(SEOUL, South Korea) — Yoon Suk-yeol, of the conservative People Power Party, won the presidential race in South Korea after a bitter nail-biting vote count overnight. Results show a deeply divided country with 48.56% of ballots going to Yoon, and his rival Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party garnering 47.83%.
The race had been marred by negative campaigning plagued by a series of scandals involving corruption, malfeasance and even rumors about wives and a child.
Yoon, set to serve a five-year term, will lead Asia’s fourth-largest economy which has been hit hard by the pandemic, surging home prices and still faces threats from North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. His biggest foreign policy challenge will be to navigate his country stuck in between growing rivalry among two of its biggest trading partners, the U.S. and China.
As president he is likely to revive conservative foreign policies by taking a tougher stance against North Korea centered around a stronger U.S. alliance.
“Peace can only be maintained when there is strong deterrence. A war can only be prevented by securing a preemptive strike capability and showing the will to pursue it. As we have seen in Ukraine, a country’s national security and peace cannot be protected by paper and ink,” he said during a presidential debate last month.
A newcomer into politics, Yoon spent 27 years of his entire career as a prosecutor rising to prominence by prosecuting big political players.
His team of conservative policy specialists will likely advocate a militarily stronger South Korea with heavy investments in national defense. “A sense of national security crisis have heightened in South Korea as North Korea’s nuclear threat intensifies and also especially after Russia invaded Ukraine. Yoon will make a rational decision,” Bong Youngshik of Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies told ABC News.
Yoon was also open to seeking additional deployment of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system into his country as deterrence from North Korea’s nuclear threats.
“He will demand North Korea to denuclearize before any negotiations. Instead of pursuing dialogue, Yoon intends to deploy additional units of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system and strengthen joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises in proportion to North Korea’s missile threats.” Cheong Seong-Chang, researcher at the Seoul-based Sejong Institute, told ABC News.
“Yoon’s government will take a different stance from the Moon administration in dealing with North Korea. He won’t be offering sanctions relief unless North Korea makes significant steps to denuclearize, if there happens to be any.” Shin Beom Chul, director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, told ABC News.
ABC News’ Hakyung Kate Lee, Eunseo Nam and Hyerim Lee contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Twin Ukrainian boys who were born shortly after Russia began its attack in the country have been safely evacuated to Poland.
The twins’ father, Alexander Spektor, who lives in Chicago with the boys’ mother, Irma Nuñez, was able to meet his sons for the first time after their rescue Monday. The boys were born 10 days premature on Feb. 25.
“My sister told me that she never saw me spring that fast toward anything,” Spector said of his rush to see his twin sons, Lenny and Moishe. “We saw the pictures and the videos before but just to see the little tiny human bodies in front of us was just out of this world.”
The past two weeks have been agonizing for Nuñez and Spector, who was born in Kyiv and came with this family to the U.S. as a refugee.
Nuñez and Spektor, who is now an American citizen, worked with a surrogacy agency to have a surrogate in Ukraine carry their sons.
When the surrogate went into early labor on Feb. 25, she got stuck in military traffic for three hours trying to make it to a hospital in Kyiv that was equipped to handle the delivery, according to Spektor.
The boys were born safely, weighing around 4 pounds each, but had to remain in the hospital due to their medically sensitive status as premature babies.
Nuñez and Spektor, an associate professor of Russian at the University of Georgia, spent the days and nights following their sons’ birth trying to evacuate them to safety.
“We haven’t slept in about 14 days,” Spektor said of himself and Nuñez. “We were taking shifts, and we were constantly making phone calls.”
He continued, “The hospital where the babies were before they were transferred to a different hospital didn’t have food for premature babies so we had to organize a food delivery for them. They didn’t have a shelter, so the agency we were doing the surrogacy with helped to transfer the babies to another hospital that had a shelter. It was just harrowing and horrible.”
Spektor and Nuñez had been unsuccessful in getting their twins out of Ukraine until Vecina, a Texas-based immigration rights organization, connected them with Project Dynamo, a volunteer-run organization in Florida that works independently to rescue people in war zones.
Bryan Stern, the founder of Project Dynamo, agreed to go into Kyiv with a team of doctors, neonatal specialists and a nurse to rescue Lenny and Moishe, as well as another premature baby not related to the family but also in need.
Stern and his team partnered with a Ukrainian ambulance crew to drive a three-vehicle convoy through Kyiv to the hospital and back across the border into Poland, dodging traffic and checkpoints along the way, according to Stern.
The vehicles were equipped with not just medical equipment but also extra gasoline, hot water bottles and hand warmers to protect the babies if anything happened.
“We were moving as expeditiously as we could,” Stern said of the 14-hour journey. “We were driving on the wrong side of the road. We were bypassing all the checkpoints and all the traffic with the checkpoints.”
Stern and his team successfully evacuated the three babies and the boys’ surrogate, who was not named. The surrogate was reunited with her biological son in Ukraine and they are now working to safely evacuate her out of the country, according to Spektor and Stern.
Stern said this was his first time rescuing premature babies from a war zone, adding, “I really can’t articulate in words the anxiety that I had for for about three, four days culminating with pulling into the hospital of Poland.”
“It was pretty amazing,” he said of the rescue.
Spektor met his sons for the first time near the border in Poland, and then traveled with them to a hospital in Rzeszow, Poland, where they are now being cared for by hospital staff.
“We visit them in the hospital every day now and just touch them,” he said, adding that the babies are doing well medically. “I changed my first diaper yesterday and that was tough. I almost passed out.”
“It was almost as scary as waiting for them,” Spektor added with a laugh.
Describing his and his partner’s joy, Spektor said, “We had two happiest days of our lives — when they were born and two days ago, when they were brought into the hospital.”
The twins will remain in Poland for a few more weeks, until they gain more weight and are able to bottle feed, according to Spektor.
Then they will return to Chicago where “a lot of people are waiting for them,” according to Spektor, who said family and friends are preparing the boys’ nursery at home.
“You never expect a war to break out when when you’re preparing for the baby, so a lot of our stuff is in storage now,” he said. “But there’s so many people who are willing to help, and they’re painting the babies’ room as we speak right now.”
Though he is overjoyed to have his sons with him, Spektor said he cannot forget about the children who remain in Ukraine.
More than 4,300 babies have been born in the country since the conflict with Russia began, according to a Facebook post from Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice.
“Our babies are [in Poland] now, they’re safe, but there’s so many other children in Ukraine,” said Spektor. “It’s heartbreaking.”
(NEW YORK) — South Korea elected Yoon Suk-yeol, of the conservative People Power Party, as its 20th president on Wednesday. Yoon claimed victory in a tight race against Lee Jae-myung, of the ruling Democratic Party.
“I learned a lot while carrying out the campaign, what is needed to be a leader of a country, how to listen carefully to the people,” Yoon said in his victory speech. “This election process and competition are all for the people. Election is over now, and we need to be all one for the people and our Republic of Korea,” he said as supporters cheered and chanted “regime change”.
Results show a close race with 48.61% of ballots going to Yoon, and Lee garnering 47.78%.
About 77% of South Korea’s 44 million eligible voters cast ballots in this election, according to the country’s National Election Commission. Yoon will replace President Moon Jae-in.
Yoon jumped into politics last June after a 27-year career as a prosecutor. He achieved fame during his career for his aggressive prosecution of political players, including former President Park Geun-hye.
He is well-known for his quote at a parliamentary inquiry after prosecuting his own boss, then-Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, in 2013 — “I am not loyal to the person but loyal to the organization.”
Moon appointed Yoon as the prosecutor general in 2019 to lead a national political campaign to investigate corruption, but Yoon spent most of his term going after President Moon’s ruling party officials, ministers and presidential aides.
