(NEW YORK) — A Fox News correspondent was injured in Ukraine, a day after the death of a freelance journalist also covering the Russia invasion.
Fox News State Department correspondent Benjamin Hall was injured while newsgathering near Kyiv on Monday, according to Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media.
The circumstances were not immediately clear but Hall was hospitalized, according to Scott, who asked to “please keep Ben and his family in your prayers.” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby also confirmed he was injured.
Shaun Tandon, president of the State Department Correspondents’ Association, said in a statement, “We know Ben for his warmth, good humor and utmost professionalism. We wish Ben a quick recovery and call for utmost efforts to protect journalists who are providing an invaluable service through their coverage in Ukraine.”
Hall’s injury follows the Sunday death of freelance journalist Brent Renaud, which was confirmed by the U.S. State Department. Renaud was in Ukraine to cover the global refugee crisis for a documentary with Sugar23, Time Studios and Day Zero Productions, according to Sugar23.
“As an award-winning filmmaker and journalist, Brent tackled the toughest stories around the world often alongside his brother Craig Renaud,” Time editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal and president and COO of Time and Time Studios Ian Orefice said in a statement. “In recent weeks, Brent was in the region working on a TIME Studios project focused on the global refugee crisis. Our hearts are with all of Brent’s loved ones.”
Photojournalist Juan Arredondo said he was with Renaud when he was killed.
In a video from a hospital bed, Arredondo said, “We crossed the first bridge in Irpin; we were going to film other refugees leaving and we got to a car, somebody offered to take us to the other bridge and we crossed a checkpoint and they started shooting at us. So, the driver turned around and they kept shooting. It’s two of us, my friend is Brent Renaud, and he’s been shot and left behind.”
“This kind of attack is totally unacceptable, and is a violation of international law,” Carlos Martínez de la Serna, program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. “Russian forces in Ukraine must stop all violence against journalists and other civilians at once.”
“Two examples of the dangers in covering war,” Kirby, of the Pentagon, said of Hall and Renaud during a Monday press briefing. “This is a war that didn’t need to be fought, to be sure. But just as to be sure, there are journalists from around the world on the ground trying to discover the truth and to show that truth and to tell these important stories.”
ABC News’ Christine Theodorou and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(HONG KONG) — China is facing its worst COVID crisis since early 2020, when the world first witnessed an entire population locked down to contain the coronavirus in Wuhan and its surrounding province.
Two years on, it’s now sending tens of millions of people into lockdown in the entire northeastern province of Jilin, where 24 million people live, and the southern cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan, with 17.5 million and 10 million, respectively.
China, the last major country to relentlessly pursue a Covid-zero policy, reported 1,437 cases across dozens of cities on Monday. That’s a fourfold jump in a week.
Although record case numbers are testing the resilience of China’s no-tolerance approach, there is no sign the country is willing to pivot to ‘living with the virus.”
The epicenter of the omicron variant outbreak is the Northeastern Jilin province, where 895 cases were recorded, but there are also outbreaks and containment measures in place Shanghai, the financial powerhouse, and Shenzhen, the southern tech hub.
Authorities announced on Monday afternoon that all 24 million people in Jilin province would go into lockdown, including the previously locked down city of Changchun. It’s the first provincial lockdown since Wuhan and Hubei in January 2020.
On Sunday, China ordered all of Shenzhen’s 17.5 million residents into a seven-day lockdown, with three rounds of testing. All public transport is halted and all businesses, except essential services, will be closed until March 20.
As a result, Apple supplier Foxconn has shut two of its plants in the area and relocated production elsewhere.
The lockdown and outbreaks threaten manufacturing and tech production in Shenzhen, known as China’s Silicon Valley. It’s home to Huawei and Tencent, and is home to one of the country’s key ports.
Professor Heiwai Tang at Hong Kong University told ABC News that he doesn’t expect these week-long lockdowns to have a significant impact on the country’s gross domestic product.
“It seems the lockdowns will be shorter this time with more tracking, which means a short disruption of work and production,” Tang said. “If it ends up lasting for weeks it’s another issue, including inflation risks.”
Professor Michael Song from Hong Kong’s Chinese University estimated that the two-month lockdown in Wuhan cost China 2% of its GDP.
There’s immense pressure on local authorities to contain the virus, with state media reporting that the Jilin City mayor and the head of the Changchun city health commission were dismissed from their roles over the weekend.
Shanghai-based virologist Zhang Wenhong called the flare-up “the most difficult moment in the past two years” of China’s efforts to stamp out the virus. Shanghai has so far avoided a full-scale lockdown.
Across the border from Shenzhen, neighboring Hong Kong is also still tackling its deadliest wave yet, driven by Omicron. Hong Kong recorded 26,908 cases and 286 more deaths on Monday, officials said. Hong Kong’s death rate is the highest in the developed world, in part because of sluggish vaccination rates among the elderly.
Mega isolation facilities are being built across the Hong Kong for people with mild cases. One facility, with 3,900 beds, was built in a week. ABC News witnessed several busloads of people arriving at the facility from all over the city.
Self-titled “Asia’s world city,” Hong Kong is undergoing strict social-distancing measures and still has strict border measures in place, leading to an expat exodus. Many businesses are closed until late April.
The mental-health strain of the strict lockdown has also becoming apparent. Last month, police reported three suicide attempts in 27 hours at one of the quarantine camps.
(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, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.
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 14, 12:45 pm
Pfizer still delivering medicine to Russia but donating profits to Ukraine
Pfizer said it won’t stop delivering medicine to Russia, but will donate all profits from Russia to humanitarian support for Ukraine.
Pfizer also said it won’t hold new trials in Russia and will stop recruiting new patients for its ongoing trials in the country.
Additionally, Pfizer said it “will cease all planned investments with local suppliers intended to build manufacturing capacity in the country.”
Mar 14, 12:05 pm
At least 636 civilians killed in Ukraine
At least 636 civilians have been killed and another 1,125 injured in Ukraine since the attack began last month, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
These numbers are the verified deaths and injuries; actual death and injury figures are expected to be much higher, the OHCHR said.
Most of the casualties were due to explosive weapons impacting a wide area, including shelling, missiles and air strikes, the OHCHR said.
Mar 14, 10:20 am
Fourth round of Ukraine-Russia talks paused until Tuesday
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has tweeted that Ukraine and Russia are taking a “technical pause” in negotiations until Tuesday.
While the first three rounds of talks were held in Belarus, this fourth round is being held remotely.
“Negotiations continue,” Podolyak tweeted.
Mar 14, 10:04 am
Zelenskyy to address Congress virtually on Wednesday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address U.S. lawmakers virtually at 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to a letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Only members of Congress will be allowed in the auditorium where Zelenskyy’s remarks will be broadcast, but the event will be livestreamed.
“The Congress remains unwavering in our commitment to supporting Ukraine as they face Putin’s cruel and diabolical aggression, and to passing legislation to cripple and isolate the Russian economy as well as deliver humanitarian, security and economic assistance to Ukraine,” the letter said. “We look forward to the privilege of welcoming President Zelenskyy’s address to the House and Senate and to convey our support to the people of Ukraine as they bravely defend democracy.”
Mar 14, 6:47 am
More than 2.8 million have fled Ukraine: UN
More than 2.8 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded, the U.N. Refugee Agency said on Monday.
Monday’s update said more than 1.72 million people have crossed the border into Poland, but didn’t include updated figures for crossings into all the other countries that border Ukraine.
Rafal Trzaskowski, mayor of Warsaw, Poland, told The Telegraph on Saturday that his city’s ability to absorb refugees fleeing the Ukraine war was “at an end” and that the city would be overwhelmed unless an international relocation system was created.
“We are doing all we can but we cannot rely on improvisation anymore,” Trzaskowski told the newspaper. “We coordinate our work with other mayors in Poland and in Europe, and through this we send buses of refugees to other cities. But we are doing this on our own. We need a European relocation system which will organise it because it is a huge logistical enterprise. We can’t improvise anymore.”
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
Mar 14, 6:12 am
Russian attacks will increase, may strike Lviv: US official
Russian attacks on Ukraine will increase, with the western city of Lviv among potential targets, a senior U.S. official told ABC News.
Russian officials are convinced the city is being used to stage military operations and that some high ranking people are present. Russia may target the city, since “they want to create more terror,” an official said.
Russians have warned that anyone who supplies weapons to Ukraine, or offers safe haven, could be targeted.
After Sunday’s attack near the Polish border, concern is growing over a possible strike in Poland, an official said. There are several areas in Poland where weapons are currently being staged or stored.
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz
Mar 14, 5:51 am
Ukraine, Russia to begin 4th round of talks
A fourth round of talks between Russia and Ukraine are due to begin on Monday, following optimistic comments from both sides over the weekend that they are moving towards a compromise.
Both sides have confirmed the latest round of the talks will take place today — the previous three rounds were held in Belarus, but these will take place remotely.
On Sunday, one of Russia’s negotiators, an MP Leonid Slutsky told Russian media that he believed “substantial progress” had been made and that he believed that progress could even “grow into a unified position” in documents for signing in the next few days.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, in interviews and videos posted on Twitter on Sunday also said that Russia “looks at the situation far more properly” and has stopped throwing out “ultimatums.”
Podolyak told the Russian newspaper Kommersant the sides were discussing concrete proposals and that the key issue was “security guarantees” for both Russia and Ukraine. He said the sides were discussing a cease-fire, as well as compensation to Ukraine’s infrastructure destroyed during the war. But he did say that “some time is still needed” for Russia to understand the reality of its situation.
The comments have raised hopes Russia may be lowering its war aims as a result of the fierce Ukrainian resistance and tough response from Western countries.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told Fox News on Sunday that the U.S. also sees Russia is showing signs of a “willingness to have real, serious negotiations.”
But is unclear where the compromise might be found.
Last week, Russia was insisting that Ukraine change is constitution to guarantee it will not join NATO or the European Union. Ukraine had signalled that was not possible but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hinted there might be some negotiating space around NATO, which he has acknowledged Ukraine is not close to joining.
In a video posted to Twitter Monday morning before the start of the talks, Podolyak said Ukraine’s positions were “unchanged”: it was demanding an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian troops. He said only after that could any political settlements be discussed.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 13, 9:41 pm
Russia asks China for military support, US official says
Russia has asked China for military support and other aid in the time since it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, a senior U.S. official told ABC News.
China and Russia recently strengthened their partnership, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has stood by Russian President Vladimir Putin as he’s bombarded Ukraine.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden’s top national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said during an interview with CNN that the U.S. was “watching closely to see the extent to which China actually does provide any form of support, material support or economic support, to Russia.”
“It is a concern of ours,” Sullivan said, adding that the U.S. has communicated to Beijing that it will “not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions.”
Sullivan is planning to meet a top Chinese official in Rome on Monday.
The Financial Times, The Washington Post and The New York Times first reported on this development.
(NEW YORK) — A pregnant woman and her unborn child who were evacuated from a bombed children’s hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol, Ukraine, has died, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She was captured in a photo taken by an Associated Press photographer after a Russian airstrike destroyed the hospital. She was carried out from the rubble of the hospital on a stretcher.
In the now internationally known photo, the woman can be seen covered in dust, holding her lower abdomen as she was carried through the wreckage.
She died after medics at a nearby hospital attempted to save her and her baby’s life.
Another pregnant woman evacuated from the wreckage, Marianna Podgurskaya, gave birth to a girl Sunday, Voice of America reporter Asya Dolina said.
