(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 earlier this month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 28, 8:00 am
Russia retains ability to strike Ukrainian coastal targets, UK says
The Russian Navy still has the ability to strike coastal targets in Ukraine, even after the “embarrassing losses” of two warships, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.
In an intelligence update posted Thursday, the ministry said approximately 20 Russian naval vessels, including submarines, are currently in the “Black Sea operational zone.” But the ministry said Russia isn’t able to replace the missile cruiser Moskva because the Bosphorus strait remains closed to all non-Turkish warships.
The Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, sunk in the Black Sea earlier this month while being towed to port after a fire onboard, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Ukrainian officials, however, claimed that ship was struck by Ukrainian missiles, which the Russian defense ministry has denied.
Russia also lost the landing ship Saratov, which was destroyed by explosions and fire on March 24.
Apr 28, 6:48 am
Separatist forces arrest over 100 captured Ukrainian troops in Donetsk
Russia-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast claimed Thursday that they have arrested more than 100 captured Ukrainian troops suspected of being involved in crimes.
“Facts of involvement in crimes have been brought to light following investigators’ works. There are already more than 100 people who have been arrested by investigators,” Yury Sirovatko, justice minister of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, told Russian state-owned television channel Rossiya 24 on Thursday.
Sirovatko on Wednesday told Channel One, a Russian state-controlled TV channel, that there are about 2,600 captured Ukrainian servicemen in the region.
Apr 28, 5:01 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of war crimes
Russia on Thursday accused Ukraine of committing war crimes by indiscriminately attacking civilian areas in Ukrainian cities.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces “launched a massive attack” using ballistic missiles and multiple rocket launchers on residential areas of Kherson in southern Ukraine late Wednesday.
“The indiscriminate missile attack launched by the nationalists targeted kindergartens, schools and various social facilities in residential areas near Ushakova avenue,” the ministry said in a statement Thursday. “Russian air defense units have repelled the attack of the Ukrainian troops launched at the residential districts of Kherson.”
The ministry also claimed that Ukrainian troops had launched indiscriminate attacks on residential areas of Izyum in eastern Ukraine.
“The Kyiv nationalist regime’s indiscriminate attacks on residential areas of Izyum and Kherson are a war crime and a gross violation of international humanitarian law,” the ministry added.
Ukraine did not immediately respond to the allegations.
Apr 28, 4:55 am
Putin ramps up nuclear threats, as US weapons head to Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted at the possibility of nuclear warfare during his Wednesday address to the council of legislators.
“If someone from outside moves to interfere in the current developments, they should know that they will indeed create strategic threats to Russia, which are unacceptable to us, and they should know that our response to encounter assaults will be instant, it will be quick,” Putin said, according to Russian state media.
Putin claimed Russia’s response to strategic threats from outside Ukraine would be “immediate.”
“We have all the tools to do it, tools that others can’t boast of at the moment, but as for us, we won’t be boasting,” Putin said.
Putin said that Russia is prepared to use those “tools” if “the need arises,” adding that he “would like everyone to be aware of it.” A nuclear attack has been on the table since the onset of the “special military operation” in Ukraine, Putin said. He had ordered his nuclear forces to be put on high alert on Feb 27.
Putin’s remarks came as Pentagon press secretary John Kirby announced that “more than half” of the 90 howitzers the U.S. agreed to send to Ukraine were now in the country, adding that around 50 Ukrainian troops have already been trained to operate the weapons.
“We finished up earlier this week, the first tranche of more than 50 trainers that are going to go in and train their teammates,” Kirby said during a press briefing on Wednesday, a moment later adding, “But there was another tranche of more than 50 that we’re going to go through training in the same location outside Ukraine.”
The U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday tweeted pictures of more howitzers “bound for Ukraine” that were being loaded onto US Air Force aircraft. Additional training opportunities on Howitzers and other weapons systems were also being explored, Kirby said.
As U.S. weapons head to Ukraine, Russia is increasing the pace of its offensive in almost all directions, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Thursday.
The U.S. is considering the legal aspects of officially listing Russia as a state-sponsor of terrorism, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told lawmakers on Wednesday. Officials said they haven’t yet determined whether Russia’s actions meet the legal standard required for the designation, Blinken said.
The designation, called for by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, would further cripple Russia’s trade potential, including bans on defense exports and limits on foreign aid.
