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(LONDON) — The International Rescue Committee for the first time on Tuesday issued a “Crisis Alert” update to its annual “Emergency Watchlist” report, warning that millions of people across East Africa could die from “catastrophic famine” without “urgent” international funding and action.
The global humanitarian aid organization releases its “Emergency Watchlist” at the end of each year, identifying the countries it believes are most at risk of the worst humanitarian crises over the course of the coming year. But since early 2022, Russia has been waging a war against Ukraine that has disproportionally affected food security in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, which were reliant on Russia and Ukraine for about 90% of their wheat imports and are now in the midst of their longest, most severe drought in decades.
The IRC said its first-ever “Crisis Alert” update was issued in light of this fallout from the war in Ukraine, which — combined with the increasingly detrimental impact of climate change, conflict and COVID-19 — has driven those three East African nations into a “predictable crisis dangerously neglected by the international community.”
“There is nothing natural about famines in the 21st century. While a complex set of factors are driving extreme hunger, the slide into famine and mass death is man-made, driven by international inaction,” IRC CEO David Miliband said in a statement Tuesday. “This crisis was predictable and preventable. It has been unfolding over two years of repeated warnings and worsening hunger. What we are witnessing is an unnatural disaster of catastrophic proportions.”
The war in Ukraine would not have had such a significant impact on East Africa if drought had not already devastated agriculture, IRC said.
After a record four consecutive failed rainy seasons, the number of people going hungry across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia is set to surpass 20 million by September — nearly a doubling compared to late 2021. Over three million of them are already experiencing the most extreme levels of hunger, increasing their risk of death, according to the IRC.
The IRC’s “Crisis Alert” update noted “specific concern” for Somalia, which it said is the worst affected and is entering a famine that is expected to be even more severe than the 2011 one that killed an estimated 260,000 people. In one IRC’s nutrition clinic in Mogadishu, from April to May, the organization has seen a 265% increase in admissions for children under the age of 5 suffering from severe malnutrition. IRC teams on the ground report that people are already dying from starvation.
“There is no time to wait for data collection to confirm what the IRC is already seeing on the ground: a country hurtling towards a catastrophic famine,” the organization said in the update. “A famine declaration will tell us when it is too late — that people are already dying en masse, not how many lives we can still save. Waiting to respond based on retrospective data will condemn hundreds of thousands to an unnecessary death. Instead the international community needs to look forward, applying a no-regrets approach.”
The warning came a day after the U.S. Agency for International Development announced nearly $1.3 billion in additional humanitarian and developmental assistance to the Horn of Africa region. The IRC said the humanitarian-response plan for the region would be funded at only 40%, even accounting for the new funding.
“Severe underfunding of humanitarian responses is depriving millions of the assistance they need to survive,” said Miliband, the IRC’s CEO. “The new U.S. funding announced this week must be a first step, not a last one.”
Sebastian Gollnow/picture alliance via Getty Images
(LONDON) — The U.K. on Tuesday posted its highest temperature on record, breaking 40 degrees Celsius for the first time, after government officials declared a national emergency and issued unprecedented health warnings.
“London Heathrow reported a temperature of 40.2°C at 12:50 today,” the Met Office said.
The Met Office earlier on Tuesday had provisionally recorded a record-breaking temperature of 39.1 degrees Celsius (102.38 Fahrenheit) in the village of Charlwood, England. Temperatures are likely to rise throughout the day, they said.
Monday night saw the U.K. experience the hottest night on record, the Met Office said.
For the first time, the Met Office has issued a “Red warning” in response to the extraordinary heat.
The heat wave in Britain, which has been linked to climate change, follows a weekend of wildfires and soaring deadly temperatures in France, Portugal and Spain.
Thousands have been forced to flee wildfires in southern France and Spain, and more than 1,000 deaths have been linked to the heat wave in Portugal and Spain since earlier in July by the countries’ respective health ministries. France could experience its hottest day on record on Monday, according to local media.
The previous hottest day on record in the U.K. stands at 38.7 C (101.6 F.) But that is expected to be surpassed on Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 40°C (104 F) in parts of the U.K.
“Nights are also likely to be exceptionally warm, especially in urban areas,” the Met Office’s Chief Meteorologist Paul Gundersen said in a statement. “This is likely to lead to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure. Therefore, it is important people plan for the heat and consider changing their routines. This level of heat can have adverse health effects.”
Government scientists have warned that the frequency, intensity and duration of similar heat waves will increase in the coming century as the world continues to experience the effects of climate change.
“We hoped we wouldn’t get to this situation but for the first time ever we are forecasting greater than 40°C in the U.K.,” Dr. Nikos Christidis, a climate attribution scientist at the Met Office, said. “Climate change has already influenced the likelihood of temperature extremes in the U.K. The chances of seeing 40°C days in the UK could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence.”
