(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that he personally believes war crimes have been committed in Ukraine, a day after President Joe Biden labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” for the first time since Putin launched his invasion.
“Yesterday, President Biden said that in his opinion, war crimes have been committed in Ukraine. Personally, I agree,” Blinken said. “Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime. After all the destruction of the past few weeks, I find it difficult to conclude that the Russians are doing otherwise.”
Before the U.S. officially labels Putin’s actions as war crimes, Blinken said State Department experts from the Office of Global Criminal Justice are documenting and evaluating evidence for a formal determination and will share those findings with those responsible for accountability. But he acknowledged reports on intentional attacks from the bombing of a Drama Theater housing children to opening fire at people waiting in line for bread.
“These incidents join a long list of attacks on civilian non-military locations across Ukraine, including apartment buildings, public squares, and last week, a maternity hospital in Mariupol,” he said. “I doubt that any of us who saw those images will ever forget.”
“There’s going to have to be, one way or another, accountability for this war of aggression,” he said of Putin.
But he warned of more darkness to come — Russia making renewed claims of genocide, using chemical or biological weapons and blaming Ukraine, sending its “mercenaries” to join the fight, and systematically kidnapping Ukrainian officials and replacing them with puppets — which he called a “terror tactic.”
While Ukrainian officials have been engaged in talks with Russian counterparts, Blinken expressed pessimism about those talks — saying they’ve not seen “any meaningful effort” by Russia to end the war through diplomacy. If anything, he warned, Putin indicated in his remarks Wednesday that he is doubling down.
Just moments before Blinken stepped out to speak, a State Department official confirmed to ABC News that a U.S. citizen was killed Thursday in Ukraine after Chernihiv regional police reported an American was killed by Russian shelling there. Two American journalists, a filmmaker and a Fox News cameraperson, were also killed this week covering the war.
As thousands flee the violence, Biden announced Wednesday the U.S. would provide Ukraine with $800 million in additional security assistance, bringing the total in aid over the past week to $1 billion. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s central request — for a no-fly zone over Ukraine — has not been granted. However, he did offer an alternative before Congress on Wednesday: S-300s, a Soviet-era missile system that are well-suited to to defend against Russian attacks.
Following his request, NATO ally Slovakia said it’s “willing to” provide the replacements — as long as NATO fills the gap that providing its only air defense system will create in Slovakia.
“What would happen immediately when we decided to give it to Ukrainians is that we actually create a gap a security gap in NATO,” said Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad’ Thursday, at a joint press conference with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Bratislava. “Should there be a situation that we have a proper replacement or that we have a capability guaranteed for a certain period of time, then we will be willing to discuss the future of S-300 system.”
But it’s unclear if a guarantee has been made yet to Slovakia in order to get the systems to Ukraine. The three NATO countries that have S-300s are Slovakia, Bulgaria and Greece.
As the U.S. reaffirms it would not support a no-fly zone, despite Zelenskyy’s pleas, Austin also explained the decision and called on Putin to cease attacks on civilians in Ukraine.
“Enforcing a no-fly zone actually means that you’re in combat. You’re in a fight with Russia,” said Austin. “So, from a U.S. perspective, we’re, again, our position remains that we’re not going to do one,” he added.
Asked directly if Russia’s attacks against civilians in Ukraine constitute a war crime, Austin did not go as far as Biden and Blinken and said that the State Department is currently reviewing the reports of civilian attacks.
“If you attack civilians on purpose, target civilians purposely, then that’s not — that is a crime,” Austin said. “So, these actions are under review by our State Department, and, of course, there will be and there’s a process that will go through to review all of this.”
Amid concerns China could assist Russia with military equipment, Biden is scheduled to speak Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He will also travel to Brussels next week in a show of unity to meet with NATO leaders.
Earlier in the day, Biden welcomed Irish Taoiseach Michael Martin for a virtual bilateral meeting in the Oval Office and said the leaders were “meeting in a moment when demands on unity in the world are really accelerating,” as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues.
“We have to be united and we certainly are,” Biden said. “But Putin’s brutality and what he’s doing, and his troops are doing in Ukraine is just inhumane.”
