(PRETORIA, South Africa) — Three people have been arrested in connection with the mysterious deaths of 21 teenagers at a popular nightclub in South Africa, authorities said Wednesday.
According to a statement from the South African Police Service, the 52-year-old owner of the Enyobeni Tavern as well as two employees, aged 33 and 34, were taken into custody over the weekend and on Tuesday afternoon by a team of detectives investigating the incident in Scenery Park, a suburb on the edge of the coastal city of East London in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. The names of the suspects were not released.
Police said the arrests were made after the Eastern Cape Liquor Board opened a criminal case against the Enyobeni Tavern for allegedly selling alcohol to minors. Investigators subsequently issued fines of 2,000 South African rand (about $118) to the two employees and served a summons to the owner for his immediate arrest and appearance in a court of law, according to police.
The owner is scheduled to appear in East London Magistrate Court on Aug. 19. Each of the employees were given an option to pay the fine; but should they fail to do so, they will be required to appear in the same court on the same day, police said.
What caused the deaths of the 21 teens — 12 girls and nine boys — remains unknown. They were found at the Enyobeni Tavern in Scenery Park in the predawn hours of June 26. Seventeen of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while four others died when they were hospitalized or being transported to hospitals, according to police.
Police said the victims ranged in age from 13 to 17 — all under South Africa’s legal drinking age of 18.
The local government, the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, held a mass funeral for the victims in East London last week. Thousands of people attended the symbolic service, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who gave the eulogy for the young victims. The bodies were buried in private ceremonies at various cemeteries.
Toxicology reports were still pending as of Wednesday. A stampede has been ruled out because the bodies did not show any serious injuries, according to police.
Police have declined to comment on possible causes of deaths or the circumstances surrounding the incident, citing the ongoing investigation.
“Just as we said in the beginning, investigation is a process and needs to be treated with extreme care and wisdom so that we can achieve the desired outcomes which all of us will be proud of,” the South African Police Service’s commissioner for Eastern Cape province, Lt. Gen. Nomthetheleli Mene, said in a statement Wednesday. “This is the beginning of the great work we are doing behind the scene.”
The Daily Dispatch, a South African newspaper published in East London, reported that the teens were attending a party at the Enyobeni Tavern to celebrate the end of June school exams. Their bodies were reportedly found strewn across tables, chairs and the dance floor with no visible signs of injuries.
A 22-year-old Scenery Park resident, Sibongile Mtsewu, told ABC News that he was at the Enyobeni Tavern when the deadly incident unfolded. He said he was ordering drinks at the crowded club when suddenly the doors were closed and some type of chemical agent, such as tear gas or pepper spray, was released into the air.
“There was no way out,” Mtsewu told ABC News in a telephone interview earlier this month. “There was no chance to breathe.”
(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 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
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
Jul 11, 10:18 pm
33 killed in missile strike on apartment complex
Thirty-three people are confirmed dead from a missile strike on an apartment complex in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
The complex was reduced to rubble from multiple rocket strikes on Sunday.
Emergency workers said others might still be alive and trapped under the debris.
Jul 11, 10:40 am
Putin clears way to fast-citizenship for Ukrainians
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday that simplifies the procedure for any Ukrainian seeking Russian citizenship, allowing them to fast-track their applications, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
The fast-tracked citizenship applications previously only applied to residents of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Jul 11, 10:22 am
6 dead, dozens hurt in Kharkiv shelling
Six people are dead and another 31 are injured from shelling in Kharkiv, according to the Kharkiv Prosecutor’s Office.
Two children, ages 4 and 16, are among the injured.
(WASHINGTON) — A U.S. military drone strike in northwest Syria has killed the top ISIS leader in Syria, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.
The drone strike is the latest in a series of operations targeting terrorist leaders who have found refuge in a region of the country controlled by rebel forces affiliated with Islamic extremists groups.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the strike occurred on Tuesday outside of Jindayris in northwest Syria targeting two senior ISIS leaders.
“Maher al-Agal, one of the top five ISIS leaders and the leader of ISIS in Syria, was killed in the strike,” said the statement.
“A senior ISIS official closely associated with Maher was seriously injured during the strike,” it added. “Extensive planning went into this operation to ensure its successful execution. An initial review indicates there were no civilian casualties.”
Al-Agal was also described as “aggressively pursuing the development of ISIS networks outside of Iraq and Syria.”
