(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon has been providing daily updates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s efforts to resist.
Here are highlights of what a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Monday on Day 40:
Nearly 70% of Russian troops near Kyiv have withdrawn
About two-thirds of the Russian forces that were arrayed against Kyiv have withdrawn toward Belarus, according to the official. This up from an estimated 20% late last week.
Before repositioning, there were close to 20 Russian battalion tactical groups (BTGs) bearing down on Kyiv from the north and northwest, with each group comprised of 700-900 troops. Roughly 13 of those BTGs are now either in Belarus or on their way there, the official said.
The Pentagon believes these forces will be resupplied and possibly reenforced in the north before heading back into Ukraine to fight elsewhere.
“Our best assessment — and it is only an assessment — is that they will be applied in the eastern part of the country in the Donbas region,” the official said.
The U.S. has also seen some Russian troops leave the Ukrainian city of Sumy to head north to the Russian border, according to the official.
Despite these movements, the official said the “vast majority” of the more than 125 BTGs that Russia committed to the invasion are still inside Ukraine.
‘Sickening’ Russian atrocities in Bucha
The official said that while the U.S. cannot independently verify Ukrainian claims of Russian atrocities committed against civilians in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv recently retaken by Ukrainian troops, there is no reason to doubt them.
“It’s sickening, it’s disgusting,” the official said, adding that the claims should be included in the growing list of alleged Russian war crimes to be investigated.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the town, where he accused Russia of genocide. Ukrainian officials have said more than 400 civilians were found dead there, many with hands tied behind their backs, shot at close range.
“We have long said that the Russians would be brutal in their execution of this war. They have been,” the senior U.S. defense official said. “We said more than a week ago that we clearly believe the evidence pointed to war crimes by Russian forces. And what we’re seeing out of Bucha certainly reinforces those concerns.”
President Joe Biden put blame on Russian president Vladimir Putin while speaking to reporters Monday.
“You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal,” Biden said. “Well, the truth of the matter, you saw what happened in Bucha … he is a war criminal.”
Russia shifting airstrikes
In addition to moving some of its troops away from the capital, Russia has also refocused its long-range strikes elsewhere, largely in the eastern and southern parts of the country, the official said.
“Clearly they’re still hitting Mariupol, but we have not seen the same level of airstrike activity on Kyiv,” the official said. “So there’s been a declination there over the last few days.”
Russia has fired more than 1,400 missiles against Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion.
Military aid being rushed into Ukraine
The U.S. has continued to rush small arms, anti-tank and aircraft missiles and medical supplies into Ukraine, and has coordinating shipments from a half dozen other donor nations in the last 24 hours, according to the senior defense official.
“Everything we’re doing with respect to Ukraine is being expedited — everything,” the official said.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 04, 10:22 am
Russia may launch major offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Monday it is monitoring large movements of Russian troops and reinforcements in eastern Ukraine.
The General Staff said it expects Russian forces to launch a possibly major offensive in the Donbas region within the next 24 hours, particularly against the city of Severodonetsk, which is the administrative center of the government-controlled areas of the Luhansk Oblast.
Meanwhile, Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko has urged civilians to evacuate now, even from areas not close to the front lines.
Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his recognition of two breakaway areas of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region that share a border with Russia — the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. Russia-backed separatist forces have controlled these parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhanks oblasts since 2014.
Apr 04, 10:04 am
Zelenskyy visits bombed city of Bucha
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited on Monday the decimated city of Bucha, where Ukrainian officials have accused Russian troops of committing war crimes against civilians.
Zelenskyy toured the Kyiv suburb that was retaken by Ukrainian forces in recent days. Zelenskyy went to a road in the city littered with destroyed Russian equipment and he spoke to local residents.
Zelenskyy repeated accusations that Russia committed war crimes and genocide after Ukrainian officials said 410 people believed to have been civilians were found dead, many with their hands bound behind their backs and shot at close range.
Russian officials have denied the accusation and have requested the U.N. Security Council investigate.
Apr 04, 9:34 am
Ukraine accuses Russian brigade of war crimes, releases names of troops
Ukraine has accused a brigade of the Russian Ground Forces of committing war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.
The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense published online Monday what it said was a list with the names of hundreds of personnel of Russia’s 64th Motor Rifle Brigade whom they believe were directly responsible for atrocities in Bucha. Ukrainian officials have said there is evidence of other Russian units being involved.
Ukrainian authorities announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Images emerged showing bodies, some of which showed signs of torture, in civilian clothes strewn in streets and in mass graves across Bucha, northwest of Kyiv. ABC News journalists on the ground saw some of the dead, including a family that locals said were executed with their hands bound.
Russia has denied the claims.
-ABC News’ Natalia Kushnir and Fidel Pavlenko
Apr 04, 9:23 am
Russian oligarch’s yacht seized in Spain
A yacht that belongs to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg was seized Monday in Marina Real in the Spanish port of Palma de Mallorca, two U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The yacht was seized by Spanish authorities and KleptoCapture, the U.S. Department of Justice task force charged with finding assets of oligarchs trying to evade sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Vekselberg was among the oligarchs sanctioned previously by the United States in 2018 after Russia invaded Crimea.
The task force is trying to find yachts, airplanes and other moveable properties before the oligarchs can move them to jurisdictions where it might be more difficult for U.S. authorities to investigate.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr and Aaron Katersky
Apr 04, 8:20 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘fake attack’ in Bucha
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Ukrainian forces of staging an attack in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, where images have emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes lying in the streets and in mass graves.
“The other day, another fake attack was launched in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, after Russian military personnel left from there in accordance with the plans and agreements reached,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Monday. “A few days later, a staging was arranged there, which was dispersed through all channels and social networks by Ukrainian representatives and their Western patrons.”
According to Lavrov, Russian forces vacated the area on March 30.
“On March 31, the mayor [of Bucha] solemnly said that everything was fine there,” he added. “And two days later, we saw how the same production was organized on the streets, which they are now trying to use for anti-Russian purposes.”
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Some photos taken Sunday in Bucha show unarmed individuals who appear to have been executed with their hands or legs bound. A number of world leaders have accused Russia of committing the atrocities.
Apr 04, 7:41 am
Kremlin reacts to images of dead bodies in Bucha
Russia responded on Monday to accusations that its troops have deliberately killed civilians in Ukraine, after images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes scattered in areas on the outskirts of the capital that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova said Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in towns near Kyiv.
During a daily press briefing on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia “categorically dismiss[es] any accusations” of its role in civilian killings and that Moscow does not trust the evidence in Bucha.
“This information should be seriously doubted,” Peskov told reporters. “From what we have seen, the video materials cannot be trusted to a large extent, as our specialists from the Defense Ministry have detected signs of video forgery and other kinds of fakes.”