The Taoiseach echoed Biden’s view of Putin’s “unjustifiable and immoral war,” saying “I share with you our horror at the barbaric attack on the civilians,” and said Biden’s leadership through this has been “firm,” “determined,” and “strong.”
“Particularly your capacity to marshal like-minded democracies, the U.S., the European Union, the United Kingdom, the other — Canada and other like-minded democracies are coming together to respond in an unprecedented way to this barbaric attack on the women and children of Ukraine.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time this week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 17, 1:55 pm
US citizen killed in Chernihiv, Ukraine
A U.S. citizen was killed Thursday in Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, a State Department official confirmed to ABC News, after Chernihiv regional police reported an American was killed by Russian shelling.
The State Department official did not provide more details.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Mar 17, 1:46 pm
Hundreds of bulletproof vests meant for Ukraine stolen in NYC
About 400 bulletproof vests that were set to be sent to aid Ukraine were stolen from the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America’s headquarters in Manhattan’s East Village, according to the New York City Police Department.
No arrests have been made in the burglary, which took place early Wednesday, police said.
-ABC News’ Derricke Dennis
Mar 17, 12:35 pm
Biden calls Putin’s actions ‘inhumane’ in talk with Irish Taoiseach
During a virtual bilat with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Thursday, President Joe Biden said the world is “united” as Russia’s invasion in Ukraine continues.
“We have to be united and we certainly are,” Biden said. “But Putin’s brutality and what he’s doing, and his troops are doing in Ukraine, is just inhumane.”
The Taoiseach told Biden, “I share with you our horror at the barbaric attack on the civilians,” and said Biden’s leadership through this has been “firm,” “determined” and “strong.”
Biden commended Ireland for taking in Ukrainian refugees, saying it “speaks so loudly about your principles.”
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Mar 17, 8:49 am
Biden to speak with Chinese President Xi on Friday
President Joe Biden will speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday about “Russia’s war against Ukraine,” among other topics, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
It’s the first time the two will speak since Russia’s invasion began and it follows National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s seven-hour face-to-face meeting in Rome with his Chinese counterpart earlier this week.
The U.S. has been ramping up its warnings to China over concerns that it could assist Moscow with military equipment and other aid.
Mar 17, 6:59 am
Russia ‘stalled on all fronts,’ UK military says
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “largely stalled on all fronts,” the UK Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.
“Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or are in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses,” the Ministry said in an update posted to Twitter.
The Ukrainian resistance “remains staunch and well-coordinated,” the update said.
“The vast majority of Ukrainian territory, including all major cities, remain in Ukrainian hands,” the Ministry said.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 17 March 2022
Mar 16, 9:00 pm
Theater sheltering civilians hit by Russian airstrikes, Ukrainian official says
A Ukrainian official claimed Wednesday that Russian airstrikes destroyed a theater in the besieged city of Mariupol where civilians were taking shelter.
The number of victims from the bombing of the Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama “is impossible to count,” Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk Region administration, said in a Facebook post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during an address tonight that hundreds of people were hiding in the theater and that the death toll is still unknown.
“Russia is killing civilians!” Kyrylenko said, adding that it is also “impossible to determine” the number of victims in Mariupol since the start of the invasion.
The city has been burying its dead in a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol as it endures heavy shelling.
(LONDON) — A United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship with 30 people onboard sank on Thursday in the Persian Gulf off the southern coast of Iran.
The ship sank due to turbulence in poor weather about 30 miles from Asaluyeh, local authorities said.
Rescuers were immediately dispatched from different parts of Iran’s southern coastline to rescue the ship’s crew, Iranian media reported.
Twenty-nine of the 30 crew members have been rescued so far, a crisis-mitigation official told Islamic Republic News Agency.
Iranian local crisis mitigation official Jahangir Dehghani told IRNA on Thursday that the rescue operation to find the missing crew was continuing.
“At present, two lifeboats … are present at the scene of the accident,” he said.