“This strike reaffirms CENTCOM’s steadfast commitment to the region and the enduring defeat of ISIS,” said Col. Joe Buccino, a CENTCOM spokesperson. “The removal of these ISIS leaders will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to further plot and carry out global attacks.”
The strike is the latest in a series of U.S. military operations in northwest Syria over the past month targeting the leaders of Islamic terrorist groups who have found refuge in a corner of Syria still controlled by rebel forces belonging to Islamic extremist groups.
On June 15, a rare ground raid into northwest Syria carried out by elite special operations forces captured a Hani Ahmed al-Kurdi, a senior ISIS leader involved in actively planning ISIS operations.
Two weeks later, a drone strike killed Abu Hamzah al Yemeni, a senior leader of an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist group, officials said.
“ISIS continues to represent a threat to the U.S. and partners in the region,” said Buccino, the CENTCOM spokesman.
“CENTCOM maintains a sufficient and sustainable presence in the region and will continue to counter threats against regional security,” the spokesman said.
(NAPLES, Italy) — An American tourist fell into Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano in Italy, after trespassing to take a selfie, officials said.
The 23-year-old man, who dropped his phone and tried to retrieve it after the selfie, fell several meters into the ash of the crater before being saved by nearby park officials on Saturday.
He sustained only minor injuries, officials said.
The man, who has not been named, allegedly walked on an unauthorized path to reach the summit of Mount Vesuvius at 1,281 meters, according to a spokesperson from the Carabinieri of the Forestry department of the Park of Vesuvius.
The spokesperson told ABC News he believes the man went on the unmarked path because tickets for visiting Vesuvius, which cost $2,500 per day, were all booked.
The man had come to the opposite side of the crater, where visitors are not permitted, the spokesperson said.
At around 3 p.m., local news sources reported the park’s volcanological guides had spotted some people on the upper part of the crater, an area forbidden for solo access.
The guides immediately started moving toward the area and were able to come to the man’s rescue after seeing him attempt to retrieve his cellphone, according to Carabinieri’s spokesperson.
The guides also performed first aid on the man’s minor injuries to his legs, arms and back.
According to Carabinieri’s spokesperson, two other Americans, two Brits and one Austrian were with the American man who fell.
Some local sources have reported that there were three family members with him, but the spokesperson believes only one of the other Americans is related to the man who fell.
The Branch of Carabinieri arrived at the scene after the man was rescued, taking him and the others into custody. They were charged with encroachment on public land or land for public use, Italian news reported.
The president of the Volcano Vesuvius Permanent Presidium and Figav-Confesercenti, Paolo Cappelli, told the Corriere Della Sera that he was grateful for the guides’ work.
“[The guides] are always on the crater to safeguard the safety of tourists. So, recognizing the promptness and professionalism shown on this occasion as well seemed the right thing to do,” Cappelli said.
“Having spoken directly with those who provided the rescue, I can safely say that last Saturday on Mount Vesuvius they saved a human life. I officially thank the whole group of guides belonging to the Presidio Permanente Vulcano Vesuvio, always ready and operational in any condition,” Cappelli added.
A spokesperson from the Carabinieri of the Forestry department of the Park of Vesuvius told ABC News that the man could have fallen 300 meters if he wasn’t stopped by the nearby guides.
He said that on the opposite side of the crater, where visitors are permitted, there are barriers around the opening, but where this man was there were none.
According to the spokesperson, it is extremely rare that visitors stray from the authorized path.
He added that he does not think any kind of legal action will be taken against the man, except for a fine.
(TOKYO) — Crowds gathered on Tuesday to pay respects and lay flowers near former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s private funeral at Zojoji temple in Tokyo.
Abe was shot and killed in Nara on Friday while campaigning for a Liberal Democratic Party candidate.
Officials identified the gunman as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami. Police are still investigating possible motives, but so far Yamagami has told the police he had “a grudge” against a “certain group.” But the authorities haven’t identified the organization or explained its connection to Abe.
The assassination — which was carried out using a homemade gun that police said may have been built by following an online tutorial — has shocked the nation. Gun use is strictly prohibited in Japan without a license, which are limited to hunting, sport or industrial purposes.
“Mr. Abe is one of the greatest prime ministers in Japan’s history. A lot of people look up to him. We are so sad that we lost him,” Shinki Kitaoka, who stood in a crowd in front of the Zojoji temple to commemorate Abe, told ABC News.
