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:

May 30, 10:56 am
French journalist killed in Ukraine

A French journalist working for cable channel BFM TV has been killed in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, according to Serhiy Haidai, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration.

French President Emmanuel Macron identified the journalist as Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff.

“On board a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally shot,” Macron tweeted. “I share the pain of the family, relatives and colleagues of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, to whom I send my condolences. To those who carry out the difficult mission of informing in theaters of operations, I would like to reiterate France’s unconditional support.”

May 29, 1:38 pm
31% of Kharkiv region occupied by Russian forces, Ukrainian officials say

A significant portion of Kharkiv, a town in northwest Ukraine near the Russian border, is occupied by Russian forces, Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit on Sunday.

Just 5% of the region has been liberated by Ukrainian forces, Synegubov said.

“We are not yet able to fully inspect some of the liberated settlements, conduct full-fledged de-mining and begin rebuilding critical infrastructure, as shelling continues,” Synegubov said, according to a statement from Zelenskyy’s office. “Where we can do it remotely – we do it.”

During the trip to Kharkiv, Zelenskyy inspected destroyed residential buildings in the Saltivka district. The northern and eastern districts of the city suffered the most destruction, with more than 30% of total housing damaged.

Zelenskyy noted that there will be an opportunity to modernize new constructions and that new housing will have to include bomb shelters.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

May 27, 1:32 pm
Zelenskyy calls for Russia to unblock Ukraine’s seaports amid ‘food crisis’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for Russia to unblock Ukraine’s seaports to end a global “food crisis” while speaking at the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia think tank Friday, according to his office.

“Russia has blocked access to our ports in the Black Sea and occupied our part of the Sea of Azov. As a result of this military blockade, most traditional Ukrainian trade routes have been closed,” said Zelenskyy, noting that 22 million tons of grain are currently in storage facilities in Ukraine. “We cannot direct them to the world market, where they are needed right now, at this time.”

According to the president, this block has already affected the prices for grain and soon will affect the prices for other food products. He predicted that many countries will run out of last year’s harvest stockpiles in July.

“The sooner our ports are unblocked, the sooner the food crisis will stop, because we will be able to send our stocks and new crops to the world market,” Zelenskyy said.

May 27, 7:08 am
Bucha resident who lost husband, unborn son tries to rebuild her life

Anna Polonska had struggled to get pregnant. So when she did, it was a moment of sheer joy; a happy family life lay ahead.

But days after Russia invaded Ukraine, her unborn son and husband were killed in shelling as they tried to flee Ukraine, she told ABC News.

She was also gravely injured in the attack, and doctors did not think she would survive.

Adding to her loss, soldiers stole almost all of her possessions and destroyed her apartment, she recalled.

But in a remarkable interview, Anna said she is now focusing on picking up the pieces — showing incredible courage and determination to live and walk again.

At least 3,998 civilians have been killed and 4,693 others have been injured in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

At least 260 children were among the dead and 404 among the injured, according to the OHCHR.

“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the agency said in a statement Thursday. “OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.”

Those areas include Mariupol in the Donetsk Oblast, Izium in the Kharkiv Oblast and Popasna in the Luhansk Oblast, where the OHCHR said “there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties.” Casualty numbers from those locations “are being further corroborated” and thus are not included in the latest statistics, according to the agency.

May 26, 6:06 am
Russia’s airborne forces suffer ‘heavy casualties’ after ‘tactical failures,’ UK says

The Russian military’s airborne forces, known as the VDV, “have been heavily involved in several notable tactical failures since the start of Russia’s invasion” of neighboring Ukraine, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

“This includes the attempted advance on Kyiv via Hostomel Airfield in March, the stalled progress on the Izium axis since April, and the recent failed and costly crossings of the Siverskyi Donets River,” the ministry said Thursday in an intelligence update.

“Russian doctrine anticipates assigning the VDV to some of the most demanding operations,” the ministry added. “The 45,000-strong VDV is mostly comprised of professional contract soldiers. Its members enjoy elite status and attract additional pay. The VDV has been employed on missions better suited to heavier armoured infantry and has sustained heavy casualties during the campaign.”

The VDV’s “mixed performance likely reflects a strategic mismanagement of this capability and Russia’s failure to secure air superiority,” according to the ministry.