Despite the heat, schools are expected to remain open. However, there are concerns that U.K. infrastructure is ill-equipped to deal with such weather events. While offices are generally equipped with air-conditioning, only a small number of homes have air-conditioning units.
One Met Office meteorologist, Steven Keates, warned that the heat was not something to celebrate.
“This is not just another heatwave,” Keates told The Telegraph. “This is dangerous heat, because we’re not used to it. It’s simple –our infrastructure is not geared up for weather like this.”
“Do as little as possible,” he added. “Because heat is fatiguing and we are in slightly uncharted territory.”
Sebastian Gollnow/picture alliance via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — As Western Europe experiences a record-breaking heat wave, Spain and Portugal have reported at least 1,169 heat-related deaths, according to each country’s ministry of health.
At least 510 people died from heat-related issues in Spain between July 10 and July 18, the country’s health ministry said. Of those deaths, 273 were recorded on Friday, officials said. Another 659 heat-related deaths were recorded in Portugal between July 7 and July 17, local officials said.
Thousands of firefighters were having trouble containing forest fires in France, Spain and Portugal that have destroyed thousands of acres of land. The fires have forced thousands of people to evacuate to safety, as extreme heat grips the region.
In southern France, more than 14,000 people were forced to flee as fires spread to more than 27,180 acres of land. The country’s Interior Ministry also issued red alerts for heat waves for 15 French departments and orange alerts for 51 departments on Sunday.
France, reached a high of 40.8 degrees Celsius — 105.44 Fahrenheit — on Sunday. Temperatures remained high on Monday and Tuesday, but were expected to break by Wednesday.
The number of people who died of heat-related deaths is unknown, but France’s Ministry of Health told ABC News that information on the number of casualties will be released at the end of the month.
Firefighters in Spain were fighting 30 active fires, mostly in Castilla y Leon, Galicia and Andalusia, Interior Ministry and Catalan Authorities said.
Temperatures on Sunday were forecast to reach 42 C (107.6 F) in three provinces in the country, prompting the state meteorological agency to issue “extreme risk” alerts.
In Mijas, Spain, in the municipality of Malaga, 3,000 people have fled due to fires. More than 22,000 acres of land are at risk of being burned in the Mijas province as firefighters struggle to contain the flames.
Wildfires are happening earlier in the season, ending later and becoming more frequent because of climate change, the European Union said in a report last year.
“Climate change is aggravating the situation, making countries more prone to wildfires and increasing the intensity of such events,” the report said.
The sweltering heat is also expected to take hold of other parts of Europe in the coming days. Areas of England are expected to hit 40 C (104 F) on Tuesday.
“This year, for the first time, we’ve issued a severe weather emergency response in summer,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.
(NEW YORK) — Eduard Mkrtchian, injured during Russian shelling of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, said he was forced to evacuate and, at a Russian-controlled checkpoint, said he was given false information and forced to travel into Russia.
He told officials he wanted to go to western Ukraine, to a city called Zaporizhzhia, but was told “there’s no Zaporizhzhia anymore,” he said in an interview with ABC News’ Ines de La Cuetara.
Instead, he was brought to a so-called “filtration camp,” a checkpoint in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine where reports have emerged of people being interrogated for hours, their biometric data being recorded and their photos on their phones wiped.
He said he was repeatedly misled, and brought deeper and deeper into Russia.
“I was deceivingly taken to Russia,” he told ABC News.
The U.S. Department of State estimates that between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, have been “interrogated, detained, and forcibly deported” to Russia, adding that “the unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime.”
There are at least 18 “filtration camps” that have been set-up along the Russia-Ukraine border, according to Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
During his interrogation, Mkrtchian says, “they asked me to undress. They asked me the meaning of every tattoo on my body.”
“They deliberated a long time whether or not to let me go. I realized that they could kill me here,” he said.
“You have to fill out a form. There are different questions. For example – do you have relatives in the armed forces of Ukraine, do you know about the location of Ukrainian military bases, and so on,” said Mariupol resident Ruslan Bojko, who says he spent four days at a “filtration camp.”
ABC News spoke with Bojko on a reappropriated cruise ship in Tallinn, Estonia, that now houses more 1,800 Ukrainian refugees.
“These people don’t have a choice, they have to comply,” Tanya Lokshina, Europe and Central Asia associate director for Human Rights Watch, told ABC News. “The de facto choice, the only option that they have, is to remain in the streets and die under shelling.”