When asked about the apparent murder of the leader, Kitaoka said, “Everybody around me, all of my friends and family are shocked. The day I heard the news I just started crying immediately. It was so shocking.”
Yutaka Takeda, another onlooker who came to see the ex-prime minister off, described the shock he felt after the news broke last Friday as being similar to the shock he felt when he heard of U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
“Almost everyone here in Japan is experiencing deep sorrow,” Yutaka said.
A limited number of family members and those who were close to the former prime minister attended the temple funeral, according to Japanese media.
“I have lost my brother. But at the same time, Japan has lost an irreplaceable leader,” Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, Abe’s brother, said in a statement, calling the assassination an “act of terrorism.”
“You were supposed to be the one giving the memorial address at my funeral. I enjoyed going often to drink and play golf together,” Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said in his memorial address.
Abe’s body was carried in a hearse from the temple and through the streets of Tokyo. Mourners lined the roadway and deeply bowed as the motorcade passed by.
The hearse made brief stops at the former leader’s Liberal Democratic Party headquarters, the prime minister’s office, and the parliament building, before arriving at the Kirigaya Funeral Hall, where Abe would be cremated.
ABC News’ Anthony Trotter, Hakyung Kate Lee, Eunseo Nam and Hyerim Lee contributed to this report.
A Harry Styles conspiracy theory dropped. TikTok influencerAbigail Henry started the viral rumor that Harry might actually be bald. Fans are honing in on some suspect photos of Harry dancing that show a suspicious hairline. Abigail adds Harry once boasted about being able to escape public notice very easily and — as she asks –what could be easier than removing a toupee?
Meghan Trainor has a sweet message for her younger self. Taking to TikTok, the Grammy winner wrote, “Little insecure me would be so proud of where I am now” and shared a video montage of all her achievements, from winning a Grammy to starting a family with husband Daryl Sabara.
After Shawn Mendes had to postpone a few tour dates for his mental health, a source tells People the “Stitches” singer is “getting help.” They add, “Shawn is a very sensitive and caring guy. When he gets frustrated with things around him, he turns inward and suffers. He said he is getting help so that is admirable.”
Ed Sheeran was onstage in Cardiff for his tour during the final soccer match of the UEFA Champions League Championship — which saw Liverpool take on Real Madrid — and he revealed on TikTok that he technically didn’t miss the match. He said that while he was on stage, “I was actually getting the results of this game in my ears” and that he “asked for the score inbetween [sic] each song.”
Elton John has added a tour stop to Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on November 1, marking his first time at the venue. The press release states that Vegas is near and dear to Sir Elton because he’s played “close to 500 shows including two highly successful multi-year residencies.” Tickets go on sale Monday, July 18, at 10 a.m. local time.
(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 10, 11:41 am
15 killed in Russian missile strike on residential building in Donetsk region
At least 15 people were killed and two dozen more are feared trapped in rubble after Russian Uragan rockets slammed into a five-story apartment building in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, local officials said on Sunday.
Search-and-rescue workers were combing through the rubble for survivors on Sunday.
The missile strike came as Ukrainian officials reported clashes with Russian troops on the frontline in the eastern and southern Ukraine.
Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the strike on the apartment building occurred Saturday evening in the town of Chasiv Yar. The regional emergency service said Sunday that the death toll had climbed to 15 and that 24 more people could still be buried under the rubble.
“We ran to the basement, there were three hits, the first somewhere in the kitchen,” a local resident, who gave her name as Ludmila, told rescuers as they removed a body wrapped in a white sheet and cleared rubble using a crane as well as their hands. “The second (strike), I do not even remember, there was lightning, we ran towards the second entrance and then straight into the basement. We sat there all night until this morning.”
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a Telegram post that the strike was “another terrorist attack” and that Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism as a result.
Russian officials claimed its forces struck Ukrainian army hangars storing U.S.-produced M777 howitzers, a type of artillery, near Kostyantynivka in Donetsk region, but, so far, has not claimed responsibility for the missile strike on the residential building in Chasiv Yar.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Jul 10, 11:21 am
Blinken claims world food insecurity ‘significantly exacerbated’ by Russian invasion
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has “significantly exacerbated” a global food insecurity crisis and may have contributed to the economic collapse of Sri Lanka.
“What we are seeing around the world is growing food insecurity that has been significantly exacerbated by the Russian aggression against Ukraine and as we’ve had opportunity to discuss in recent days, there are more than 20 million tons of grain that are sitting in silos in Ukraine that can’t get out can’t get out to feed people around the world,” Blinken told reporters during his first official visit to Thailand.