Due to the strong wind in the northwest direction, the Persian Gulf was reportedly quite rough and turbulent. Wind speeds were recorded at more than 43 miles per hour.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time this week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 16, 8:51 pm
Zelenskyy discusses ongoing negotiations, proposal for new alliance of countries
In his latest national address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said negotiations with Russia are “ongoing.”
“My priorities in the negotiations are absolutely clear: the end of the war, security guarantees, sovereignty, restoration of territorial integrity, real guarantees for our country, real protection for our country,” he said in a speech that aired tonight.
Zelenskyy said he addressed both the U.S. and all the relevant states in regard to creating a new union he called U-24. He said that the new alliance will ensure that aggressors receive a coordinated response from the world.
“We can no longer trust the existing institutions. We cannot expect bureaucrats in international organizations to change so quickly,” he said. “Therefore, we must look for new guarantees. Create new tools. Take those who have courage and do what justice requires.”
Mar 16, 8:17 pm
UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting Thursday
The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to address the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
The U.S., Albania, U.K., France, Ireland and Norway requested the meeting, according to the Norway U.N. The countries have asked for briefings by the U.N.’s Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, the U.N.’s refugee agency and the World Health Organization.
More thank 3 million refugees have alreay fled Ukraine since the invasion began on Feb. 24, according to the U.N.’s refugee agency.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Mar 16, 6:37 pm
Theater sheltering civilians hit by Russian airstrikes, Ukrainian official says
A Ukrainian official claimed Wednesday that Russian airstrikes destroyed a theater in the besieged city of Mariupol where civilians were taking shelter.
The number of victims from the bombing of the Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama “is impossible to count,” Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk Region administration, said in a Facebook post.
“Russia is killing civilians!” he said, adding that it is also “impossible to determine” the number of victims in Mariupol since the start of the invasion.
The city has been burying its dead in a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol as it endures heavy shelling.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 16, 5:26 pm
Ukraine says it’s trying to launch counter-attacks on edge of Kyiv
Ukraine’s military said it is trying to launch counter-attacks in northern areas on the edge of Kyiv, seeking to push Russian forces back from the towns at the gates of the capital where they’ve been bogged down for two weeks.
The sounds of intense shelling and fighting could be heard from the north of Kyiv the last three days. Battles have been raging in the towns of Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, just a few miles from the city limits and from where thousands of civilians have been fleeing.
“The situation remains difficult, especially in the south and east [of Ukraine]. But more and more often our defenders are moving into counterattacks in various parts of the front: from Kyiv and Mykolaiv regions to the Luhansk region,” Ukrainian officials said in a statement Wednesday, referring to regions in southern and eastern Ukraine.
Authorities have imposed a full curfew from Tuesday evening to Thursday morning, locking down the capital and forbidding people from going outside. Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the direction of the northern areas and the popping sound of small arms fire heard occasionally throughout the day Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 16, 3:17 pm
Biden calls Putin a ‘war criminal’ for 1st time
“I think he is a war criminal,” President Joe Biden said Wednesday of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The president initially told the reporter “no” when asked if he was ready to label Putin a war criminal, but moments later Biden circled back, asking her to repeat the question.
This marked the first time Biden has called Putin a war criminal since the invasion began. The White House had previously said there was an official review underway before the administration could formally accuse Putin of war crimes.
-ABC News’ Mary Bruce
Mar 16, 2:56 pm
Kidnapped Melitopol mayor freed from Russian captivity
Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol, has been freed after being kidnapped by Russian troops, according to Ukrainian officials.
Fedorov was freed in a “special operation,” Kirill Timoshenko, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said. He didn’t give additional information.
His kidnapping was reported on March 11.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video of him talking to Fedorov on the phone. The president told the mayor he was very glad to speak with him and said, “We don’t leave ours behind.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 16, 2:26 pm
UNICEF highlights dangers Ukrainian children face as refugees
More than half of the 3 million people who have fled Ukraine are children, according to UNICEF.
“We realized that it’s about 75,000 a day… that’s about 55 Ukrainian children becoming refugees every minute. Essentially, one every second since this war started,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told ABC News Live.
Many children are suffering from a lack of food and freezing temperatures, he said.
“Many of them haven’t had clean water in two days,” he said.