According to a statement released on Wednesday by the U.S. Department of State, “evidence is mounting that Russian authorities are also reportedly detaining or disappearing thousands of Ukrainian civilians who do not pass ‘filtration.’”
“There are very strong grounds to believe that those individuals detained by them experience ill treatment and even torture,” said Lokshina.
“The woman who was sitting next to me in the filtration camp, her husband had been gone for two weeks. He was taken away for filtration and not returned. There were at least 10 women I spoke with who had similar stories,” said Mkrtchian.
Russia has acknowledged that it is resettling Ukrainian refugees, yet claims it is for “humanitarian” reasons.
After spending time in a refugee camp in Russia, Mkrtchian eventually traveled across Russia to Estonia where he now lives, awaiting the opportunity to return to Ukraine.
“How can I stay in a country that destroyed my life?” he said.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — Thousands of beer bottles cascading off a five-ton container truck seems like a disaster. But average citizens who came to the rescue are earning praise across South Korea for making the best of a bad situation.
The accident, which took place in June but is now gaining traction on social media as people try to track down the good Samaritans, came as a truck driver made a sharp turn in Chuncheon city, flooding the street with a torrent of beer and broken glass and engulfing the road in white foam in seconds.
The spill, which took place about 46 miles north of Seoul, the capital, could have easily precipitated a chain of additional accidents and an hourslong traffic jam — but 18 good Samaritans saved the day.
Immediately after the 2,000 bottles shattered on the road, the driver pulled over, then trudged toward the heap and began to gather the remains together.
Moments later, a passerby approached the driver and started to pile the crates up on one side. The owner of a local convenience store then brought brooms and dustpans and joined the effort.
The rain — along with their lack of umbrellas and raincoats — didn’t stop 16 more passersby from coming together and sweeping the road clean in less than a half-hour. When the work was done, they nonchalantly returned to their own affairs — as though it was just a matter of course.
Six days after the incident, Oriental Brewery Company revealed the footage of the beer spill cleanup captured by surveillance cameras. The company published notices and ads with footage of the incident to track down the good Samaritans and thank them. They used the slogan, “We are looking for the real heroes of Chuncheon city.”
“We wanted to find the citizens and express our gratitude to each of them in person,” Joo-hwan Baek, associate public relations director of Oriental Brewery Company, told ABC News. “We also hoped to spread the word of the good they did. It was very inspiring for us as well.”
The footage of the cleanup has been trending on South Korea’s social media and news ever since.
Viewers said the thoughtful gesture by passersby has warmed their hearts and restored their faith in humanity amid calamitous times.
“No one asked the citizens to jump in the rain and pitch in; it was a collective, voluntary effort with a selfless motive,” 20-year-old Se-yeon Hwang told ABC News. “The video was a powerful reminder of the good a supportive community with an altruistic heart can do.”
Seoul may now be seeing a butterfly effect.
A similar accident occurred less than a week after Oriental Brewery Company revealed the video. Another truck spilled hundreds of bottles of Korean vodka in the middle of a busy street in Incheon Metropolitan City.
Given the long tail of cars and buses following the truck, collateral damage appeared inevitable, but dozens of citizens who witnessed the accident came together and helped clear the highway in about a half-hour.
“It’s heartwarming to see pure goodwill like this, especially in an era of war, violence and widespread hate,” 52-year-old Mei Lee told ABC News. “I hope to see more acts of kindness in this world.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jul 18, 4:20 PM EDT
Ukraine’s first lady to meet with Jill Biden
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska will meet with first lady Jill Biden in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Biden’s office said, one day before Zelenska addresses Congress.
Jul 18, 1:45 PM EDT
Ukraine’s first lady to address Congress on Wednesday
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska will make remarks Wednesday before members of Congress on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced.
All members of the House and Senate are invited to the event, which is set for 11 a.m ET.
Jul 18, 8:56 AM EDT
Russia orders troops to eliminate Ukraine’s long-range missiles
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited the East group of Russian forces involved in the fighting in Ukraine and ordered his troops to eliminate the Ukrainian army’s long-range missiles and artillery ammunition it uses to shell targets in the Donbas region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.
Shoigu instructed the group’s commander to give priority to the use of precision-guided weapons to destroy Ukraine’s long-range missile and artillery assets, the ministry added. Russia has accused Ukraine of using its long-range weapons to shell residential neighborhoods in Donbas communities and set fire to wheat fields and grain storage facilities.
Ukrainian officials said Russian missiles struck targets across much of eastern Ukraine on Sunday and early Monday.
Six people were killed in the town of Toretsk in the Donetsk region after Russian shelling, the state emergency service said. Missiles also struck civilian infrastructure, including a school in the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions.