He noted that he discussed the global food insecurity crisis during meetings with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and said a memorandum of understanding the two leaders signed commemorating a new collaboration will “make it easier for Thailand and the United States to quickly share information and consult on possible supply chain disruptions so that we can actually take early action to mitigate problems.”
Blinken added that the impact of this Russian invasion of Ukraine is being felt around the world, particularly in Sri Lanka, where the prime minister said late last month that the island nation’s debt-laden economy had “collapsed” and run out of money to pay for food and fuel. The economic turmoil has prompted massive protests in Sri Lanka and over the weekend demonstrators stormed the president’s residence in the capital of Colombo.
“So we’re seeing the impact of this Russian aggression to play out everywhere,” Blinken said. “Again, it may have contributed to the situation in Sri Lanka. We’re concerned about the implications that it has around the world.”
-ABC News’ Lauren Minore
Jul 08, 3:27 pm
US announces new $400M aid package for Ukraine, including more HIMARS
The Biden administration announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday that includes four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.
Ukraine will now have a total of 12 of these precision rocket launcher systems, which have been “especially important and effective in assisting Ukraine in coping with the Russian artillery battle in the Donbas,” a senior defense official told reporters Friday.
The rockets have a range of 43 miles. The official said that Ukraine has been striking at Russian targets deep behind enemy lines but has not used them to strike inside Russia.
The new aid package also includes 1,000 new “greater precision” artillery. The name of the system was not shared for security purposes, the official said.
The new aid package is the 15th use of the presidential drawdown authority to give existing U.S. military stocks to Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jul 07, 9:26 am
Moscow views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, Russian official says
Russia considers nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, according to Valentina Matviyenko, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council.
“Russia views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent,” Matviyenko said Thursday at a press conference.
The official noted that Russia has “clearly and strictly prescribed those exceptional cases when [nuclear weapons] can only be used in response to — God forbid that this never happens — a nuclear attack.”
“We behave like a civilized country, and we do it openly,” Matviyenko added.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko
Jul 07, 8:16 am
Russia claims no new ground for first time since invasion’s start
Russia claimed no territorial gains in Ukraine on Wednesday for the first time since the beginning of its invasion in late February, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest report.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed territorial gains every day from the start of the war but has not done so since completing the encirclement of the eastern town Lysychansk on July 3, the ISW said.
The Washington-based think tank said the lull in Russian ground force movements supports its assessment that Russian forces “have largely initiated an operational pause.”
The break in operations is not equal to a complete ceasefire, however, as Russian troops still conducted a number of unsuccessful attacks on all frontlines, the experts added.
Russian troops are instead trying to set up conditions for a bigger offensive as they rebuild their combat power, the ISW report said.
Russia has already increased its fleet in the Black Sea on the shores of Ukraine, local media reported on Wednesday. The Russian naval presence grew by several missile carriers, as well as submarines and an amphibious assault ship.
Ukrainian officials refuted Russian claims on Wednesday according to which Russian troops destroyed two HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems supplied by the U.S.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added that the Western supplied artillery “started working very powerfully” and at full capacity.
“Finally, it is felt that the Western artillery, the weapons we received from our partners, started working very powerfully,” Zelenskyy said in his Wednesday evening address. “Its accuracy is exactly as needed,” the president added.
Zelenskyy said the Western weapons have carried out strikes on depots and areas of logistical importance to Russian troops. “And this significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army,” Zelenskyy noted, adding that Russian losses “will only increase every week, as will the difficulty of supplying [Russian troops].”
Ukrainian forces celebrated another symbolic victory on Thursday when they raised their national flag on Snake Island, a recaptured Black Sea isle located 90 miles south of the Ukrainian port of Odesa that became a symbol of defiance against Moscow, according to local reports.
Images released by Ukraine’s interior ministry on Thursday showed three Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue and yellow national flag on a patch of ground on Snake Island next to the remains of a flattened building.
But Russia responded to the flag-raising ceremony fast. It said one of its warplanes had struck Snake Island shortly afterwards and destroyed part of the Ukrainian detachment there.
Russia abandoned Snake Island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill, raising Ukrainian hopes of unblocking local ports shut off by Russia.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko
Jul 06, 10:02 am
Blinken to urge G20 to press Russia on grain deliveries
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to appeal to G20 countries to put pressure on Russia to make it support the U.N. initiative on unblocking the sea lanes for Ukraine and allow grain exports, according to local media reports.