The Kremlin demands that “international leaders do not jump to conclusions, do not make hasty unsupported accusations but at least seek information from various sources and at least listen to our arguments,” Peskov said.
“The facts, the chronology of events also do not speak in favor of the credibility of these claims,” he added.
Russia will reiterate its calls to discuss the matter at the United Nations Security Council on Monday, according to Peskov.
“We believe that the issue should be discussed at the highest level, so we have proposed that it be discussed at the Security Council. We are aware that the initiative has been blocked,” he said. “Our diplomats will continue active efforts towards putting this item on the Security Council’s agenda. This issue is too serious.”
“The initiative aimed to put the item on the Security Council agenda demonstrates that Russia wants and actually demands its discussion at the international level,” he added.
Apr 04, 7:11 am
Russia seeks UN Security Council meeting on Bucha for Monday
Russia said it will repeat its request for the United Nations Security Council to meet on Monday over what Moscow described as “criminal provocations by Ukrainian soldiers and radicals” in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
The United Kingdom’s mission to the U.N., which assumed the presidency of the 15-member Security Council for April, has said the group will hold a scheduled discussion on Ukraine on Tuesday, rather than meet on Monday as requested by Russia.
“Yesterday, in the worst English tradition, the British presidency of the U.N. Security Council did not give consent to holding a meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Bucha,” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement via Telegram on Monday. “Russia today will again demand the convening of the U.N. Security Council in connection with the criminal provocations of the Ukrainian military and radicals in this city.”
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes strewn in the streets of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.
Russia’s deputy representative to the U.N. Security Council, Dmitry Polyansky, said via Twitter on Sunday that Moscow had requested a meeting to be held on Monday “in connection with the monstrous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in Bucha.”
Apr 04, 6:01 am
Russian troops, Wagner mercenaries move into Ukraine’s Donbas region
Russian forces are continuing to consolidate and reorganize as they refocus their offensive into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Monday.
“Russian troops, including mercenaries from the Russian state-linked Wagner private military company, are being moved into the area,” the ministry added.
Wagner is the best-known of an array of Russian mercenary groups and has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian company has deployed fighters to countries in the Middle East and Africa. U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last month that Wagner “has an interest in increasing their footprint in Ukraine.”
Apr 03, 10:37 pm
Zelenskyy speaks at Grammys: ‘Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a brief speech at the on Sunday night.
Zelenskyy, in a video message, said war is the opposite of music, but hopes soon the silence of death will be filled with the sound of music.
“The war doesn’t let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos,” Zelenskyy told the audience. “They sing to the wounded. In hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway.”
Apr 03, 8:14 pm
7 dead, 34 wounded in Kharkiv shelling, 70% of Chernihiv destroyed
At least seven civilians are dead and 34 are wounded following shelling in Kharkiv, the region’s prosecutor’s office announced Sunday.
The shelling occurred Sunday evening in the city’s Slobidskyi district, according to the Kharkiv regional military administration Oleg Sinehubov, who added that children are among the victims.
Meanwhile, in Chernihiv, around 70% of the city has been destroyed, according to Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko, who was speaking on Ukrainian TV.
He added that businesses are not operating. Ukrainian soldiers have been able to liberate several villages in the Chernihiv region in the past couple of days.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 03, 4:20 pm
‘Concentrated evil has come,’ Zelenskyy addresses civilian deaths in Bucha
Following graphic images of casualties coming out of Bucha, Ukraine, after Russian military withdrawal, Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strong words about he called, “concentrated evil, in his daily address Sunday. Here are excerpts from that address:
“Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Corpses on the streets. Mined area. Even the bodies of the dead were mined!”
“Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers. Torturers. Rapists. Looters. Who call themselves the army. And who deserve only death after what they did.”
“I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel. What did they do? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Why were ordinary civilians in an ordinary peaceful city tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out of their ears? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? How could their corpses be desecrated even after death? Why did they crush the bodies of people with tanks? What did the Ukrainian city of Bucha do to your Russia? How did all this become possible?”
“All partners of Ukraine will be informed in detail about what happened in the temporarily occupied territory of our state. War crimes in Bucha and other cities during the Russian occupation will also be considered by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.”
Zelenslyy also invited former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Ukraine to witness the carnage.
“We do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone but the specific Russian military who did this against our people,” Zelenskyy, who has pleaded with the U.S. and NATO allies to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a measure so far, that President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have refused to do, said.
(HONG KONG) — Hong Kong’s divisive leader, Carrie Lam, announced on Monday that she will not run for a second five-year term, ending her 42-year political career.
Lam presided over the city during its most politically turbulent years, which included the often-violent 2019 protests, the implementation of the National Security Law and most recently, her government’s haphazard response to an omicron variant surge that took more than 8,000 lives since January.
Lam’s term has left the former British colony a changed city from a free-wheeling bastion of free-speech and pre-eminent international financial center on Chinese soil to an isolated muted city strangled by both COVID restrictions and a relentless crackdown on dissent.
The chief executive said she informed Beijing at last year’s annual National People’s Congress meeting in March that she wouldn’t be running again.
Lam, 64, told reporters on Monday that she was prioritizing spending time with her family: “They think it is time for me to go home … This is what I have told the Central People’s Government. And they have expressed understanding.”
Hong Kong’s stock exchange climbed as much as 2% following her announcement.
Lam, Hong Kong’s first female leader, thanked mainland Chinese authorities for their support during her tenure, saying she had faced “unprecedented pressure” due to the 2019 anti-government protests and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lam oversaw the implementation of a controversial security law that quashed dissent in the former British colony. A widespread crackdown on activism followed. Pro-democracy media outlets have been shut down and most opposition figures are now in jail or in self-exile. Lam faced U.S. sanctions for her role in the crackdown.
In recent weeks and months, Lam has drawn ire from the business community for Hong Kong’s rigid COVID policies and border measures, which have left the financial hub isolated since 2020.
When taking up the post back in 2017, Lam — a devout Catholic — said that God had called upon her: “From day one, I have said this opportunity is given by God.”
In her acceptance speech, Lam said: “Hong Kong, our home, is suffering from quite a serious divisiveness and has accumulated a lot of frustrations. My priority will be to heal the divide.”
Her successor will be picked in May by a select election committee made up of Beijing loyalists. Local media are reporting that John Lee, the former security minister who led the response to the protests, is favored, but he has yet to declare his candidacy. Finance chief Paul Chan is also a potential front runner.
“Compared to this term of government, the next government will be seeing a more stable political environment,” Lam said on Monday.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 04, 7:41 am
Kremlin reacts to images of dead bodies in Bucha
Russia responded on Monday to accusations that its troops have deliberately killed civilians in Ukraine, after images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes scattered in areas on the outskirts of the capital that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova said Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in towns near Kyiv.
During a daily press briefing on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia “categorically dismiss[es] any accusations” of its role in civilian killings and that Moscow does not trust the evidence in Bucha.