Russia also carried out 55 strikes on the Sumy region on Sunday. Around 60 projectiles landed in Nikopol, a dozen residential buildings were damaged and one elderly woman was wounded, local officials said.
The southern city of Mykolaiv was subjected to a massive missile strike in the early hours of Sunday as 10 missiles, presumably launched by an S-300 system, hit various parts of town.
Russian officials said on Monday that no clear timeframes have been set for the war in Ukraine, and priority should be given to its efficiency.
“We have no doubts that the special military operation will be completed after all of its objectives are attained. There are no clear timeframes, what counts most is this operation’s efficiency,” Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said as quoted by Russian media.
Officials from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic claimed on Monday that DPR territory will be liberated from the Ukrainian military this year.
“The liberation of Donbas will be completed this year,” Eduard Basurin, deputy head of the police department of the DPR, said according to Russian media.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, and Max Uzol
Jul 17, 6:20 PM EDT
Number of Ukrainian public officials accused of treason, collaborating with Russia: Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the former head of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, in Crimea, who was dismissed in the beginning of the Russian invasion, has been notified he is being charged with treason.
“Everyone who together with him was part of a criminal group that worked in the interests of the Russian Federation will also be held accountable,” Zelenskyy said during his evening address Sunday. “It is about the transfer of secret information to the enemy and other facts of cooperation with the Russian special services.”
A number of Ukrainian public officials have been notified they will be charged for treason and for collaborating with Russia.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Jul 17, 2:20 PM EDT
‘Evil cannot win’: Priest breaks down at funeral for 4-year-old Ukrainian girl
A funeral service was held Sunday for a 4-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was among two dozen Ukrainian civilian’s killed last week in a Russian missile attack in the west-central Ukrainian town of Vinnytsia.
During the open-casket funeral for Liza Dmytrieva, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest broke down in tears as he told the little girl’s father and other relatives, “evil cannot win,” according to The Associated Press.
Liza was pushing a stroller in a park as she and her mother were headed to a speech therapist appointment when the attack unfolded Thursday afternoon in Vinnytsia, a city close to the front lines in west-central Ukraine, officials said.
The girl and 23 others Ukrainian civilians were killed, including two boys ages 7 and 8. At least 200 other civilians, including Liza’s mother, were injured, officials said.
“Look, my flower! Look how many people came to you,” Liza’s grandmother, Larysa Dmytryshyna, said, as she caressed the child lying in an open casket filled with teddy bears and flowers.
Orthodox priest Vitalii Holoskevych gave the eulogy at Liza’s funeral struggling through tears.
“I didn’t know Liza, but no person can go through this with calm because every burial is grief for each of us,” Holoskevych said. “We are losing our brothers and sisters.”
Jul 15, 10:01 AM EDT
Grandma of 4-year-old girl killed in missile strike: ‘I hate them all’
The grandmother of a 4-year-old girl killed in Thursday’s Russian missile attack in Vinnytsia told ABC News, “They took the most precious [person] I had in my life.”
Four-year-old Liza was among 23 people, including three children, killed in the strike.
Liza’s grandmother, Larysa Dmytryshyna, called her a “wonderfully sunny child.”
“She was the most wonderful girl in the world and it is so painful that her mother cannot even bury her,” she said.
Asked how she feels about Russia, Dmytryshyna, replied, “I hate them all.”
“We did not ask them to come here. They have caused so much sorrow,” she said of the Russians. “I would give my own life to extinguish the entire country.”
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Ibtissem Guenfoud and Natalya Kushnir
Jul 15, 9:04 AM EDT
Demand for artificial limbs surges in Ukraine
One of Ukraine’s leading medical experts on developing prosthetic limbs for amputees says there has been a dramatic surge in demand for artificial arms and legs since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Dr. Oleksandr Stetsenko told ABC News that financial support or donations of prosthetic parts are needed from abroad to meet the increased demand.
External support, he said, is vital so that people have the chance to continue with their lives.
“With good prosthetics people can come back to life again,” Stetsenko told ABC News.
There is currently no official figure for how many people in Ukraine have undergone surgery to remove limbs because of injuries sustained from the war but Dr. Stetsenko estimates that around 500 people have had limbs amputated since the end of February with the majority of those cases being soldiers and around a fifth being civilians.
While the number of patients in Ukraine needing artificial limbs has increased, the domestic supply of components to make prosthetic arms and legs has reduced.
That is because a third of the companies which were previously producing components in Ukraine are now located in territory which has recently been occupied by Russian forces or in areas near to the frontline, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health.
A director at the health ministry, Oleksandra Mashkevych, confirmed that Ukraine is no longer able “to cover all of the demand relating to artificial limbs.”