“G20 countries should hold Russia accountable and insist that it supports ongoing U.N. efforts to reopen the sea lanes for grain delivery,” said Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs.
Toloui referred to a U.N. campaign aiming to expedite Ukrainian and Russian exports of harvest and fertilizer to global markets.
Around 22 million tons of grain remain blocked in Ukrainian ports due to the threat of Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.
Ukraine is in active negotiations with Turkey and the U.N. to solve the grain export stalemate, Zelenskyy added.
Blinken is also expected to once again warn China against backing Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
“[The upcoming G20 summit] will be another opportunity … to convey our expectations about what we would expect China to do and not to do in the context of Ukraine,” the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir
Jul 06, 8:42 am
Russia aims to seize territory far beyond the Donbas, Putin’s ally suggests
Russia’s main objective in its invasion of Ukraine is still regime change in Kyiv and the dismantling of Ukrainian sovereignty, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev suggested in a speech on Tuesday.
Patrushev said the Russian “military operation” in Ukraine will continue until Russia achieves its goals of protecting civilians from “genocide,” “denazifying” and demilitarizing Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The Russian official added that Ukraine must remain permanently neutral between Russia and NATO. Petrushev’s remarks nearly mirrored the goals Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at the onset of the war to justify the military invasion.
Patrushev, a close Putin ally, repeated the Russian President’s stated ambitions despite Russia’s military setbacks in Ukraine and previous hints at a reduction in war aims following those defeats, the ISW pointed out.
Patrushev’s explicit restatement of Putin’s initial objectives “strongly indicates” that Russia does not consider its recent territorial gains in the Luhansk region to be sufficient, the ISW experts said.
Russia “has significant territorial aspirations beyond the Donbas” and “is preparing for a protracted war with the intention of taking much larger portions of Ukraine,” the observers added.
Patrushev’s comments dampened hopes for a “compromise ceasefire or even peace based on limited additional Russian territorial gains,” the experts concluded.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir
(WASHINGTON) — The twin brother of Paul Whelan, the former U.S. Marine detained in Russia on espionage charges, said he had mixed feelings about the responses to the cases involving Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner in comparison to his brother.
Reed, another former U.S. Marine who was released from a Russian prison in April after serving nearly three years, told Good Morning America that the Biden administration is “not doing enough” for Paul Whelan and Griner, an American WNBA player and Olympic athlete that was detained in February on drug charges.
Speaking about Reed’s recent release, David Whelan described his “mixed feelings.”
“You’re thrilled for Trevor Reed, and I would be thrilled for Brittney Griner if she was able to go home too,” David Whelan told ABC News’ podcast “Start Here,” and continued “separately from whether Paul gets to go home or not.”
“It’s a devastating call to have to make to our parents for Paul,” he added, “to tell him he was left behind once, and maybe we might have to have that conversation a second time.”
David Whelan said that during the phone call, his brother was “very angry and very upset” and said “why was I left behind?”
During a press briefing Thursday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed Paul Whelan’s detainment and that of others. .
“This President is doing everything that he can to make sure that they come home safely,” said Jean-Pierre. “We’re going to use any — every means that we have.”
Paul Whelan was detained in Russia in December 2018 and accused of spying. His brother said he was in Moscow for a friend’s wedding and was given a USB drive.
“I think one of the challenges for any wrongfully detained family is what are you going to do?” David Whelan said.. “What are you going to sacrifice?”
“One of the friends that he had made in Russia visited him the night of the wedding right before the wedding happened, and gave Paul USB,” he said. “As soon as he was given the USB stick and put it in his pocket, his door was opened by the FSB. And he was arrested.”
Paul Whelan pleaded not guilty, claiming it was a sting operation and that he thought the USB drive contained holiday photos. In June 2020, he was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years of “hard labor” in a Russian prison.
Before the Biden administration, the response of the White House to his brothers’ detainment was “radio silence,” said David Whelan. “Since January or February 2021, we’ve had a huge change.”
At one point, David Whelan said that somebody in the State Department asked his family to “make more noise” about Paul Whelan’s detention.
“We mostly pointed back at them and say, ‘Why would you ask a family to have to take on this responsibility,’” said David Whelan.