“This information should be seriously doubted,” Peskov told reporters. “From what we have seen, the video materials cannot be trusted to a large extent, as our specialists from the Defense Ministry have detected signs of video forgery and other kinds of fakes.”
The Kremlin demands that “international leaders do not jump to conclusions, do not make hasty unsupported accusations but at least seek information from various sources and at least listen to our arguments,” Peskov said.
“The facts, the chronology of events also do not speak in favor of the credibility of these claims,” he added.
Russia will reiterate its calls to discuss the matter at the United Nations Security Council on Monday, according to Peskov.
“We believe that the issue should be discussed at the highest level, so we have proposed that it be discussed at the Security Council. We are aware that the initiative has been blocked,” he said. “Our diplomats will continue active efforts towards putting this item on the Security Council’s agenda. This issue is too serious.”
“The initiative aimed to put the item on the Security Council agenda demonstrates that Russia wants and actually demands its discussion at the international level,” he added.
Apr 04, 7:11 am
Russia seeks UN Security Council meeting on Bucha for Monday
Russia said it will repeat its request for the United Nations Security Council to meet on Monday over what Moscow described as “criminal provocations by Ukrainian soldiers and radicals” in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
The United Kingdom’s mission to the U.N., which assumed the presidency of the 15-member Security Council for April, has said the group will hold a scheduled discussion on Ukraine on Tuesday, rather than meet on Monday as requested by Russia.
“Yesterday, in the worst English tradition, the British presidency of the U.N. Security Council did not give consent to holding a meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Bucha,” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement via Telegram on Monday. “Russia today will again demand the convening of the U.N. Security Council in connection with the criminal provocations of the Ukrainian military and radicals in this city.”
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced Sunday that 410 civilians were found dead in recently recaptured towns near the capital as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian forces. Images emerged showing bodies in civilian clothes strewn in the streets of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.
Russia’s deputy representative to the U.N. Security Council, Dmitry Polyansky, said via Twitter on Sunday that Moscow had requested a meeting to be held on Monday “in connection with the monstrous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in Bucha.”
Apr 04, 6:01 am
Russian troops, Wagner mercenaries move into Ukraine’s Donbas region
Russian forces are continuing to consolidate and reorganize as they refocus their offensive into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Monday.
“Russian troops, including mercenaries from the Russian state-linked Wagner private military company, are being moved into the area,” the ministry added.
Wagner is the best-known of an array of Russian mercenary groups and has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian company has deployed fighters to countries in the Middle East and Africa. U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last month that Wagner “has an interest in increasing their footprint in Ukraine.”
Apr 03, 10:37 pm
Zelenskyy speaks at Grammys: ‘Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a brief speech at the on Sunday night.
Zelenskyy, in a video message, said war is the opposite of music, but hopes soon the silence of death will be filled with the sound of music.
“The war doesn’t let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos,” Zelenskyy told the audience. “They sing to the wounded. In hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway.”
Apr 03, 8:14 pm
7 dead, 34 wounded in Kharkiv shelling, 70% of Chernihiv destroyed
At least seven civilians are dead and 34 are wounded following shelling in Kharkiv, the region’s prosecutor’s office announced Sunday.
The shelling occurred Sunday evening in the city’s Slobidskyi district, according to the Kharkiv regional military administration Oleg Sinehubov, who added that children are among the victims.
Meanwhile, in Chernihiv, around 70% of the city has been destroyed, according to Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko, who was speaking on Ukrainian TV.
He added that businesses are not operating. Ukrainian soldiers have been able to liberate several villages in the Chernihiv region in the past couple of days.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 03, 4:20 pm
‘Concentrated evil has come,’ Zelenskyy addresses civilian deaths in Bucha
Following graphic images of casualties coming out of Bucha, Ukraine, after Russian military withdrawal, Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strong words about he called, “concentrated evil, in his daily address Sunday. Here are excerpts from that address:
“Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Corpses on the streets. Mined area. Even the bodies of the dead were mined!”
“Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers. Torturers. Rapists. Looters. Who call themselves the army. And who deserve only death after what they did.”
“I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel. What did they do? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Why were ordinary civilians in an ordinary peaceful city tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out of their ears? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? How could their corpses be desecrated even after death? Why did they crush the bodies of people with tanks? What did the Ukrainian city of Bucha do to your Russia? How did all this become possible?”
“All partners of Ukraine will be informed in detail about what happened in the temporarily occupied territory of our state. War crimes in Bucha and other cities during the Russian occupation will also be considered by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.”
Zelenslyy also invited former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Ukraine to witness the carnage.
“We do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone but the specific Russian military who did this against our people,” Zelenskyy, who has pleaded with the U.S. and NATO allies to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a measure so far, that President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have refused to do, said.
(NEW YORK) — Processing Russia’s war on Ukraine has been a challenge for all children, especially those who were forced to flee their homes, say goodbye to family members and watch their entire lives change overnight.
To help these children traumatized by living in war zones and bring attention to their plight, artist Brian McCarty is capturing war through their eyes. His project, War Toys, asks children living within violence to draw the destruction they’ve witnessed.
“We want to do everything we can while the fighting is going on, recognizing it’s not until the fighting stops that real recovery happens,” McCarty said in an interview with ABC News Live Friday. “So, for now we’re just getting in any way we can, giving support any way we can.”
McCarty partners with organizations working in the war zone to recreate the children’s drawings in real life, using toys found in the local area, and staging them to represent the artwork drawn by young people.
“It’s the idea to find the local toys that are available to them as a layer of cultural commentary and artifact, and really unify the types of toys you can find anywhere and connect children and adults the same,” said McCarty.
To start these efforts in Ukraine, McCarty partnered with First Aid of the Soul, a newly formed, grassroots effort being built by Ukrainian art therapist Nathalie Robelot. Once it’s safe, the therapists will gather stories from affected children.
War Toys also works with U.N. agencies to amplify the voices of the children under their care, and produce artwork in hopes to inspire change through campaigns and presentations.
Founded in 2019, it’s helped provide art therapy and services to children living in the Middle East. Rubber ducks, dolls and other kids toys have helped bring drawings from Syria and Iraq come to life.
McCarty said it’s meaningful for children to see this pain from another point of view, and that the toys help make them feel safe. The photographs of toys in war zones are also helping children from afar. In the United States, children have come across graphic images and videos of the war in Ukraine, forcing parents and teachers to find ways to address the crisis in an age-appropriate way.
At Holy Innocents Episcopal School in Atlanta, McCarty has displayed the photographs of war toys, giving American children a way to also find comfort in the chaos that’s happening overseas.
“It just worked perfectly to bring him in, to help us really try to teach our children about the difficulties of war,” said the Rev. Bill Murray, the eighth rector of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church. “But especially that it is not just the soldiers that are on the field, that there are families that are hurting, that there are so many that are lost and need help.”