Yoon’s break with Moon intensified after indicting Moon’s then-closest aide and former justice minister, Cho Kuk, in 2019 on several charges including bribery and document fraud. That angered Moon’s supporters and Yoon eventually stepped down from position amid political pressure.
He was courted by the People Power Party last year to run for the presidency.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(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, don’t appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least 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 09, 9:08 am
US to send two Patriot anti-missile batteries to Poland
The United States said it’s sending two Patriot anti-missile batteries stationed in Europe to Poland as a “defensive deployment” at the request of the Polish government.
While testifying before Congress Tuesday on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said there were discussions underway with the Polish government about a possible deployment of Patriot batteries. The U.S. military’s European Command (EUCOM) later confirmed that two batteries already in Europe would be deployed to Poland.
“At the direction of the Secretary of Defense and at the invitation of our Polish allies, General Wolters, Commander of U.S. European Command, has directed U.S. Army Europe and Africa to reposition two Patriot Batteries to Poland,” EUCOM spokesman Capt. Adam Miller said in a statement Tuesday. “This defensive deployment is being conducted proactively to counter any potential threat to U.S. and Allied forces and NATO territory. This is a prudent force protection measure that underpins our commitment to Article Five and will in no way support any offensive operations. Every step we take is intended to deter aggression and reassure our Allies.”
The move came hours after the U.S. dismissed Poland’s offer to transfer all of its MiG-26 fighter jets to a U.S. air base in Germany to boost Ukraine’s fight against Russia, with Pentagon press secretary John Kirby saying in a statement Tuesday that “we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one.”
Poland is expecting delivery later this year of two Patriot batteries it had bought in 2018. The air defense systems are intended to shoot down incoming missiles, so their deployment to Poland means there are concerns about dealing with any incoming missile fire into the country, which shares a 330-mile border with Ukraine. It was unclear exactly where in Poland the Patriot batteries would be placed.
Mar 09, 8:40 am
Ukraine warns of radiation risk after power cut at Russia-occupied Chernobyl plant
Ukraine warned Wednesday that electricity has been entirely cut to its Chernobyl nuclear power plant and radioactive substance could be released because its storage facility cannot cool spent nuclear fuel.
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a 1,000-square-mile restricted area of deserted land surrounding the shuttered plant, was seized by Russian forces just hours after they launched their invasion on Feb. 24. The plant, situated between the Belarus-Ukraine border and the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, is the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.
Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection announced via Twitter on Wednesday that the “Kyiv high-voltage line is currently disconnected due to the damage caused by the occupiers.”
“As a result, the Chernobyl station and all nuclear facilities in the Exclusion Zone are without electricity,” the agency tweeted.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also confirmed the news on Twitter, saying the only electrical grid supplying Chernobyl and all its nuclear facilities occupied by Russian forces “is damaged,” causing a loss of power supply.
“I call on the international community to urgently demand Russia to cease fire and allow repair units to restore power supply,” Kuleba tweeted.
However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it “sees no critical impact on safety.” The nuclear watchdog of the United Nations tweeted that the “heat load of spent fuel storage pool and volume of cooling water” at Chernobyl is “sufficient for effective heat removal without need for electrical supply.”
Some 20,000 spent nuclear fuel assemblies are stored in Chernobyl’s storage facility and “need constant cooling,” which is only possible if there is electricity, according to Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection.
“If it is not there, the pumps will not cool. As a result, the temperature in the holding pools will increase,” the agency tweeted. “After that evaporation will occur, that will lead to nuclear discharge.”
Kuleba noted that reserve diesel generators have a 48-hour capacity to power Chernobyl.
“After that, cooling systems of the storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will stop, making radiation leaks imminent,” he tweeted. “Putin’s barbaric war puts entire Europe in danger. He must stop it immediately!”
Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection warned that “the wind can transfer the radioactive cloud” to other areas of Ukraine as well as Belarus, Russia and elsewhere in Europe. There is also no ventilation inside the Chernobyl storage facility.
“All personnel there will receive a dangerous dose of radiation,” the agency tweeted.
Meanwhile, the facility’s fire extinguishing system is not functioning and the agency warned of “a huge risk of fire caused by shelling.”
“The fight still goes on making it impossible to carry out repairs and restore power,” the agency tweeted.
Mar 09, 8:08 am
Russia responds to Poland offering fighter jets to help Ukraine
Russia warned Wednesday of “an extremely undesirable and potentially dangerous scenario” if other countries use their airfields to support Ukraine.
When asked by reporters during a daily press briefing to comment on Poland’s announcement Tuesday that it’s “ready” to “immediately” hand over all its MIG-29 fighter jets “free of charge” to a U.S. air base in Germany to boost Ukraine’s fight against Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The [Russian] Defense Ministry has already commented on the possibility of using any other airfields for takeoffs of military planes.”
“This is an extremely undesirable and potentially dangerous scenario,” he added.
Mar 09, 6:12 am
Over 2.15 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than 2.15 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations refugee agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to nearly 5% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in just two weeks.
More than half of the refugees are in neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
Mar 09, 5:19 am
Ukraine says humanitarian corridors confirmed with Russia, Red Cross for Wednesday
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said six humanitarian corridors have been agreed with Russian officials and confirmed with the International Committee of the Red Cross to operate during a temporary cease-fire Wednesday.
According to Vereshchuk, the evacuation routes for civilians are open from towns north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, where there has been heavy fighting, as well as from the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol, where an evacuation failed yesterday. Another route goes from the town of Izium near hard-hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and another from the eastern city of Volnovakha, where civilians have been trying to evacuate for several days. Another route leads from northeastern city of Energodar, where shelling caused a fire at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant last week.
Vereshchuk said Russian officials had sent a letter to the Red Cross confirming the routes and a cease-fire for Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time. She called on Russia to keep to its commitment and not to violate the cease-fire, as she said it did in Mariupol and Volnovakha on Tuesday.
“We ask Russian forces to commit to their obligations and keep the ceasefire till 9 p.m. as agreed,” Vereshchuk said in a statement Wednesday morning.
Vereshchuk noted that an orphanage with 55 children and 26 staff also needs to be evacuated from Vorzel, a town just north of Kyiv.
“The evacuation of them will be done as a separate special operation,” she said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Wednesday that it has discussed the interaction on the Ukraine track with the Red Cross.
Mar 08, 9:59 pm
Biden calls family of US Marine detained by Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden called the parents of Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who has been detained in Russia for nearly three years and whose case has gotten renewed attention amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
The president spoke to Joey and Paula Reed after an event in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday, according to the White House.
On the call, the president reiterated his commitment to doing everything he can to bring their son home, to staying in close touch with them through his national security team and to finding a time to meet in person, the White House said.
A Reed family spokesperson also confirmed to ABC News that Biden called them to apologize for not being able to stop and meet them in person.
The family says they have been asking to meet with the president for several months to help free Reed, a Texan who they say has been denied treatment for suspected tuberculosis, and specifically asked to meet the president in Texas on Tuesday but were denied.
Reed and another former Marine, Paul Whelan, have spent years in Russian custody on charges that their families and American officials say were fabricated by Russia in order to seize them as bargaining chips.
(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, don’t appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least 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 09, 9:08 am
US to send two Patriot anti-missile batteries to Poland
The United States said it’s sending two Patriot anti-missile batteries stationed in Europe to Poland as a “defensive deployment” at the request of the Polish government.
While testifying before Congress Tuesday on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said there were discussions underway with the Polish government about a possible deployment of Patriot batteries. The U.S. military’s European Command (EUCOM) later confirmed that two batteries already in Europe would be deployed to Poland.