Asked by ABC News’ Brad Mielke to speak about the overlaps between the three cases, David Whelan said that “each of these cases is distinct. And each of them has different requirements. And so the resources that the U.S. government brings to bear on each case is going to be different.”
Later in the interview, he added, “I would hope that the U.S. government would look deep to find out what that concession is that they could make and to make it there. There’s got to be something that they can do.”
President Biden called Paul and David Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, Friday to reaffirm his commitment to bringing the former marine home.
“Today, President Biden called Elizabeth Whelan, the sister of Paul Whelan who has been wrongfully detained by Russia since 2018,” a White House official said.
(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 08, 3:27 pm
US announces new $400M aid package for Ukraine, including more HIMARS
The Biden administration announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday that includes four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.
Ukraine will now have a total of 12 of these precision rocket launcher systems, which have been “especially important and effective in assisting Ukraine in coping with the Russian artillery battle in the Donbas,” a senior defense official told reporters Friday.
The rockets have a range of 43 miles. The official said that Ukraine has been striking at Russian targets deep behind enemy lines but has not used them to strike inside Russia.
The new aid package also includes 1,000 new “greater precision” artillery. The name of the system was not shared for security purposes, the official said.
The new aid package is the 15th use of the presidential drawdown authority to give existing U.S. military stocks to Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jul 07, 9:26 am
Moscow views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, Russian official says
Russia considers nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, according to Valentina Matviyenko, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council.
“Russia views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent,” Matviyenko said Thursday at a press conference.
The official noted that Russia has “clearly and strictly prescribed those exceptional cases when [nuclear weapons] can only be used in response to — God forbid that this never happens — a nuclear attack.”
“We behave like a civilized country, and we do it openly,” Matviyenko added.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko
Jul 07, 8:16 am
Russia claims no new ground for first time since invasion’s start
Russia claimed no territorial gains in Ukraine on Wednesday for the first time since the beginning of its invasion in late February, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest report.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed territorial gains every day from the start of the war but has not done so since completing the encirclement of the eastern town Lysychansk on July 3, the ISW said.
The Washington-based think tank said the lull in Russian ground force movements supports its assessment that Russian forces “have largely initiated an operational pause.”
The break in operations is not equal to a complete ceasefire, however, as Russian troops still conducted a number of unsuccessful attacks on all frontlines, the experts added.
Russian troops are instead trying to set up conditions for a bigger offensive as they rebuild their combat power, the ISW report said.
Russia has already increased its fleet in the Black Sea on the shores of Ukraine, local media reported on Wednesday. The Russian naval presence grew by several missile carriers, as well as submarines and an amphibious assault ship.
Ukrainian officials refuted Russian claims on Wednesday according to which Russian troops destroyed two HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems supplied by the U.S.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added that the Western supplied artillery “started working very powerfully” and at full capacity.
“Finally, it is felt that the Western artillery, the weapons we received from our partners, started working very powerfully,” Zelenskyy said in his Wednesday evening address. “Its accuracy is exactly as needed,” the president added.
Zelenskyy said the Western weapons have carried out strikes on depots and areas of logistical importance to Russian troops. “And this significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army,” Zelenskyy noted, adding that Russian losses “will only increase every week, as will the difficulty of supplying [Russian troops].”
Ukrainian forces celebrated another symbolic victory on Thursday when they raised their national flag on Snake Island, a recaptured Black Sea isle located 90 miles south of the Ukrainian port of Odesa that became a symbol of defiance against Moscow, according to local reports.
Images released by Ukraine’s interior ministry on Thursday showed three Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue and yellow national flag on a patch of ground on Snake Island next to the remains of a flattened building.
But Russia responded to the flag-raising ceremony fast. It said one of its warplanes had struck Snake Island shortly afterwards and destroyed part of the Ukrainian detachment there.
Russia abandoned Snake Island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill, raising Ukrainian hopes of unblocking local ports shut off by Russia.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko
Jul 06, 10:02 am
Blinken to urge G20 to press Russia on grain deliveries
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to appeal to G20 countries to put pressure on Russia to make it support the U.N. initiative on unblocking the sea lanes for Ukraine and allow grain exports, according to local media reports.
“G20 countries should hold Russia accountable and insist that it supports ongoing U.N. efforts to reopen the sea lanes for grain delivery,” said Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs.
Toloui referred to a U.N. campaign aiming to expedite Ukrainian and Russian exports of harvest and fertilizer to global markets.