The reverend said the artwork has helped better explain the war to his students, making them feel more connected to what people their age are going through in Ukraine.
“Taking these pictures and showing the world these photos brings that into the realness, encouraging others to want to help these kids who are in these countries and suffering so much with all that they have seen and all that they have gone through,” Gracie Cavallo, a ninth grader at Holy Innocents Episcopal School, told ABC News Live. “It helps bring us together as a community and a world.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 03, 4:20 pm
‘Concentrated evil has come,’ Zelenskyy addresses civilian deaths in Bucha
Following graphic images of casualties coming out of Bucha, Ukraine, after Russian military withdrawal, Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strong words about he called, “concentrated evil, in his daily address Sunday. Here are excerpts from that address:
“Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Corpses on the streets. Mined area. Even the bodies of the dead were mined!”
“Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers. Torturers. Rapists. Looters. Who call themselves the army. And who deserve only death after what they did.”
“I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel. What did they do? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Why were ordinary civilians in an ordinary peaceful city tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out of their ears? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? How could their corpses be desecrated even after death? Why did they crush the bodies of people with tanks? What did the Ukrainian city of Bucha do to your Russia? How did all this become possible?”
“All partners of Ukraine will be informed in detail about what happened in the temporarily occupied territory of our state. War crimes in Bucha and other cities during the Russian occupation will also be considered by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.”
Zelenslyy also invited former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Ukraine to witness the carnage.
“We do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone but the specific Russian military who did this against our people,” Zelenskyy, who has pleaded with the U.S. and NATO allies to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a measure so far, that President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have refused to do, said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 03, 3:02 pm
World leaders react to images showing bodies of civilians scattered on streets
Several world leaders on Sunday reacted to images shared by Ukraine’s president’s office, claiming to show the bodies of civilians scattered on the streets after the withdrawal of Russian troops from areas northwest of Kyiv.
In some of the photos, unarmed civilians appear to have been executed with their hands tied behind their backs.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the deaths of civilians in Bucha a “brutality” on CNN’s “State of the Union” show, and said “I strongly welcome” an investigation by International Criminal Court, which has opened an investigation into war crimes in Ukraine.
“You can’t but [see] those images as a punch to the gut … Since the aggression, we’ve come out and said that we believe Russian forces have committed war crimes and we’ve been working to document that, to provide the information that we have to the relevant institutions and organizations that will put all of this together,” U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told CNN’s State of the Union Sunday.
“Russia’s despicable attacks against innocent civilians in Irpin and Bucha are yet more evidence that Putin and his army are committing war crimes in Ukraine,” U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. “No denial or disinformation from the Kremlin can hide what we all know to be the truth — Putin is desperate, his invasion is failing, and Ukraine’s resolve has never been stronger. I will do everything in my power to starve Putin’s war machine. We are stepping up our sanctions and military support, as well as bolstering our humanitarian support package to help those in need on the ground. The UK has been at the forefront of supporting the international Criminal Court’s investigation into atrocities committed in Ukraine. The Justice Secretary has authorized additional financial support and the deployment of specialist investigators – we will not rest until justice is served,” Johnson said.
Other world leaders expressed their feelings on social media.
“Appalled by reports of unspeakable horrors in areas from which Russia is withdrawing. An independent investigation is urgently needed. Perpetrators of war crimes will be held accountable,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on Twitter.
“Mass killings of Ukrainian civilians by #Russia are clear war crimes,” Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Twitter.. “We need courage, moral clarity and more action to stop it. Indifference is the mother of all crimes. Evidence must be gathered, saved for trials, and perpetrators must face justice. We need a 5th round of strong EU sanctions as soon as possible. Finally, our top priority should be increased military aid to #Ukraine. They need it to take back their cities and free people from Russian occupation and repression. #StandWithUkraine”
The prime minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša also weighed in on Twitter: “This are massive crimes against humanity. Russian army behaves as a horde of KGB executioners at Katyn. And at many other places after and before. Never bearing responsibility. After seeing #BuchaMassacre, we are terrified to even imagine what we will see in #Mariupol.”
Belgium’s Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès, also posted om Twitter: “The images from the city of #Bucha confirm the fears we have had since February, which have led us to support several international investigations, including that of the @IntlCrimCourt. Impunity must not be allowed.”
“Terrible images of destruction and reported executions of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, in wake of Russian aggression. Reminiscent of darkest scenes from European history. To fight impunity :flag-se: will support @IntlCrimCourt investigation, incl financially and with seconded personnel,” Sweden’s prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, also posted to Twitter
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 03, 10:23 am
Ukraine asks for investigation into Russian ‘war crimes’
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, called on the International Criminal Court and other international organizations to investigate Russians committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“I urge the International Criminal Court and international organizations to send their missions to Bucha and other liberated towns and villages of the Kyiv region, in cooperation with Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, to collect all evidence of Russian war crimes as carefully as possible,” Kuleba said Sunday on Times UK radio.
“We are still collecting and looking for bodies, but the toll has already gone into the hundreds. Dead bodies lie on the streets. They killed civilians while in and out of these villages and towns,” he said.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Apr 03, 4:22 am
Russia strikes Odessa, strategic Black Sea port city
Plumes of dark smoke rose on Sunday over Odessa, Ukraine, after an early morning Russian attack on the strategic and historic port city.
Missiles struck critical infrastructure facilities in the southern city, which sits on the Black Sea, Ukraine’s southern command announced. Casualties have not yet been reported.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Apr 02, 6:43 pm
Zelenskyy updates on resistance’s progress, calls on West to send more weapons
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a new address Saturday updating the progress of the country’s defense against Russian forces.
Ukrainian forces are regaining control of the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, according to the president.
“There are more and more Ukrainian national flags in the areas that have been temporarily occupied,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy, however, said his country hasn’t received any new weapon systems from the West and chastised Western allies.
“Every Russian missile that hit our cities and every bomb dropped on our people, on our children, only adds black paint to the history that will describe everyone on whom the decision depended; [the] decision whether to help Ukraine with modern weapons,” he said.
-ABC News’ Jason Volack
Apr 02, 2:53 pm
Ukrainian photographer found dead in Kyiv area
Acclaimed Ukrainian photographer Maksim Levin was found dead by police in the Kyiv region, , a Ukrainian online publication, confirmed.
Levin went missing on March 13 while covering fighting in the village of Moshchun, Ukraine, with Oleksiy Chernyshov, who has not yet been found. Intense fighting broke out in the area where they were.
Levin worked as a photojournalist, documentary photographer and cameraman for many Ukrainian and international publications, according to .
He worked in the editorial office of for more than 10 years, and has also worked with Reuters, BBC, TRT World, Associated Press and Hromadske.