Ukrainian officials said the attack initially killed at least three people, including a child, and wounded at least 17 people. Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov said that at least 1,207 people have died in the city because of shelling and aerial attacks since the Russian invasion began.
Half of those killed were ethnic Russians. Among the casualties was a child who died from dehydration, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy had posted a video on social media last Wednesday, which he said showed the heavily damaged children’s hospital and maternity ward in the southeastern Ukrainian port city.
“Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital,” he said, calling on the international community again to impose a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine. “People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror?”
The city has been burying its dead in a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol as it endures heavy shelling, officials said.
(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, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.
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 14, 6:47 am
More than 2.8 million have fled Ukraine: UN
More than 2.8 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded, the U.N. Refugee Agency said on Monday.
Monday’s update said more than 1.72 million people have crossed the border into Poland, but didn’t include updated figures for crossings into all the other countries that border Ukraine.
Rafal Trzaskowski, mayor of Warsaw, Poland, told The Telegraph on Saturday that his city’s ability to absorb refugees fleeing the Ukraine war was “at an end” and that the city would be overwhelmed unless an international relocation system was created.
“We are doing all we can but we cannot rely on improvisation anymore,” Trzaskowski told the newspaper. “We coordinate our work with other mayors in Poland and in Europe, and through this we send buses of refugees to other cities. But we are doing this on our own. We need a European relocation system which will organise it because it is a huge logistical enterprise. We can’t improvise anymore.”
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
Mar 14, 6:12 am
Russian attacks will increase, may strike Lviv: US official
Russian attacks on Ukraine will increase, with the western city of Lviv among potential targets, a senior U.S. official told ABC News.
Russian officials are convinced the city is being used to stage military operations and that some high ranking people are present. Russia may target the city, since “they want to create more terror,” an official said.
Russians have warned that anyone who supplies weapons to Ukraine, or offers safe haven, could be targeted.
After Sunday’s attack near the Polish border, concern is growing over a possible strike in Poland, an official said. There are several areas in Poland where weapons are currently being staged or stored.
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz
Mar 14, 5:51 am
Ukraine, Russia to begin 4th round of talks
A fourth round of talks between Russia and Ukraine are due to begin on Monday, following optimistic comments from both sides over the weekend that they are moving towards a compromise.
Both sides have confirmed the latest round of the talks will take place today — the previous three rounds were held in Belarus, but these will take place remotely.
On Sunday, one of Russia’s negotiators, an MP Leonid Slutsky told Russian media that he believed “substantial progress” had been made and that he believed that progress could even “grow into a unified position” in documents for signing in the next few days.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, in interviews and videos posted on Twitter on Sunday also said that Russia “looks at the situation far more properly” and has stopped throwing out “ultimatums.”
Podolyak told the Russian newspaper Kommersant the sides were discussing concrete proposals and that the key issue was “security guarantees” for both Russia and Ukraine. He said the sides were discussing a cease-fire, as well as compensation to Ukraine’s infrastructure destroyed during the war. But he did say that “some time is still needed” for Russia to understand the reality of its situation.
The comments have raised hopes Russia may be lowering its war aims as a result of the fierce Ukrainian resistance and tough response from Western countries.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told Fox News on Sunday that the U.S. also sees Russia is showing signs of a “willingness to have real, serious negotiations.”
But is unclear where the compromise might be found.
Last week, Russia was insisting that Ukraine change is constitution to guarantee it will not join NATO or the European Union. Ukraine had signalled that was not possible but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hinted there might be some negotiating space around NATO, which he has acknowledged Ukraine is not close to joining.
In a video posted to Twitter Monday morning before the start of the talks, Podolyak said Ukraine’s positions were “unchanged”: it was demanding an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian troops. He said only after that could any political settlements be discussed.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 13, 9:41 pm
Russia asks China for military support, US official says
Russia has asked China for military support and other aid in the time since it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, a senior U.S. official told ABC News.
China and Russia recently strengthened their partnership, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has stood by Russian President Vladimir Putin as he’s bombarded Ukraine.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden’s top national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said during an interview with CNN that the U.S. was “watching closely to see the extent to which China actually does provide any form of support, material support or economic support, to Russia.”
“It is a concern of ours,” Sullivan said, adding that the U.S. has communicated to Beijing that it will “not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions.”
Sullivan is planning to meet a top Chinese official in Rome on Monday.
The Financial Times, The Washington Post and The New York Times first reported on this development.
(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, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.
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 13, 2:50 pm
Oligarchs’ homes could be used to house refugees: UK minister
British officials are exploring whether they can use the homes of sanctioned Russian oligarchs to house refugees from the war in Ukraine, a top United Kingdom minister told the BBC.
Michael Gove, the British secretary of state for housing, said he wants to explore options for using oligarchs’ homes in Great Britain to shelter the millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine “for as long as they are sanctioned.”
“There’s quite a high legal bar to cross and we’re not talking about permanent confiscation. But we are saying, ‘You’re sanctioned, you’re supporting Putin, this home is here, you have no right to use or profit from it,” Grove said. “If we can use it in order to help others, let’s do that.”
Mar 13, 2:17 pm
WHO verifies 31 attacks on health care in Ukraine
At least 31 Russian attacks have been against Ukraine health care facilities, medical staff and ambulances, according to a joint statement Sunday from the World Health Organization, the United Nations and UNICEF.
“Today, we call for an immediate cessation of all attacks on health care in Ukraine. These horrific attacks are killing and causing serious injuries to patients and health workers, destroying vital health infrastructure and forcing thousands to forgo accessing health services despite catastrophic needs,” the statement reads.
WHO’s surveillance system for the attacks verified that at least 24 health care facilities have been damaged or destroyed. WHO said it has also verified that five ambulances have been destroyed in attacks.
The attacks on health care targets have caused at least 12 deaths and 34 injuries since the Russian invasion began, according to the statement.
Oxygen and other medical supplies, including those used for the management of pregnancy complications, “are running dangerously low,” the statement said.
“For example, more than 4,300 births have occurred in Ukraine since the start of the war and 80,000 Ukrainian women are expected to give birth in the next three months,” the organizations said.
Mar 13, 1:10 pm
US and China to hold 1st in-person talks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan is scheduled to meet with Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi in Rome on Monday, the first in-person, high-level talks between the two countries since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, an NSA spokesperson said on Sunday.
The Biden administration has been urging Beijing to use its influence with Moscow to condemn its war.
“The two sides will discuss ongoing efforts to manage the competition between our two countries and discuss the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on regional and global security,” NSA spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement.
Luigi Mattiolo, diplomatic adviser to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and Sullivan are also scheduled to meet in Rome “to continue coordinating a strong, united international response to President Putin’s war of choice,” Horne said.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Mar 13, 12:38 pm
Zelenskyy claims nearly 13,000 Russian soldiers have been killed
Almost 13,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
In a short self-shot video address, Zelenskyy also said Russia had lost 1,000 military vehicles, 74 fighter jets and 86 helicopters. It was not immediately possible for ABC News to verify the figures.
Zelenskyy added that a convoy of humanitarian aid was about 50 miles away from the besieged city of Mariupol in southeast Ukraine. He accused the Russians of blocking Orthodox priests who were accompanying the aid, which he said contains “100 tons of the most necessary things that Ukraine sent to its citizens.”
“We have already evacuated almost 125,000 people to the safe territory through humanitarian corridors,” said Zelenskyy of the situation in Mariupol.
The Mariupol City Council claimed Sunday that 2,187 civilians in the city have been killed since the invasion started on Feb. 24 and that Russia had dropped 100 bombs on Mariupol.
The latest information from the United Nations Human Rights Council shows that 579 civilians have been confirmed killed in Ukraine since the start of the invasion and another 1,002 have been injured.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 13, 12:04 pm
Pope calls for an end to ‘massacre’ in Ukraine
Pope Francis issued a strong condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during his Sunday Mass, describing Russian strikes on children’s hospitals and civilians as barbaric.
“In the name of God, I ask, stop this massacre,” the pope said, calling the Russian invasion an “unacceptable armed aggression.”
Speaking at the Vatican, Pope Francis added, “God is the God only of peace, not of war, and those who support violence profane his name.”
Mar 13, 12:21 pm
American journalist killed in Ukraine
An American journalist has been killed in Ukraine, The New York Times confirmed Sunday.
Brent Renaud, a photographer and filmmaker, had worked as a contributor for the newspaper but was not on assignment for The Times when he was killed, according to a statement from the news outlet.
“We are saddened to hear of Brent Renaud’s death. Brent was a talented filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years,” the newspaper said in its statement posted on Twitter. “Though he had contributed to The Times in the past (most recently in 2015), he was not on assignment for any desk at The Times in Ukraine. Early reports that he worked for (The) Times circulated because he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago.”
Kyiv’s police chief later confirmed Renaud’s death in a Facebook post.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS News that he had just learned of Renaud’s death Sunday morning and described it as “obviously shocking and horrifying.”
“I will be consulting with my colleagues. We’ll be consulting with the Ukrainians to determine how this happened and then to measure and execute appropriate consequences as a result of it,” Sullivan said. “I will just say that this is part and parcel of what has been a brazen aggression on the part of the Russians where they have targeted civilians, they have targeted hospitals, they have targeted places of worship and they have targeted journalists.”
-ABC News’ Matt Foster
Mar 13, 10:28 am
Cease-fire talks make ‘substantial progress’: Russian negotiator
One of Russia’s negotiators in cease-fire talks with Ukraine said he believes “substantial progress” has been made and that the two sides might reach a “unified position” in the near future, the Russian state news agency TASS reported Sunday.
Leonid Slutsky, a senior Russian lawmaker who has taken part in the talks, was quoted by TASS as saying, “The progress in the talks between Russia and Ukraine in the near future can grow into a unified position of both delegations.”
The two sides have held three rounds of face-to-face talks in Belarus and have been talking by video conference in recent days.
Russia has suggested its conditions for ending the war would require Ukraine to change its constitution to guarantee it will never join a political bloc, specifically NATO or the European Union, as well as recognizing Crimea as part of Russia and the two Russian-controlled separatist areas in the Donbas region of in eastern Ukraine as independent.
Ukraine previously said Russia continues to demand its surrender.
Ukraine’s lead negotiator and presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also issued a hopeful statement Sunday, saying the two sides are moving toward compromises and that they are now discussing concrete points. Podolyak told the independent Russian newspaper Kommersant that Russia is looking at the situation “far more properly.”
“They have started to talk about something and not just throw out ultimatums,” Podolyak told the newspaper. But he said more time was needed for Russia to fully understand the reality of its situation and the need to further compromise on its demands.
According to Kommersant, Podolyak said working groups are developing the legal aspects of documents the two sides might eventually be able to sign. For now, both have agreed to keep the proposals confidential until they have an agreement, he said.
He said the negotiations have focused on conditions for a cease-fire and peace agreement, how to compensate Ukraine for the damage to its infrastructure and the process of withdrawing Russian troops. Notably, he said the key point of a peace agreement is the issue of “security guarantees” for both Russia and Ukraine.
“We have all the proposals, which one way or the other protect these interests, get Ukraine out from under attack from the point of view that similar situation won’t be repeated, get Ukraine to some kind of compensatory things in the right sense. And I emphasize again — the Russian side already looks at [the situation] far more properly. But some time must pass still so they understood 100% the situation in which very much Russia, not Ukraine, has fallen,” Podolyak said.
Podolyak said he hopes a fourth round of talks will be held in person.