“The misemployment of the VDV in Ukraine highlights how Putin’s significant investment in the armed forces over the last 15 years has resulted in an unbalanced overall force,” the ministry said. “The failure to anticipate Ukrainian resistance and the subsequent complacency of Russian commanders has led to significant losses across many of Russia’s more elite units.”

May 24, 4:47 pm
Drone footage shows devastation inside Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol

Drone footage released by Russian media shows the devastation inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces fended off Russian troops for weeks amid intense fighting before surrendering.

The drone footage released by the Russian news outlet MIC Izvestia showed the collapsed walls of the plant and twisted metal and debris strewn about the entire facility.

The Russian Defense ministry on Friday said the last Ukrainian fighters defending Azovstal had surrendered, giving Russia full control of the port city of Mariupol.

The seizure of Mariupol, gives Russia command of a land route linking the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014, with mainland Russia and parts of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian separatists.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(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:

May 31, 5:42 am
Up to 12,000 civilians may be trapped in fight for Severodonetsk

As Russian forces battle for control of a key eastern Ukrainian city, up to 12,000 civilians may be trapped in the crossfire, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

“I am horrified to see Severodonetsk, the thriving city where we had our operational headquarters, become the epicentre of yet another chapter of the brutal war in Ukraine,” NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland said in a statement Tuesday. “We fear that up to 12,000 civilians remain caught in crossfire in the city, without sufficient access to water, food, medicine or electricity. The near-constant bombardment is forcing civilians to seek refuge in bomb shelters and basements, with only few precious opportunities for those trying to escape.”

Over the past week, the Oslo-based humanitarian organization has been working with local Ukrainian partners to provide thousands of monthly food and hygiene parcels to civilians remaining in Severodonetsk and the greater Luhansk Oblast, according to Egeland. The city is the last still held by Ukrainian forces in Luhansk Oblast.

“But now the intensified fighting makes aid delivery impossible,” he added. “We cannot save lives under the hail of grenades.”

NRC has been operational in Ukraine since 2014, serving people affected by conflict in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts of eastern Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region.

“Almost one hundred days since the war in Ukraine escalated, we have seen bombs destroy critical infrastructure across the country and reduce entire cities like Severodonetsk to rubble,” Egeland said. “More than 14 million men, women and children are displaced within Ukraine or sheltering in other countries with no idea when they will be able to safely return to their homes.”

May 31, 4:50 am
Russians, Ukrainians fight street by street in key eastern city

Russian and Ukrainian forces are believed to be fighting street by street on the outskirts of Severodonetsk, a key city in Ukraine’s east, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Tuesday in an intelligence update.

“Russia’s capture of Lyman supports its operational main effort, which likely remains the encirclement of Sieverodonetsk and the closure of the pocket around Ukrainian forces in Luhansk Oblast,” the ministry said. “Heavy shelling continues, while street fighting is likely taking place on the outskirts of Sieverodonetsk town.”

After several days of fighting, the Russian military claimed Saturday to have fully seized the strategic town of Lyman, which serves as a railway hub in the Donetsk Oblast, west of Severodonetsk.

“Russia’s political goal is likely to occupy the full territory of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts,” the ministry added. “To achieve this, Russia will need to secure further challenging operational objectives beyond Sieverodonetsk, including the key city of Kramatorsk and the M04 Dnipro-Donetsk main road.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(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:

May 31, 5:42 am
Up to 12,000 civilians may be trapped in fight for Severodonetsk

As Russian forces battle for control of a key eastern Ukrainian city, up to 12,000 civilians may be trapped in the crossfire, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

“I am horrified to see Severodonetsk, the thriving city where we had our operational headquarters, become the epicentre of yet another chapter of the brutal war in Ukraine,” NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland said in a statement Tuesday. “We fear that up to 12,000 civilians remain caught in crossfire in the city, without sufficient access to water, food, medicine or electricity. The near-constant bombardment is forcing civilians to seek refuge in bomb shelters and basements, with only few precious opportunities for those trying to escape.”