Apr 02, 1:54 pm
Ukrainian flag raised over Chernobyl
The Ukrainian national flag was raised above the Chernobyl nuclear power plant Saturday at 11:00 a.m. local time, as workers sung the national anthem and celebrated the departure of Russian troops who had occupied the site for weeks.
“The flag-raising ceremony was attended by the station’s operational personnel, who have been ensuring and continue to ensure the nuclear and radiation safety of the facilities during the difficult conditions of the occupation,” Energoatom, Ukraine’s state enterprise which operates its nuclear power stations, posted on its Telegram channel.
Apr 02, 1:51 pm
Russia to halt cooperation over International Space Station unless sanctions lifted: Roscosmos CEO
Roscosmos, the Russian state space corporation, said it will present the Russian government with proposals for discontinuing international cooperation on the International Space Station.
“Specific proposals from Roscosmos on the timeframe for ending cooperation on the ISS with the space agencies of the United States, Canada, the European Union and Japan will be submitted to our country’s administration in the near future,” Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said on his Telegram channel.
Resumption of normal cooperation with ISS partners is only possible if the sanctions are fully lifted, Rogozin said.
“I believe that restoration of normal relations between the partners on the International Space Station and other joint projects is possible only if the illegal sanctions are lifted fully and unconditionally,” he wrote.
Apr 02, 9:06 am
Red Cross traveling to Mariupol once more to evacuate civilians
Red Cross renewed its attempts to send a team to Mariupol on Saturday to evacuate civilians, after a team was unable to reach the city on Friday.
“Our team is on the move this morning from Zaporizhzhia to Mariupol. I’m not able to give further information at this stage,” a Red Cross spokesperson said to Reuters.
An estimated 160,000 people are trapped in Mariupol.
A team on Friday had to abandon its plan to send 54 buses and many cars to Mariupol after it was unable to get security guarantees for the convoy.
Apr 02, 8:49 am
Pope says he is considering trip to Kyiv
Pope Francis told reporters Saturday that he is considering making a trip to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Asked by a reporter on the papal plane taking Francis from Rome to Malta if he was considering an invitation made by Ukrainian political and religious authorities, Francis answered: “Yes, it is on the table.” He gave no further details.
The pope didn’t mention Russian President Vladimir Putin by name during his remarks, but said “some potentate” had unleashed the threat of nuclear war on the world in an “infantile and destructive aggression” under the guise of “anachronist claims of nationalistic interests.”
“We had thought that invasions of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past,” Francis added.
Apr 02, 8:40 am
Zelenskyy says Russian forces are leaving behind ‘a catastrophic situation’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zeleneksyy claimed Russian forces are leaving behind “a catastrophic situation” and that they are mining the entire territory.
“Occupiers are retreating in the north of our country, slowly but noticeably. Somewhere they are pushed away with fighting, somewhere they are leaving their positions themselves. After their withdrawal, the situation is catastrophic, and there is so much danger,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy then claimed, “First of all, airstrikes might continue. Secondly, they are mining the entire territory, houses, hardware, even the bodies of those killed. There are so many tripwires and other dangers.”
He warned that people returning to these territories should be careful as “it’s still not possible to return to normal life as it used to be, even at the territories that we are taking back after the fighting. We need wait till our land is de-mined, wait till we are able to assure you that there won’t be new shelling.”
Zelenskyy claimed Ukrainians have been able to evacuate 6,266 people, including 3,071 residents of Mariupol. He also said they are discussing the evacuation of the injured and killed military personnel and civilians, with Turkey acting as an intermediary.
Zelenskyy said Russian troops are preparing for new “powerful strikes” in the east and warned that Russia is trying to conscript people in Crimea.
Zelenskyy, speaking in Russian, addressed the Russian people, asking them to, “Warn every conscript and their parents that we don’t need more killed people here. Take care of your children so that they don’t turn into evil. Don’t let them go to the army. Do whatever you can to let them live at home, at their home.”
Apr 01, 6:11 pm
US cancels ballistic missile test to avoid escalation with Russia
A U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile test that was initially postponed in early March to avoid “misinterpretation” by Russia was recently canceled, the Department of the Air Force said Friday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin originally delayed the routine test flight of an LGM-30G Minuteman III missile after Russia put its nuclear deterrent forces on a state of heightened alert.
“The launch had been previously delayed due to an overabundance of caution to avoid misinterpretation or miscommunication during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and was cancelled for the same reason,” the Air Force said in a statement. “Our next planned test flight is later this year. The Department is confident in the readiness of the strategic forces of the United States.”
Apr 01, 4:23 pm
Kyiv suburb Bucha liberated from Russian forces, mayor says
Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, has been liberated from Russian forces, its mayor declared.
“March 31 will go down in the history of our settlement and the entire territorial community as a day of liberation from the Russian occupiers by our armed forces,” Mayor Anatolii Fedoruk said in a video posted to Facebook Friday. “Today I state that this day is joyful and it is a great victory of our armed forces in Kyiv region.”
Last week, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces battling toward Kyiv were able to partially take several northwestern suburbs, including Bucha.
Apr 01, 3:56 pm
Over 6,200 evacuated from southeastern Ukraine Friday
Over 6,200 people were evacuated from regions in southeastern Ukraine Friday by buses and private cars, according to Ukrainian officials.
In the Donetsk region, 3,071 people were evacuated from the besieged port city of Mariupol, officials said.
Earlier Friday, Mariupol officials said an estimated 100,000 civilians remained trapped in the city despite repeated efforts by Ukrainian officials to evacuate them.
Additionally, over 1,700 people were evacuated from the Luhansk region, and over 1,400 from the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian officials said.
Apr 01, 1:20 pm
Ukraine, Russia hold talks on proposed security guarantee treaty
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators continued peace talks virtually on Friday, Mykhailo Podolyak, a chief negotiator for the Ukrainians, told ABC News.
“On the table is the key document proposed by the Ukrainian delegation – the Treaty on Security Guarantees,” Podolyak said. This proposed agreement provides for the possibility of exit from the war and the prevention of future conflicts.
Ukraine proposed a new system of security guarantees similar to NATO’s collective defense clause which would legally require “guarantor countries” to provide arms and impose a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine, in the event of an attack.
Both sides are working on the legal wording of the basic provisions of the contract, Podolyak said.
“The discussion is extremely difficult, since the negotiating positions of the parties are strongly influenced by the daily change in the military situation on all lines of contact,” Podolyak said.
Apr 01, 12:53 pm
Red Cross unable to reach Mariupol, will attempt again Saturday
An International Committee of the Red Cross team that was on its way to Mariupol to facilitate the safe passage of civilians on Friday had to return to Zaporizhzhia. The ICRC said arrangements and conditions made it impossible to proceed.
The ICRC team, which consists of three vehicles and nine personnel, said it will try again on Saturday.