Mashkevych told ABC News that children who need artificial limbs are sent abroad to Europe or to the United States and that around 20 children in Ukraine are thought to have had limbs amputated since the start of the war in February.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Ibtissem Guenfoud, Natalya Kushnir and Kuba Kaminski
Jul 15, 6:49 AM EDT
Unprecedented rescue operation underway in Vinnytsia
At least 18 people are still missing after a deadly missile strike on downtown Vinnytsia in central Ukraine on Thursday, the Ukrainian National Police said.
Three Russian Kalibr missiles launched from a submarine struck an office building and damaged nearby residential buildings in Vinnytsia, located about 155 miles southwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Thursday morning.
At least 23 people — including 3 children — died in the attack, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said, and more than a 100 were wounded, some critically. The bodies of 2 children and 11 adults were yet to be identified on Friday morning, local authorities said.
The strike in the heart of Vinnytsia is “part of a systematic Russian campaign of attacks on residential areas of cities in Ukraine”, the Institute for the Study of War said.
The search continued on Friday morning for at least 18 people who were still missing after the attack. The ongoing rescue operation has been unprecedented in its scale, local officials said, with more than 1,000 rescuers and 200 pieces of equipment being involved in clearing the rubble and searching for those still missing.
Several dozen people were reportedly detained in Vinnytsia on Thursday for questioning under the suspicion of acting as local spotters or aimers on the ground for the Russian strikes.
The eastern city of Mykolaiv also reported 10 powerful explosions on Friday morning. The city’s two biggest universities were hit in the attack, wounding at least four people, local authorities said. Russia also struck a hotel and a shopping mall in Mykolaiv on Thursday.
Russian shelling also targeted Kharkiv, another eastern city, on Thursday night. Local officials claimed 2 schools were damaged in the attack.
The European Union and the United Nations strongly condemned Russia for what the EU called a “long series of brutal attacks against civilians.”
Russia’s missile strikes hit more than 17,000 facilities of civilian infrastructure as opposed to around 300 military facilities since the start of the war, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak
Jul 14, 4:02 PM EDT
Russian missile strike kills at least 23 in Vinnytsia
Russian missiles hit the heart of the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Thursday morning, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
Three children were among the dead, the agency said.
The missiles struck an office building and damaged nearby residential buildings in Vinnytsia, located about 155 miles southwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The strike also ignited a massive fire that engulfed 50 cars in an adjacent parking lot, according to the National Police of Ukraine. Burned-out vehicles are peppered with holes from the missiles.
The State Emergency Service said about 115 victims in Vinnytsia needed medical attention, with 64 people hospitalized — including 34 in severe condition and five in critical.
Forty-two people are listed as missing, the agency said.
Many Ukrainians moved to Vinnytsia, a city southwest of Kyiv, to get away from the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Until now, Vinnytsia had been seen as a city of relative safety.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “an open act of terrorism” on civilians.
“Every day Russia is destroying the civilian population, killing Ukrainian children, directing missiles at civilian objects. Where there is no military (targets). What is it if not an open act of terrorism?” Zelenskyy said in a statement via Telegram on Thursday.
War crimes investigators are at the scene studying missile fragments.
Russian missile strikes targeted several other Ukrainian cities on Wednesday and early Thursday, including Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv.
At least 12 people died in the Zaporizhia strike, which hit two industrial workshops on Wednesday, according to local authorities.
At least five civilians were killed and 30 others injured in Mykolaiv on Wednesday after Russian missiles destroyed a hotel and a shopping mall, the local mayor said. The southern Ukrainian city was shelled again on Thursday morning, but no casualties were immediately reported.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Fidel Pavlenko, Max Uzol, and Yulia Drozd
Jul 14, 1:49 PM EDT
At least 18 Russian filtration camps along Russia-Ukraine border
Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is calling the forcible relocation of Ukrainians to Russian filtration camps is “a war crime.”
In an interview with ABC News Live on Thursday, Carpenter said the Russians are “trying to take away Ukrainians who might have Ukrainian civic impulses, who are patriots, who want to defend their country.” Carpenter said the Russians want to “erase Ukrainian identity” and “the Ukrainian nation state, as the entity that governs people’s lives in these regions.”
Carpenter said there are at least 18 filtration camps along the Russia-Ukraine border, adding that it’s impossible to get an exact total because many are located in Russia’s far east.
-ABC News’ Malka Abramoff
Jul 14, 12:04 PM EDT
Russian missile strike kills at least 17 in Vinnytsia
Russian missiles hit the heart of the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Thursday morning, killing at least 17 people and wounding more than 30 others, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine.
Two children were among the dead, the prosecutor’s office said.