Mar 13, 6:43 am
Russian strike kills 35 at military facility near Polish border
A Russian airstrike killed 35 people early Sunday morning at a military facility in western Ukraine, miles from the Polish border.
The Lviv Regional Military Administration said at least eight Russian rockets struck a training facility near Yavoriv, a town about 35 miles west of Lviv and 10 miles from the Polish border. The attack could be heard from Lviv.
Thirty-five people were killed and 134 were wounded, according to Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the regional military administration. It was unclear whether civilians were among the injured.
“Today the Lviv region was hit by missiles, preliminary by jets, stationed in Saratov, Russia, not flying into Ukrainian territory,” Kozytskyi said. “Preliminary more than 30 missiles were launched. Anti-missile defense worked, some amount of missiles were shot down. The Yavoriv firing ground came under attack.”
Yavoriv sits along one of the main routes used to bring supplies into Ukraine from Poland, a pathway also used in recent weeks by refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.
The facility struck on Sunday is near the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, known as the base where for years NATO military instructors, including Americans, trained Ukrainian troops to fight against Russia in the east.
The administration said earlier on Sunday that nine people were killed and 57 were wounded.
The mayor of Ivano Frankivsk, a southwestern city, also confirmed a strike on the city’s airport early on Sunday. It’s the third such strike, official said.
-ABC News’ Kirit Radia, Julia Drozd, Patrick Reevell and Clark Bentson
Mar 12, 4:48 pm
13,000 Ukrainians evacuated on Saturday, Ukrainian official says
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk posted an update Saturday on the country’s evacuation progress.
About 13,000 Ukrainians were evacuated Saturday, which was half the number from Friday, she said.
Nine out of 14 humanitarian corridors were open Saturday, according to Vereshchuk.
About 8,000 refugees left Sumy, more than 3,000 left Konotop, 800 people were taken out of Gostomel and about a thousand people evacuated Nemeshaevo, Vereshchuk said.
About a thousand people were rescued from Bucha, including patients at a nursing home, she said.
However, Russia didn’t let a convoy through the checkpoint in Vasilyevka and as a result no one could evacuate from the Zaporіzhya region, Vereshchuk said.
A Ukrainian convoy also did not reach Mariupol, because it got stuck at a Russian checkpoint, according to Vereshchuk. The convoy will try to take people out from the locations Sunday, she said.
Mar 12, 3:46 pm
US senators to travel to Poland to meet with officials, visit refugee sites
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators announced Saturday that they are traveling to Poland to meet with Polish officials and visit refugee sites to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to Poland, Ukraine and other allies in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The group is made up of Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
The group was also expected to meet with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Poland on the trip this weekend.
“The Polish people continue their unwavering support for NATO after 23 years of fighting alongside the U.S. and our allies. This bipartisan delegation will send a clear message that the U.S. is thankful for their support of Ukraine and their offer of providing fighter jets, as the people of Ukraine continues to endure brutal Russian atrocities,” Portman said in a statement.
Echoing U.S. support for Ukraine, Blumenthal said, “As Putin continues his brutal, savage invasion, I’m traveling with a bipartisan group of Senators to the Ukrainian border in Poland to see first-hand the heartbreaking, exploding humanitarian crisis — and learn how America can magnify its military assistance to brave Ukrainian freedom fighters.”
Mar 12, 3:36 pm
US senators to travel to Poland to meet with officials, visit refugee sites
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators announced Saturday that they are traveling to Poland to meet with Polish officials and visit refugee sites to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to Poland, Ukraine and other allies in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The group is made up of Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
“The Polish people continue their unwavering support for NATO after 23 years of fighting alongside the U.S. and our allies. This bipartisan delegation will send a clear message that the U.S. is thankful for their support of Ukraine and their offer of providing fighter jets, as the people of Ukraine continues to endure brutal Russian atrocities,” Portman said in a statement.
Echoing U.S. support for Ukraine, Blumenthal said, “As Putin continues his brutal, savage invasion, I’m traveling with a bipartisan group of Senators to the Ukrainian border in Poland to see first-hand the heartbreaking, exploding humanitarian crisis — and learn how America can magnify its military assistance to brave Ukrainian freedom fighters.”
Mar 12, 3:17 pm
Biden authorizes $200 million in military assistance to Ukraine
President Joe Biden authorized $200 million in new military assistance to Ukraine, to come from existing U.S. weapons stocks, the White House said Saturday.
Biden authorized “the drawdown of up to an aggregate value of $200 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Ukraine and to make the determinations required under such section to direct such a drawdown,” the White House said in a press release.
Mar 12, 2:56 pm
NATO allies’ resolve ‘strengthened’ since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Harris says
Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday re-emphasized the U.S.’ commitment to defend NATO allies and said, “Our collective resolve has been strengthened” since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people in defense of the NATO alliance,” Harris said at the DNC Winter Meeting, hours after returning from her trip to Poland and Romania.
“Russia’s invasion threatens not just Ukraine’s democracy, it threatens democracy and security across Europe and by extension when democracy is threatened, anywhere, it threatens us all,” Harris said.
Harris recalled her meeting with the presidents of both nations and how she met with refugees from Ukraine, who she said “feel very alone.”
“I told them people around the world stand with them and they are not alone,” Harris said.
Mar 12, 2:24 pm
To take Kyiv, Russia will have ‘kill all residents,’ defiant Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters Saturday that Russia would have to carpet-bomb Kyiv and kill all its residents to be able to conquer the capital city.
“They will come here only if they kill us all,” Zelenskyy said. “If that is their goal, let them come.”
Mar 12, 11:49 am
Zelenskyy says Ukraine has lost 1,300 troops, claims Russia lost 12,000
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine lost 1,300 troops and claimed that Russia has lost 12,000 troops, to reporters Saturday.
“I can’t say that I’m happy about their losses because it’s not who I am. We’re talking about human lives here, and those soldiers were brought to the war as cannon fodder, brainwashed and confused,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also commented on the humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians, saying the most successful corridor has been out of Sumy where tens of thousands were evacuated.
“It’s a very difficult process and sometimes we have to invent unorthodox methods to facilitate that, because the Russians almost never observe cease-fire to allow evacuation of civilians,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also commented on discussions with Russia, saying he has been requesting direct talks at the highest level for over two years.
“At least we can see some progress now in that they also start to agree that dialogue is needed. But of course we would seek broader involvement of other world leaders, because in any talks about future firm security guarantees for Ukraine we will never trust only Moscow after such a bloody war it unleashed,” Zelenskyy said.
Mar 12, 11:14 am
Biden authorizes $200 million in military assistance to Ukraine
President Joe Biden authorized $200 million in new military assistance to Ukraine, to come from existing U.S. weapons stocks, the White House said Saturday.
Biden authorized “the drawdown of up to an aggregate value of $200 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Ukraine and to make the determinations required under such section to direct such a drawdown,” the White House said in a press release.
Mar 12, 10:13 am
Putin, Macron, Scholz discuss humanitarian situation in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron and Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin’s press service reported on Saturday.
The Kremlin claimed “numerous facts of gross violations of international humanitarian law by Ukrainian security forces were cited – extrajudicial killings of dissenters, taking hostages and using civilians as human shields, placing heavy weapons in residential areas, near hospitals, schools, kindergartens.”
The Kremlin also claimed, “nationalist battalions systematically disrupt rescue operations, intimidate civilians during evacuation attempts.”
Putin “urged” Macron and Scholz to “influence the Kiev authorities so that such criminal actions would be stopped,” according to a statement from the Kremlin.
The leaders spoke about the series of talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives in recent days. “It was agreed to continue contacts on Ukrainian issues,” the Kremlin said.
Mar 12, 9:19 am
Zelenskyy comments further on allegedly kidnapped mayor
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Saturday demanded the release of Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who Ukrainian officials allege was kidnapped by Russian forces.
“The city community is demanding his release. I am grateful to every Melitopol resident for this resistance,” Zelenskyy said in a message posted on Facebook.
The organizer of Ukrainian rallies in Melitopol, Olga Gaisumova was also captured and the city’s aid headquarters in the Shevchenko recreation center was seized by Russian soldiers, who cordoned off the building, local blogger and activist, Tatiana Kumok, told ABC News in an interview.
The occupiers told the civil defense in Melitopol that they are prohibited from going in the streets during the curfew, according to Kumok.
Zelenskyy claimed the Ukrainians have had tremendous success, dealing “biggest blow to the Russian army in decades.”
“We have had extraordinary success. How the entire Ukrainian people resisted these invaders has already gone down in history. But we have no right to reduce the intensity of defense, no matter how difficult it may be for us. We have no right to reduce the energy of our resistance,” Zelenskyy said.
Mar 11, 7:22 pm
Zelenskyy demands release of Melitopol mayor
In his latest address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded the release of a mayor reportedly kidnapped Friday by Russian forces.
“Today in Melitopol, the invaders captured mayor of the city, Ivan Fedorov — a mayor who courageously defends Ukraine and the people of his community,” Zelenskyy said. “Obviously, this is a sign of the weakness of the invaders.”
He called the alleged kidnapping a “crime against democracy” and said Russia’s actions “will be equated with the actions of ISIS terrorists.”
“Ukraine demands the immediate release of the mayor of Melitopol and guarantees of full security to all heads of communities across the country,” he said, adding that he planned to raise this in talks with “international mediators who communicate with Moscow.”
The southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol has been under Russian occupation since the first days of the invasion, though Fedorov had insisted it remained part of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy adviser Kirill Timoshenko posted a CCTV video Friday allegedly showing Fedorov being led out of the building by a large group of armed Russian soldiers.
Mar 11, 6:33 pm
Treasury announces more sanctions against Russians
The Treasury Department has announced new sanctions against Russia, targeting bankers, state officials, oligarchs and the family of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Peskov was already sanctioned last week, but his wife and two adult children are now designated, with the Treasury saying they “live luxurious lifestyles that are incongruous with Peskov’s civil servant salary and are likely built on the ill-gotten wealth of Peskov’s connections to Putin.”
The U.S. is also sanctioning Russian oligarch and billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, going after assets that include a private jet and a yacht estimated to be a combined $180 million in value.
Others hit with sanctions include 10 people comprising VTB Bank’s board, Russia’s second largest bank, and 12 members of the State Duma.
Mar 11, 6:13 pm
State Department warns Americans of risks of joining Ukrainian war effort
The State Department is warning Americans of the risks of traveling to Ukraine to join in the fight against Russian troops.
“U.S. citizens should be aware that Russia has stated that it intends to treat foreign fighters in Ukraine as ‘mercenaries,’ rather than lawful combatants or prisoners of war,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing Friday. “While we expect Russia to respect all of its obligations under the law of war, in light of this very concerning statement, U.S. citizens detained by Russian authorities in Ukraine — they may be subject to potential attempts at criminal prosecution and may be at heightened risk for mistreatment.”
When asked whether the U.S. Department of Justice would prosecute these Americans, Price said he believed they would not, but referred questions to the DOJ.
He declined to offer any metric for how many U.S. citizens have traveled to Ukraine, saying the State Department doesn’t track Americans’ travel.
ABC News reported Sunday that the Ukrainian embassy has received some 3,000 U.S. applications.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken had previously urged Americans to donate to aid groups or Ukrainian institutions, rather than travel to the country to take up arms.
Mar 11, 5:47 pm
Pentagon ‘watching’ for potential Russian bioweapons ‘false flag’ operation
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday that the U.S. doesn’t have “firm indications” that Russia is planning a so-called “false flag” operation to justify use of chemical or biological weapons, but that it is something officials think “could happen that we want to watch out for.”