The ICRC said it is critical that parties respect the agreements and provide the necessary conditions and security guarantees, and that it plans to accompany the convoy out of Mariupol to another Ukrainian city.
Apr 01, 9:44 am
Radiation around Chernobyl plant is normal: IAEA director general
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, said on Friday that radiation around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is normal.
“General radiation around the plant is quite normal,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said at a press conference.
There have been instances of relatively higher levels of localized radiation, which may have been caused by heavy vehicles moving in the area, the IAEA said.
The IAEA said it does not have any evidence that people were possibly contaminated.
Russia has not discussed its withdrawal from Chernobyl with the IAEA, the organization said.
“On the issue of radiation we are in consultation with the Ukrainian side,” Grossi said.
Grossi repeatedly stressed the unpredictability of working in a war zone, saying things may not have gone strictly according to plan.
“In case there was an emergency taking place, we are setting up a mechanism whereby we can send a team to assist almost immediately,” Grossi said.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Apr 01, 9:22 am
ICRC says a large humanitarian convoy is trying to get to Mariupol
The International Committee of the Red Cross is leading a large convoy on Friday to help civilians escape the hellscape that has become of Ukraine’s besieged port city of Mariupol, according to Crystal Wells, a spokesperson for the Geneva-based humanitarian organization.
“This effort has been and remains extremely complex,” Wells told ABC News in a statement. “There are a lot of moving parts and not all the details are yet in place to ensure that this happens in a safe manner today. We remain hopeful, we are in action moving toward Mariupol, but it’s not yet clear that this will happen today.”
According to Wells, the three ICRC vehicles, carrying nine ICRC staff, are leading vehicles from other organizations — “potentially 54 buses.” Images circulating on social media show other civilian vehicles joining the convoy.
“Our presence puts a humanitarian marker on this movement of people, giving the convoy additional protection and reminding all sides of the civilian, non-military, humanitarian nature of the operation,” Wells said. “If and when it does happen, the ICRC’s role as a neutral intermediary will be to lead the convoy out from Mariupol to another city in Ukraine. We’re unable to confirm which city at the moment as this is something the parties must agree to.”
The situation in Mariupol “is horrendous and deteriorating, and it’s now a humanitarian imperative that people be allowed to leave, and aid supplies be allowed in,” according to Wells.
“We’re running out of adjectives to describe the horrors that residents in Mariupol have suffered,” she added. “The people of Mariupol have suffered weeks of heavy fighting, with dwindling water, food and medical supplies.”
The ICRC has had “open communication channels” with both Ukraine and Russia, Wells said, “but ensuring that all the details are agreed upon and well understood by all sides, and then communicated down the chain of command, and to the residents of Mariupol, is a challenge, and one that continues to take time to sort out.”
“The details that we insist are cemented in place include the exact safe passage route, its exact start time, and its duration,” she noted. “We have to be certain that a cease-fire holds. We have to be certain that this humanitarian convoy can safely move through military checkpoints.”
-ABC News’ Brian Hartman
Apr 01, 8:58 am
Ukrainian forces retake 2 villages south of Chernihiv, says UK
Ukrainian forces have retaken the villages of Sloboda and Lukashivka to the south of Chernihiv, located along one of the main supply routes between the northern city and Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Friday in an intelligence update.
“Ukraine has also continued to make successful but limited counter attack to the east and north east of Kyiv,” the ministry added. “Both Chernihiv and Kyiv have been subjected to continued air and missile strikes despite Russian claims of reducing activity in these areas.”
Apr 01, 7:19 am
Ukraine declines to comment on Russia’s accusation of attacking oil depot
Ukraine has declined to comment on Russia’s accusation that it carried out airstrikes on an oil depot in the Russian city of Belgorod early Friday.
“We do not comment on Russian fakes,” Volodymy Fityo, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ground Forces, told ABC News. “And we do not comment on the words of Russian officials who speak under the influence of substances.”
Earlier Friday, Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement via Telegram that two low-flying Ukrainian helicopters had entered Russian airspace and fired on an oil depot in Belgorod city, setting the building ablaze.
The depot run by Russian energy giant Roseneft is located about 21 miles north of the border with Ukraine. Two employees were injured but are expected to survive, while all other staff have been safely evacuated from the building, according to Gladkov.
Verified videos circulating online show an attack on an oil depot in Belgorod and the aftermath.
-ABC News’ James Longman
Apr 01, 6:43 am
Over 4.1 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than 4.1 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 9.2% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in 36 days.
More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
Apr 01, 5:48 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of striking oil depot in Russian city of Belgorod
Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out airstrikes on the Russian city of Belgorod early Friday.
Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement via Telegram that two low-flying Ukrainian helicopters entered Russian airspace and fired on an oil depot in Belgorod city, setting the building ablaze. Ukraine has yet to comment on the claim.
The depot run by Russian energy giant Roseneft is located about 21 miles north of the border with Ukraine. Two employees were injured but are expected to survive, while all other staff have been safely evacuated from the building, according to Gladkov.
Security camera footage circulating online and verified by ABC News shows an attack on an oil depot in Belgorod. In the video, two airstrikes can be seen in the distance, with a helicopter flying nearby.
Another verified video circulating online shows oil tanks on fire and a massive cloud of smoke billowing from the depot.
Russian news agency Interfax reported that at least two businesses in the village of Severny, just north of Belgorod, were also damaged by an early morning airstrike.
It remains unclear who is responsible for the attacks.
Belgorod, a city of more than 300,000, is about 50 miles north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which Russian forces have shelled heavily in recent weeks.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
Apr 01, 4:32 am
100,000 remain trapped in Mariupol despite evacuation efforts, official says
An estimated 100,000 civilians remain trapped in Ukraine’s besieged port city of Mariupol despite repeated efforts by Ukrainian officials to evacuate them, according to Petro Andryushenko, adviser to Mariupol’s mayor.
Andryushenko told ABC News on Friday morning that Russia has not confirmed any humanitarian corridors leading out of Mariupol since announcing a localized cease-fire on Thursday to allow civilians to be evacuated.
A convoy of 45 evacuation buses that were sent to Mariupol have yet to reach the southeastern port city because it remains under Russian lockdown, according to Andryushenko, who noted that some people managed to escape by foot or in their own cars.
-ABC News’ Oleksii Pshemysky
Mar 31, 7:15 pm
Some Russian troops possibly heading to Belarus to regroup: Pentagon
Russian troops that have begun to withdraw from the ground effort against Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv seem to be heading north to Belarus to regroup before rejoining the fight, the Pentagon said Thursday.
“The best assessment we have – and it’s an assessment at this early stage – is that they’re going to be repositioned probably into Belarus to be refit and resupplied, and used elsewhere in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters.
It’s not clear where they might go, but the Donbas region is one candidate, Kirby said.