Over the past week, the Oslo-based humanitarian organization has been working with local Ukrainian partners to provide thousands of monthly food and hygiene parcels to civilians remaining in Severodonetsk and the greater Luhansk Oblast, according to Egeland. The city is the last still held by Ukrainian forces in Luhansk Oblast.

“But now the intensified fighting makes aid delivery impossible,” he added. “We cannot save lives under the hail of grenades.”

NRC has been operational in Ukraine since 2014, serving people affected by conflict in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts of eastern Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region.

“Almost one hundred days since the war in Ukraine escalated, we have seen bombs destroy critical infrastructure across the country and reduce entire cities like Severodonetsk to rubble,” Egeland said. “More than 14 million men, women and children are displaced within Ukraine or sheltering in other countries with no idea when they will be able to safely return to their homes.”

May 31, 4:50 am
Russians, Ukrainians fight street by street in key eastern city

Russian and Ukrainian forces are believed to be fighting street by street on the outskirts of Severodonetsk, a key city in Ukraine’s east, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Tuesday in an intelligence update.

“Russia’s capture of Lyman supports its operational main effort, which likely remains the encirclement of Sieverodonetsk and the closure of the pocket around Ukrainian forces in Luhansk Oblast,” the ministry said. “Heavy shelling continues, while street fighting is likely taking place on the outskirts of Sieverodonetsk town.”

After several days of fighting, the Russian military claimed Saturday to have fully seized the strategic town of Lyman, which serves as a railway hub in the Donetsk Oblast, west of Severodonetsk.

“Russia’s political goal is likely to occupy the full territory of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts,” the ministry added. “To achieve this, Russia will need to secure further challenging operational objectives beyond Sieverodonetsk, including the key city of Kramatorsk and the M04 Dnipro-Donetsk main road.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — Queen Elizabeth will be celebrated this week with what is being described as a once-in-a-lifetime celebration to mark her Platinum Jubilee.

The royal family and the public will take part in festivities including ranging from the traditional Trooping the Colour birthday parade to a star-studded concert to celebrate the 96-year-old queen, the first British monarch to reach a Platinum Jubilee — 70 years on the throne.

Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne following the death of her father, King George VI, on Feb. 6, 1952.

As the celebrations get underway, here is a look back at seven of the queen’s most memorable moments from 70 years on the throne:

1. A history-making coronation

Queen Elizabeth’s coronation on June 2, 1953, was the first to be televised.

The nearly three-hour service in Westminster Abbey was watched on TV by 27 million people in the United Kingdom alone, according to the royal family.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s oldest child, Prince Charles, attended the coronation, becoming the first child to witness his mother’s coronation.

Following the service, the queen and Prince Philip joined a 16,000-person strong procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.

Among the thousands of journalists covering the queen’s coronation was Jacqueline Bouvier, who at the time worked for the Washington Times-Herald and would go on to become first lady of the United States alongside her husband, President John F. Kennedy, according to the royal family.

2. The first royal ‘walkabout’ to greet fans

While royal watchers are used to seeing royals including Prince William and Duchess Kate greet fans at each stop they make, a practice called the “walkabout,” that was not the case before Queen Elizabeth.

The queen upended royal tradition while on a tour of Australia and New Zealand with Prince Philip in 1970. Instead of waving to crowds from a protected distance, Queen Elizabeth walked out and greeted people in-person, the first royal “walkabout.”

3. Meeting 13 sitting U.S. presidents

Queen Elizabeth has met with every U.S. president during her 70 years on the throne, except for Lyndon B. Johnson.

She met with President Joe Biden last June at Windsor Castle, marking her 13th meeting with a sitting U.S. president.

Queen Elizabeth has hosted just three presidents for an official state visit — Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

4. Celebrating jubilees in a history-making reign as queen

In 1977, Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Silver Jubilee, 25 years on the throne, with a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where she repeated her pledge to a life of service.

More than two decades later, in 2002 — the same year both her mother and sister passed away — Queen Elizabeth celebrated 50 years on the throne, her Golden Jubilee.

The queen was escorted through the streets of London in a four-ton golden coach, previously used only when she was crowned and at her Silver Jubilee. In a ceremony that dates back almost 800 years, she touched a sword handed to her by the Lord Mayor of London, symbolizing the supreme power of the monarch.