(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 earlier this month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 28, 5:01 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of war crimes
Russia on Thursday accused Ukraine of committing war crimes by indiscriminately attacking civilian areas in Ukrainian cities.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces “launched a massive attack” using ballistic missiles and multiple rocket launchers on residential areas of Kherson in southern Ukraine late Wednesday.
“The indiscriminate missile attack launched by the nationalists targeted kindergartens, schools and various social facilities in residential areas near Ushakova avenue,” the ministry said in a statement Thursday. “Russian air defense units have repelled the attack of the Ukrainian troops launched at the residential districts of Kherson.”
The ministry also claimed that Ukrainian troops had launched indiscriminate attacks on residential areas of Izyum in eastern Ukraine.
“The Kyiv nationalist regime’s indiscriminate attacks on residential areas of Izyum and Kherson are a war crime and a gross violation of international humanitarian law,” the ministry added.
Ukraine did not immediately respond to the allegations.
Apr 28, 4:55 am
Putin ramps up nuclear threats, as US weapons head to Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted at the possibility of nuclear warfare during his Wednesday address to the council of legislators.
“If someone from outside moves to interfere in the current developments, they should know that they will indeed create strategic threats to Russia, which are unacceptable to us, and they should know that our response to encounter assaults will be instant, it will be quick,” Putin said, according to Russian state media.
Putin claimed Russia’s response to strategic threats from outside Ukraine would be “immediate.”
“We have all the tools to do it, tools that others can’t boast of at the moment, but as for us, we won’t be boasting,” Putin said.
Putin said that Russia is prepared to use those “tools” if “the need arises,” adding that he “would like everyone to be aware of it.” A nuclear attack has been on the table since the onset of the “special military operation” in Ukraine, Putin said. He had ordered his nuclear forces to be put on high alert on Feb 27.
Putin’s remarks came as Pentagon press secretary John Kirby announced that “more than half” of the 90 howitzers the U.S. agreed to send to Ukraine were now in the country, adding that around 50 Ukrainian troops have already been trained to operate the weapons.
“We finished up earlier this week, the first tranche of more than 50 trainers that are going to go in and train their teammates,” Kirby said during a press briefing on Wednesday, a moment later adding, “But there was another tranche of more than 50 that we’re going to go through training in the same location outside Ukraine.”
The U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday tweeted pictures of more howitzers “bound for Ukraine” that were being loaded onto US Air Force aircraft. Additional training opportunities on Howitzers and other weapons systems were also being explored, Kirby said.
As U.S. weapons head to Ukraine, Russia is increasing the pace of its offensive in almost all directions, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Thursday.
The U.S. is considering the legal aspects of officially listing Russia as a state-sponsor of terrorism, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told lawmakers on Wednesday. Officials said they haven’t yet determined whether Russia’s actions meet the legal standard required for the designation, Blinken said.
The designation, called for by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, would further cripple Russia’s trade potential, including bans on defense exports and limits on foreign aid.
Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(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 earlier this month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 27, 3:38 pm
Blinken says US could reopen Kyiv embassy in ‘next few weeks’
While U.S. diplomats began returning to Lviv for day trips on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that he hopes to move toward reopening the U.S Embassy in Kyiv in the “next few weeks.”
Blinken appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday for his second of three days of testimony about the Biden administration’s budget request.
Blinken said the administration will put forward a request for supplemental funding in the “next couple days” after President Joe Biden exhausted the funding in his presidential drawdown authority to provide weapons and other military aid immediately to Ukraine.
That “robust” assistance request will include funding for aid to Ukraine and other U.S. partners and allies and for a functioning U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, he said.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 27, 1:29 pm
Microsoft releases detailed report of Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine
Microsoft has released a detailed report of what it says are “destructive” Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine, which the company says seem “strongly correlated and sometimes directly timed with its kinetic military operations.”
“For example, a Russian actor launched cyberattacks against a major broadcasting company on March 1st, the same day the Russian military announced its intention to destroy Ukrainian ‘disinformation’ targets and directed a missile strike against a TV tower in Kyiv,” Microsoft said. “On March 13th, during the third week of the invasion, a separate Russian actor stole data from a nuclear safety organization weeks after Russian military units began capturing nuclear power plants sparking concerns about radiation exposure and catastrophic accidents. “
Microsoft said it has observed nearly 40 attacks “targeting hundreds of systems.”