Elder also highlighted the psychological trauma.
“They’ve been under bombardment. Many of them have seen family members or community members killed,” he said.
Elder added that UNICEF is “desperately concerned” about human trafficking, warning that any large number of children coming into a new country are at a higher risk of being abducted.
-ABC News’ Shannon Caturano
Mar 16, 1:17 pm
Biden announces additional military help for Ukraine
President Joe Biden announced more aid to Ukraine Wednesday, saying that the “American people are answering [Ukranian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy’s call for more help, more weapons for Ukraine to defend itself, more tools to fight Russian aggression.”
Biden announced an additional $800 million in military assistance as part of the $13.6 billion aid package for Ukraine contained in the government spending bill Biden signed into law Tuesday, which includes weapons the Ukrainians have been requesting, such as anti-armor and anti-air systems.
“This could be a long and difficult battle,” Biden said. “But the American people will be steadfast in our support of the people of Ukraine in the face of [Russian President [Vladimir] Putin’s immoral, unethical attacks on civilian populations. We are united in our abhorrence of Putin’s depraved onslaught, and we are going to continue to have their backs as they fight for freedom, their democracy, their very survival.”
Biden did not directly address Zelenskyy’s emotional and direct appeal to lawmakers on Wednesday for the U.S. to back a no-fly zone the administration has repeatedly rejected.
-ABC News’ Libby Cathey
Mar 16, 12:38 pm
UN’s top court orders Russia to halt invasion
By a vote of 13-2, the United Nations’ highest court, the International Court of Justice, made a preliminary ruling that Russia “shall immediately suspend military operations.”
The two votes against were from Russia and China.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted on Twitter, writing that “Russia must comply immediately.” But the ruling is mostly symbolic as the ICJ has no direct means to enforce it.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith
Mar 16, 11:09 am
House and Senate leadership to receive classified briefings
House and Senate leadership, along with ranking members of relevant committees, will receive a classified briefing on the war in Ukraine following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s personal and emotional plea to Congress for more help.
The House briefing will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday and the Senate will follow at 3:30 p.m.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Mariam Khan
Mar 16, 10:49 am
Jake Sullivan warns of consequences if Russia uses chemical or biological weapons
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with his Russian counterpart, Nikolay Patrushev, on Wednesday “to reiterate the United States’ firm and clear opposition to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine,” National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement.
She said Sullivan told Patrushev that Russia should stop attacking Ukraine if it’s serious about diplomacy and warned “about the consequences and implications of any possible Russian decision to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.”
Horne said Sullivan “clearly laid out” that the U.S. will continue “imposing costs on Russia” as well as support Ukraine and defend NATO’s eastern flank.
This conversation marked the first high-level engagement between the U.S. and Russia since the Kremlin launched its war against Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez and Conor Finnegan
Mar 16, 10:43 am
Putin justifies invasion, says troops ‘doing everything possible’ to avoid harming civilians
In a speech Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin falsely claimed that Russia’s military tactics have been “completely justified” and that Russian troops are “doing everything possible” to avoid harming Ukrainian civilians.
Putin sought to justify Russia’s invasion, claiming that all “diplomatic possibilities were exhausted” and Russia had “no choice” but to launch its operation. He claimed that the “appearance of Russian troops near Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities” is not connected “with a goal of occupying that country” and that it is about defusing a supposed threat to Russia.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 16, 9:38 am
Zelenskyy asks Congress to back no-fly zone over Ukraine
In a virtual address to members of Congress Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the U.S. to back a no-fly zone over the war-torn country.
If a no-fly zone is not possible, Zelenskyy asked for aircraft “to help Ukraine.”
“Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands” — a “terror” Europe hasn’t seen in 80 years, Zelenskyy said.
In an emotional appeal, Zelenskyy asked members of Congress to put themselves in the shoes of Ukrainians by remembering Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 attacks.
Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude for U.S. involvement, but called on Congress to do more.
“New packages of sanctions are needed constantly … we propose that the United States sanction all politicians in the Russian Federation who remain in their offices and do not cut ties with those who are responsible for the aggression against Ukraine,” he said.