The missiles struck an office building and damaged nearby residential buildings in Vinnytsia, located about 155 miles southwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The strike also ignited a massive fire that engulfed 50 cars in an adjacent parking lot, according to the National Police of Ukraine. Burned-out vehicles are peppered with holes from the missiles.
The national police said about 90 victims in Vinnytsia sought medical attention, and 50 of them are in serious condition.
Many Ukrainians moved to Vinnytsia, a city southwest of Kyiv, to get away from the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Until now, Vinnytsia had been seen as a city of relative safety.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “an open act of terrorism” on civilians.
“Every day Russia is destroying the civilian population, killing Ukrainian children, directing missiles at civilian objects. Where there is no military (targets). What is it if not an open act of terrorism?” Zelenskyy said in a statement via Telegram on Thursday.
War crimes investigators are at the scene studying missile fragments.
Russian missile strikes targeted several other Ukrainian cities on Wednesday and early Thursday, including Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv.
At least 12 people died in the Zaporizhia strike, which hit two industrial workshops on Wednesday, according to local authorities.
At least five civilians were killed and 30 others injured in Mykolaiv on Wednesday after Russian missiles destroyed a hotel and a shopping mall, the local mayor said. The southern Ukrainian city was shelled again on Thursday morning, but no casualties were immediately reported.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Fidel Pavlenko, Max Uzol, and Yulia Drozd
Jul 13, 6:30 PM EDT
State Department aware of reports on another American detained by Russian proxies
The State Department said Wednesday it is aware of unconfirmed reports that another American has been detained by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.
The statement follows a [report from the Guardian] () on 35-year-old Suedi Murekezi, who is believed to have gone missing in Ukraine in early June.
According to the Guardian, Murekezi was able to make contact with a family member on July 7 and told them he was being held in the same prison as Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, two American veterans captured while volunteering for Ukrainian forces. Murekezi has lived in Ukraine since 2020 and was falsely accused of participating in pro-Ukraine protests, according to the report.
“We have been in contact with the Ukrainian and Russian authorities regarding U.S. citizens who may have been captured by Russia’s forces or proxies while fighting in Ukraine,” a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday. “We call on Russia to live up to its international obligations to treat all individuals captured fighting with Ukraine’s armed forces as prisoners of war.”
Another American — Grady Kurpasi — is also missing in Ukraine. A family spokesperson said the veteran was last seen fighting with Ukrainian forces in late April and is feared to have been either killed or captured.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jul 13, 8:27 AM EDT
Shelling continues throughout Donbas region
Shelling from both Russian and Ukrainian forces caused damage to the landscape and destroyed structures throughout the Donbas region on Tuesday and Wednesday, local officials said.
Russian strikes reportedly targeted the eastern town of Bakhmut, killing one person and wounding 5 others, the local governor said. Explosions were heard in several nearby towns too, with one missile falling near a kindergarten.
Shelling also continued in Izyum, Mykolayiv and Kharkiv on Tuesday. Russian troops reportedly conducted unsuccessful attacks north of Slovyansk and the town of Siversk on Tuesday, despite repeated rhetoric of an “operational pause” that Russia allegedly maintains, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest report.
Russian forces continue to bomb critical areas in preparation for future ground offensive, with air and artillery strikes reported along the majority of the frontline, the experts added.
Ukrainian forces on Tuesday responded to the Russian attacks and claimed to have destroyed six Russian military facilities on occupied Ukrainian territories. Ukrainian officials claimed to have destroyed several ammunition depots, as well as a larger military unit.
Russian media reported on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops launched a “massive attack” on an air defense unit in the Luhansk region.
Ukrainian military officials also claimed to have killed at least 30 Russian troops on Tuesday, along with destroying a howitzer and a multiple rocket launcher, among other weaponry.
But the U.K. Defense Ministry in its latest intelligence update said it still expects Russian forces to “focus on taking several small towns during the coming weeks” in the Donbas region.
These towns are on the approaches to the larger cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk that likely remain the principal objectives for this phase of the Russian military operation, the ministry said.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Yulia Drozd and Yuriy Zaliznyak
Jul 12, 10:27 PM EDT
US transfers $1.7 billion in economic assistance to Ukrainian government
The United States transferred $1.7 billion to Ukraine’s government Tuesday, the Treasury Department announced.
It’s the second tranche of money the Treasury transferred to Ukraine’s government as part of $7.5 billion approved for this purpose in the $40 billion Ukraine aid package Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law in May.
It’ll go, in part, to helping Ukraine’s government provide “essential health care services” and health care workers’ salaries, the Treasury Department said.
The U.S. transferred the first tranche, $1.3 billion, to Ukraine’s government two weeks ago.