The company said “32% of destructive attacks directly targeted Ukrainian government organizations” while “more than 40% of destructive attacks were aimed at organizations in critical infrastructure sectors that could have negative second-order effects on the Ukrainian government, military, economy and people.”
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith
Apr 27, 12:34 pm
Biden to visit facility that manufactures Javelin anti-tank missiles
President Joe Biden will visit a Lockheed Martin facility in Alabama on Tuesday where Javelin anti-tank missiles are being manufactured for Ukrainian troops, the White House said.
The U.S. has committed over 5,500 Javelin anti-armor systems for Ukrainians, according to the Pentagon.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Apr 26, 6:58 pm
War in Ukraine dealt a ‘major shock’ to commodities markets: World Bank
The World Bank issued a report on Tuesday that said the war in Ukraine dealt a major shock to commodity markets and altered global patterns of trade, production and consumption in ways that will keep prices at historically high levels through the end of 2024.
“Overall, this amounts to the largest commodity shock we’ve experienced since the 1970s,” Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s vice president for equitable growth, finance and institutions, said in a statement.
The report said energy prices are expected to rise more than 50% in 2022 before easing in 2023 and 2024.
Wheat prices are forecast to increase more than 40%, putting pressure on developing economies that rely on wheat imports, especially from Russia and Ukraine, according to the World Bank.
Metal prices are projected to increase by 16% in 2022 before easing in 2023, according to the report.
Crude oil prices are expected to average $100 a barrel in 2022, its highest level since 2013 and an increase of more than 40% compared to 2021, the report said. Oil prices are expected to moderate to $92 in 2023, which is above the five-year average of $60 a barrel, the World Bank said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 26, 6:29 pm
Russia’s Gazprom suspends gas deliveries to Bulgaria, Poland
Polish natural gas company PGNiG announced Tuesday they received a notice from Gazprom that deliveries will be suspended starting Wednesday, April 27.
Poland has refused to pay for gas in rubles and PGNiG says they are prepared to procure gas supplies from alternate sources; storage is currently at 80%.
“Not a problem,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Gazprom sent a similar notice to Bulgaria’s natural gas company Bulgargaz, according to a statement from the country’s energy minister Alexander Nikolov.
Morawiecki urged other EU countries, particularly Germany, to stop relying on Russian energy before Russia itself decides to cut them off, or sets economy-crippling prices.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou, Conor Finnegan and Tomek Rolski
Apr 26, 6:00 pm
Sen. Rand Paul confronts Secretary Blinken over war in Ukraine
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had a heated back and forth with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Capitol Hill over the war in Ukraine.
Paul pushed Blinken on support for Ukraine’s possible membership in NATO and what he called “the reasons” for the Russian invasion.
“I’m saying that the countries that have been attacked, Georgia and Ukraine, were part of the Soviet Union since 1920s,” he said.
“That does not give Russia the right to attack them,” Blinken said, explaining that the Kremlin’s security concerns about Ukraine joining NATO were adequately weighed and attempts at diplomacy were made.
“It is abundantly clear, in President Putin’s own words, that this was never about Ukraine, being potentially part of NATO, and it was always about his belief that Ukraine does not deserve to be a sovereign independent country that it must be reassumed into Russia in one form or another,” Blinken said.
Paul interjected during Blinken’s answer, denying he was making the argument that Russia’s actions were justified. The senator then asked Blinken about talks between Russia and Ukraine and the potential outcomes.
“Would the U.S. would President Biden be open to accepting Ukraine as an unaligned neutral nation?” Paul asked.
“We’re not going to be more Ukrainian than the Ukrainians. These are decisions for them to make,” Blinken said.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Connor Finnegan
Apr 26, 5:06 pm
US diplomats briefly return to Ukraine, but embassy remains closed
The United States returned diplomats to Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion with a team making a day trip across the border from Poland to meet Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, the State Department confirmed on Tuesday.
“The deputy chief of mission and members of the embassy team traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, today, where they were able to continue our close collaboration with key Ukrainian partners,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
Price called the move a “first step” toward eventually reopening the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
“Today’s travel was a first step ahead of more regular travel in the immediate future. And as we’ve said, we’re accelerating preparations to resume Embassy Kyiv operations just as soon as possible,” Price said. “We are constantly assessing and evaluating and reassessing the security situation with a view toward resuming those embassy operations as soon as possible.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 4:46 pm
Germany to send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine
Germany plans to supply Ukraine with “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks, the German Minister of Defense announced Tuesday on Twitter.