“Members of Congress, please take the lead. If you have companies in your districts who finance the Russian military machine… you should put pressure,” he said.
“The destiny of our country is being decided,” he said. “Russia has attacked not just us… it went on a brutal offensive against our values, basic human values.”
Zelenskyy received a standing ovation before and after his remarks.
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that a no-fly zone “is escalatory and could prompt a war with Russia.”
“Providing the planes, our military did an assessment that’s based not just on the risk but whether it would have a huge benefit to them,” Psaki said. “They assessed it would not because they have their own squadron of planes and because the type of military assistance that is working to fight this war effectively is the type of assistance we’re already providing.”
Mar 16, 9:10 am
Fox News correspondent injured in Ukraine is safe, out of the country
Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall, who was reporting in Ukraine when he was injured by incoming fire that killed two colleagues, is now safe and out of the country, according to the network.
Hall “is alert and said to be in good spirits,” Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer reported Wednesday.
Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, was newsgathering with Hall on Monday in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, when their vehicle was hit by incoming fire, the network said. Zakrzewski was killed while Hall was injured and hospitalized in unknown condition.
Ukrainian producer and fixer, 24-year-old Oleksandra Kuvshynova, who was working for Fox News during the war, was also killed in the shelling, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Mar 16, 6:44 am
Russia claims Ukraine willing to give up NATO hopes
Russia’s lead negotiator in peace talks with Ukraine said on Wednesday Ukraine had proposed adopting a “neutral status,” along the lines of Austria or Sweden, that is a country that is not part of NATO but has its own military and close ties to the West, including European Union membership.
There has been no official confirmation from Ukraine, though President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said in recent days that Ukraine understands it will not be allowed to join NATO.
“The preservation and development of the neutral status of Ukraine, its demilitarization Ukraine — a whole complex of questions connected with the size of the Ukrainian army,” Russia’s negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, was quoted as saying by Russian media. “Ukraine proposes the Austrian, Swedish option of a neutral demilitarised state, but within that a state possessing its own army and navy. All these questions are being discussed at the level of the leaderships of the ministry of defense of Russia and Ukraine.”
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, claimed on Wednesday that the negotiators in the fourth round of talks were discussing “concrete formulations” that are “close to agreement.”
An agreement that Ukraine wouldn’t seek to join NATO raises questions. Ukraine’s constitution includes a pledge to join the alliance that would likely need to be changed, which would be highly controversial.
If the Sweden-style status is acceptable to Russia that would also mean the Kremlin has significantly lowered its war aims. Ukraine was not close to joining NATO before the conflict and a commitment not to would be little more than affirming the status quo before Russia’s invasion.
“The goal pursued by Russia at these negotiations is exactly the same as the goal set by Russia at the very beginning of the special military operation,” Medinsky said. “We need a peaceful, free and independent Ukraine, a neutral one, not a member of some military blocs or a member of NATO, but a country that would be our friend and neighbor, so that we could jointly develop relations and build our future and that would not serve as a bridgehead for a military and economic attack on our country. So, our goal is unchanged.”
This is why “practically every digit or letter in the agreements” is being thoroughly discussed with the Ukrainian side, Medinsky said.
“We want this agreement to last for generations, so that our children live in peace, the foundation of which is laid by this negotiating process,” he said.
Russia is also pursuing other demands in the talks, including the recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and the Russian-controlled separatist regions as independent. They also want changes in laws giving more guarantees for Russian-speakers in Ukraine.
Mar 16, 6:34 am
Russian forces ‘struggling’ with terrain: UK military
Russia’s military forces are “struggling to overcome” Ukraine’s terrain as they attempt to push further into the country, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.
“Russian forces have remained largely tied to Ukraine’s road network and have demonstrated a reluctance to conduct off-road manoeuvre,” the Ministry said in an update. “The destruction of bridges by Ukrainian forces has also played a key role in stalling Russia’s advance.”
Ukraine’s military has “adeptly exploited” Russia’s difficulty moving through the country, “frustrating the Russian advance and inflicting heavy losses on the invading forces,” the update said.