In June 2012, Queen Elizabeth celebrated 60 years on the throne, her Diamond Jubilee, with a parade down the Thames and a concert outside Buckingham Palace.

Three years later, in 2015, Queen Elizabeth made history, becoming Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, at 63 years.

5. ‘Parachuting’ into the London Olympics with James Bond

The same year as her Diamond Jubilee, in 2012, Queen Elizabeth memorably starred alongside actor Daniel Craig in a clip that aired during the opening ceremony for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

The queen portrayed herself in the clip, which featured Craig, as James Bond, picking her up at Buckingham Palace. Stunt actors then portrayed the two helicoptering across London and parachuting into the Olympics venue, while Queen Elizabeth herself arrived at her seat, accompanied by Prince Philip.

6. Serving as matriarch of a growing royal family

Queen Elizabeth has been an omnipresent force not just on the world stage, but also within her own family.

The queen, a mother of four, is the matriarch of an ever-growing family, which now includes eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

She has been present for weddings, as well as divorces that made headlines.

She has also guided her family through scandal and discord, most recently amid a lawsuit against her son Prince Andrew, as well as the exit of her grandson Prince Harry and his wife, Duchess Meghan, from their senior royal roles.

7. Saying goodbye to her husband of 73 years

Queen Elizabeth faced a deeply personal and sad moment in her reign last April when she said goodbye to her husband , Prince Philip, following his death at age 99.

Due to restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, the queen sat alone during the April 17, 2021, funeral service for Philip, her husband of 73 years.

Known as one of the hardest-working members of the royal family, Philip, the duke of Edinburgh, was also a stalwart supporter of his wife.

“He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments, but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years,” Queen Elizabeth said in 1997, paying tribute to her husband on their golden wedding anniversary. “And I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(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:

May 30, 10:56 am
French journalist killed in Ukraine

A French journalist working for cable channel BFM TV has been killed in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, according to Serhiy Haidai, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration.

French President Emmanuel Macron identified the journalist as Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff.

“On board a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally shot,” Macron tweeted. “I share the pain of the family, relatives and colleagues of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, to whom I send my condolences. To those who carry out the difficult mission of informing in theaters of operations, I would like to reiterate France’s unconditional support.”

May 29, 1:38 pm
31% of Kharkiv region occupied by Russian forces, Ukrainian officials say

A significant portion of Kharkiv, a town in northwest Ukraine near the Russian border, is occupied by Russian forces, Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit on Sunday.

Just 5% of the region has been liberated by Ukrainian forces, Synegubov said.

“We are not yet able to fully inspect some of the liberated settlements, conduct full-fledged de-mining and begin rebuilding critical infrastructure, as shelling continues,” Synegubov said, according to a statement from Zelenskyy’s office. “Where we can do it remotely – we do it.”

During the trip to Kharkiv, Zelenskyy inspected destroyed residential buildings in the Saltivka district. The northern and eastern districts of the city suffered the most destruction, with more than 30% of total housing damaged.

Zelenskyy noted that there will be an opportunity to modernize new constructions and that new housing will have to include bomb shelters.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

May 27, 1:32 pm
Zelenskyy calls for Russia to unblock Ukraine’s seaports amid ‘food crisis’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for Russia to unblock Ukraine’s seaports to end a global “food crisis” while speaking at the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia think tank Friday, according to his office.

“Russia has blocked access to our ports in the Black Sea and occupied our part of the Sea of Azov. As a result of this military blockade, most traditional Ukrainian trade routes have been closed,” said Zelenskyy, noting that 22 million tons of grain are currently in storage facilities in Ukraine. “We cannot direct them to the world market, where they are needed right now, at this time.”

According to the president, this block has already affected the prices for grain and soon will affect the prices for other food products. He predicted that many countries will run out of last year’s harvest stockpiles in July.

“The sooner our ports are unblocked, the sooner the food crisis will stop, because we will be able to send our stocks and new crops to the world market,” Zelenskyy said.

May 27, 7:08 am
Bucha resident who lost husband, unborn son tries to rebuild her life

Anna Polonska had struggled to get pregnant. So when she did, it was a moment of sheer joy; a happy family life lay ahead.

But days after Russia invaded Ukraine, her unborn son and husband were killed in shelling as they tried to flee Ukraine, she told ABC News.