-ABC News Benjamin Gittleson
Jul 12, 1:59 AM EDT
Ukraine destroys Russian ammo depot in occupied Kherson region
Ukrainian forces hit and likely destroyed a Russian ammunition depot in the Russian-occupied town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region on Monday night, local officials said.
The strike resulted in a massive blast, videos of which soon circulated online. According to local reports, more than 40 trucks filled with gasoline were destroyed. Russian media didn’t verify the claims, saying instead that pro-Russian forces had destroyed a series of saltpeter warehouses.
“People’s windows are blown out, but they are still happy … because this means that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are close,” Sergey Khlan, from the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said in the aftermath of the attack.
Monday’s strike marked at least the fourth time Ukrainian forces destroyed ammunition depots in Nova Kakhovka, local media reported.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Tatiana Rymarenko, Max Uzol and Yulia Drozd
(LONDON) — Ghana on Sunday declared its first ever outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus disease.
Blood samples taken from two patients in the southern Ashanti region were sent for testing to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Ghana’s capital, Accra, with preliminary results suggesting earlier this month that their illness was due to Marburg. With the support of the World Health Organization, the samples were then sent for further testing to the Institut Pasteur in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, which ultimately corroborated the results from Accra, the Ghana Health Service said in a press release Sunday.
Marburg is a rare but severe viral haemorrhagic fever, almost as deadly as the more well-known Ebola virus disease. Case fatality rates for Marburg have varied from 24% to 88% in previous outbreaks, while Ebola case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90%. Unlike with Ebola, there are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for Marburg, according to the WHO.
“Health authorities have responded swiftly, getting a head start preparing for a possible outbreak. This is good because without immediate and decisive action, Marburg can easily get out of hand,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement Sunday. “WHO is on the ground supporting health authorities and now that the outbreak is declared, we are marshalling more resources for the response.”
Ghana’s first case was a 26-year-old man who was hospitalized on June 26 and died the next day, officials said. The second case was a 51-year-old man who sought treatment at the same hospital on June 28 and died later that day. Both patients, who were unrelated, experienced similar symptoms, including diarrhea, fever, nausea and vomiting, the WHO said in a press release Sunday.
So far, 98 contacts have been identified in Ashanti as well as the northwestern Savannah region. They are currently under quarantine and are being monitored by health authorities. No new cases have been detected, according to the Ghana Health Service.
The Marburg virus is transmitted to humans from fruit bats and spreads person-to-person through direct contact with the bodily fluids of the infected individuals, surfaces and materials. Illness begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and malaise. Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic signs within seven days, according to the WHO.
To reduce the risk of transmission, the Ghana Health Service advised people to avoid exposure to mines or caves inhabited by fruit bat colonies, to cook all animal products thoroughly before consumption and to avoid direct contact with anyone showing symptoms.
It is only the second time the highly infectious, zoonotic disease has been detected in West Africa. Guinea confirmed a single case in an outbreak that was declared over in September 2021, five weeks after the initial case was detected. The largest, most fatal Marburg outbreak on record infected and killed more than 200 people in Angola between 2004 and 2005, according to the WHO. The global health arm of the United Nations noted that it has reached out to Ghana’s high-risk neighbors, who it said are now “on alert.”
West African nations know all too well what a deadly virus like Ebola can do to a region. The biggest and deadliest Ebola outbreak on record infected more than 28,000 people and killed over 11,000 across multiple countries — mainly Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — between 2013 and 2016, according to the WHO.
Although no treatment or vaccine exists for Marburg, supportive care — rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids — and treatment of specific symptoms both improve a patient’s chance of survival. A range of potential treatments, including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies, as well as candidate vaccines with phase 1 data are under evaluation, the WHO said.
(LONDON) — The U.K. is preparing for record-breaking temperatures this week, with unprecedented health warnings being issued as a national emergency has been declared.
Temperatures are expected to rise to 98 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday, but the highest and potentially record-breaking temperatures will be seen on Tuesday. For the first time, the Met Office has issued a “Red warning” in response to the extraordinary heat.
The heat wave in Britain, which has been linked to climate change, follows a weekend of wildfires and soaring deadly temperatures in France, Portugal and Spain.
Thousands have been forced to flee wildfires in southern France and Spain, and more than 1,000 deaths have been linked to the heat wave in Portugal and Spain since earlier in July by the countries’ respective health ministries. France could experience its hottest day on record on Monday, according to local media.
The previous hottest day on record in the U.K. stands at 38.7 C (101.6 F.) But that is expected to be surpassed on Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 40°C (104 F) in parts of the U.K.
“Nights are also likely to be exceptionally warm, especially in urban areas,” the Met Office’s Chief Meteorologist Paul Gundersen said in a statement. “This is likely to lead to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure. Therefore, it is important people plan for the heat and consider changing their routines. This level of heat can have adverse health effects.”