(LONDON) — Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, dual British-Iranian nationals detained in Iran for years, have been freed and are on a plane headed to the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
Tulip Siddiq, Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s lawmaker in the U.K., tweeted a photo of the freed woman from her flight.
“I am very pleased to confirm that the unfair detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori in Iran has ended today, and they will now return to the U.K.,” Johnson tweeted on Wednesday. “The U.K. has worked intensively to secure their release and I am delighted they will be reunited with their families and loved ones.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s long spell in detention began when she was arrested on charges of espionage in April 2016 on a visit to see family in the country.
Her detention drew international condemnation, and her husband, Richard, led the calls back home for her release, going as far as a hunger strike outside the U.K. Parliament in October of last year to compel the government to do more.
Ashoori was arrested in August 2017 when he was visiting his mother in Tehran. He said he was arrested by plain clothes intelligence agents on a street near his mother’s home, according to Amnesty International. He was then forced into their car and was driven, blindfolded, to an unknown location, the group said.
For years, Islamic Republic officials denied they were keeping Zaghari and Ashoori as bargaining chips to compel the U.K. to unfreeze millions of dollars linked to a decades-long debt, saying the judicial power is independent and the two issues should not be connected.
Families of Zaghari and Ashoori, however, had urged British officials to pay Iran’s debt.
Fars News confirmed that $520 million of Iran’s blocked assets were transferred to Iran’s account before the pair was released, although U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the debt had been settled in a way that complies with international sanctions, with the funds released restricted to humanitarian uses.
Another British national, Morad Tahbaz, has been released from prison on furlough, Truss said, and the U.K. government will continue to work to secure his departure from the country.
Zaghari and Ashoori will be reunited with their loved ones later this evening, she said.
(NEW YORK) — A strong earthquake struck off the coast of Japan late Wednesday, triggering a tsunami threat and leaving more than 2 million households without electricity, officials said.
Preliminary reports put it at a 7.3 magnitude. The earthquake occurred just off the coast from Fukushima.
At least 88 people were injured in multiple prefectures of Japan, and one death was reported by officials in Soma City in the Fukushima Prefecture, according to Japan’s NHK World news service.
A tsunami threat was issued for the east coast of Honshu, Japan, by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center based on preliminary earthquake parameters. The center warned of possible hazardous tsunami waves for coastal communities within 186 miles of the epicenter.
A tsunami is not expected in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia or Alaska, according to the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center.
Japan’s NHK World news service initially reported that the Tokyo area was under large power outages with more than 2 million households currently without power. By 3 a.m. local time, power had been restored to “most” of the Tokyo area, NHK reported.
As a result of the earthquake, one of Japan’s Tohoku Shinkansen high-speed rail-line trains derailed with 100 passengers on board, according to the Kyodo News agency. No injuries were reported, the agency said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake struck around 11:36 p.m. local time and its epicenter was pinpointed about 20.5 miles below the sea.
In 2011, a strong earthquake struck in the same general area causing a tsunami and causing a nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Japan’s nuclear regulator reported Wednesday that preliminary information indicates no abnormalities at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
(NEW YORK) — The mayor of an occupied Ukrainian city allegedly kidnapped by Russian forces last week has been freed, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.
Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov was freed from captivity in a “special operation,” according to Kirilo Timoshenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s presidential office. Timoshenko did not provide any further details.
Melitopol has been occupied since the first days of Russia’s invasion. Ukrainian officials said Fedorov, who had insisted that the southeastern Ukrainian city remain free and backed daily pro-Ukrainian protests, was kidnapped on March 11 after resisting takeover.
Fedorov disappeared after he was purportedly shown being led away with a bag over his head by a large group of heavily armed Russian soldiers in Melitopol’s Victory Square in a CCTV video shared by Timoshenko on Telegram. Russian-controlled separatists then announced they were bringing charges against Fedorov for “aiding terrorism.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video of himself on Telegram Wednesday reportedly talking on the phone with Fedorov. The mayor thanked Zelenskyy and said he needed a couple of days to recover from his ordeal and then would be ready to fulfill any orders.