“We’re watching this as closely as we can,” Kirby said during a briefing, adding that he didn’t have anything specific to report on Russian chem-bio capabilities inside Ukraine.
“We continue to watch for the potential — and I want to stress the word potential — that they could be banging this drum with the intent of creating some sort of false flag event that they could use as an excuse to escalate the conflict even more,” he continued. “I don’t have any specific indication now to talk about, but it is something we’re concerned about.”
Kirby described how Russia possesses a biochemical weapons program and has a “reputation” for using such weapons in the past.
As for concerns that Russia was planning a false flag of a Ukrainian attack in Belarus Friday, Kirby said he had seen the claims by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry but had nothing to corroborate them.
Ukraine’s air force claimed Friday that Russia did carry out an alleged false flag airstrike in a Belarusian village near the border with Ukraine.
Mar 11, 5:44 pm
Ukraine attempting to restore electricity to Chernobyl nuclear power plant
Ukrainian technicians have started repairing damaged power lines in an attempt to restore external electricity supplies to the site of the Russian-controlled Chernobyl nuclear power plant that were entirely cut earlier in the week, according to International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
Ukraine’s regulatory authority said work began Thursday and technicians had succeeded in repairing one section, but off-site electrical power was still down, indicating there was still damage in other places.
Emergency diesel generators have been providing backup power to the site since Wednesday, and the regulator has reported that additional fuel had been delivered to the facility, the IAEA said.
The regulator lost communications with the site on Thursday and, as a result, it cannot provide information to the IAEA about the radiological monitoring at the facility, according to Grossi.
The regulator is still receiving information about the situation there through senior off-site management of the plant, Grossi said.
The plant’s disconnection from the grid will not have a critical impact on essential safety functions at the site, however, staff is facing increasingly difficult conditions.
At least 211 technical personnel and guards have been living at the site for more than two weeks, and there is concern about the availability of food reserves, the regulator said.
The IAEA said eight of the country’s 15 reactors remained operating. Radiation levels at the locations were normal, the IAEA said.
Mar 11, 4:32 pm
Ukraine official claims Russia kidnapped mayor of occupied city who resisted takeover
Russian forces have kidnapped the mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, which is currently under Russian occupation, according to a Ukrainian official.
Melitopol has been occupied since the first days of the invasion, but its mayor, Ivan Fedorov, had insisted it remained part of Ukraine. He was taken from his office by Russian troops Friday afternoon, according to Kirill Timoshenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s president.
Timoshenko posted a CCTV video allegedly showing Fedorov being led out of the building by a large group of heavily armed Russian soldiers.
Local people have been protesting the Russian occupation almost everyday, marching in the city with Ukrainian flags and confronting Russian soldiers.
A local woman who has taken part in the protests, Tatiana Kumok, in a phone call with ABC News, said Russian riot police surrounded the central square and tried to prevent protests last week.
Kumok said that local TV has been switched to Russian channels and that a new Russian “police force” has been deployed on the streets.
Kumok said she fears that Russia plans to permanently occupy Melitopol, even if Russia eventually reaches a deal with Kyiv. She said they have been told they will be given Russian passports.
Mar 11, 4:16 pm
Ukraine needs drones not jets, Russia flying 20 times more sorties: US defense official
The Russians are flying an average of 200 sorties, military units, per day, while the Ukrainians are only flying about 10, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Friday.
The official said much of the airspace above Ukraine is heavily guarded by both Ukrainian and Russian surface-to-air missiles, making air operations risky for both sides, but Russian aircrafts do not have to enter that airspace to do damage.
“You can launch cruise missiles from aircraft from a great distance away. And if your target is relatively close, you don’t need to enter the airspace,” the official said.
The Ukrainians have 56 functioning fighter jets available to them now and they are only flying them five to 10 hours a day, according to the official.
Noting Russia’s vast umbrella of anti-aircraft capability over Ukraine and its larger air force, the official repeated some of the arguments we heard from the Pentagon earlier this week about the relative ineffectiveness of sending more aircraft to Ukraine.
“It makes little sense to us that additional fixed-wing aircraft is going to have somehow solve all these problems,” the official said.
The official added, “What they need are surface-to-air missile systems, they need [man-portable air-defense systems], they need anti-armor, they need small arms and ammunition and they need these drones, because that’s what they’re using with great effect. And so that’s what we’re focused on.”
Ukrainian forces are using drones to “terrific effect,” especially against Russian ground movements, according to the official.
“They’re trained on how to use them [and] they can fly below radar coverage by the Russians,” the official said.
Russian troops have not moved any closer to Kyiv from the northwest since yesterday, still approximately 9 miles from city center. But, the U.S. has seen rear elements move up closer to those advance troops. Russians advancing on the capital from northeast are now 12 to 19 miles out, according to the official.
Mariupol is under increasing pressure on Friday as it is surrounded from the northeast and southwest, and is under heavy bombardment, the official said. But, Ukrainians are fighting back there.
Russians are “closing in on” Kharkiv, but the city is well defended and hasn’t been taken yet, according to the official.
The Russians have now launched nearly 810 missiles against Ukraine — almost half have been fired from within Ukraine using mobile platforms. The rest have been fired from Russia, Belarus, and a small number from the Black Sea, according to the official.
Mar 11, 3:23 pm
Russia’s Defense Ministry says it seized Igla portable surface-to-air missile systems being supplied to Ukraine
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday claimed it seized Igla portable surface-to-air missile systems that were being supplied to Ukraine.
Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said a new batch of these systems was seized by Russian troops in the Kherson region.
Russia said it is working to determine which Eastern European country was supplying them.
“Inspection of the serial numbers of the portable surface-to-air missile systems has now been organized to determine the country that supplied these weapons from Eastern Europe,” he said.
Russia claimed it downed three Ukrainian drones on Friday, including 2 Bayraktars.
Russia also claimed it has destroyed 1,067 Ukrainian tanks and other armored vehicles and 121 drones since the start of the operation.
Mar 11, 3:18 pm
NATO to hold scheduled exercise in Norway starting next week
NATO will be holding its scheduled Exercise Cold Response 2022 military exercises in Norway for two weeks starting Monday.
The long-running exercise is held every two years and will involve 30,000 NATO troops, including 3,000 U.S. Marines.
About 220 aircraft and more than 50 ships will take part in the exercise.
U.S. forces began training in Norway in December as Marine units conducted cold weather training and planning in the lead up to the exercise.
Mar 11, 2:50 pm
Save the Children says millions of children exposed to illnesses like hypothermia as big freeze hits Ukraine
Millions of children inside Ukraine and those fleeing to neighboring countries are at risk of hypothermia, hunger and death, as temperatures could dip below -4 degrees Fahrenheit, non-profit group Save the Children said Friday.
Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, was hit with an “extreme Arctic cold blast” this past week, according to Save the Children
“As temperatures plummet, children who have been forced from their homes are trekking through the brutal cold, with high winds and snow, carrying whatever they could grab before they fled,” said Irina Saghoyan, Save the Children’s Eastern Europe director.
Mar 11, 2:18 pm
Russian forces claim Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant belongs to its state atomic agency
Russian forces claim the Ukrainian power plant Zaporizhzhia belongs to Russia’s state atomic agency, Rosatom, the head of Ukraine’s nuclear energy company, Energoatom, said Friday on Ukrainian TV.
Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia region last week.
Energoatom’s chief Petro Kotin said that officials from the Russian agency, backed by the 500 Russian troops surrounding it, tried to enter the plant and take control of it this week.
Mar 11, 1:50 pm
Russians reportedly bringing bio-chem weapon suits into Ukraine, US official says
A senior administration official told ABC News Friday that the U.S. is getting reports the Russians are starting to bring in biochemical weapon suits into Ukraine.
The reports comes as the Russians accuse Ukraine and the U.S. of developing biochemical weapons, which the U.S. has denied.
“We believe it is an ominous sign they are possibly doing it for cover,” the official said.
According to the official, as much as one-fifth of the Russian force is currently “inoperable,” meaning they are either dead, wounded or do not have the support or equipment needed to continue.
But even though the Russians are bogged down they realize that everything depends on taking Kyiv and continue to put all effort into that, according to the official.
There are also concerns about boxing Putin in as well as his consistent and casual mention of nuclear weapons. According to the official, that is one of the reasons he has not been publicly labeled as a war criminal because “we just don’t know what he will do.”
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz
Mar 11, 1:29 pm
Evidence is mounting that Russia’s attacks will result in war crimes: White House
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates fell short of calling Putin’s actions in Ukraine war crimes despite acknowledging that that evidence is mounting that Russia’s attack in the country will result in war crimes on Friday.
“We’ve all seen the devastating images coming out of Ukraine and are appalled by Russia’s brutal tactics. Pregnant women on stretchers, apartment buildings – buildings shelled, families killed while seeking safety from this terrible violence,” Bates said while briefing reporters aboard Air Force One.
“These are disgusting attacks, civilian casualties are increasing. If Russia is intentionally targeting civilians, that would be a war crime,” he said.
Bates said the administration would share any evidence that is collected with its allies and hinted that it expects evidence will show that war crimes are being committed.
“If Russia is intentionally targeting civilians, that would be a war crime and as we are all seeing on live television evidence is mounting, and we are documenting it as it takes place,” Bates said.
-ABC News’ Armando Tonatiuh Torres-García
Mar 11, 1:28 pm
US says task force dedicated to targeting sanctioned Russian oligarchs is ‘up and running’
The U.S. Department of Justice said its new task force dedicated to targeting sanctioned Russian oligarchs and their assets is “up and running,” a senior DOJ official told reporters on Friday.
The DOJ is building out an experienced team of criminal and national security attorneys weighing a number of possible criminal charges to bring against those helping to support Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, according to the official.
The “KleptoCapture” task force is now being led by assistant U.S. attorney Andrew Adams, a co-chief of the Southern District of New York’s Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises unit.
David Lim, a trial attorney in DOJ’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Michael Khoo, an attorney in DOJ’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, have been appointed as deputy directors for the task force.
“Our goal is to bring any appropriate charge against any sanctioned Russian oligarch or entity and those who would help them to evade economic sanctions,” the DOJ official said.
The official added, “Offenses under investigation are going to include sanctions evasion, money laundering, bank and wire fraud — but the task force will bring any charge that might undermine and disrupt the comfort that these oligarchs achieved through crime and corruption.”
Last week, charges were brought in the Southern District of New York against Jack Hanick, the first ever individual charged with violating U.S. sanctions arising from Russia’s 2014 actions in Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
Mar 11, 12:15 pm
Russia claims more than 34,500 people evacuated to Russia from Ukraine in past 24 hours
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday claimed more than 34,500 people were evacuated from Ukraine to Russia in the last 24 hours, without help from Kyiv authorities.
People were evacuated from various Ukrainian regions, including Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, said at a press briefing.
“In the past 24 hours, 34,555 people, including 3,562 children, were evacuated from dangerous zones in various Ukrainian regions and the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics without Ukraine’s involvement,” Mizintsev said.
He added, “In total, more than 223,000 people, including 50,258 children, have already been evacuated since the launch of the special military operation.”
Mizintsev claimed Ukrainian authorities are refusing humanitarian corridors in Russia’s direction and prohibiting local authorities from having contacts with the Russian side.
According to Mizintsev, the city of Volnovakha is under control of the Donetsk militia and residents are reluctant to evacuate. He claimed the troops “are already establishing a return to peaceful life in Volnovakha.”