“At the direction of the Secretary of Defense and at the invitation of our Polish allies, General Wolters, Commander of U.S. European Command, has directed U.S. Army Europe and Africa to reposition two Patriot Batteries to Poland,” EUCOM spokesman Capt. Adam Miller said in a statement Tuesday. “This defensive deployment is being conducted proactively to counter any potential threat to U.S. and Allied forces and NATO territory. This is a prudent force protection measure that underpins our commitment to Article Five and will in no way support any offensive operations. Every step we take is intended to deter aggression and reassure our Allies.”
The move came hours after the U.S. dismissed Poland’s offer to transfer all of its MiG-26 fighter jets to a U.S. air base in Germany to boost Ukraine’s fight against Russia, with Pentagon press secretary John Kirby saying in a statement Tuesday that “we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one.”
Poland is expecting delivery later this year of two Patriot batteries it had bought in 2018. The air defense systems are intended to shoot down incoming missiles, so their deployment to Poland means there are concerns about dealing with any incoming missile fire into the country, which shares a 330-mile border with Ukraine. It was unclear exactly where in Poland the Patriot batteries would be placed.
Mar 09, 8:40 am
Ukraine warns of radiation risk after power cut at Russia-occupied Chernobyl plant
Ukraine warned Wednesday that electricity has been entirely cut to its Chernobyl nuclear power plant and radioactive substance could be released because its storage facility cannot cool spent nuclear fuel.
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a 1,000-square-mile restricted area of deserted land surrounding the shuttered plant, was seized by Russian forces just hours after they launched their invasion on Feb. 24. The plant, situated between the Belarus-Ukraine border and the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, is the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.
Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection announced via Twitter on Wednesday that the “Kyiv high-voltage line is currently disconnected due to the damage caused by the occupiers.”
“As a result, the Chernobyl station and all nuclear facilities in the Exclusion Zone are without electricity,” the agency tweeted.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also confirmed the news on Twitter, saying the only electrical grid supplying Chernobyl and all its nuclear facilities occupied by Russian forces “is damaged,” causing a loss of power supply.
“I call on the international community to urgently demand Russia to cease fire and allow repair units to restore power supply,” Kuleba tweeted.
However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it “sees no critical impact on safety.” The nuclear watchdog of the United Nations tweeted that the “heat load of spent fuel storage pool and volume of cooling water” at Chernobyl is “sufficient for effective heat removal without need for electrical supply.”
Some 20,000 spent nuclear fuel assemblies are stored in Chernobyl’s storage facility and “need constant cooling,” which is only possible if there is electricity, according to Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection.
“If it is not there, the pumps will not cool. As a result, the temperature in the holding pools will increase,” the agency tweeted. “After that evaporation will occur, that will lead to nuclear discharge.”
Kuleba noted that reserve diesel generators have a 48-hour capacity to power Chernobyl.
“After that, cooling systems of the storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will stop, making radiation leaks imminent,” he tweeted. “Putin’s barbaric war puts entire Europe in danger. He must stop it immediately!”
Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection warned that “the wind can transfer the radioactive cloud” to other areas of Ukraine as well as Belarus, Russia and elsewhere in Europe. There is also no ventilation inside the Chernobyl storage facility.
“All personnel there will receive a dangerous dose of radiation,” the agency tweeted.
Meanwhile, the facility’s fire extinguishing system is not functioning and the agency warned of “a huge risk of fire caused by shelling.”
“The fight still goes on making it impossible to carry out repairs and restore power,” the agency tweeted.
Mar 09, 8:08 am
Russia responds to Poland offering fighter jets to help Ukraine
Russia warned Wednesday of “an extremely undesirable and potentially dangerous scenario” if other countries use their airfields to support Ukraine.
When asked by reporters during a daily press briefing to comment on Poland’s announcement Tuesday that it’s “ready” to “immediately” hand over all its MIG-29 fighter jets “free of charge” to a U.S. air base in Germany to boost Ukraine’s fight against Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The [Russian] Defense Ministry has already commented on the possibility of using any other airfields for takeoffs of military planes.”
“This is an extremely undesirable and potentially dangerous scenario,” he added.
Mar 09, 6:12 am
Over 2.15 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than 2.15 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations refugee agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to nearly 5% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in just two weeks.
More than half of the refugees are in neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
Mar 09, 5:19 am
Ukraine says humanitarian corridors confirmed with Russia, Red Cross for Wednesday
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said six humanitarian corridors have been agreed with Russian officials and confirmed with the International Committee of the Red Cross to operate during a temporary cease-fire Wednesday.
According to Vereshchuk, the evacuation routes for civilians are open from towns north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, where there has been heavy fighting, as well as from the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol, where an evacuation failed yesterday. Another route goes from the town of Izium near hard-hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and another from the eastern city of Volnovakha, where civilians have been trying to evacuate for several days. Another route leads from northeastern city of Energodar, where shelling caused a fire at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant last week.
Vereshchuk said Russian officials had sent a letter to the Red Cross confirming the routes and a cease-fire for Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time. She called on Russia to keep to its commitment and not to violate the cease-fire, as she said it did in Mariupol and Volnovakha on Tuesday.
“We ask Russian forces to commit to their obligations and keep the ceasefire till 9 p.m. as agreed,” Vereshchuk said in a statement Wednesday morning.
Vereshchuk noted that an orphanage with 55 children and 26 staff also needs to be evacuated from Vorzel, a town just north of Kyiv.
“The evacuation of them will be done as a separate special operation,” she said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Wednesday that it has discussed the interaction on the Ukraine track with the Red Cross.
Mar 08, 9:59 pm
Biden calls family of US Marine detained by Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden called the parents of Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who has been detained in Russia for nearly three years and whose case has gotten renewed attention amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
The president spoke to Joey and Paula Reed after an event in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday, according to the White House.
On the call, the president reiterated his commitment to doing everything he can to bring their son home, to staying in close touch with them through his national security team and to finding a time to meet in person, the White House said.
A Reed family spokesperson also confirmed to ABC News that Biden called them to apologize for not being able to stop and meet them in person.
The family says they have been asking to meet with the president for several months to help free Reed, a Texan who they say has been denied treatment for suspected tuberculosis, and specifically asked to meet the president in Texas on Tuesday but were denied.
Reed and another former Marine, Paul Whelan, have spent years in Russian custody on charges that their families and American officials say were fabricated by Russia in order to seize them as bargaining chips.
(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 Tuesday:
Russian forces mostly still intact
Nearly all Russian forces arrayed at the Ukrainian border for the invasion have now gone in, according to the official. Despite losing troops, ground vehicles and aircraft in the fighting, the official estimated these forces remain roughly 95% intact.
Russian ground efforts stalled in the north
Russian troops approaching Kyiv have made little progress in recent days, according to the official.
“We continue to see Ukrainian resistance efforts slow down the Russians, particularly in the north,” the official said.
Another factor is that “they still seem to be plagued by logistics and sustainment challenges,” including fuel and food shortages, the official said.
The Pentagon also continues to see fighting and resistance against the Russian advance in the northern cities of Chernihiv and Kharkiv.
The farthest the main Russian force heading to Kyiv seems to have been able to reach is Hostomel Airport, a site of intense combat some 20 miles northwest of the city.
But their intent is clear, the official said: “We still have every reason to assess that their effort is to encircle and force the surrender of Kiev.”
A new Russian approach emerges
Further out than those advance troops, a Russian push toward the capital is emerging in the northeast, just above the town of Sumy, the official said. These troops are roughly 37 miles from Kyiv.
Russians try to “sow fear and confusion” in the city
While the main invading force has not reached Kyiv, the official was in “no position to refute” reports of minor, isolated skirmishes between Russian “reconnaissance elements” and Ukrainian forces inside the city.