A smiling Zelenskyy said he was very glad to speak with Fedorov and that “we don’t leave ours behind.”
The president had demanded the release of Fedorov in several video messages, calling it a “crime against democracy.”
“The actions of the Russian invaders will be equated with the actions of ISIS terrorists,” he said last week.
Following the alleged kidnapping, a pro-Russian administration appeared to have been installed in Melitopol. A local lawmaker from a pro-Russian party made a television address Saturday, during which she said a “committee of the chosen” is now taking over the running of the city. The lawmaker, Galina Danilchenko, called protesters “extremists” and urged people not to allow activists to “destabilize” the situation.
Russian riot police were also deployed in Melitopol to block protests there.
Russian forces allegedly kidnapped another mayor in an occupied city in the region. Dniprorudne Mayor Yevgeny Matveyev was kidnapped on Sunday, according to Oleksandr Starukh, head of the regional military administration.
Russian invaders continue to abduct democratically elected local leaders in Ukraine. Mayor of Skadovsk Oleksandr Yakovlyev and his deputy Yurii Palyukh abducted today. States & international organizations must demand Russia to immediately release all abducted Ukrainian officials! pic.twitter.com/bmaAuurx9h
Earlier on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials claimed a third southern Ukrainian mayor — Oleksandr Yakovlyev of Skadovsk — and his deputy Yurii Palyukh were “abducted” by Russian forces.
“Russian invaders continue to abduct democratically elected local leaders in Ukraine,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, said on Twitter. “States & international organizations must demand Russia to immediately release all abducted Ukrainian officials!”
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time this week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 17, 6:59 am
Russia ‘stalled on all fronts,’ UK military says
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “largely stalled on all fronts,” the UK Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.
“Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or are in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses,” the Ministry said in an update posted to Twitter.
The Ukrainian resistance “remains staunch and well-coordinated,” the update said.
“The vast majority of Ukrainian territory, including all major cities, remain in Ukrainian hands,” the Ministry said.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 17 March 2022
Mar 16, 9:00 pm
Theater sheltering civilians hit by Russian airstrikes, Ukrainian official says
A Ukrainian official claimed Wednesday that Russian airstrikes destroyed a theater in the besieged city of Mariupol where civilians were taking shelter.
The number of victims from the bombing of the Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama “is impossible to count,” Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk Region administration, said in a Facebook post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during an address tonight that hundreds of people were hiding in the theater and that the death toll is still unknown.
“Russia is killing civilians!” Kyrylenko said, adding that it is also “impossible to determine” the number of victims in Mariupol since the start of the invasion.
The city has been burying its dead in a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol as it endures heavy shelling.
Leonid Faerberg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Russia and the United States have both used thermobaric weapons in previous conflicts and have been in a decades-long race to refine the artillery, but Russia’s alleged deployment of the so-called “vacuum bomb” on Ukrainian forces has prompted widespread backlash and fears that it will be used on civilians.
Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, was the first to publicly accuse Russia of launching a thermobaric weapon on Ukrainian forces, killing 70 soldiers.
A senior U.S. Department of Defense official said the United States has yet to corroborate Markarova’s accusations. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense claimed the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed its forces’ use of the weapon in Ukraine but did not provide details on when and where that occurred, or say how it verified the information.
“The Russian MoD has confirmed the use of the TOS-1A weapon system in Ukraine. The TOS-1A uses thermobaric rockets, creating incendiary and blast effects,” the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense said in a tweet that was accompanied by a video explaining the weapon’s devastating capabilities.
“We have seen the reports. If that were true, it would potentially be a war crime,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a Feb. 28 press briefing.
While no evidence has publicly surfaced that Russia has used thermobaric weapons on civilians in Ukraine, Russia has been accused by Ukrainian officials of using other weapons to attack civilians, including at a maternity hospital in the city of Mariupol in southeast Ukraine. Russian forces were also accused by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of bombing a dormitory building in the northern Ukraine city of Zhytomyr.
The Biden administration publicly warned Wednesday that as Russia continues to meet stiff resistance in Ukraine, the Kremlin might seek to up the ante and use chemical or biological weapons.