Roughly 20% of the Russian forces that were designated to move on Kyiv are now repositioning, several U.S. officials said.
Kirby said Russian forces that are apparently leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant also seem to be heading toward Belarus, though noted that “indications are not completely clear at this time.”
The Pentagon assesses these troops are leaving to “refit and resupply,” and not due to a health hazard or other crisis at Chernobyl, Kirby said.
(ROME) — Pope Francis apologized Friday for the Catholic Church’s role in running Canada’s brutal residential school system, which saw Indigenous Canadians taken from their families and sent to boarding schools where they suffered horrific conditions.
“I feel shame — sorrow and shame — for the role that a number of Catholics, particularly those with educational responsibilities, have had in all these things that wounded you, in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values,” Francis said in an address from the Vatican. “All these things are contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For the deplorable conduct of those members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon.”
Earlier this week, Indigenous leaders from the First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities as well as survivors of Canada’s church-run residential schools held a series of meetings in the Vatican, calling for a formal papal apology for the Catholic Church’s role in what has been described as “cultural genocide.””
While the state of Canada has apologized for the system, in which Indigenous Canadians were ripped away from their homes to be raised in boarding schools characterized by appalling conditions, Friday’s statement was the first formal apology from the Catholic Church.
At least 150,000 Indigenous children were part of the system while it was active, and more than 6,000 are estimated to have died, according to a 2015 report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The report stated that the residential school system, in operation for over a century until the final institution was closed in the 1990s, was created to separate Aboriginal youths from their families and “indoctrinate children” into a new culture.
According to the report, cases of physical abuse and neglect were rife in residential schools, and there was no recorded cause of death in around half of the cases. The true number of deaths is unlikely to be ever known due the number of destroyed and incomplete records, the report stated.
The Catholic Church is estimated to have operated around two-thirds of Canada’s residential schools. Each of the three Indigenous groups as part of the Canadian delegations to the Vatican had asked for a papal apology. Francis expressed “indignation” and “shame” at what he had heard from the Indigenous leaders this week.
In recent years, the discovery of mass graves — such as the remains of 215 children found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia last year — have highlighted the unresolved trauma felt by Canada’s Indigenous communities.
Earlier in the week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chief Willie Sellars of Williams Lake First Nation announced additional funding to support those affected at St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in British Columbia, where investigations this year found sites believed to be unmarked graves. Trudeau described the pain felt as “deep and everlasting,” while Sellars said there is “a huge amount of work still to be done.”
Francis heard testimony from various school survivors and Indigenous leaders this week, all of whom called on the pope to apologize and visit Canada.
In his apology on Friday, the 85-year-old pope expressed his intention to travel to Canada, where he would “be able better to express” his closeness.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 01, 6:43 am
Over 4.1 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than 4.1 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 9.2% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in 36 days.
More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
Apr 01, 5:48 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of striking oil depot in Russian city of Belgorod
Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out airstrikes on the Russian city of Belgorod early Friday.
Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement via Telegram that two low-flying Ukrainian helicopters entered Russian airspace and fired on an oil depot in Belgorod city, setting the building ablaze. Ukraine has yet to comment on the claim.
The depot run by Russian energy giant Roseneft is located about 21 miles north of the border with Ukraine. Two employees were injured but are expected to survive, while all other staff have been safely evacuated from the building, according to Gladkov.
Security camera footage circulating online and verified by ABC News shows an attack on an oil depot in Belgorod. In the video, two airstrikes can be seen in the distance, with a helicopter flying nearby.
Another verified video circulating online shows oil tanks on fire and a massive cloud of smoke billowing from the depot.
Russian news agency Interfax reported that at least two businesses in the village of Severny, just north of Belgorod, were also damaged by an early morning airstrike.
It remains unclear who is responsible for the attacks.
Belgorod, a city of more than 300,000, is about 50 miles north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which Russian forces have shelled heavily in recent weeks.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
Apr 01, 4:32 am
100,000 remain trapped in Mariupol despite evacuation efforts, official says
An estimated 100,000 civilians remain trapped in Ukraine’s besieged port city of Mariupol despite repeated efforts by Ukrainian officials to evacuate them, according to Petro Andryushenko, adviser to Mariupol’s mayor.
Andryushenko told ABC News on Friday morning that Russia has not confirmed any humanitarian corridors leading out of Mariupol since announcing a localized cease-fire on Thursday to allow civilians to be evacuated.
A convoy of 45 evacuation buses that were sent to Mariupol have yet to reach the southeastern port city because it remains under Russian lockdown, according to Andryushenko, who noted that some people managed to escape by foot or in their own cars.
-ABC News’ Oleksii Pshemysky
Mar 31, 7:15 pm
Some Russian troops possibly heading to Belarus to regroup: Pentagon
Russian troops that have begun to withdraw from the ground effort against Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv seem to be heading north to Belarus to regroup before rejoining the fight, the Pentagon said Thursday.
“The best assessment we have – and it’s an assessment at this early stage – is that they’re going to be repositioned probably into Belarus to be refit and resupplied, and used elsewhere in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters.
It’s not clear where they might go, but the Donbas region is one candidate, Kirby said.
Roughly 20% of the Russian forces that were designated to move on Kyiv are now repositioning, several U.S. officials said.
Kirby said Russian forces that are apparently leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant also seem to be heading toward Belarus, though noted that “indications are not completely clear at this time.”
The Pentagon assesses these troops are leaving to “refit and resupply,” and not due to a health hazard or other crisis at Chernobyl, Kirby said.
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon has been providing daily updates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s efforts to resist.
Here are highlights of what a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Wednesday on Day 36:
Russians being hunted as they withdraw from Kyiv area
The U.S. continues to see roughly 20% of the Russian forces that were arrayed against Kyiv repositioning away from the capital, the official said. And Ukrainian forces are attacking these troops as they withdraw from the area.
“As these forces begin to reposition, the Ukrainians are moving against them,” the official said.
Most of the Russian forces that are repositioning were located to the north and northwest of Kyiv. Most notably, they seem to have abandoned Hostomel airport, which has been a site of intense fighting at various points since the beginning of the invasion.
“We believe that they have very likely abandoned Hostomel airfield,” the official said.
Although some troops are repositioning, long-range strikes on Kyiv continue.
“Despite the rhetoric of de-escalation, we’re still observing artillery fire and airstrikes in and around Kyiv,” the official said.
Shifting focus to Donbas
“This repositioning that they’re doing around Kyiv and other places in the north, and this reprioritization on the Donbas, clearly indicates that they know they have failed to take the capital city, that they know they have been under increased pressure elsewhere around the country,” the official said.
While Russia might be dedicating more forces to taking control of the Donbas region, the Ukrainians are primed to make it a tough fight.