“We think that these reports of street fighting in Kyiv are really the result of their efforts to sow fear and confusion and and try to set the stage for what could be coming later,” the official said.
Strikes on civilians continue
Russian air and missile attacks are increasing as their ground effort has been frustrated, according to the official.
“Whether intentionally or not, they’re hitting military and government infrastructure as well as residential areas and civilian targets,” the official said.
Russians see more success in the south
Russian troops advancing to the northwest out of Crimea are about 25 miles from Mykolayiv, the official said. The official noted that while there is speculation that the move on Mykolayiv is meant to put troops in position to attack the port city of Odessa from the north as amphibious troops assault from the coast, “we don’t see any evidence of amphibious landings” at this point.
On the Sea of Azov coast, Russian forces have isolated Mariupol and continue to bombard it with long-range attacks. Thousands of troops put ashore in an amphibious landing on the second day of the invasion are approaching the city from the southwest as more troops push down from Donetsk.
U.S.-Russia deconfliction line in working order
Last week Pentagon press secretary John Kirby announced it had set up a “deconfliction line” with Russia to “reduce the chances of miscalculations and try to bring down the tensions as that contested airspace over Ukraine now bumps up against NATO airspace.”
The senior defense official said that as of Tuesday, the two countries have used the line about a dozen times, but so far only for test calls to make sure “somebody’s picking up on the other end.”
A problem for any proposed no-fly zone
“Much of the airspace of Ukraine, north and south, is under some umbrella of Russian surface-to-air missile capability,” the official 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, don’t appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least 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 08, 6:27 pm
Zelenskyy ‘personally grateful’ to Biden, Ukrainian president says in new address
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked President Joe Biden for additional sanctions taken against Russia on Tuesday, saying they will “significantly weaken the occupiers.”
The new measures include a ban on imports of oil, petroleum products, gas and coal from Russia. U.S. citizens are also now prohibited from investing in Russia’s fuel and energy sector.
“A ban on oil imports to the United States will weaken the terrorist state economically, politically and ideologically, because it is about freedom — about the future, about where the world will move,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he is “personally grateful” to Biden.
Zelenskyy also expressed gratitude to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson for instating a similar ban, describing Johnson as “a man of his word, a sincere friend of Ukraine.”
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 08, 5:32 pm
US could tighten sanctions against Russia even more, experts say
Even with a series of harsh measures already taken on Russia, including a ban on Russian imports, the sanctioning of Russia’s central bank and the enactment of export controls, the U.S. could enact even tighter sanctions, several experts told ABC News.
The U.S. could push other countries to make commitments to decrease their reliance on Russian energy — which it and the U.K. are already beginning to do — and to increase their own production of oil and gas to lower the high energy prices Americans and Europeans are starting to face — and it could also get Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and others to increase their exports.
Other current sanctions the U.S. could tighten include imposing “full-blocking” sanctions, the harshest possible financial sanctions, on Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank. The U.S. has already done this for several other banks but has only put limited restrictions on Sberbank in order to limit the impact on the ordinary Russians who use the bank.
The U.S. could also put additional secondary sanctions on banks, put more restrictions on Russian goods, keep pursuing oligarchs and other Russian elites and sanction other Russian sectors such as minerals, chemicals, and coal.
The sanctions the West has already imposed have devastated the Russian economy at a rapid clip. They will continue to compound and inflict more pain on the Russian economy as they continue to play out, the experts said.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Mar 08, 4:41 pm
Coca-Cola, Pepsi become latest brands to cease operations in Russia
The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo have suspended business in Russia, the companies announced Tuesday.
“Our hearts are with the people who are enduring unconscionable effects from these tragic events in Ukraine,” the release states. “We will continue to monitor and assess the situation as circumstances evolve.”
Pepsi, which has ben operating in Russia for more than 60 years, “must stay true to the humanitarian aspect of our business,” CEO Ramon Laguarta wrote in a letter to PepsiCo associates.
“Our first priority continues to be the safety and security of our fellow Ukrainian associates,” Laguarta said. “We suspended operations in Ukraine to enable our associates to seek safety for themselves and their families, and our dedicated crisis teams in the sector and region continue to closely monitor developments in real time.”
Pepsi will also continue to provide aid to assist Ukrainians refugees in neighboring countries, including donating milk and refrigerators to relief organizations, and we’re ramping up production of foods and beverages in neighboring countries to meet the increased need, Laguarta said.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Mar 08, 4:11 pm
Americans won’t be asked to stay home to cut down on gas usage, White House says
The White House is not engaging in speculation about how high crude oil prices will spike but said Americans will not be asked to stay home to cut down on gas usage.
“We’re neither going to make a prediction, or – nor are we going to tell Americans to stay home,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
Some House Democrats, such Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Tuesday morning, have suggested that asking the federal government and private business to encourage working from home would ease the demand for fuel and help keep prices stable.
But Psaki dismissed the suggestion of ramping up work from home, as the administration has been working to move into the “endemic” phase of COVID-19, returning to more normalcy.
Upon arriving to Texas Tuesday afternoon, President Joe Biden told reporters that there’s little he can do about the soaring gas prices, blaming Russia for sparking the crisis.
“They’re gonna go up,” Biden said about gas prices after arriving in Fort Worth. “Can’t do much right now. Russia’s responsible.”
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Mar 08, 3:58 pm
Russian forces 95% intact on Day 13 of invasion: US official
Despite losing troops, ground vehicles and aircraft in the fighting, Russia’s invading forces remain roughly 95% intact, a senior U.S. defense official said at a press briefing Tuesday.
Ukrainian resistance efforts are continuing to slow down Russian forces, particularly in the north, where they have not moved any closer to Kyiv’s city center since yesterday, the official said. Fighting and resistance against the Russian advance on Chernihiv and Kharkiv have been reported as well, the official said.
Russian air and missile attacks are increasing as the ground effort has been frustrated, and bombardment of the capital continues, he added. Much of the airspace of Ukraine, in the north and south, is under some umbrella of “Russian surface-to-air missile capability,” the official said.
“We still have every reason to assess that their effort is to encircle and force the surrender of Kyiv,” the official said.
In the south, Russians advancing to the northwest out of Crimea are about 25 miles out of Mykolayiv, the official said. Russian forces have isolated the city of Mariupol and continue to bombard it, he added.
In addition, Ukraine’s military is struggling to overcome shortages of fuel and food, he said.
The deconfliction line set up last Tuesday about has been used by the U.S. and Russia about a dozen times now, but so far only for test calls to make sure “somebody’s picking up on the other end.”
-ABC News’ Mattew Seyler
Mar 08, 3:35 pm
Officials ‘deeply concerned’ about staff and potential nuclear risks at Chernobyl
The safety of the hundreds of staff who are still on duty at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is becoming more precarious, according to multiple agencies.
About 210 personnel have on duty since Feb. 24, the day before Russian military forces entered the disaster site, and have not rotated out, according to the agency.
Nuclear material and facilities demand continuous coverage, which requires employees to operate on a rotation, fixed, or modified shifts, according to a publication from the U.S. Department of Energy. There are many psychological and physiological impacts that can affect work performance, safety, and security without an organization, the material states.
Today, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine told the IAEA that it is becoming increasingly urgent and important for the safe management of the site to replace the current personnel.
While the staff has access to food, water and medicine to a limited extent, the situation is worsening, Ukraine’s nuclear regulator told the IAEA.
“I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety. I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the IAEA, said in a statement Tuesday.
Ukraine’s nuclear regulator also asked the IAEA to lead the international support needed to prepare a plan for replacing the current team, which will include pausing the handling of nuclear material at the site, which includes decommissioned reactors as well as radioactive waste facilities
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 08, 3:29 pm
Starbucks suspends operations in Russia ‘immediately’
Starbucks announced Tuesday it will immediately suspend all its operations in Russia, condemning the “horrific attacks on Ukraine by Russia.”