“We made our decisions in coordination with our allies,” German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said earlier Tuesday during a news conference at a meeting of NATO countries hosted by the United States at Ramstein Air Base. “That is, once it was clear others will deliver certain systems, we support them in that. We deliver as well. That is our way — Germany is not doing it alone. And if Ukraine now urgently needs such air defense systems, then we are also prepared to support them.”
Lambrecht said Tuesday’s gathering of NATO countries to discuss strengthening Ukraine’s military both in the short and long terms was a “starting point.”
“The best security strategy for Ukraine is well-trained and equipped armed forces,” Lambrecht said, “Germany has been providing a very high level of support in a variety of ways since the war began.”
The move from Germany comes just days after Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told ABC News that she was disappointed in Germany for seemingly dragging its feet on sending heavy artillery, including tanks, to Ukraine and said it appeared German leaders are attempting to placate Putin.
“They don’t understand. There is no way to pacify Putin,” Vereshchuk said. “It would be a huge problem for NATO if Russia has dominance over the Black Sea.”
Apr 26, 3:51 pm
Blinken says Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv
Speaking publicly about his visit to Ukraine for the first time since returning home, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv.”
Blinken, who visited Ukraine over the weekend with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, emphasized the need for additional aid to help Ukrainians weather the ongoing war as it enters its next phase.
“As we took the train across the border and rode westward into Ukraine, we saw mile after mile of Ukrainian countryside, territory that just a couple of months ago, the Russian government thought that it could seize in a matter of weeks. Today — firmly Ukraine’s,” Blinken told the committee.
Blinken said that while in Kyiv, he saw the signs of “a vibrant city coming back to life” with people eating outside, sitting on benches and strolling the streets.
“For all the suffering that they’ve endured, for all the carnage that Russia’s brutal invasion continues to inflict, Ukraine was and will continue to be a free and independent country,” he said.
Blinken said the United States has played a vital part in helping Ukrainian forces mount an effective resistance against Russia.
“I have to tell you, I felt some pride in what the United States has done to support the Ukrainian government and its people and an even firmer conviction that we must not let up,” Blinken said. “Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine has underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy.”
He added, “We have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are strategic opportunities, as well as address risks presented by Russia’s overreach as countries are reconsidering their policies, their priorities, their relationships.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 2:28 pm
UN chief presses Putin on urgent need for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine
Prior to meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement calling for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine that are “truly safe.”
Guterres later raised the issue with Putin during a face-to-face meeting, stressing the urgent need for the creation of safe and effective humanitarian corridors in the war-ravaged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where he said thousands of civilians remain trapped, according to the Russian state-run TASS news service. Guterres also proposed the creation of a humanitarian contact group.
“We urgently need humanitarian corridors that are truly safe and effective, and that are respected by all to evacuate civilians and deliver much needed assistance,” Guterres said prior to meeting with Putin. “To that end, I have proposed the establishment of a humanitarian contact group, bringing together the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the U.N. to look for opportunities for the opening of safe corridors, with local cessation of hostilities and to guarantee they are actually effective.”
Guterres made his statement following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
While meeting with Guterres, Putin said the U.N. chief has been misled and insisted that humanitarian corridors in Mariupol are functioning, according to TASS.
“You say that Russia’s humanitarian corridors are not operating. Mr. Secretary-General, you have been misled: these corridors are operating,” Putin said, according to TASS.
Putin told Guterres that up to 140,000 people had fled Mariupol with the assistance of Russia.
“And they can go anywhere. Some want to go to Russia; some want to go to Ukraine. Anywhere! We do not keep them, we provide all kinds of help and support,” Putin said, according to TASS.
However, Putin “agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol,” according to a readout of the meeting provided by the U.N.
Apr 26, 1:29 pm
UN General Assembly unanimously adopts new rule on veto powers
The U.N. General Assembly — where all 193 countries have a vote — has unanimously adopted a resolution that creates a new accountability mechanism.
Now, whenever a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council uses its veto power to block a resolution, it will automatically trigger a debate in the General Assembly within 10 days.
The move was made primarily in response to Russia’s veto power, which the country has used repeatedly to sink resolutions about its own aggression. It has paralyzed the ability of the Security Council, the United Nation’s most powerful body, to check Russia.
The United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom are the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, while the ten other seats rotate and are won by election.