“Relevant humanitarian events involving the population are underway, and none of the residents are going to leave their homes,” Mizintsev said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also claimed that Ukrainian officials are disrupting evacuations from Izium to Lozova.
“The travel itineraries are planted with landmines, and parts of the road are being shelled with small arms and mortars by Ukrainian territorial defense units on approaches to Lozova,” he said.
Mizintsev claimed Mariupol is blocked. “All bridges and approaches to it are destroyed, the main roads have been mined by nationalists, and gunmen are roaming the streets, firing indiscriminately, thereby forcing the civilian population to stay in,” he said.
Mizintsev also claimed Ukrainian forces blew up “a building of the institute of physics and technology in Kharkiv to hide nuclear research” and that up to 50 of its employees might be missing.
Mar 11, 11:26 am
Ukrainian air force claims Russia carried out false flag airstrike in Belarus
Ukraine’s air force claimed Friday that Russia carried out an alleged false flag airstrike in a Belarusian village near the border with Ukraine.
In a post on Facebook, Ukraine’s air force claimed Russian jets took off from a base in Belarus and entered Ukraine’s airspace, then a fire started in the village of Kopani.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksy Reznikov earlier claimed in a Facebook post that Russian forces would launch a strike against Kopani to “pull the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus into the war with Ukraine.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 11, 11:15 am
US Restricts the export of luxury goods to Russia, Belarus
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Friday that it will restrict the export of U.S. luxury goods to Russia and Belarus, as well as “certain Russian and Belarusian oligarchs and malign actors located worldwide,” as a result of their actions in Ukraine.
The Department of Commerce said it will impose restrictions on the export, reexport and transfer of luxury items including certain spirits, tobacco products, clothing items, jewelry, vehicles and antique goods.
“Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine continues to take a devastating toll on innocent civilians in Ukraine, fueling one of the worst humanitarian crises Europe has seen in decades,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
Raimondo added, “Putin and the oligarchs who fund him have gotten rich off of Putin’s rampant corruption and the exploitation of the Russian people. We will not allow Putin and his cronies to continue living in opulence while causing tremendous suffering throughout Eastern Europe. Today’s action takes away another source of comfort and reminds them that Russia is increasingly isolated.”
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Mar 11, 10:16 am
WHO advised Ukraine to destroy pathogens to prevent ‘accidental spill’
The World Health Organization said Friday that it is urging Ukraine to now destroy its pathogen samples because Russia’s war in the country risks an “accidental spill,” according to WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević.
“This is part of us providing a public health advice to every country to try to ensure there is a minimized risk of any harm to population because of any possible accidental leak of pathogens,” Jašarević said Friday from Lviv.
(WASHINGTON) — Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Russian forces are “broadening their target sets” after rockets hit a Ukrainian military base near the Polish border overnight.
“Look, this is the third now military facility or airfield that the Russians had struck in western Ukraine in just the last couple of days,” Kirby told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, on Sunday. “So, clearly, at least from an airstrike perspective, they’re broadening their target sets.”
The Yavoriv International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, located about 10 miles from Poland and an hour west of Lviv, sustained damage from the airstrike. Lviv Gov. Maksym Kozytskiy said at least 35 people were killed and another 134 injured during the attack on the Ukrainian military training base. Kirby confirmed no Americans were present.
Raddatz followed up, citing Ukraine’s defense minister calling the strike “a terror attack near the NATO border” and “saying action must be taken to stop this, close the sky.”
“Could a no-fly zone have stopped this?” she asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Kirby responded. “Look, I mean, no-fly zone has a nice air policing kind of sound to it. But I participated in one as a young officer on an aircraft carrier way back in the early ’90s. It is combat. You have to be willing to shoot and to be shot at.” He added that U.S. troops in Ukraine “leads to war with Russia.”
Raddatz asked, “If those attacks on military supply centers cross into Poland — and I know that is a fear of the United States and the NATO allies — what changes? Kamala Harris just reaffirmed the pledge — the Article 5 pledge — to defend NATO members. If they strike in Poland, what happens?”
“We take our Article 5 commitment very seriously and the vice president was pretty firm about that on her recent visit, so has been [Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin,” Kirby answered. “An armed attack against one is considered an armed attack against all. That is why, Martha, we continue to flow and to move and to reposition forces and capabilities along NATO’s eastern flank to make sure that we can defend every inch of NATO territory if we need to.”
“Now, there’s no reason we should need to because there’s no reason that there should be war in Ukraine as it is, and we’ve made it very clear to Russia that NATO territory will be defended not just by the United States, but by our allies,” Kirby later added.
“But this was just 10 miles from that border,” Raddatz pressed again, saying, “I just crossed that border the other day. Doesn’t this change the way you look at things? They’re getting closer and closer to our NATO allies.”
“I can tell you that we have been consistently concerned about NATO’s eastern flank and that airspace and, of course, that ground space on that flank of NATO. And we continue to look for ways to bolster the defenses of our NATO allies,” Kirby said.
The U.N. Security Council scheduled a meeting Friday at Russia’s request to discuss the unfounded Russian claim that the U.S. is working with Ukraine on developing biochemical weapons, an allegation the Biden administration has vehemently denied.
“It is of the Russian playbook that that which they accuse you of they’re planning to do now,” Kirby said. “Now, again, we haven’t seen anything into it indicates some sort of imminent chemical or biological attack right now, but we’re watching this very, very closely.”
On Friday, President Joe Biden said Russia “would pay a severe price” if any biochemical weapons are utilized during the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
But as Ukrainian leaders plead for a no-fly zone over their country, Markian Lubkivskyi, an adviser to the Ukrainian defense minister, said during an earlier “This Week” interview that Ukraine was “still waiting for the weapons, for the aircraft, for the anti-air systems to protect Ukrainians from the air.”
Kirby, however, said assistance would “continue to flow” to the country.
“The kinds of things we know they most need, the kinds of things that they’re using so well, we’re going to continue to help get them into their hands. And we know that it is working, that they are receiving them and they are using them.”
“I mean they have impressed everybody around the world and certainly they have impressed the Russians who have been increasingly flummoxed and frustrated about their lack of progress because of this Ukrainian resistance,” he added.
(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, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.
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 13, 12:38 pm
Zelenskyy claims nearly 13,000 Russian soldiers have been killed
Almost 13,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
In a short self-shot video address, Zelenskyy also said Russia had lost 1,000 military vehicles, 74 fighter jets and 86 helicopters. It was not immediately possible for ABC News to verify the figures.
Zelenskyy added that a convoy of humanitarian aid was about 50 miles away from the besieged city of Mariupol in southeast Ukraine. He accused the Russians of blocking Orthodox priests who were accompanying the aid, which he said contains “100 tons of the most necessary things that Ukraine sent to its citizens.”
“We have already evacuated almost 125,000 people to the safe territory through humanitarian corridors,” said Zelenskyy of the situation in Mariupol.
The Mariupol City Council claimed Sunday that 2,187 civilians in the city have been killed since the invasion started on Feb. 24 and that Russia had dropped 100 bombs on Mariupol.
The latest information from the United Nations Human Rights Council shows that 579 civilians have been confirmed killed in Ukraine since the start of the invasion and another 1,002 have been injured.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 13, 12:04 pm
Pope calls for an end to ‘massacre’ in Ukraine
Pope Francis issued a strong condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during his Sunday Mass, describing Russian strikes on children’s hospitals and civilians as barbaric.
“In the name of God, I ask, stop this massacre,” the pope said, calling the Russian invasion an “unacceptable armed aggression.”
Speaking at the Vatican, Pope Francis added, “God is the God only of peace, not of war, and those who support violence profane his name.”
Mar 13, 12:21 pm
American journalist killed in Ukraine
An American journalist has been killed in Ukraine, The New York Times confirmed Sunday.
Brent Renaud, a photographer and filmmaker, had worked as a contributor for the newspaper but was not on assignment for The Times when he was killed, according to a statement from the news outlet.
“We are saddened to hear of Brent Renaud’s death. Brent was a talented filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years,” the newspaper said in its statement posted on Twitter. “Though he had contributed to The Times in the past (most recently in 2015), he was not on assignment for any desk at The Times in Ukraine. Early reports that he worked for (The) Times circulated because he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago.”
Kyiv’s police chief later confirmed Renaud’s death in a Facebook post.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS News that he had just learned of Renaud’s death Sunday morning and described it as “obviously shocking and horrifying.”
“I will be consulting with my colleagues. We’ll be consulting with the Ukrainians to determine how this happened and then to measure and execute appropriate consequences as a result of it,” Sullivan said. “I will just say that this is part and parcel of what has been a brazen aggression on the part of the Russians where they have targeted civilians, they have targeted hospitals, they have targeted places of worship and they have targeted journalists.”
-ABC News’ Matt Foster
Mar 13, 10:28 am
Cease-fire talks make ‘substantial progress’: Russian negotiator
One of Russia’s negotiators in cease-fire talks with Ukraine said he believes “substantial progress” has been made and that the two sides might reach a “unified position” in the near future, the Russian state news agency TASS reported Sunday.
Leonid Slutsky, a senior Russian lawmaker who has taken part in the talks, was quoted by TASS as saying, “The progress in the talks between Russia and Ukraine in the near future can grow into a unified position of both delegations.”
The two sides have held three rounds of face-to-face talks in Belarus and have been talking by video conference in recent days.
Russia has suggested its conditions for ending the war would require Ukraine to change its constitution to guarantee it will never join a political bloc, specifically NATO or the European Union, as well as recognizing Crimea as part of Russia and the two Russian-controlled separatist areas in the Donbas region of in eastern Ukraine as independent.
Ukraine previously said Russia continues to demand its surrender.
Ukraine’s lead negotiator and presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also issued a hopeful statement Sunday, saying the two sides are moving toward compromises and that they are now discussing concrete points. Podolyak told the independent Russian newspaper Kommersant that Russia is looking at the situation “far more properly.”
“They have started to talk about something and not just throw out ultimatums,” Podolyak told the newspaper. But he said more time was needed for Russia to fully understand the reality of its situation and the need to further compromise on its demands.
According to Kommersant, Podolyak said working groups are developing the legal aspects of documents the two sides might eventually be able to sign. For now, both have agreed to keep the proposals confidential until they have an agreement, he said.
He said the negotiations have focused on conditions for a cease-fire and peace agreement, how to compensate Ukraine for the damage to its infrastructure and the process of withdrawing Russian troops. Notably, he said the key point of a peace agreement is the issue of “security guarantees” for both Russia and Ukraine.
“We have all the proposals, which one way or the other protect these interests, get Ukraine out from under attack from the point of view that similar situation won’t be repeated, get Ukraine to some kind of compensatory things in the right sense. And I emphasize again — the Russian side already looks at [the situation] far more properly. But some time must pass still so they understood 100% the situation in which very much Russia, not Ukraine, has fallen,” Podolyak said.
Podolyak said he hopes a fourth round of talks will be held in person.
Mar 13, 6:43 am
Russian strike kills 35 at military facility near Polish border
A Russian airstrike killed 35 people early Sunday morning at a military facility in western Ukraine, miles from the Polish border.
The Lviv Regional Military Administration said at least eight Russian rockets struck a training facility near Yavoriv, a town about 35 miles west of Lviv and 10 miles from the Polish border. The attack could be heard from Lviv.
Thirty-five people were killed and 134 were wounded, according to Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the regional military administration. It was unclear whether civilians were among the injured.