She was also gravely injured in the attack, and doctors did not think she would survive.

Adding to her loss, soldiers stole almost all of her possessions and destroyed her apartment, she recalled.

But in a remarkable interview, Anna said she is now focusing on picking up the pieces — showing incredible courage and determination to live and walk again.

At least 3,998 civilians have been killed and 4,693 others have been injured in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

At least 260 children were among the dead and 404 among the injured, according to the OHCHR.

“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the agency said in a statement Thursday. “OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.”

Those areas include Mariupol in the Donetsk Oblast, Izium in the Kharkiv Oblast and Popasna in the Luhansk Oblast, where the OHCHR said “there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties.” Casualty numbers from those locations “are being further corroborated” and thus are not included in the latest statistics, according to the agency.

May 26, 6:06 am
Russia’s airborne forces suffer ‘heavy casualties’ after ‘tactical failures,’ UK says

The Russian military’s airborne forces, known as the VDV, “have been heavily involved in several notable tactical failures since the start of Russia’s invasion” of neighboring Ukraine, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

“This includes the attempted advance on Kyiv via Hostomel Airfield in March, the stalled progress on the Izium axis since April, and the recent failed and costly crossings of the Siverskyi Donets River,” the ministry said Thursday in an intelligence update.

“Russian doctrine anticipates assigning the VDV to some of the most demanding operations,” the ministry added. “The 45,000-strong VDV is mostly comprised of professional contract soldiers. Its members enjoy elite status and attract additional pay. The VDV has been employed on missions better suited to heavier armoured infantry and has sustained heavy casualties during the campaign.”

The VDV’s “mixed performance likely reflects a strategic mismanagement of this capability and Russia’s failure to secure air superiority,” according to the ministry.

“The misemployment of the VDV in Ukraine highlights how Putin’s significant investment in the armed forces over the last 15 years has resulted in an unbalanced overall force,” the ministry said. “The failure to anticipate Ukrainian resistance and the subsequent complacency of Russian commanders has led to significant losses across many of Russia’s more elite units.”

May 24, 4:47 pm
Drone footage shows devastation inside Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol

Drone footage released by Russian media shows the devastation inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces fended off Russian troops for weeks amid intense fighting before surrendering.

The drone footage released by the Russian news outlet MIC Izvestia showed the collapsed walls of the plant and twisted metal and debris strewn about the entire facility.

The Russian Defense ministry on Friday said the last Ukrainian fighters defending Azovstal had surrendered, giving Russia full control of the port city of Mariupol.

The seizure of Mariupol, gives Russia command of a land route linking the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014, with mainland Russia and parts of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian separatists.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — The burqa mandate is back in Afghanistan, and, with it, a wave of disappointment and distress taking over the lives of millions of people in the country who do not believe in hijab.

Earlier this month, on May 7, the Vice and Virtue Ministry of the Taliban issued a decree saying all women in the country have to cover themselves head to toe. The decree says it is to protect the women’s “dignity” and called for those women who do not follow the hijab in government agencies to be dismissed.

“For all dignified Afghan women, wearing hijab is necessary and the best hijab is chadori (the head-to-toe burqa) which is part of our tradition and is respectful,” said Shir Mohammad, an official from the Vice and Virtue Ministry, in the statement.

The ministry updated the mandate on Sunday, May 22, requiring all TV presenters in Afghanistan to keep their faces covered while on-camera.

These announcements led to reactions among the international community and human rights groups. Many male TV presenters stood by their female colleagues by covering their faces with masks during their time on-camera.

The solidarity moved to social media, where the hashtag #FreeHerFace became popular.

Khpalwak Safi, broadcaster of Afghanistan’s leading Tolo TV, was among the figures who covered his face to show solidarity with female journalists. The move was welcomed by his colleagues.

On Wednesday, the official Twitter account of TOLO News called for the related officials and institutions to hear their message.

“It’s time for foreign governments to do much more to raise their concerns. Diplomats meeting with the Taliban should signal support for the #FreeHerFace campaign and speak out publicly against the Taliban’s intensifying violations of the rights of women and girls,” the Human Rights Watch wrote on May 23.