The United States and Liechtenstein co-sponsored the resolution, with the tiny European country tweeting, “Together we have made sure today that a veto is no longer the last word on issues of peace and security.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 12:19 pm
US to meet with NATO allies monthly as Defense Secretary Austin conveys urgency in Ukraine
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said meetings like the one on Tuesday with more than 40 NATO allies and other partner nations will now occur monthly.
“To ensure that we continue to build on our progress, we’re going to extend this forum beyond today,” Austin said during a news conference at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“I’m proud to announce that today’s gathering will become a monthly contact group on Ukraine’s self-defense,” he said.
The meetings will focus on strengthening Ukraine’s military both in the short and long terms, Austin said.
“The contact group will be a vehicle for nations of good will to intensify our efforts and coordinate our assistance and focus on winning today’s fight and the struggles to come,” Austin said. “The monthly meetings may be in person, virtual, or mixed.”
Austin, who visited Ukraine on Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, praised Tuesday’s meeting with NATO allies, saying, “We’re all coming away with a transparent and shared understanding of a challenge that Ukrainians face.”
Austin conveyed a sense of urgency for the international community to help the Ukrainians.
“I applaud all of the countries that have risen, and are rising, to this moment,” he said. “But we don’t have any time to waste. The briefings today laid out clearly why the coming weeks will be so crucial for Ukraine. So, we’ve got to move at the speed of war.”
Austin thanked Germany for hosting Tuesday’s meeting and for offering to send Ukraine 50 Cheetah anti-aircraft systems. He also thanked the United Kingdom for its announcement Monday that it would provide Ukraine additional anti-aircraft capabilities.
“We held an important session today with long-term support for Ukraine’s defenses, including what that will take from our defense industrial bases,” Austin said. “That means dealing with the tremendous demand that we’re facing for munitions and weapons platforms, and giving our staunch support to Ukraine while also meeting our own requirements, and those of our allies and partners.”
-ABC News’ Matt Syler
Apr 26, 10:53 am
‘People’s Friendship’ statue taken down in Kyiv
A Soviet-era statue that has stood in the capital of Ukraine since 1982 and once symbolized the friendship between Russia and Ukraine was taken down on Tuesday in response to the war between the two countries.
An ABC News crew was on-hand in Kyiv as a large crane removed the bronze “People’s Friendship” statue from its pedestal.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the statue, a gift from the former Soviet Union, is being dismantled because of the “brutal killing and a desire to destroy our state.”
The statue depicts two workers, a Russian and a Ukrainian, holding up a Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples. The monument was dedicated in November 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the USSR and the 1,500th anniversary of Kyiv.
Klitschko said a 164-foot-tall titanium rainbow-shaped arch the statue rested under will remain and be illuminated with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
-ABC News’ Marcus Moore
Apr 26, 7:07 am
US gathers NATO allies in Germany for Ukraine aid talks
The U.S. will “keep moving heaven and earth” to supply aid to Ukraine, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday at a meeting of the Ukraine Security Consultive Group, which includes military representatives from about 40 countries.
“Ukraine clearly believes it can win. And so does everyone here,” Austin said in his opening remarks at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. “I know that we’re all determined to do everything we can to support Ukraine’s needs as the fight evolves.”
Austin said the group would seek to leave with a common understanding of “Ukraine’s near term security requirements, because we’re going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.”
He called Russia’s war with Ukraine “indefensible,” adding that Putin didn’t “imagine the world [would] rally behind Ukraine’s so swiftly and so surely.”
Apr 26, 6:08 am
Russia attempts to encircle Ukrainian positions in east, UK says
Russian forces appeared to be moving to encircle “heavily fortified” Ukrainian positions in the east, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
“The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium, as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.
Ukrainian forces in Zaporizhzhia were preparing for an attack from the south, the ministry said.
Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(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 earlier this month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 27, 12:34 pm
Biden to visit facility that manufactures Javelin anti-tank missiles
President Joe Biden will visit a Lockheed Martin facility in Alabama on Tuesday where Javelin anti-tank missiles are being manufactured for Ukrainian troops, the White House said.
The U.S. has committed over 5,500 Javelin anti-armor systems for Ukrainians, according to the Pentagon.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Apr 26, 6:58 pm
War in Ukraine dealt a ‘major shock’ to commodities markets: World Bank
The World Bank issued a report on Tuesday that said the war in Ukraine dealt a major shock to commodity markets and altered global patterns of trade, production and consumption in ways that will keep prices at historically high levels through the end of 2024.