“We continue to watch the tragic events unfold and, today, we have decided to suspend all business activity in Russia, including shipment of all Starbucks products,” the company’s chief executive officer, Kevin Johnson, said in a statement.
The company said its licensed partner agreed to immediately pause store operations and provide support for its nearly 2,000 workers.
“Through this dynamic situation, we will continue to make decisions that are true to our mission and values and communicate with transparency,” Johnson said.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Mar 08, 3:10 pm
McDonald’s to temporarily close restaurants, pause operations in Russia
McDonald’s announced Tuesday it is temporarily closing its restaurants and pausing operations in Russia, as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.
“The conflict in Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis in Europe has caused unspeakable suffering to innocent people. As a System, we join the world in condemning aggression and violence and praying for peace,” the company’s chief executive officer, Chris Kempczinski, said in a statement.
McDonald’s employs 62,000 people in Russia, operating in 850 communities, the company said. It will continue paying salaries for all its employees in Russia.
“Our values mean we cannot ignore the needless human suffering unfolding in Ukraine,” said Kempczinski.
Kempczinski said it is impossible to predict when the company will be reopening its restaurants.
“We are experiencing disruptions to our supply chain along with other operational impacts. We will also closely monitor the humanitarian situation,” Kempczinski said.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Mar 08, 2:51 pm
Poland announces it is ‘ready’ to handover all its MIG-19 fighter jets
The Polish government announced Tuesday it is ready to immediately handover all its MIG-29 fighter jets to the U.S. and deploy them at the Rammstein Air Base in Germany.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the West and NATO to supply Ukraine with fighter jets.
Poland, in a statement, said it is ready to provide the MIGs free of charge and asked the U.S. to backfill them with used aircrafts with “corresponding capabilities.”
“The Polish Government also requests other NATO Allies – owners of MIG-29 jets – to act in the same vein,” Poland said in a statement.
A senior U.S. defense official said “we have seen the Polish government’s announcement and have nothing to offer at this time.”
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou and Luis Martinez
Mar 08, 2:06 pm
Ukrainian intelligence claims Russian general has been killed in fighting near Kharkiv
Ukrainian intelligence claimed Tuesday that a Russian general was killed in fighting near the eastern city of Kharkiv. If confirmed, this would be the second general Russia has lost in Ukraine in a week, according to reports from Russian media last week.
Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency identified the general as Vitaly Gerasimov, chief of staff of the 41st Army.
Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency also published audio of an alleged intercepted phone call between two officers from Russia’s FSB intelligence agency discussing Gerasimov’s death.
Russia has not confirmed or denied the death.
The executive director of the open source group Bellingcat, Christo Grozev, said he had confirmed Gerasimov’s death with a Russian source. Grosev said Bellingcat had also identified the FSB officer in the alleged recording.
Last week, the 41st Army’s deputy commander, Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, was confirmed by Russian media to have been killed.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 08, 1:37 pm
Zelenskyy asks UK parliament to increase pressure of sanctions, make Ukrainian skies safe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to the U.K.’s parliament Tuesday, asking it to increase the pressure of sanctions and “make our Ukrainian skies safe.”
Zelenskyy has been asking NATO and the West to enforce a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine, but the U.S. and its allies have declined the request.
The Ukrainian president was greeted with rousing applause from members of the House, who stood before he spoke.
In his speech, Zelenskyy quoted Shakespeare, saying, “We have to be or not to be. This is a Shakespearean question. Not that I have the answer, but…Yes it is to be.”
He also paraphrased the words of Winston Churchill.
“We will not give up. We will continue fighting for our land whatever the costs. We will fight in the fields, in the seas, in the streets. We will fight on the banks of different rivers,” Zelenskyy said.
“We do not want to lose what we have,” Zelenskyy said.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Matt Gutman
Mar 08, 12:29 pm
European Commission releases proposal to make EU independent from Russian fossil fuels before 2030
The European Commission on Tuesday released its proposed plan to make the European Union independent from Russian fossil fuels before 2030, starting with gas.
The plan “will seek to diversify gas supplies, speed up the roll-out of renewable gases and replace gas in heating and power generation,” according to the European Commission.
This plan could reduce the EU’s demand for Russian gas by two-thirds before the end of the year, according to the European Commission.
“We must become independent from Russian oil, coal and gas. We simply cannot rely on a supplier who explicitly threatens us,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
Von der Leyen said she would be discussing the Commission’s proposal with European leaders in Versailles later this week.
“Putin’s war demonstrates the urgency of accelerating our clean energy transition,” the European Commission wrote on Twitter.
Just before the invasion of Ukraine, the EU reported wholesale gas prices were around 200% higher than a year ago. The invasion aggravated the energy crisis even further.
The EU said it is reliant on imports of fossil fuels— gas, oil and coal— to meet its needs.
Last year, Russia provided around 45% of the EU’s total gas imports, 27% of the EU’s total crude oil imports and 46% of the EU’s hard coal imports, according to the European Commission.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 08, 11:57 am
US announces ban on Russian oil imports, other energy products
The United States will ban imports of Russian oil and other energy products but will not be joined in doing so by European allies, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday.
“Today, I’m announcing the United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy,” Biden told reporters during a press conference from the White House. “We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy.”
Biden said the ban means the U.S. “will deal another powerful blow” to Russian President Vladimir Putin amid his invasion of neighboring Ukraine. The move is also expected to trigger sharply higher gasoline and other energy prices in the U.S. and worldwide.
“There will be cost as well here in the United States,” he added. “Republicans and Democrats understand, alike, understand that.”
The decision was made in “close consultation” with U.S. allies and partners around the world, particularly in Europe, according to Biden.
“Because a united response to Putin’s aggression has been my overriding focus, to keep all NATO and all the EU and our allies totally united,” he said. “We’re moving forward, understanding that many of our European allies and partner may not be in a position to join us.”
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Molly Nagle
Mar 08, 11:52 am
UK to phase out Russian oil by end of 2022
The United Kingdom will phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of the year, as part of its sanctions on Moscow for invading Ukraine, U.K. Buiness Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced Tuesday.
“Beyond Russia, the vast majority of our imports come from reliable partners such as the US, Netherlands and the Gulf. We’ll work with them this year to secure further supplies,” Kwarteng said on his official Twitter account.
Kwarteng noted that while the U.K. “is not dependent” on Russian natural gas, as it only makes up 4% of the U.K’s supply, he is exploring options to “end this altogether.”
“The market has already begun to ostracise Russian oil, with nearly 70% of it currently unable to find a buyer,” he added.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Mar 08, 11:31 am
Ukrainian morning show host speaks to ABC News from bomb shelter
Yegor Gordeev, host of the Ukrainian television morning show Breaking with 1+1, said he and his coworkers have had to evacuate the studio during broadcast several times as air raid sirens ring out across Kyiv.
“I’m not in studio, I’m in bomb shelter,” Gordeev told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos during an interview Tuesday on Good Morning America.
“In Ukraine, we have no shows now, we have no TV channels now, we have only one big broadcast for controlled information to audience, for communication with audience for everything,” he added.
It was a bloody day in the Ukrainian capital, according to Gordeev. He said the Ukrainian Air Force shot down a Russian aircraft in the center of Kyiv early Tuesday morning, while a Russian rocket destroyed the city’s largest bakery, killing 30 people.
Gordeev said he hopes for peace in his home country but he’s “not sure.”
“In 21st century, it’s barbarian war,” he said in disbelief. “Putin is unstoppable.”
