltava and Lviv.
There are currently no reports of significant casualties.
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Oct 30, 10:02 AM EDT
Blinken accuses Russia of ‘weaponizing food’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed Russia’s decision to pull out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative as a statement from the Kremlin that “people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry.”
Russia announced it is withdrawing from the U.N.-brokered grain deal in response to a drone attack Saturday in the waters of the Sevastopol Bay, in the Black Sea near Crimea.
Russia’s decision, Blinken said, is jeopardizing grain shipments he described as “life-saving.”
“In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity,” Blinken said in a statement released Saturday night.
He said 9 million metric tons of food has been shipped under the agreement, which was signed and launched in July. He said the shipments have reduced food prices around the world.
“We urge the Government of Russia to resume its participation in the Initiative, fully comply with the arrangement, and work to ensure that people around the world continue to be able to receive the benefits facilitated by the Initiative,” Blinken said.
Blinken’s statement echoed what President Joe Biden said earlier Saturday, calling Russia’s withdrawal from the initiative, “purely outrageous.”
“It’s going to increase starvation. There’s no reason for them to do that, but they’re always looking for some rationale to be able to say the reason they’re doing something outrageous is because the West made them do it. And it’s just not,” Biden said. “There’s no merit to what they’re doing. The UN negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.”
(SEOUL, South Korea) — Tensions rose in the Korean Peninsula while the two Koreas test-fired missiles one after another in a series of tit-for-tat moves on Wednesday.
North Korea fired four short-range ballistic missiles at 6:51 a.m. local time from its North Pyongan Province into the West Sea. Two hours later, the North fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), one of which landed in the waters below south of the NLL, or North Limit Line.
“This is the first time since the two Koreas split that a ballistic missile fell close to our waters, south of the NLL,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a written statement.
The missile fell 104 miles northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung island, triggering an air raid alert which forced the island’s 9,000 residents to evacuate to underground shelters.
The North soon after continued to fire off an additional 10 or more short-range ballistic and surface-to-air missiles from South Hamgyung Province to the east and from South Pyongan Province and South Hwanghae Province to the west.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the military to ensure that North Korea “pays a clear price for its provocation,” according to his office.
In a retaliatory move, South Korea quickly responded by launching its own air-to-surface missiles into a similar area above the NLL, launched by two F-15K and KF-16 jet fighters.
“This precision strike by our military shows that we have willpower to decidedly respond to any sorts of provocation and the capability and readiness to precisely strike the enemy,” the JCS said.
The warning did not stop Pyongyang from firing about 100 artillery shells into the eastern waters near the maritime border.
South Korea demanded Pyongyang cease fire with a statement that they “once again clearly warn that responsibilities of all situations hereafter lies completely on North Korea as North Korea continues to provoke despite repeated warnings from our military.”
Wednesday’s launches came hours after Pyongyang warned that it could use nuclear weapons to make the U.S. and South Korea “pay the most horrible price in history” if South Korea and the U.S. joint military drills continue.