“Overall, this amounts to the largest commodity shock we’ve experienced since the 1970s,” Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s vice president for equitable growth, finance and institutions, said in a statement.
The report said energy prices are expected to rise more than 50% in 2022 before easing in 2023 and 2024.
Wheat prices are forecast to increase more than 40%, putting pressure on developing economies that rely on wheat imports, especially from Russia and Ukraine, according to the World Bank.
Metal prices are projected to increase by 16% in 2022 before easing in 2023, according to the report.
Crude oil prices are expected to average $100 a barrel in 2022, its highest level since 2013 and an increase of more than 40% compared to 2021, the report said. Oil prices are expected to moderate to $92 in 2023, which is above the five-year average of $60 a barrel, the World Bank said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 26, 6:29 pm
Russia’s Gazprom suspends gas deliveries to Bulgaria, Poland
Polish natural gas company PGNiG announced Tuesday they received a notice from Gazprom that deliveries will be suspended starting Wednesday, April 27.
Poland has refused to pay for gas in rubles and PGNiG says they are prepared to procure gas supplies from alternate sources; storage is currently at 80%.
“Not a problem,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Gazprom sent a similar notice to Bulgaria’s natural gas company Bulgargaz, according to a statement from the country’s energy minister Alexander Nikolov.
Morawiecki urged other EU countries, particularly Germany, to stop relying on Russian energy before Russia itself decides to cut them off, or sets economy-crippling prices.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou, Conor Finnegan and Tomek Rolski
Apr 26, 6:00 pm
Sen. Rand Paul confronts Secretary Blinken over war in Ukraine
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had a heated back and forth with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Capitol Hill over the war in Ukraine.
Paul pushed Blinken on support for Ukraine’s possible membership in NATO and what he called “the reasons” for the Russian invasion.
“I’m saying that the countries that have been attacked, Georgia and Ukraine, were part of the Soviet Union since 1920s,” he said.
“That does not give Russia the right to attack them,” Blinken said, explaining that the Kremlin’s security concerns about Ukraine joining NATO were adequately weighed and attempts at diplomacy were made.
“It is abundantly clear, in President Putin’s own words, that this was never about Ukraine, being potentially part of NATO, and it was always about his belief that Ukraine does not deserve to be a sovereign independent country that it must be reassumed into Russia in one form or another,” Blinken said.
Paul interjected during Blinken’s answer, denying he was making the argument that Russia’s actions were justified. The senator then asked Blinken about talks between Russia and Ukraine and the potential outcomes.
“Would the U.S. would President Biden be open to accepting Ukraine as an unaligned neutral nation?” Paul asked.
“We’re not going to be more Ukrainian than the Ukrainians. These are decisions for them to make,” Blinken said.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Connor Finnegan
Apr 26, 5:06 pm
US diplomats briefly return to Ukraine, but embassy remains closed
The United States returned diplomats to Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion with a team making a day trip across the border from Poland to meet Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, the State Department confirmed on Tuesday.
“The deputy chief of mission and members of the embassy team traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, today, where they were able to continue our close collaboration with key Ukrainian partners,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
Price called the move a “first step” toward eventually reopening the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
“Today’s travel was a first step ahead of more regular travel in the immediate future. And as we’ve said, we’re accelerating preparations to resume Embassy Kyiv operations just as soon as possible,” Price said. “We are constantly assessing and evaluating and reassessing the security situation with a view toward resuming those embassy operations as soon as possible.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 4:46 pm
Germany to send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine
Germany plans to supply Ukraine with “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks, the German Minister of Defense announced Tuesday on Twitter.
“We made our decisions in coordination with our allies,” German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said earlier Tuesday during a news conference at a meeting of NATO countries hosted by the United States at Ramstein Air Base. “That is, once it was clear others will deliver certain systems, we support them in that. We deliver as well. That is our way — Germany is not doing it alone. And if Ukraine now urgently needs such air defense systems, then we are also prepared to support them.”
Lambrecht said Tuesday’s gathering of NATO countries to discuss strengthening Ukraine’s military both in the short and long terms was a “starting point.”
“The best security strategy for Ukraine is well-trained and equipped armed forces,” Lambrecht said, “Germany has been providing a very high level of support in a variety of ways since the war began.”