Mar 08, 10:21 am
Russian Defense Ministry claims Kyiv is ‘against’ evacuation of Ukrainians to Russia
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Tuesday that Ukrainian authorities are “categorically against” evacuating residents of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol to Russia.
“The authorities in Kyiv are continuing to categorically reject all main routes of evacuation from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol to the territory of the Russian Federation,” Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, said at a briefing.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed the Ukrainians only confirmed one of the 10 evacuation routes Russia proposed. The confirmed route is from the city of Sumy, through Poltava and to the border with Poland, Mizintsev said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed more than 2.5 million Ukrainians asked to be evacuated to Russia.
“Following the past day, 2,541,367 appeals from individual Ukrainian citizens, as well as foreigners made via various communication channels requesting to save and evacuate them from 1,917 settlements in Ukraine have already been processed in our database,” Mizintsev said.
The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed checkpoints in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova and Romania “were virtually ill prepared” to receive Ukrainian refugees.
“People are forced to leave their cars and walk on foot carrying their heavy bags. Lines are up to 40 kilometers long, and the crossing time is over two days,” Mizintsev said.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Mar 08, 10:06 am
Vatican secretary of state speaks with Russia foreign minister
Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, spoke on the phone with the Russian foreign minister to convey Pope Francis’ “deep concern about the ongoing war in Ukraine.”
Parolin reiterated the pope’s “call for an end to armed attacks, for the securing of humanitarian corridors for civilians and rescuers, and for the replacement of gun violence with negotiation.”
The pope announced Sunday that he has dispatched two cardinals to Poland and Hungry. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski traveled to the Polish-Ukraine border to visit refugees and volunteers in shelters and homes, while Cardinal Michael Czerny will arrive in Hungry on Tuesday to visit reception centers for migrants arriving from Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Phoebe Natanson
Mar 08, 10:06 am
Vatican secretary of state speaks with Russia foreign minister
Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, spoke on the phone with the Russian foreign minister to convey Pope Francis’ “deep concern about the ongoing war in Ukraine.”
Parolin reiterated the pope’s “call for an end to armed attacks, for the securing of humanitarian corridors for civilians and rescuers, and for the replacement of gun violence with negotiation.”
The pope announced Sunday that he has dispatched two cardinals to Poland and Hungry. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski traveled to the Polish-Ukraine border to visit refugees and volunteers in shelters and homes, while Cardinal Michael Czerny will arrive in Hungry on Tuesday to visit reception centers for migrants arriving from Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Phoebe Natanson
Mar 08, 9:02 am
US says Russia seems to be observing cease-fire but unclear for how long
While the United States welcomes Russia’s declaration of a temporary cease-fire in several besieged areas of Ukraine, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said Tuesday it remains unclear exactly how long Russian forces will hold fire.
“We think this is obviously a welcome step that the cease-fire seems to be being observed by the Russians. They don’t exactly have a good track record in that regard. So it’s welcome to see people are able to get out,” Kirby told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview on Good Morning America.
“But,” Kirby added, “that cease-fire’s going to expire in a number of hours and so it’s yet to be seen how much more violent the shelling and the bombardments are going to get.”
While Ukraine has continued to call on NATO to establish a no-fly zone over the country — something Washington has already ruled out — along with more help from the U.S., Kirby said there are other steps being taken.
“We are accelerating and expediting the shipment of arms and materiel to Ukraine. In fact, another shipments arrived in eastern Europe just overnight and they will be sent in to Ukraine in the coming hours and days, and there’s more coming,” Kirby said. “And it’s not just the United States. Fourteen other nations are also providing security assistance to Ukraine to help them fight.”
But on the potential of the U.S. replacing Polish fighter jets, should Poland send theirs to Ukraine, Kirby said it was a “possibility” but was non-committal.
“We’re not going to stand in the way of another sovereign nation if they want to provide aircraft to the Ukrainian Air Force. Now that’s certainly their decision and we respect that,” he said. “This issue of whether we backfill it with American jets — we’re looking at that as a possibility here, but there’s an awful lot of logistical and financial issues that have to be dealt with on how that would happen. No decision has been made yet.”
When asked about the risk of a wider war if that happens, Kirby said: “That’s a possibility that we’re always looking at.”
“That’s certainly in the back of everybody’s mind, not just the United States but in NATO nations as well. You don’t want to escalate this conflict any bigger and any worse than it already is. You’re talking about Russia, a nuclear armed power. The consequences for escalating this conflict could be devastating, not just for the people of Ukraine but for the European continent,” he said.
Mar 08, 8:40 am
US to ban Russian oil imports, source says
The White House is expected to announce a ban on U.S. imports of Russian oil as soon as Tuesday, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Mar 08, 8:26 am
Child died from dehydration in besieged Mariupol, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that a child has died from dehydration in the besieged port city of Mariupol.
“Russia is for sure to blame for the deaths of people from airstrikes and in the blocked cities,” Zelenskyy said in a televised address. “But the responsibility is also on those who during these 13 days can’t make a decision in their offices in the West, an obviously necessary decision. Those who don’t secure Ukrainian sky from Russian murderers, who didn’t save our cities from airstrikes, these bombs and missiles, although they can.”
“We have been hearing promises about support for 13 days that the jets are about to arrive,” he added. “We have heard promises about securing humanitarian corridors. They didn’t work. We don’t have time to wait. People in Mariupol don’t have time to wait.”
Zelenskyy said trucks carrying humanitarian aid have been sent to Mariupol. He accused the International Committee of the Red Cross of “forbidding the use of its emblem on our cars,” but did not give further details. Videos posted to social media on Tuesday purportedly show vehicles heading to Mariupol from other Ukrainian cities bearing signs with a red cross, but it’s not clear who pasted them there.
“The drivers are heroes who understand they can be killed by Russian troops,” Zelenskyy said. “If you kill those people, the whole world will be the witness.”
Mar 08, 7:33 am
One million children among those who have fled Ukraine: UNICEF
Out of the more than two million people who have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, half of them are children, according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder called it a “dark historical first.”
Mar 08, 7:15 am
Shell pledges to stop buying Russian oil and gas
Energy giant Shell announced Tuesday plans to withdraw from its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons, including crude oil and natural gas, amid Russia’s unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
“As an immediate first step, the company will stop all spot purchases of Russian crude oil. It will also shut its service stations, aviation fuels and lubricants operations in Russia,” Shell said in a statement.
Shell will immediately stop buying Russian crude oil on the spot market and not renew term contracts. The company will also change its crude oil supply chain to remove Russian volumes, but said “this could take weeks to complete and will lead to reduced throughput at some of our refineries.”
In addition, Shell will shut its service stations, aviation fuels and lubricants operations in Russia, and will start a phased withdrawal from Russian petroleum products, pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas.
The company apologized for buying Russian oil last week.
“We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel — despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking — was not the right one and we are sorry,” Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said in a statement. “As we have already said, we will commit profits from the limited, remaining amounts of Russian oil we will process to a dedicated fund. We will work with aid partners and humanitarian agencies over the coming days and weeks to determine where the monies from this fund are best placed to alleviate the terrible consequences that this war is having on the people of Ukraine.”
Mar 08, 6:49 am
Two children among at least 21 killed by Russian airstrike in Sumy: Ukrainian officials
At least 21 civilians, including two children, were killed by a Russian airstrike in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy on Monday night, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
The strike hit a residential area of Sumy, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, which the regional prosecutor’s office said was still on the scene searching for victims Tuesday.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk called on Russian forces to maintain the agreed upon temporary cease-fire in Sumy and four other Ukrainian cities to allow civilians to evacuate Tuesday. She said Russian authorities have confirmed to the International Committee of the Red Cross that one evacuation route out of Sumy will be open, but Ukrainian officials are awaiting confirmation on the other routes they submitted.