What is a thermobaric weapon?
Thermobaric weapons pack a devastating one-two punch, according to experts. First, a detonation unleashes a foreboding vaporized cloud of fuel that can penetrate small crevices and even underground bunkers before a second ignition charge creates a very hot mid-air blast that depletes the surrounding air of oxygen, thus the nickname “vacuum bomb.”
Russia deployed the weapon in Chechnya in the 1990s and over the past decade in Syria. The United States used the weapon in Vietnam in the 1960s and most recently in Afghanistan in 2017.
“It’s a particularly nasty weapon. It’s a terrible way to die. It has a really broad effect and is probably most useful against hardened facilities,” John Tierney, executive director at the Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation in Washington, D.C., told ABC News.
Tierney, a former Massachusetts congressman who served on the House Intelligence Committee, said that if Russia ever uses a thermobaric weapon in a Ukrainian city, “It’s going to be hard to miss civilians with it,” explaining the explosive vaporous fuel cloud settles on everything, including people.
Tierney said the purported use of the bomb by Russia could be a sign of how desperate Russian President Vladimir Putin is to break the will of the Ukrainian people.
“You can’t say what’s going on in his mind, but it would seem to indicate that he’s getting a little desperate, that things aren’t going the way he planned,” Tierney said.
The United States and Russia have reportedly been in a race to perfect the thermobaric weapon, billed as a substitute to nuclear weapons.
Tierney said Russia’s largest thermobaric weapon, tested in 2007, is believed to have packed the equivalent of 44 tons of TNT. By comparison, U.S. strategic nuclear weapons yield the equivalent of 50,000 tons to 1.2 megatons of TNT.
The destruction radius of a thermobaric explosion is estimated to be about 1,000-feet-wide but can have a blast area of up to 6,500 feet, according to a 2018 report from the U.S. Army War College.
In 2017, the Pentagon announced U.S. forces targeting an ISIS cave complex in eastern Afghanistan used a 22,000-pound thermobaric bomb nicknamed “the mother of all bombs.” Formally known as the GBU-43, or massive ordnance air blast (MOAB) bomb, it was developed in 2003.
“Accurate casualty totals were impossible to calculate because any living thing close to the blast area was vaporized,” a U.S. Army War College report said in describing the 2017 MOAB bomb drop in Afghanistan.
(NEW YORK) — As attacks from Russia continue to escalate in Ukraine, one concrete bunker has become a nursery of sorts filled with nearly two dozen babies.
The babies, most of them newborns, were born to surrogate mothers in Ukraine, and now are unable to be reunited with their parents, who live in countries around the world.
They are being cared for by nurses and caregivers who have stayed behind to care for them.
Together, they shelter in a basement of a building owned by BioTexCom, a fertility clinic, in Kyiv.
More than 4,300 babies have been born in Ukraine since the conflict with Russia began, according to a March 6 Facebook post from Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice.
While some parents were able to evacuate their babies from Ukraine, many, including the babies in the shelter in Kyiv, remain in place as the attacks from Russia continue.
In recent years, Ukraine has become a popular location for foreign parents who want to hire a surrogate to carry their baby.
It is one of the few countries in the world where commercial surrogacy is allowed, according to Erica Horton, president and partner of Growing Generations, a United States-based surrogacy and egg donation agency.
Because of its lower cost of living and lower cost of medical care, Ukraine is also one of the most cost-effective surrogacy options in the world, Horton told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
“Surrogacy in the United States at a minimum is probably going to cost someone between $100,000 and $150,000, and in Ukraine, from what I know, you’re looking at maybe $50,000 to $60,000,” she said. “That’s a pretty big difference even if you factor in the cost of travel.”
Horton said that as someone who works in the surrogacy industry, it is “heartbreaking” to see babies left behind and parents unable to get their children.
“We work with people every day who are going through this process, and it’s already scary enough to trust another person to do one of the most important things in your life,” she said. “Then to have something like this layered on top of that is devastating for the parents who care about their child and who, undoubtedly, care about the woman who put her hand up to help them have their child. It’s very difficult to witness.”
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