“Today the Lviv region was hit by missiles, preliminary by jets, stationed in Saratov, Russia, not flying into Ukrainian territory,” Kozytskyi said. “Preliminary more than 30 missiles were launched. Anti-missile defense worked, some amount of missiles were shot down. The Yavoriv firing ground came under attack.”
Yavoriv sits along one of the main routes used to bring supplies into Ukraine from Poland, a pathway also used in recent weeks by refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.
The facility struck on Sunday is near the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, known as the base where for years NATO military instructors, including Americans, trained Ukrainian troops to fight against Russia in the east.
The administration said earlier on Sunday that nine people were killed and 57 were wounded.
The mayor of Ivano Frankivsk, a southwestern city, also confirmed a strike on the city’s airport early on Sunday. It’s the third such strike, official said.
-ABC News’ Kirit Radia, Julia Drozd, Patrick Reevell and Clark Bentson
Mar 12, 4:48 pm
13,000 Ukrainians evacuated on Saturday, Ukrainian official says
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk posted an update Saturday on the country’s evacuation progress.
About 13,000 Ukrainians were evacuated Saturday, which was half the number from Friday, she said.
Nine out of 14 humanitarian corridors were open Saturday, according to Vereshchuk.
About 8,000 refugees left Sumy, more than 3,000 left Konotop, 800 people were taken out of Gostomel and about a thousand people evacuated Nemeshaevo, Vereshchuk said.
About a thousand people were rescued from Bucha, including patients at a nursing home, she said.
However, Russia didn’t let a convoy through the checkpoint in Vasilyevka and as a result no one could evacuate from the Zaporіzhya region, Vereshchuk said.
A Ukrainian convoy also did not reach Mariupol, because it got stuck at a Russian checkpoint, according to Vereshchuk. The convoy will try to take people out from the locations Sunday, she said.
Mar 12, 3:46 pm
US senators to travel to Poland to meet with officials, visit refugee sites
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators announced Saturday that they are traveling to Poland to meet with Polish officials and visit refugee sites to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to Poland, Ukraine and other allies in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The group is made up of Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
The group was also expected to meet with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Poland on the trip this weekend.
“The Polish people continue their unwavering support for NATO after 23 years of fighting alongside the U.S. and our allies. This bipartisan delegation will send a clear message that the U.S. is thankful for their support of Ukraine and their offer of providing fighter jets, as the people of Ukraine continues to endure brutal Russian atrocities,” Portman said in a statement.
Echoing U.S. support for Ukraine, Blumenthal said, “As Putin continues his brutal, savage invasion, I’m traveling with a bipartisan group of Senators to the Ukrainian border in Poland to see first-hand the heartbreaking, exploding humanitarian crisis — and learn how America can magnify its military assistance to brave Ukrainian freedom fighters.”
Mar 12, 3:36 pm
US senators to travel to Poland to meet with officials, visit refugee sites
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators announced Saturday that they are traveling to Poland to meet with Polish officials and visit refugee sites to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to Poland, Ukraine and other allies in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The group is made up of Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
“The Polish people continue their unwavering support for NATO after 23 years of fighting alongside the U.S. and our allies. This bipartisan delegation will send a clear message that the U.S. is thankful for their support of Ukraine and their offer of providing fighter jets, as the people of Ukraine continues to endure brutal Russian atrocities,” Portman said in a statement.
Echoing U.S. support for Ukraine, Blumenthal said, “As Putin continues his brutal, savage invasion, I’m traveling with a bipartisan group of Senators to the Ukrainian border in Poland to see first-hand the heartbreaking, exploding humanitarian crisis — and learn how America can magnify its military assistance to brave Ukrainian freedom fighters.”
Mar 12, 3:17 pm
Biden authorizes $200 million in military assistance to Ukraine
President Joe Biden authorized $200 million in new military assistance to Ukraine, to come from existing U.S. weapons stocks, the White House said Saturday.
Biden authorized “the drawdown of up to an aggregate value of $200 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Ukraine and to make the determinations required under such section to direct such a drawdown,” the White House said in a press release.
Mar 12, 2:56 pm
NATO allies’ resolve ‘strengthened’ since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Harris says
Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday re-emphasized the U.S.’ commitment to defend NATO allies and said, “Our collective resolve has been strengthened” since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people in defense of the NATO alliance,” Harris said at the DNC Winter Meeting, hours after returning from her trip to Poland and Romania.
“Russia’s invasion threatens not just Ukraine’s democracy, it threatens democracy and security across Europe and by extension when democracy is threatened, anywhere, it threatens us all,” Harris said.
Harris recalled her meeting with the presidents of both nations and how she met with refugees from Ukraine, who she said “feel very alone.”
“I told them people around the world stand with them and they are not alone,” Harris said.
Mar 12, 2:24 pm
To take Kyiv, Russia will have ‘kill all residents,’ defiant Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters Saturday that Russia would have to carpet-bomb Kyiv and kill all its residents to be able to conquer the capital city.
“They will come here only if they kill us all,” Zelenskyy said. “If that is their goal, let them come.”
Mar 12, 11:49 am
Zelenskyy says Ukraine has lost 1,300 troops, claims Russia lost 12,000
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine lost 1,300 troops and claimed that Russia has lost 12,000 troops, to reporters Saturday.
“I can’t say that I’m happy about their losses because it’s not who I am. We’re talking about human lives here, and those soldiers were brought to the war as cannon fodder, brainwashed and confused,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also commented on the humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians, saying the most successful corridor has been out of Sumy where tens of thousands were evacuated.
“It’s a very difficult process and sometimes we have to invent unorthodox methods to facilitate that, because the Russians almost never observe cease-fire to allow evacuation of civilians,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also commented on discussions with Russia, saying he has been requesting direct talks at the highest level for over two years.
“At least we can see some progress now in that they also start to agree that dialogue is needed. But of course we would seek broader involvement of other world leaders, because in any talks about future firm security guarantees for Ukraine we will never trust only Moscow after such a bloody war it unleashed,” Zelenskyy said.
Mar 12, 11:14 am
Biden authorizes $200 million in military assistance to Ukraine
President Joe Biden authorized $200 million in new military assistance to Ukraine, to come from existing U.S. weapons stocks, the White House said Saturday.
Biden authorized “the drawdown of up to an aggregate value of $200 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Ukraine and to make the determinations required under such section to direct such a drawdown,” the White House said in a press release.
Mar 12, 10:13 am
Putin, Macron, Scholz discuss humanitarian situation in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron and Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin’s press service reported on Saturday.
The Kremlin claimed “numerous facts of gross violations of international humanitarian law by Ukrainian security forces were cited – extrajudicial killings of dissenters, taking hostages and using civilians as human shields, placing heavy weapons in residential areas, near hospitals, schools, kindergartens.”
The Kremlin also claimed, “nationalist battalions systematically disrupt rescue operations, intimidate civilians during evacuation attempts.”
Putin “urged” Macron and Scholz to “influence the Kiev authorities so that such criminal actions would be stopped,” according to a statement from the Kremlin.
The leaders spoke about the series of talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives in recent days. “It was agreed to continue contacts on Ukrainian issues,” the Kremlin said.
Mar 12, 9:19 am
Zelenskyy comments further on allegedly kidnapped mayor
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Saturday demanded the release of Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who Ukrainian officials allege was kidnapped by Russian forces.
“The city community is demanding his release. I am grateful to every Melitopol resident for this resistance,” Zelenskyy said in a message posted on Facebook.
The organizer of Ukrainian rallies in Melitopol, Olga Gaisumova was also captured and the city’s aid headquarters in the Shevchenko recreation center was seized by Russian soldiers, who cordoned off the building, local blogger and activist, Tatiana Kumok, told ABC News in an interview.
The occupiers told the civil defense in Melitopol that they are prohibited from going in the streets during the curfew, according to Kumok.
Zelenskyy claimed the Ukrainians have had tremendous success, dealing “biggest blow to the Russian army in decades.”
“We have had extraordinary success. How the entire Ukrainian people resisted these invaders has already gone down in history. But we have no right to reduce the intensity of defense, no matter how difficult it may be for us. We have no right to reduce the energy of our resistance,” Zelenskyy said.
Mar 11, 7:22 pm
Zelenskyy demands release of Melitopol mayor
In his latest address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded the release of a mayor reportedly kidnapped Friday by Russian forces.
“Today in Melitopol, the invaders captured mayor of the city, Ivan Fedorov — a mayor who courageously defends Ukraine and the people of his community,” Zelenskyy said. “Obviously, this is a sign of the weakness of the invaders.”
He called the alleged kidnapping a “crime against democracy” and said Russia’s actions “will be equated with the actions of ISIS terrorists.”
“Ukraine demands the immediate release of the mayor of Melitopol and guarantees of full security to all heads of communities across the country,” he said, adding that he planned to raise this in talks with “international mediators who communicate with Moscow.”
The southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol has been under Russian occupation since the first days of the invasion, though Fedorov had insisted it remained part of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy adviser Kirill Timoshenko posted a CCTV video Friday allegedly showing Fedorov being led out of the building by a large group of armed Russian soldiers.
Mar 11, 6:33 pm
Treasury announces more sanctions against Russians
The Treasury Department has announced new sanctions against Russia, targeting bankers, state officials, oligarchs and the family of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Peskov was already sanctioned last week, but his wife and two adult children are now designated, with the Treasury saying they “live luxurious lifestyles that are incongruous with Peskov’s civil servant salary and are likely built on the ill-gotten wealth of Peskov’s connections to Putin.”
The U.S. is also sanctioning Russian oligarch and billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, going after assets that include a private jet and a yacht estimated to be a combined $180 million in value.
Others hit with sanctions include 10 people comprising VTB Bank’s board, Russia’s second largest bank, and 12 members of the State Duma.
Mar 11, 6:13 pm
State Department warns Americans of risks of joining Ukrainian war effort
The State Department is warning Americans of the risks of traveling to Ukraine to join in the fight against Russian troops.
“U.S. citizens should be aware that Russia has stated that it intends to treat foreign fighters in Ukraine as ‘mercenaries,’ rather than lawful combatants or prisoners of war,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing Friday. “While we expect Russia to respect all of its obligations under the law of war, in light of this very concerning statement, U.S. citizens detained by Russian authorities in Ukraine — they may be subject to potential attempts at criminal prosecution and may be at heightened risk for mistreatment.”
When asked whether the U.S. Department of Justice would prosecute these Americans, Price said he believed they would not, but referred questions to the DOJ.
He declined to offer any metric for how many U.S. citizens have traveled to Ukraine, saying the State Department doesn’t track Americans’ travel.
ABC News reported Sunday that the Ukrainian embassy has received some 3,000 U.S. applications.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken had previously urged Americans to donate to aid groups or Ukrainian institutions, rather than travel to the country to take up arms.
Mar 11, 5:47 pm
Pentagon ‘watching’ for potential Russian bioweapons ‘false flag’ operation
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday that the U.S. doesn’t have “firm indications” that Russia is planning a so-called “false flag” operation to justify use of chemical or biological weapons, but that it is something officials think “could happen that we want to watch out for.”
“We’re watching this as closely as we can,” Kirby said during a briefing, adding that he didn’t have anything specific to report on Russian chem-bio capabilities inside Ukraine.
“We continue to watch for the potential — and I want to stress the word potential — that they could be banging this drum with the intent of creating some sort of false flag event that they could use as an excuse to escalate the conflict even more,” he continued. “I don’t have any specific indication now to talk about, but it is something we’re concerned about.”
Kirby described how Russia possesses a biochemical weapons program and has a “reputation” for using such weapons in the past.