Mar 08, 6:19 am
Over two million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than two million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Over 1.2 million of the refugees from Ukraine are in neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
“Today the outflow of refugees from Ukraine reaches two million people. Two million,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Tuesday in a post on his official Twitter account.
Mar 08, 5:36 am
Russia declares temporary cease-fire for humanitarian corridors in five Ukrainian cities
Russia declared Tuesday a temporary cease-fire in five besieged cities of Ukraine, including the capital, to let civilians leave.
“For safe evacuation of civilians from populated areas, a cease-fire is declared and humanitarian corridors are opening from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol from 10:00 a.m. today,” Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a press briefing.
All five cities except Kyiv had sustained brutal, indiscriminate bombardment in recent days.
It’s the fourth attempt to hold fire and allow civilians to escape the onslaught since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have been holding talks in recent days, and the Russian delegation has previously agreed to a temporary cease-fire and opening of humanitarian corridors in parts of Ukraine. But Russia has violated its own cease-fire and shelled evacuation points, while falsely accusing Ukraine of using people as human shields.
The hard-hit cities of Kharkiv and Mariupol were reported to be quiet Tuesday morning, with a local official telling ABC News that the center of Mariupol, a strategic port in the southeast, is not being shelled for the first time in days.
Ukraine said Russia has agreed this time to allow civilians to evacuate not only to Russia but also to other parts of Ukraine. Columns of buses and trucks with humanitarian aid are currently headed to Sumy, Mariupol and possibly other cities.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russia has confirmed to the International Committee of the Red Cross that one route out of Sumy will be open. Vereshchuk said she hopes Russia will confirm routes for the other cities and also for the eastern city of Volnovakha. She warned Ukraine has information that Russia may have plans to disrupt the evacuations by leading civilians out of the agreed safe routes, in order to claim that Ukraine is not observing the agreement.
Petro Andrushenko, advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, said the city plans to evacuate people as long as Russian forces do not fire. A column of 60 buses and nine trucks of medical aid and food are headed to Mariupol now, and the hope is that at least 4,000 people can be evacuated via the buses plus an unknown number of private cars that will join the convoy, according to Andrushenko.
“If Russia doesn’t break it, we plan to evacuate people,” Andrushenko told ABC News via telephone Tuesday morning.
Mar 08, 2:05 am
World Bank approves $723 million in emergency support for Ukraine
The World Bank said its board approved a package of loans and guarantees for Ukraine totaling $723 million.
The funding will help the Ukrainian government pay for government services, “including wages for hospital workers, pensions for the elderly, and social programs for the vulnerable,” the bank said in a statement on Monday.
The bank said it’s preparing an additional $3 billion in support for Ukraine and neighboring countries, which have taken in more than 1.7 million refugees since the Russian invasion began.
“The World Bank Group is taking quick action to support Ukraine and its people in the face of the violence and extreme disruption caused by the Russian invasion,” World Bank President David Malpass said in a statement. “The World Bank Group stands with the people of Ukraine and the region. This is the first of many steps we are taking to help.”
The funding announced on Monday includes $350 million in supplemental loans, along with guarantees totaling $139 million from the Netherlands and Sweden, the bank said. Grant financing totaling $134 million will come from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland. Japan is providing $100 million in additional financing, the bank said.
(LVIV, Ukraine) — As millions of people flee Ukraine amid intensifying attacks from Russia, inside a state-run orphanage in Lviv, dozens of children remain.
The children, who range in age from 3 to 16, have already fled war-torn Eastern Ukraine to make it to Lviv, where they are expected to stay through the war.
The principal of the orphanage, Svitlana Havryliuk, told ABC News’ Matt Gutman that if the fighting approaches, the children will take refuge in the orphanage’s bomb shelter. She said the children have already been through too much and need stability, instead of fleeing again.
At the orphanage, which has nearly double its usual population, the children play with toys, watch Paw Patrol, and do enrichment activities with volunteers.
Anna Borshchuk, who was studying political science in college before the conflict, now volunteers with the children.
“I think just time spending with them, being with them is the most important,” she told ABC News. “Not like maybe money, not other games, but just being with them.”
Before the war, 100,000 children in Ukraine were being raised in institutions, according to government statistics, a United Nations Children’s Fund spokesperson told ABC News.
Many of the institutions are located in hot spots, according to the spokesperson, who added that many of the children in institutions, such as boarding schools and orphanages, have disabilities.
These institutions are being evacuated without proper monitoring of the children’s situation, according to UNICEF.
The children sheltering in the Lviv orphanage panic and sob when they hear sirens, according to Havryliuk, who said the children need love and qualified social workers.
“During the first day, it was horrible,” she said. “Probably every child was yelling shouting, screaming, and it was impossible to go downstairs to the bomb shelter.”
Describing how she and volunteers calm the children down, Havryliuk added, “If a child is terrified, you have to stay calm. Then you give them a hug and then he calms down.”
While in non-war times some of the children would be adopted by families, including those in the United States, those adoptions have been put on hold.
Jennifer Mitchell, a mom of eight, including three children adopted from Ukraine, is a co-founder of Host Orphans Worldwide, a U.S.-based organization that matches host families in the U.S. with Ukrainian children.
While Host Orphans Worldwide does not facilitate adoptions, about 75% of kids in its program end up getting adopted by people in the U.S., according to Mitchell. She said Ukraine has a high number of U.S. adoptions because it has both one of the shortest wait times for international adoption and one of the largest populations of children in need.
Mitchell and her husband were in the process of adopting a 12-year-old girl in an orphanage in Eastern Ukraine, but they have not spoken to her in over a week.
With no end in sight to the conflict with Russia, Mitchell said she fears the end result for children in Ukraine.
“The orphan crisis in Ukraine was already bad and this, it’s just going to be a humanitarian emergency,” she said. “It is horrific.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told ABC News they are “closely monitoring the situation” while also continuing to communicate with adoption service providers.
“We understand how difficult this situation is for families pursuing parenthood through adoption in Ukraine,” the spokesperson said. “We strongly encourage prospective adoptive parents to not travel to Ukraine at this time and for those currently in Ukraine to depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options.”
“Prospective adoptive parents should remain in regular contact with their own adoptions service provider,” the spokesperson continued.
According to the spokesperson, prospective adoptive parents may contact the Office of Children’s Issues directly at Adoption@state.gov, and visit the State Department’s website for more information.
(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, don’t appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least 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 09, 5:19 am
Ukraine says humanitarian corridors confirmed with Russia, Red Cross for Wednesday
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said six humanitarian corridors have been agreed with Russian officials and confirmed with the International Committee of the Red Cross to operate during a temporary cease-fire Wednesday.
According to Vereshchuk, the evacuation routes for civilians are open from towns north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, where there has been heavy fighting, as well as from the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol, where an evacuation failed yesterday. Another route goes from the town of Izium near hard-hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and another from the eastern city of Volnovakha, where civilians have been trying to evacuate for several days. Another route leads from northeastern city of Energodar, where shelling caused a fire at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant last week.
Vereshchuk said Russian officials had sent a letter to the Red Cross confirming the routes and a cease-fire for Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time. She called on Russia to keep to its commitment and not to violate the cease-fire, as she said it did in Mariupol and Volnovakha on Tuesday.
“We ask Russian forces to commit to their obligations and keep the ceasefire till 9 p.m. as agreed,” Vereshchuk said in a statement Wednesday morning.
Vereshchuk noted that an orphanage with 55 children and 26 staff also needs to be evacuated from Vorzel, a town just north of Kyiv.
“The evacuation of them will be done as a separate special operation,” she said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Wednesday that it has discussed the interaction on the Ukraine track with the Red Cross.