“The Ukrainians know the territory very, very well. They have a lot of forces still there, and they’re absolutely fighting very hard for that area, as they have over the last eight years,” the official said. “So just because they’re going to prioritize it and put more force there or more energy there doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy for them.”
Russian ships can hit Donbas
While there are still no signs of any imminent amphibious landings, Russia has several ships in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov that could be used to threaten the Donbas region with cruise missiles, the official said.
Putin not getting full picture from advisers
“Our assessment is that the planning for this war was done with a very small circle of people, and that Mr. Putin’s advisers do not count many. And, you know, our assessment is that they have not been completely honest with him about how it’s going,” the official said.
The official said Russian President Vladimir Putin has kept to a “very, very close circle,” a leadership style that inherently limits access to information.
“I can’t account for the fact that the people advising him have chosen to obstruct certain information or omit certain information. All we can say is we don’t believe that he has been getting the full picture,” the official said.
Odesa under blockade
“We know that the Russians have continued to blockade Odesa,” the official said. “So obviously it’s having it’s having an economic impact there.”
Kherson contested
“We assess that they’re still fighting over Kherson. We know that the Russians are in the city, but we aren’t prepared to call it for one side or the other at this point. I mean, it had been in Russian control, but the Ukrainians are attempting to retake Kherson, so it’s still being fought over,” the official said.
Bombardment of Mariupol continues
“I don’t have an update on the degree to which a cease-fire is being applied in Mariupol. What I try to give you is what we’ve seen, you know, in the last 24 hours since we last talked, and we have continued to see Mariupol will come under airstrikes,” the official said.
(LONDON) — Our team spent five days tracing the southern border of Ukraine. We drove more than 650 long miles through the big open, empty lands and packed small towns of Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova, countries that have welcomed more than 1 million people fleeing the war.
On the way, we found countless individual stories of horror, perseverance and kindness — and a group of unique countries giving back any way they can, while living with their own fears that they could be next.
Moldova in some ways felt the most like Ukraine. The only other non-NATO, non-EU country along the border, Moldova and Ukraine are also two of the poorest countries in Europe. Many families live across the border here, and both countries have lost territory to Russian aggression in the past.
There’s a kinship you can feel between the countries, with so many people we meet here calling Ukrainians “their neighbors, their brothers.”
Despite few resources and crushing numbers, Moldovans are doing whatever they can to help. Since the start of the war, more than 380,000 people have fled through the country, more than 15% of the country’s entire population and the most per capita of any other country.
We discovered an old movie theater in the country’s capital of Chisinau that had been left standing empty for four years, now converted into a shelter for up to 200 people. The walls were crumbling, but the place had brand new mattresses on the floor.
The makeshift home meant a place to stay for Irina and her four-year-old son, Arcadyi. Irina tells us she didn’t want to leave Odessa. Her other son turned 18 in October and since he is now old enough to fight, he isn’t allowed to leave Ukraine. But she says he told her she had to go, she had to save his little brother. She had to make sure at least one son survived this war.
She chose to come here to Moldova, because it was the closest that she could stay to her other son. It’s something we hear from many refugees — the desire to stay as close to home as they can. But Moldova is complicated. It’s close to Ukraine, but also to Russia. There are pro-Russian parties in the government and in some groups in town.
While we’re at the shelter, a tractor pulls up to drop off supplies. On it — a large Z, a symbol that’s now become synonymous with Putin’s forces in Russia and is often seen on the tanks there. A tractor with support for Russia, dropping off items that locals have donated to help Ukrainians feeling the Russian attack? Nothing about the scene makes sense, but it’s perhaps the best explanation of life in Moldova.
Close proximity to Russia means some people befriend the country, and many are worried that they could be invaded next.
We found a similar fear in Romania. On my way out of the region, we flew out of a small airport close to the border. A security guard there asked us what it was like in Ukraine. I asked if he had family there. He said, “No, I’m just worried that Putin will come after us next.”
Romania is also a NATO and European Union member. Attacking it would have worldwide implications. But even with these assurances, people here still live in fear.
Romania has the largest border with Ukraine of any EU country. Driving along the winding road as it hugs the dividing line between the two countries, we see mostly vast, empty miles. It makes sense that it’s a well-known route for illegal crossings. That could mean men trying to flee Ukraine. We see at least one man sitting with police on the side of the road. But at official crossings, it is almost exclusively women and children.
In Siret, Romania’s busiest border crossing, we meet Elenea and her young daughter Katya just moments after they cross. The mother tells us they’re from Kiev and lived right by the television tower that was bombed recently. They wanted to stay, but when one of Katya’s classmates died, Elenea knew she had to leave. We’re there as she FaceTimes her husband to let him know they made it across safely. He had to stay behind to fight.
Working in this job, you’re used to being with people during the worst and often hardest moments of their lives. But witnessing this intimate moment broke me. A simple check in between husband and wife, now torn apart by war. Their daughter now asking when she would be able to see her dad again. A heartbreak so big, you could see it.
Sadly, their story isn’t uncommon. We met so many families forced to separate, unsure when, or if, they will ever be together again.
And as war rages on, the numbers of those fleeing only keep increasing. We hear rumblings from NGOs and volunteers, even other refugees, about hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Ukrainians waiting just on the other side of the border. People want to stay in Ukraine, but may have to flee as the fighting moves west. We ask for numbers of those at the border, but no one is able to tell us for certain.
While everyone says they want to remain open to refugees, resources are already stretched thin. If one million people turns into 2 or 3 million, there are concerns about how these countries can keep up.
For now, people are stepping up however they can.
In Slovakia, we meet Father Pavel Novack who leads a congregation at a small church less than a mile from the border. He helped turn a school nearby into a shelter, one of 24 in this small region. Everything inside is donated from the community. He’s already helped more than 100 refugees, and on the day we visit there are 34 people living inside. Entire groups of families and friends share one room, but always with a roof, food and plenty of hope to go around.
Father Pavel says refugees of all faiths are welcome. He shows us his church and tells us that in Orthodox Christianity the sermons are always sung, and as the sun sets outside he begins to pray. After a day of running around chasing stories and driving hundreds of miles, his song stopped our whole crew and forced us to stand still. His voice filled the tiny house of worship with a calmness we hadn’t felt in days. In that brief moment, the war, the heartache, the violence all felt far away.
It’s these moments that will stick with me. Of people sacrificing everything to save their families. Of people giving everything of what little they have to help others. Of people trying to find joy even in the darkest moments of war.
On our final day, we visited a small park in Moldova and stumbled into a group of older people dancing. As Moldovan music blasted on speakers and elderly couples held hands and shouted in delight, you could feel their joy from across the park. With war just a few dozen miles from where they stood, and with refugees fleeing unthinkable violence, this group remembered to dance.
We watched this moment of joy, of life lived well, and were reminded what’s worth fighting for.