As for concerns that Russia was planning a false flag of a Ukrainian attack in Belarus Friday, Kirby said he had seen the claims by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry but had nothing to corroborate them.
Ukraine’s air force claimed Friday that Russia did carry out an alleged false flag airstrike in a Belarusian village near the border with Ukraine.
Mar 11, 5:44 pm
Ukraine attempting to restore electricity to Chernobyl nuclear power plant
Ukrainian technicians have started repairing damaged power lines in an attempt to restore external electricity supplies to the site of the Russian-controlled Chernobyl nuclear power plant that were entirely cut earlier in the week, according to International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
Ukraine’s regulatory authority said work began Thursday and technicians had succeeded in repairing one section, but off-site electrical power was still down, indicating there was still damage in other places.
Emergency diesel generators have been providing backup power to the site since Wednesday, and the regulator has reported that additional fuel had been delivered to the facility, the IAEA said.
The regulator lost communications with the site on Thursday and, as a result, it cannot provide information to the IAEA about the radiological monitoring at the facility, according to Grossi.
The regulator is still receiving information about the situation there through senior off-site management of the plant, Grossi said.
The plant’s disconnection from the grid will not have a critical impact on essential safety functions at the site, however, staff is facing increasingly difficult conditions.
At least 211 technical personnel and guards have been living at the site for more than two weeks, and there is concern about the availability of food reserves, the regulator said.
The IAEA said eight of the country’s 15 reactors remained operating. Radiation levels at the locations were normal, the IAEA said.
Mar 11, 4:32 pm
Ukraine official claims Russia kidnapped mayor of occupied city who resisted takeover
Russian forces have kidnapped the mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, which is currently under Russian occupation, according to a Ukrainian official.
Melitopol has been occupied since the first days of the invasion, but its mayor, Ivan Fedorov, had insisted it remained part of Ukraine. He was taken from his office by Russian troops Friday afternoon, according to Kirill Timoshenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s president.
Timoshenko posted a CCTV video allegedly showing Fedorov being led out of the building by a large group of heavily armed Russian soldiers.
Local people have been protesting the Russian occupation almost everyday, marching in the city with Ukrainian flags and confronting Russian soldiers.
A local woman who has taken part in the protests, Tatiana Kumok, in a phone call with ABC News, said Russian riot police surrounded the central square and tried to prevent protests last week.
Kumok said that local TV has been switched to Russian channels and that a new Russian “police force” has been deployed on the streets.
Kumok said she fears that Russia plans to permanently occupy Melitopol, even if Russia eventually reaches a deal with Kyiv. She said they have been told they will be given Russian passports.
Mar 11, 4:16 pm
Ukraine needs drones not jets, Russia flying 20 times more sorties: US defense official
The Russians are flying an average of 200 sorties, military units, per day, while the Ukrainians are only flying about 10, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Friday.
The official said much of the airspace above Ukraine is heavily guarded by both Ukrainian and Russian surface-to-air missiles, making air operations risky for both sides, but Russian aircrafts do not have to enter that airspace to do damage.
“You can launch cruise missiles from aircraft from a great distance away. And if your target is relatively close, you don’t need to enter the airspace,” the official said.
The Ukrainians have 56 functioning fighter jets available to them now and they are only flying them five to 10 hours a day, according to the official.
Noting Russia’s vast umbrella of anti-aircraft capability over Ukraine and its larger air force, the official repeated some of the arguments we heard from the Pentagon earlier this week about the relative ineffectiveness of sending more aircraft to Ukraine.
“It makes little sense to us that additional fixed-wing aircraft is going to have somehow solve all these problems,” the official said.
The official added, “What they need are surface-to-air missile systems, they need [man-portable air-defense systems], they need anti-armor, they need small arms and ammunition and they need these drones, because that’s what they’re using with great effect. And so that’s what we’re focused on.”
Ukrainian forces are using drones to “terrific effect,” especially against Russian ground movements, according to the official.
“They’re trained on how to use them [and] they can fly below radar coverage by the Russians,” the official said.
Russian troops have not moved any closer to Kyiv from the northwest since yesterday, still approximately 9 miles from city center. But, the U.S. has seen rear elements move up closer to those advance troops. Russians advancing on the capital from northeast are now 12 to 19 miles out, according to the official.
Mariupol is under increasing pressure on Friday as it is surrounded from the northeast and southwest, and is under heavy bombardment, the official said. But, Ukrainians are fighting back there.
Russians are “closing in on” Kharkiv, but the city is well defended and hasn’t been taken yet, according to the official.
The Russians have now launched nearly 810 missiles against Ukraine — almost half have been fired from within Ukraine using mobile platforms. The rest have been fired from Russia, Belarus, and a small number from the Black Sea, according to the official.
Mar 11, 3:23 pm
Russia’s Defense Ministry says it seized Igla portable surface-to-air missile systems being supplied to Ukraine
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday claimed it seized Igla portable surface-to-air missile systems that were being supplied to Ukraine.
Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said a new batch of these systems was seized by Russian troops in the Kherson region.
Russia said it is working to determine which Eastern European country was supplying them.
“Inspection of the serial numbers of the portable surface-to-air missile systems has now been organized to determine the country that supplied these weapons from Eastern Europe,” he said.
Russia claimed it downed three Ukrainian drones on Friday, including 2 Bayraktars.
Russia also claimed it has destroyed 1,067 Ukrainian tanks and other armored vehicles and 121 drones since the start of the operation.
Mar 11, 3:18 pm
NATO to hold scheduled exercise in Norway starting next week
NATO will be holding its scheduled Exercise Cold Response 2022 military exercises in Norway for two weeks starting Monday.
The long-running exercise is held every two years and will involve 30,000 NATO troops, including 3,000 U.S. Marines.
About 220 aircraft and more than 50 ships will take part in the exercise.
U.S. forces began training in Norway in December as Marine units conducted cold weather training and planning in the lead up to the exercise.
Mar 11, 2:50 pm
Save the Children says millions of children exposed to illnesses like hypothermia as big freeze hits Ukraine
Millions of children inside Ukraine and those fleeing to neighboring countries are at risk of hypothermia, hunger and death, as temperatures could dip below -4 degrees Fahrenheit, non-profit group Save the Children said Friday.
Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, was hit with an “extreme Arctic cold blast” this past week, according to Save the Children
“As temperatures plummet, children who have been forced from their homes are trekking through the brutal cold, with high winds and snow, carrying whatever they could grab before they fled,” said Irina Saghoyan, Save the Children’s Eastern Europe director.
Mar 11, 2:18 pm
Russian forces claim Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant belongs to its state atomic agency
Russian forces claim the Ukrainian power plant Zaporizhzhia belongs to Russia’s state atomic agency, Rosatom, the head of Ukraine’s nuclear energy company, Energoatom, said Friday on Ukrainian TV.
Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia region last week.
Energoatom’s chief Petro Kotin said that officials from the Russian agency, backed by the 500 Russian troops surrounding it, tried to enter the plant and take control of it this week.
Mar 11, 1:50 pm
Russians reportedly bringing bio-chem weapon suits into Ukraine, US official says
A senior administration official told ABC News Friday that the U.S. is getting reports the Russians are starting to bring in biochemical weapon suits into Ukraine.
The reports comes as the Russians accuse Ukraine and the U.S. of developing biochemical weapons, which the U.S. has denied.
“We believe it is an ominous sign they are possibly doing it for cover,” the official said.
According to the official, as much as one-fifth of the Russian force is currently “inoperable,” meaning they are either dead, wounded or do not have the support or equipment needed to continue.
But even though the Russians are bogged down they realize that everything depends on taking Kyiv and continue to put all effort into that, according to the official.
There are also concerns about boxing Putin in as well as his consistent and casual mention of nuclear weapons. According to the official, that is one of the reasons he has not been publicly labeled as a war criminal because “we just don’t know what he will do.”
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz
Mar 11, 1:29 pm
Evidence is mounting that Russia’s attacks will result in war crimes: White House
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates fell short of calling Putin’s actions in Ukraine war crimes despite acknowledging that that evidence is mounting that Russia’s attack in the country will result in war crimes on Friday.
“We’ve all seen the devastating images coming out of Ukraine and are appalled by Russia’s brutal tactics. Pregnant women on stretchers, apartment buildings – buildings shelled, families killed while seeking safety from this terrible violence,” Bates said while briefing reporters aboard Air Force One.
“These are disgusting attacks, civilian casualties are increasing. If Russia is intentionally targeting civilians, that would be a war crime,” he said.
Bates said the administration would share any evidence that is collected with its allies and hinted that it expects evidence will show that war crimes are being committed.
“If Russia is intentionally targeting civilians, that would be a war crime and as we are all seeing on live television evidence is mounting, and we are documenting it as it takes place,” Bates said.
-ABC News’ Armando Tonatiuh Torres-García
Mar 11, 1:28 pm
US says task force dedicated to targeting sanctioned Russian oligarchs is ‘up and running’
The U.S. Department of Justice said its new task force dedicated to targeting sanctioned Russian oligarchs and their assets is “up and running,” a senior DOJ official told reporters on Friday.
The DOJ is building out an experienced team of criminal and national security attorneys weighing a number of possible criminal charges to bring against those helping to support Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, according to the official.
The “KleptoCapture” task force is now being led by assistant U.S. attorney Andrew Adams, a co-chief of the Southern District of New York’s Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises unit.
David Lim, a trial attorney in DOJ’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Michael Khoo, an attorney in DOJ’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, have been appointed as deputy directors for the task force.
“Our goal is to bring any appropriate charge against any sanctioned Russian oligarch or entity and those who would help them to evade economic sanctions,” the DOJ official said.
The official added, “Offenses under investigation are going to include sanctions evasion, money laundering, bank and wire fraud — but the task force will bring any charge that might undermine and disrupt the comfort that these oligarchs achieved through crime and corruption.”
Last week, charges were brought in the Southern District of New York against Jack Hanick, the first ever individual charged with violating U.S. sanctions arising from Russia’s 2014 actions in Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
Mar 11, 12:15 pm
Russia claims more than 34,500 people evacuated to Russia from Ukraine in past 24 hours
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday claimed more than 34,500 people were evacuated from Ukraine to Russia in the last 24 hours, without help from Kyiv authorities.
People were evacuated from various Ukrainian regions, including Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, said at a press briefing.
“In the past 24 hours, 34,555 people, including 3,562 children, were evacuated from dangerous zones in various Ukrainian regions and the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics without Ukraine’s involvement,” Mizintsev said.
He added, “In total, more than 223,000 people, including 50,258 children, have already been evacuated since the launch of the special military operation.”
Mizintsev claimed Ukrainian authorities are refusing humanitarian corridors in Russia’s direction and prohibiting local authorities from having contacts with the Russian side.
According to Mizintsev, the city of Volnovakha is under control of the Donetsk militia and residents are reluctant to evacuate. He claimed the troops “are already establishing a return to peaceful life in Volnovakha.”
“Relevant humanitarian events involving the population are underway, and none of the residents are going to leave their homes,” Mizintsev said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also claimed that Ukrainian officials are disrupting evacuations from Izium to Lozova.
“The travel itineraries are planted with landmines, and parts of the road are being shelled with small arms and mortars by Ukrainian territorial defense units on approaches to Lozova,” he said.
Mizintsev claimed Mariupol is blocked. “All bridges and approaches to it are destroyed, the main roads have been mined by nationalists, and gunmen are roaming the streets, firing indiscriminately, thereby forcing the civilian population to stay in,” he said.