Mar 08, 9:59 pm
Biden calls family of US Marine detained by Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden called the parents of Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who has been detained in Russia for nearly three years and whose case has gotten renewed attention amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
The president spoke to Joey and Paula Reed after an event in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday, according to the White House.
On the call, the president reiterated his commitment to doing everything he can to bring their son home, to staying in close touch with them through his national security team and to finding a time to meet in person, the White House said.
A Reed family spokesperson also confirmed to ABC News that Biden called them to apologize for not being able to stop and meet them in person.
The family says they have been asking to meet with the president for several months to help free Reed, a Texan who they say has been denied treatment for suspected tuberculosis, and specifically asked to meet the president in Texas on Tuesday but were denied.
Reed and another former Marine, Paul Whelan, have spent years in Russian custody on charges that their families and American officials say were fabricated by Russia in order to seize them as bargaining chips.
(NEW YORK) — Before Russian attacks on Ukraine led to mass displacement, Europe was already grappling with the Syrian refugee crisis – an issue that had bitterly divided European Union nations in recent years over what to do with the 1.1 million Syrians who sought refuge in Europe.
Meanwhile, neighboring European nations have swiftly met the influx of more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24 with a united show of solidarity.
Although it is unclear if disagreements over burden-sharing will follow, according to those who study migration in Europe, experts say Ukrainian refugees face a more welcoming environment because they are white.
Andrew Geddes, Director of the Migration Policy Centre, told ABC News that there’s a stark contrast between Europe’s “very warm welcome” of Ukrainian refugees, compared to the largely “hostile” response to Syrians and other asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East.
“It’s night and day,” Geddes said.
“I think the strongest contrast is with a bunch of central European countries that were very hostile to Syrian refugees, and are now quite much more favorable to Ukrainian refugees,” Geddes added, referencing Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic — European Union members that were “the most resistant” to welcoming Syrian refugees.
Meanwhile, many nonwhite refugees fleeing Ukraine, including students from Asia and Africa, have reported instances of discrimination on the borders of Ukraine, with some telling ABC News that differential treatment based on race led to difficulties in crossing into countries like Poland. But others from Africans and the Middle East have said they crossed into Poland without any issues.
United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees Filippo Grandi confirmed during a press conference last Tuesday that “there are instances” of differentiation of treatment at the borders based on race, but said he was assured that “these are not state policies.”
Grandi said he met with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau last Wednesday, who “affirmed Poland’s commitment to continue receiving all those fleeing, without distinction.” Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba responded to reports of discrimination last Tuesday, tweeting that “Ukraine’s government spares no effort to solve the problem.” He also added that Ukraine set up an emergency hotline to assist African, Asian and other students seeking to leave Ukraine.
‘Exclusionary’ asylum policies
European countries host over 1 million of the 6.6 million Syrian asylum-seekers and refugees, but the vast majority are hosted by only two countries – 59% in Germany and 11% in Sweden, according to United Nations High Commission on Refugees data.
But according to Kelly Petillo, coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa programme and the European Council on Foreign Relations, this “didn’t come immediately.”
“It came after quite a bit of internal back and forth and lack of disagreement,” Petillo said, adding that the majority of Syrian refugees were allowed to enter Europe in 2016 — four years after the war in Syria began — only after the European Union struck a deal with Turkey, which was facing immense pressure at the time from the surge of migrants and asylum seekers.
The Europe Union provided financial support to Turkey to slow the flow of migrants and asylum seekers crossing into Europe by returning “irregular migrants” attempting to enter Europe through Greece to Turkey, as Turkey works “to prevent new migratory routes from opening,” according to the Migration Policy Centre.
As part of the deal, which was intended to slow migration to Europe, “the European Union agreed to resettle Syrian refugees from Turkey on a one-to-one basis,” per MPC, and the European Union also paid 6 billion euros to aid Turkey’s Syrian migrant communities.
“Since the Syria crisis erupted more than 10 years ago, we’ve seen that there was a high level of reluctancy from Europeans to share the burden amongst themselves,” Petillo said.
Austria, Greece, the Netherlands and France host between 2 to 5% of Syrian refugees in Europe, and other countries host below 2%, according to UNHCR.
Some of the Eastern European countries that largely rejected Syrian refugees have been at the forefront of welcoming Ukrainians, Geddes said, pointing to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
“For migrants from outside of Europe … it’s a very, very powerful, exclusionary approach,” Geddes said.
“The EU is much more willing to internalize a refugee situation where the people who are being forced to flee are white Europeans, and has been much more reluctant to offer protection for people who are from Africa and the Middle East,” he added.
And that “double standard,” Petillo said, is not only shaped by race, religion and culture, but also by politics.
Poland received 1.2 million of those fleeing Ukraine, according to UNHCR data, and on Friday Polish President Andrzej Duda toured a border crossing facility in Korczowa, where he met with Ukrainian refugees and told reporters that Poland would welcome them with open hearts.
Geddes said that Poland’s handling of the Syrian refugee crisis was the “opposite.”
As Poland continued to push back against pressure from the European Union to take in asylum seekers from Syria, Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of Poland’s rightwing party and current Deputy Prime Minister, argued in 2017 that doing so would be “dangerous” and would “completely change our culture and radically lower the level of safety in our country.”
The European Union’s top court ruled in April 2020 that Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic broke EU law by refusing to host refugees to relieve some of the burden from countries like Turkey and Greece.
And in November 2021, Poland was “involved in a military standoff” with Belarus to prevent asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East from crossing the Polish border, Geddes said.
More than 2,000 people were trapped in a makeshift camp on the Belarusian side as Poland blocked aid. At least 15 died in the cold last year.
And in January, Poland began building a metal wall on the border of Belarus to block migrants.
“When it comes down to it, Ukrainians are seen as European,” Geddes said, saying that there are “very strong” historical and cultural links between Poland and Ukraine — Many refugees from Ukraine have family and friends in Poland who have taken them in.
Meanwhile, asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East “are fundamentally seen as being different, racially, socially, culturally,” he added.
Islamophobia and politics
Those sentiments, which Petillo described as “othering,” were evident over the past week in the rhetoric of several prominent political leaders and various Western media figures, who made controversial statements that went viral on social media.
One journalist described Ukrainians as “civilized” in an attempt to differentiate them from other refugees and others suggested that it’s more difficult to witness the plight of Ukrainians because they “look like us.”
In the wake of the global War on Terror following the 9/11 terror attacks, Petillo said that Islamophobic language that “linked terrorism to Islam” became common in a “dangerous” political discourse regarding refugees from the Middle East.
Geddes said those anti-immigrant sentiments have been weaponized by various leaders of “the radical right” in Europe and “played a part in this exclusionary approach to migration.”
At the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, Czech President Milos Zeman referred to the influx of Syrian and Iraqi refugees seeking asylum in Europe as “an organized invasion.”
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic has so far welcomed tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees, per UNHCR.
In a historic vote, the European Union agreed on Thursday to give Ukrainians immediate temporary protective status that allows them to work and live in EU countries and provides them with access to health care and other social services. This marks the first time that the EU has invoked this protection since it became a part of EU law two decades ago, Geddes said.
Although Germany and Sweden have made some efforts to provide protections for Syrian refugees, many remain “stuck in limbo” without access to employment, education or other social services, Petillo said.
“[They’re] not coming out officially with policies saying we want Syrians to return, but they’re doing anything they can to disincentivize Syrian refugees from staying,” Petillo said, adding that ongoing humanitarian crises have led to an ongoing flow of refugees to Europe.
Since 2014, more than 20,000 asylum seekers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa arriving to the Mediterranean by land or by sea in hopes of crossing into Europe have died – some drowning – or gone missing, per UNHCR data, including 154 so far in 2022.