Around 22 million tons of grain remain blocked in Ukrainian ports due to the threat of Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.
Ukraine is in active negotiations with Turkey and the U.N. to solve the grain export stalemate, Zelenskyy added.
Blinken is also expected to once again warn China against backing Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
“[The upcoming G20 summit] will be another opportunity … to convey our expectations about what we would expect China to do and not to do in the context of Ukraine,” the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir
Jul 06, 8:42 am
Russia aims to seize territory far beyond the Donbas, Putin’s ally suggests
Russia’s main objective in its invasion of Ukraine is still regime change in Kyiv and the dismantling of Ukrainian sovereignty, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev suggested in a speech on Tuesday.
Patrushev said the Russian “military operation” in Ukraine will continue until Russia achieves its goals of protecting civilians from “genocide,” “denazifying” and demilitarizing Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The Russian official added that Ukraine must remain permanently neutral between Russia and NATO. Petrushev’s remarks nearly mirrored the goals Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at the onset of the war to justify the military invasion.
Patrushev, a close Putin ally, repeated the Russian President’s stated ambitions despite Russia’s military setbacks in Ukraine and previous hints at a reduction in war aims following those defeats, the ISW pointed out.
Patrushev’s explicit restatement of Putin’s initial objectives “strongly indicates” that Russia does not consider its recent territorial gains in the Luhansk region to be sufficient, the ISW experts said.
Russia “has significant territorial aspirations beyond the Donbas” and “is preparing for a protracted war with the intention of taking much larger portions of Ukraine,” the observers added.
Patrushev’s comments dampened hopes for a “compromise ceasefire or even peace based on limited additional Russian territorial gains,” the experts concluded.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir
(NARA, Japan) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed during a campaign speech in western Japan on Friday, hospital officials said.
Abe, 67, was just minutes into his speech on a street in Nara when he was shot from behind. He was airlifted to Nara Medical University Hospital for emergency treatment, but his heart had already stopped and he had no vital signs. He was later pronounced dead, hospital officials said at a press conference Friday.
Abe sustained two gunshot wounds to the right side of his neck. Doctors tried to stop the bleeding but the bullet had traveled to Abe’s heart and they could not resuscitate him. Abe’s wife was by his side at the hospital when he died, according to hospital officials.
Nara prefectural police arrested the alleged gunman — identified as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami — and recovered a weapon — described as a handmade shotgun — at the scene of the attack on Friday, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, a partner of ABC News.
Citing Japanese defense sources, NHK reported that Yamagami served in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years in the 2000s.
The attack and a motive remains under investigation, but police said the suspect told investigators that he was dissatisfied with the former prime minister and intended to kill him, according to NHK.
Abe was in Nara stumping for his party’s candidates in the upcoming elections for the upper house of Japan’s bicameral legislature when he was gunned down. Despite no longer being Japan’s prime minister, Abe wheeled great influence on national security and economic policies and is the longest-serving premier in the country’s history.
U.S. President Joe Biden released a statement Friday, saying he was “stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened by the news that my friend Abe Shinzo, former Prime Minister of Japan, was shot and killed while campaigning.”
“This is a tragedy for Japan and for all who knew him,” Biden said. “I had the privilege to work closely with Prime Minister Abe. As Vice President, I visited him in Tokyo and welcomed him to Washington. He was a champion of the Alliance between our nations and the friendship between our people. The longest serving Japanese Prime Minister, his vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific will endure.”
“Above all, he cared deeply about the Japanese people and dedicated his life to their service,” Biden added. “Even at the moment he was attacked, he was engaged in the work of democracy. While there are many details that we do not yet know, we know that violent attacks are never acceptable and that gun violence always leaves a deep scar on the communities that are affected by it. The United States stands with Japan in this moment of grief. I send my deepest condolences to his family.”
The deadly shooting shocked many in Japan, which is one of the world’s safest countries and has some of the strictest gun control laws.
In an emotional speech from Tokyo on Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was “lost for words” upon learning of Abe’s death. He said Abe had led the country “with great leadership” was his “personal friend,” someone he has “spent a lot of time with.”
“I have great respect for the legacy Shinzo Abe left behind and I pay the deepest condolences to him,” Kishida said.
The prime minister called Abe’s killing a “heinous act.”
“It is barbaric and malicious and it cannot be tolerated,” he added. “We will do everything we can, and I would like to use the most extreme words available to condemn this act.”