Mizintsev also claimed Ukrainian forces blew up “a building of the institute of physics and technology in Kharkiv to hide nuclear research” and that up to 50 of its employees might be missing.
Mar 11, 11:26 am
Ukrainian air force claims Russia carried out false flag airstrike in Belarus
Ukraine’s air force claimed Friday that Russia carried out an alleged false flag airstrike in a Belarusian village near the border with Ukraine.
In a post on Facebook, Ukraine’s air force claimed Russian jets took off from a base in Belarus and entered Ukraine’s airspace, then a fire started in the village of Kopani.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksy Reznikov earlier claimed in a Facebook post that Russian forces would launch a strike against Kopani to “pull the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus into the war with Ukraine.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 11, 11:15 am
US Restricts the export of luxury goods to Russia, Belarus
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Friday that it will restrict the export of U.S. luxury goods to Russia and Belarus, as well as “certain Russian and Belarusian oligarchs and malign actors located worldwide,” as a result of their actions in Ukraine.
The Department of Commerce said it will impose restrictions on the export, reexport and transfer of luxury items including certain spirits, tobacco products, clothing items, jewelry, vehicles and antique goods.
“Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine continues to take a devastating toll on innocent civilians in Ukraine, fueling one of the worst humanitarian crises Europe has seen in decades,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
Raimondo added, “Putin and the oligarchs who fund him have gotten rich off of Putin’s rampant corruption and the exploitation of the Russian people. We will not allow Putin and his cronies to continue living in opulence while causing tremendous suffering throughout Eastern Europe. Today’s action takes away another source of comfort and reminds them that Russia is increasingly isolated.”
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Mar 11, 10:16 am
WHO advised Ukraine to destroy pathogens to prevent ‘accidental spill’
The World Health Organization said Friday that it is urging Ukraine to now destroy its pathogen samples because Russia’s war in the country risks an “accidental spill,” according to WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević.
“This is part of us providing a public health advice to every country to try to ensure there is a minimized risk of any harm to population because of any possible accidental leak of pathogens,” Jašarević said Friday from Lviv.
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon has been providing daily updates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s efforts to resist.
Here are highlights of what a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Friday:
Russia flying 20 times as many sorties as Ukraine
Russian military planes are flying an average of 200 sorties per day, compared to only about 10 per day flown by Ukraine, according to the official.
Much of the airspace above Ukraine is heavily guarded by both Ukrainian and Russian surface-to-air missiles, making air operations risky for both sides.
But Russian aircraft don’t have to enter Ukrainian airspace to do damage.
“You can launch cruise missiles from aircraft from a great distance away. And if your target is relatively close, you don’t need to enter the airspace,” the official said.
For the first time, the official gave details on the total number of functioning Ukrainian fighter jets and how much they’re being used.
“They have 56 available to them now, fully operational, and they’re only flying them five to 10 hours a day,” the official said.
Ukraine needs drones, not jets: Official
Noting Russia’s vast umbrella of anti-aircraft capability over Ukraine and its larger air force, the official repeated some of the arguments we heard from the Pentagon earlier this week about the relative ineffectiveness of sending more aircraft to Ukraine.
“It makes little sense to us that additional fixed-wing aircraft is going to have somehow solve all these problems. What they need are surface-to-air missile systems, they need MANPADS, they need anti-armor, and they need small arms and ammunition, and they need these drones, because that’s what they’re using with great effect. And so, that’s what we’re focused on,” the official said.
Ukrainian forces are making “terrific” use of drones, especially against Russian ground movements, according to the official. The drones can be also used both for reconnaissance and surveillance.
“They’re trained on how to use them, they can fly below radar coverage by the Russians,” the official said.
They are also much cheaper than fighter aircraft, and being unmanned, don’t risk pilots being killed or captured.
Chemical weapons and false flags
The official said that despite claims from China and Russia, the U.S. is not helping Ukraine create or use any chemical or biological weapons.
“This is bio research with regard to two things: One, helping Ukraine over the years decrease the pathogen inventory that they had under Soviet years, and then to develop strategies to defeat pathogens going forward,” the official said. “It’s scientific research, it’s not bio-weapons capabilities.”
The official said the U.S. has nothing to hide, and that information on its role in scientific work in Ukraine was already publicly available.
“The only reason why we elevated the discussion is because the Russians and the Chinese decided to lie about it — just flat out lie,” the official said.
The official would not offer any U.S. intelligence assessment of the likelihood of Russian President Vladimir Putin deploying chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.
“We know that the Russians have had — and we assess that they still have — a sophisticated chemical and biological weapons program. I’m not going to talk about intelligence assessments about what they may do with that program or what, if any, designs they might have on Ukraine in that regard,” the official said.
The official said Russia’s “ridiculous narrative” could possibly “be building a pretext for some sort of false flag event.”
State of the invasion
The push to Kyiv: Russians have not moved any closer to Kyiv from the northwest since yesterday, still approximately 9 miles from city center. But the U.S. has seen rear elements move up closer to those advance troops. Russians advancing on the capital from northeast now 12-19 miles out.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Friday that the Russians coming from the east, while further from Kyiv, are gaining more ground than those to the northwest near the Hostomel Airport.
“We do assess that the Russians are beginning to make more momentum on the ground towards Kyiv, particularly from the east, not quite so much from the north,” Kirby said.
Kharkiv: Russians are “closing in,” but the city is well defended and hasn’t been taken yet.
Mariupol: The port city is under increasing pressure today. It is surrounded from northeast and southwest, under heavy bombardment, but Ukrainians are fighting back there.
Kherson: The city remains under Russian control: “We continue to assess that they have Kherson,” the official said.
Mykolayiv: Russian forces remain to the northeast of the city, though it is under increasing pressure. “We’ve observed the Ukrainians are continuing to defend the city, and the Russians are just outside the city,” the official said.
Lutsk and Ivano-Frankovsk: The Russians struck airfields in each city Friday.
“Obviously, they wanted to eliminate the Ukrainians’ ability to use these airfields,” the official said.
The official did not know how much the Ukrainians were using these two airfields or how extensive the damage was.
“What’s unusual about it is that [the Russians] haven’t been striking in western Ukraine,” the official said of the strikes.
Russian missile strikes
The Russians have now launched nearly 810 missiles against Ukraine — almost half have been fired from within Ukraine using mobile platforms. The rest have been fired from Russia, Belarus, and a small number from the Black Sea. This is up from an estimate of 775 missiles offered by the official Thursday.
Majority of combat power intact
Russia still has roughly 90% of its invading combat power still viable, with Ukraine falling just under 90%, the official said.
(NEW YORK) — Russia is doubling down on its false claims that the U.S. and Ukraine are developing chemical or biological weapons for use against invading Russian forces, bringing the accusation to the United Nations Security Council on Friday.
A web of disinformation, not only from Russian state media but also Chinese propaganda outlets and even some American voices, have increasingly spread the conspiracy theory this week.
That’s prompted heightened concern among U.S. and Ukrainian officials that Russia itself may be planning to deploy chemical or biological weapons against Ukrainian targets or as part of a so-called “false flag” operation.
“This makes me really worried because we’ve been repeatedly convinced if you want to know Russia’s plans, look at what Russia accuses others of,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a televised address late Thursday, a sentiment the White House first shared Wednesday.
Ukraine does not have biochemical weapons laboratories. Instead, there are public health and veterinary health labs operated with U.S. support in Ukraine and several other former Soviet countries that provide technical support to a government’s health ministry and study disease, like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
U.S. support originated with the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, launched in 1991 to help secure and dismantle the remnants of the former Soviet Union’s biochemical weapons program in newly independent states, including Ukraine.
The U.S. has talked openly about the program throughout its history, working with 26 facilities in Ukraine on issues like biosafety and scientific mentorship training, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, an independent nonprofit dedicated to science and global security.
But in recent years, Russia, as well as China, has escalated accusations that these labs constitute a secret U.S. biochemical weapons program, at one point even claiming in state-run media outlets that they created the COVID-19 pandemic. In bitter irony, these labs have helped detect and stop the spread of COVID-19, according to public health officials.
Those false claims have skyrocketed this week, with Russia now bringing them to one of the world’s brightest spotlights — the U.N. Security Council. Russia’s mission in New York called for an emergency meeting Friday, 24 hours after its defense ministry falsely claimed it uncovered “U.S. secret military biological projects in Ukraine,” per state-run media.
“We’re not going to let Russia get away with gaslighting the world or using the U.N. Security Council as a venue for promoting their disinformation,” Olivia Dalton, the spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the U.N., told ABC News Thursday.
It’s unclear if the U.S. will try to stop the meeting, currently scheduled for 10 a.m. ET. Procedural matters, like holding a meeting, require nine of the chamber’s 15 envoys to vote in favor, and no country can veto a meeting being held.
While the false claims have escalated this week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ranted back in December that Ukraine, with U.S. mercenary help, was preparing a chemical weapons attack.
In 2018, Russia also made similar accusations against Georgia, the small former Soviet state that the Kremlin invaded a decade earlier as its government, like Ukraine’s, sought NATO membership. Russian forces still occupy two regions of the country, recognizing them as independent states — just as it did last month in eastern Ukraine before launching its invasion.
“The Russian allegations appear to be part of a disinformation campaign that has grown in response to scrutiny of Moscow for using and enabling the use of chemical weapons,” the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reported in 2018 when Russia’s claims about Georgia were proven false.
The Kremlin record of “using and enabling the use of chemical weapons” runs deep, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, especially against individuals deemed enemies.
No one is higher on that list right now than Alexey Navalny. The opposition leader and anti-corruption activist was poisoned in August 2020 with the nerve agent Novichok by agents from the FSB, Russia’s principal security agency. He was flown to Germany and recovered before returning in January 2021 to Moscow, where he was almost immediately arrested.
Another notable example before Navalny were the Skripals. Sergei Skripal, a former Russian officer who was a double agent for the United Kingdom, was also poisoned with Novichok in March 2018 in Salisbury, England. His daughter Yulia and a police officer were also hospitalized by the attack, but all three recovered.
In contrast, Ukraine has been in full compliance with the chemical and biological weapons conventions since signing them in 1972 and 1993, respectively, according to the State Department.
Asked about Ukraine’s biomedical facilities, CIA Director Bill Burns told the Senate Thursday, “In any public health system around the world, there’s going to be work done in the interests of wider public health, to ensure that we have a grip on issues like that. But that’s in no way threatening. That’s not something that can be weaponized in the way that the Russians have clearly demonstrated — by their own actions against their citizens and people outside their country — their willingness to use.”
It’s unclear whether U.S. intelligence has any evidence that Russian forces are preparing for a chemical or biological attack. The White House, State Department and Pentagon publicly pointed only to “Moscow’s track record” and “increasingly concerning rhetoric,” in the words of State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
But a senior Pentagon official told reporters, “We have picked up indications that the Russians could be making these claims — these false claims — about us and Ukrainian work in bio defense as a way of creating a pretext of their own, to perhaps use these kinds of agents in an attack.”
Pressed on what “indications” they were referring to, they added, “I have to leave it with you with indications, and [I’m] not going to be at liberty to go in more detail than that today.”
For those in Ukraine, where Russian forces have shown there’s little they won’t do to subjugate the country, the fear is real.
“The manic obsession with which various Russian officials fantasize about non-existent biological or chemical weapons or hazards in Ukraine is deeply troubling and may actually point at Russia preparing another horrific false flag operation. This tweet is for the record,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Thursday.