“This latest order is part of steady flow of Taliban actions that have blocked girls’ secondary education, pushed women out of most employment, curtailed women’s freedom of movement, obstructed women’s access to health care, and abolished the system designed to protect women and girls from violence,” the rights organization said.

Among those who showed solidarity was Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Malala Yousafzai’s father, the Peace Nobel laureate who has been advocating for girls’ education.

“Faces are windows to our souls and personalities. Our faces are our identities. It is our basic human right to show our identities. Also when girls are enrolled in schools they get an identity,” he tweeted with the hashtag #FreeHerFace.

“It is always a surprise to me to see this kind of restriction and focus on women when we have about a 95% poverty rate in the country,” Payvand Seyedali, an American health and human rights activist who has lived in Afghanistan for the past decade consulting with NGOs, told ABC News.

According to the mandate, if women reject covering head-to-toe, the first step would be to identify the house of the unveiled women. However, the mandate says, “their guardian should be advised and punished,” not the women themselves.

If the same woman is seen again without the Taliban’s standard dress code, their guardian will be summoned to the relevant department. The guardian then will be detained for three days and will finally be handed over to the courts to be sentenced to an appropriate punishment.

“The most important observation for me is how humiliating it is for women to not be able to be accountable for their own actions,” Seyedali said, addressing the consequences of prosecuting guardians rather than women themselves.

“On the other hand,” she added, “you also see that women are forced to make decisions that they don’t want to make for the benefit of their families. There is no girl and no woman in this country who wants to see her brother go to jail, who wants to see her father go to jail.”

The U.S. Amnesty International asked the international community to “hold the Taliban accountable.”

“Despite the Taliban’s continued assurances that they respect the rights of women and girls, millions of women and girls have been systematically discriminated against since the Taliban became the de-facto authorities,” the organization wrote in a tweet.

The burqa mandate comes after the restrictions on Afghanistan women’s freedom of movement as the Taliban had prohibited them from travelling out of their town without a male guardian. The other major restriction has been closing schools for girls after the sixth grade.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — An asteroid — the largest to get close to Earth this year — tumbled past the planet Friday.

According to NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies, the “potentially hazardous” asteroid is 1.1 miles long and at least 3,280 feet wide. It crossed into Earth’s orbit around 9 a.m. ET.

The asteroid, officially called 1989 JA, is roughly four times the size of the Empire State Building.

This asteroid would be catastrophic if it hit Earth, but it will be at a safe distance of 2.5 million miles away, according to the Virtual Telescope Project, the nonprofit organization that runs remotely controlled telescopes.

In a livestream showing the asteroid passing through the Earth’s orbit, the Virtual Telescope Project said that the asteroid would be visible mainly from the Southern hemisphere, using small instruments.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(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:

May 27, 7:08 am
Bucha resident who lost husband, unborn son tries to rebuild her life

Anna Polonska had struggled to get pregnant. So when she did, it was a moment of sheer joy; a happy family life lay ahead.

But days after Russia invaded Ukraine, her unborn son and husband were killed in shelling as they tried to flee Ukraine, she told ABC News.

She was also gravely injured in the attack, and doctors did not think she would survive.

Adding to her loss, soldiers stole almost all of her possessions and destroyed her apartment, she recalled.

But in a remarkable interview, Anna said she is now focusing on picking up the pieces — showing incredible courage and determination to live and walk again.

At least 3,998 civilians have been killed and 4,693 others have been injured in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

At least 260 children were among the dead and 404 among the injured, according to the OHCHR.

“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the agency said in a statement Thursday. “OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.”

Those areas include Mariupol in the Donetsk Oblast, Izium in the Kharkiv Oblast and Popasna in the Luhansk Oblast, where the OHCHR said “there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties.” Casualty numbers from those locations “are being further corroborated” and thus are not included in the latest statistics, according to the agency.

May 26, 6:06 am
Russia’s airborne forces suffer ‘heavy casualties’ after ‘tactical failures,’ UK says

The Russian military’s airborne forces, known as the VDV, “have been heavily involved in several notable tactical failures since the start of Russia’s invasion” of neighboring Ukraine, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

“This includes the attempted advance on Kyiv via Hostomel Airfield in March, the stalled progress on the Izium axis since April, and the recent failed and costly crossings of the Siverskyi Donets River,” the ministry said Thursday in an intelligence update.