Government scientists have warned that the frequency, intensity and duration of similar heat waves will increase in the coming century as the world continues to experience the effects of climate change.
“We hoped we wouldn’t get to this situation but for the first time ever we are forecasting greater than 40°C in the U.K.,” Dr. Nikos Christidis, a climate attribution scientist at the Met Office, said. “Climate change has already influenced the likelihood of temperature extremes in the U.K. The chances of seeing 40°C days in the UK could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence.”
Despite the heat, schools are expected to remain open. However, there are concerns that U.K. infrastructure is ill-equipped to deal with such weather events. While offices are generally equipped with air-conditioning, only a small number of homes have air-conditioning units.
One Met Office meteorologist, Steven Keates, warned that the heat was not something to celebrate.
“This is not just another heatwave,” Keates told The Telegraph. “This is dangerous heat, because we’re not used to it. It’s simple –our infrastructure is not geared up for weather like this.”
“Do as little as possible,” he added. “Because heat is fatiguing and we are in slightly uncharted territory.”
Gian Marco Benedetto/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(LONDON) — As Western Europe experiences a record-breaking heat wave, thousands of firefighters are having trouble containing forest fires in France, Spain and Portugal that have destroyed thousands of acres of land.
The fires have forced thousands of people to evacuate to safety, as extreme heat grips the region. There have also been more than 1,000 heat-related deaths in Spain and Portugal so far in July, according to the respective countries’ ministries of health.
In southern France, more than 14,000 people were forced to flee as fires spread to more than 27,180 acres of land. The country’s Interior Ministry also issued red alerts for heat waves for 15 French departments and orange alerts for 51 departments on Sunday.
Monday could be the hottest day on record in the country, according to France’s BFM TV. Belis, France, reached a high of 40.8 degrees Celsius — 105.44 Fahrenheit — on Sunday.
The number of people who died of heat-related deaths is unknown, but France’s Ministry of Health told ABC News that information on the number of casualties will be released at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, more than 360 people in Spain have died from heat-related deaths between July 10 and 17, with 84 people dying in the last 24 hours, the country’s Ministry of Health reported.
Firefighters there are fighting 30 active fires, mostly in Castilla y Leon, Galicia and Andalusia, Interior Ministry and Catalan Authorities said.
Temperatures on Sunday were forecast to reach 42 C (107.6 F) in three provinces in the country, prompting the state meteorological agency to issue “extreme risk” alerts.
In Mijas, Spain, in the municipality of Malaga, 3,000 people have fled due to fires. More than 22,000 acres of land are at risk of being burned in the Mijas province as firefighters struggle to contain the flames.
Wildfires are happening earlier in the season, ending later and becoming more frequent because of climate change, the European Union said in a report last year.
“Climate change is aggravating the situation, making countries more prone to wildfires and increasing the intensity of such events,” the report said.
In Portugal, wildfires are quickly spreading throughout the country’s central and northern regions. According to Portugal’s Ministry of Health, between July 7 and 13, 238 people had heat-related deaths, and there were more than 421 heat-related fatalities between July 14 and 17.
The sweltering heat is also expected to take hold of other parts of Europe in the coming days. Areas of England are expected to hit 40 C (104 F) on Monday and Tuesday.
The U.K. government issued a national emergency and warned people not to leave their homes unless necessary, according to The Associated Press.
“This year, for the first time, we’ve issued a severe weather emergency response in summer,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.
(NEW YORK) — Mexican drug kingpin Rafael Caro-Quintero, wanted in the 1985 killing of a U.S. anti-narcotics agent, has been detained in Mexico, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News Friday evening.
Caro-Quintero, the former leader of the Guadalajara Cartel, has been wanted over his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique Camarena in Mexico. Camarena’s capture and torture were dramatized in the Netflix show “Narcos.”
Caro-Quintero has been on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list since 2018. In addition to the kidnapping and murder of a federal agent, he was wanted for violent crimes in aid of racketeering, among other alleged federal violations.
The FBI was offering a $20 million reward for information leading to his arrest or capture and warned that he should be considered “armed and extremely dangerous.”
Caro-Quintero allegedly is involved in the Sinaloa Cartel and the Caro-Quintero Drug Trafficking Organization in the region of Badiraguato in Sinaloa, Mexico, the FBI said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Caro-Quintero would be extradited to the United States.
Word of the capture comes just days after President Joe Biden met with his Mexican counterpart in Washington, D.C.
Mexican President Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been loath to go after cartel leaders because, he has said, he is more interested in reducing violence in Mexico.