“Russian doctrine anticipates assigning the VDV to some of the most demanding operations,” the ministry added. “The 45,000-strong VDV is mostly comprised of professional contract soldiers. Its members enjoy elite status and attract additional pay. The VDV has been employed on missions better suited to heavier armoured infantry and has sustained heavy casualties during the campaign.”

The VDV’s “mixed performance likely reflects a strategic mismanagement of this capability and Russia’s failure to secure air superiority,” according to the ministry.

“The misemployment of the VDV in Ukraine highlights how Putin’s significant investment in the armed forces over the last 15 years has resulted in an unbalanced overall force,” the ministry said. “The failure to anticipate Ukrainian resistance and the subsequent complacency of Russian commanders has led to significant losses across many of Russia’s more elite units.”

May 24, 4:47 pm
Drone footage shows devastation inside Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol

Drone footage released by Russian media shows the devastation inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces fended off Russian troops for weeks amid intense fighting before surrendering.

The drone footage released by the Russian news outlet MIC Izvestia showed the collapsed walls of the plant and twisted metal and debris strewn about the entire facility.

The Russian Defense ministry on Friday said the last Ukrainian fighters defending Azovstal had surrendered, giving Russia full control of the port city of Mariupol.

The seizure of Mariupol, gives Russia command of a land route linking the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014, with mainland Russia and parts of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian separatists.

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(UVALDE, Texas) — Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, traveled to Uvalde, Texas, Thursday, to pay tribute to the 19 students and two teachers killed at Robb Elementary School.

Meghan, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and a baseball cap, was photographed laying a bouquet of white roses and kneeling before a cross at a memorial near the school, where on Tuesday a gunman entered through a backdoor and opened fire in a classroom, according to authorities.

Among the shooting victims remembered at the memorial site are two fourth-grade teachers, several sets of cousins, a 10-year-old boy whose family called him “the life of the party,” a 10-year-old girl who loved to play softball and a 10-year-old boy described by his mom as a “very smart and loving child.”

Meghan visited Uvalde in a “personal capacity,” according to her spokesperson.

“She took this trip in a personal capacity as a mother, to offer her condolences and support in person to a community experiencing unimaginable grief,” the spokesperson told ABC News.

Meghan, 40, lives in California with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two young children, Archie and Lilibet.

Meghan and Harry run the Archewell Foundation, described by the couple as an “impact-driven global nonprofit.”

The family is scheduled to travel soon to the United Kingdom, where they will join Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, next weekend for her Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The trip will mark their first public trip to the U.K. together since stepping down from their senior royal roles two years ago.

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(MEXICO CITY) — In the hours and days after the horrifying school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, foreign governments around the world expressed their condolences to the American people.

But in Mexico, officials added something different — outrage, anger and calls to action.

“The gun lobby has succeeded in selling weapons of war, of a military nature, with the potential to leave victims unrecognizable, to civilians knowing the damage they cause. This failure to foresee, to prevent the damage is negligence, and the gun firms must be held responsible,” said Alejandro Celorio Alcántara, the Mexican Foreign Ministry’s legal adviser, in a tweet.

That vocal criticism is part of a new, more assertive stance by Mexico’s government against American guns, which have flooded into Mexico by the hundreds of thousands and helped fuel waves of violence.

Last year, Mexico sued 10 gun manufacturers and distributors in U.S. court for billions of dollars in damages — an unprecedented lawsuit that accused these companies of all but aiding drug cartels’ acquisition of arms.

Mexico has also pressed the issue repeatedly with U.S. administrations, calling for more frequent U.S. inspections at the border and enhanced technology to conduct them.

“In recent years, the Mexican government has carried out more and better actions to advance an agenda of arms control in the U.S. than the U.S. government can or wants to,” Ximena Medellín Urquiaga, a professor of legal studies at Mexico’s Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, tweeted Wednesday.

The outrage over the Uvalde killings is also fueled by the close ties the city has to Mexico. Some 78% of Uvalde’s 15,000 residents are Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2020 U.S. census, with the U.S.-Mexican border just 54 miles away.

“Just look at the last names” of the victims, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told reporters Wednesday. “They are the children and grandchildren of Mexicans.”

Mexico’s top diplomat at its consulate in nearby Eagle Pass, Texas, was on the scene late Tuesday, offering consular assistance to any Mexican citizens potentially affected by the carnage. The Mexican Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it would wait for U.S. authorities to confirm whether any Mexican citizens were killed or injured in the shooting. Eight Mexican citizens were killed and seven injured in the 2019 shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart.

But while López Obrador declined to answer questions on U.S. gun laws Wednesday, several senior Mexican diplomats did not hold back, including in blaming the U.S. gun lobby for violence on the southern side of the border.

“The horror. This will continue to happen as long as weapons are readily available. Whether it’s the 1st economy in the world, the 15th or the 190th. Parents lose their children. We all lose. The only winner is the gun industry. Let’s hold them accountable,” Salvador Tinajero, the Foreign Ministry’s deputy legal adviser, tweeted Tuesday.

An estimated 200,000 guns are trafficked from the U.S. into Mexico each year, according to the Mexican government — a figure that the U.S. government called “the best estimate available,” according to a February 2021 U.S. government watchdog report.

In its lawsuit last August, Mexico alleged the number is now higher — between 500,000 and 873,000 guns per year.

Approximately 70% of the firearms recovered in Mexico from 2014 to 2018 came from the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice — although that number could also be even higher because those are only the firearms submitted for tracing by Mexico’s federal government, not including those recovered by Mexican states, according to that U.S. watchdog report.

Experts say that enormous southern flow of weapons is because access to guns is much easier in the U.S. In contrast, Mexico has strict laws that all but forbid guns from public. While firearms are not illegal to own and keep at home, heavy requirements for ownership usually mean months of paperwork — and guns can only be purchased from the country’s one gun store on a military base in Mexico City.

Despite those restrictions, Mexico suffers from some of the worst gun violence in the world. Between 2015 and 2021, more than 141,000 people were killed with a gun across the country — a rate of homicide by firearm that rose 109 percent, according to the “Mexico Peace Index 2022” report by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a nonpartisan think tank.

Years of working with the U.S. government, including $54 million from the State Department between 2015 and 2019 to boost Mexican law enforcement’s counter gun trafficking, has not eased the problem.

Instead, in its lawsuit last August, the Mexican government took a page from U.S. gun safety groups by going after gun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson.

The companies “sell to any distributor or dealer that has a U.S. license to buy and sell the product, regardless of the buyer’s record of flouting the law and despite blazing red flags indicating that a gun dealer is conspiring with straw purchasers or others to traffic Defendants’ guns into Mexico. Defendants use this head-in-the-sand approach to deny responsibility while knowingly profiting from the criminal trade,” the lawsuit alleged.

The case has little chance at success because U.S. federal law largely protects gun manufacturers from being sued by victims of gun violence, and it’s unclear whether Mexico has standing to sue them in U.S. court.

In November, several manufacturers first moved to have the case dismissed, arguing in court again last month that any connection between their sales and the alleged damage is too far removed to make them responsible. Even more assertively, the National Rifle Association accused the Mexican government in February of “deflect[ing] criticism of their own failures by abusing the legal system to blame law-abiding gun manufacturers.”

But the political message of the lawsuit and another round of vocal Mexican criticism could have a more lasting effect, as the U.S. appears increasingly singular in its gun violence problem.

In remarks Tuesday evening, President Joe Biden noted he learned about the Uvalde massacre while flying back from his first trip to Asia, saying, “What struck me was these kinds of shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world.”

His spokesperson at the State Department went further, saying the shooting has “implications for our standing” in the world. It even potentially makes the U.S. a “source of confusion, a source of disbelief for our closest friends and allies — worse yet, an object of pity,” Ned Price said Wednesday.

But for Mexico, it’s the U.S. as a source of guns themselves that looms largest — a destabilizing neighbor, according to some officials.

“Mexico is standing up to the gun industry in courts. Their negligent and profit-driven practices are wrecking havoc in our communities,” Guillaume Michel, head of legal affairs at the Mexican embassy in Washington, tweeted Wednesday.

Whether repeated incidents of that havoc will lead to any legal changes — in court or Congress — remains to be seen.

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