The move from Germany comes just days after Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told ABC News that she was disappointed in Germany for seemingly dragging its feet on sending heavy artillery, including tanks, to Ukraine and said it appeared German leaders are attempting to placate Putin.
“They don’t understand. There is no way to pacify Putin,” Vereshchuk said. “It would be a huge problem for NATO if Russia has dominance over the Black Sea.”
Apr 26, 3:51 pm
Blinken says Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv
Speaking publicly about his visit to Ukraine for the first time since returning home, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv.”
Blinken, who visited Ukraine over the weekend with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, emphasized the need for additional aid to help Ukrainians weather the ongoing war as it enters its next phase.
“As we took the train across the border and rode westward into Ukraine, we saw mile after mile of Ukrainian countryside, territory that just a couple of months ago, the Russian government thought that it could seize in a matter of weeks. Today — firmly Ukraine’s,” Blinken told the committee.
Blinken said that while in Kyiv, he saw the signs of “a vibrant city coming back to life” with people eating outside, sitting on benches and strolling the streets.
“For all the suffering that they’ve endured, for all the carnage that Russia’s brutal invasion continues to inflict, Ukraine was and will continue to be a free and independent country,” he said.
Blinken said the United States has played a vital part in helping Ukrainian forces mount an effective resistance against Russia.
“I have to tell you, I felt some pride in what the United States has done to support the Ukrainian government and its people and an even firmer conviction that we must not let up,” Blinken said. “Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine has underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy.”
He added, “We have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are strategic opportunities, as well as address risks presented by Russia’s overreach as countries are reconsidering their policies, their priorities, their relationships.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 2:28 pm
UN chief presses Putin on urgent need for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine
Prior to meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement calling for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine that are “truly safe.”
Guterres later raised the issue with Putin during a face-to-face meeting, stressing the urgent need for the creation of safe and effective humanitarian corridors in the war-ravaged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where he said thousands of civilians remain trapped, according to the Russian state-run TASS news service. Guterres also proposed the creation of a humanitarian contact group.
“We urgently need humanitarian corridors that are truly safe and effective, and that are respected by all to evacuate civilians and deliver much needed assistance,” Guterres said prior to meeting with Putin. “To that end, I have proposed the establishment of a humanitarian contact group, bringing together the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the U.N. to look for opportunities for the opening of safe corridors, with local cessation of hostilities and to guarantee they are actually effective.”
Guterres made his statement following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
While meeting with Guterres, Putin said the U.N. chief has been misled and insisted that humanitarian corridors in Mariupol are functioning, according to TASS.
“You say that Russia’s humanitarian corridors are not operating. Mr. Secretary-General, you have been misled: these corridors are operating,” Putin said, according to TASS.
Putin told Guterres that up to 140,000 people had fled Mariupol with the assistance of Russia.
“And they can go anywhere. Some want to go to Russia; some want to go to Ukraine. Anywhere! We do not keep them, we provide all kinds of help and support,” Putin said, according to TASS.
However, Putin “agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol,” according to a readout of the meeting provided by the U.N.
Apr 26, 1:29 pm
UN General Assembly unanimously adopts new rule on veto powers
The U.N. General Assembly — where all 193 countries have a vote — has unanimously adopted a resolution that creates a new accountability mechanism.
Now, whenever a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council uses its veto power to block a resolution, it will automatically trigger a debate in the General Assembly within 10 days.
The move was made primarily in response to Russia’s veto power, which the country has used repeatedly to sink resolutions about its own aggression. It has paralyzed the ability of the Security Council, the United Nation’s most powerful body, to check Russia.
The United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom are the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, while the ten other seats rotate and are won by election.
The United States and Liechtenstein co-sponsored the resolution, with the tiny European country tweeting, “Together we have made sure today that a veto is no longer the last word on issues of peace and security.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 12:19 pm
US to meet with NATO allies monthly as Defense Secretary Austin conveys urgency in Ukraine
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said meetings like the one on Tuesday with more than 40 NATO allies and other partner nations will now occur monthly.
“To ensure that we continue to build on our progress, we’re going to extend this forum beyond today,” Austin said during a news conference at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“I’m proud to announce that today’s gathering will become a monthly contact group on Ukraine’s self-defense,” he said.
The meetings will focus on strengthening Ukraine’s military both in the short and long terms, Austin said.
“The contact group will be a vehicle for nations of good will to intensify our efforts and coordinate our assistance and focus on winning today’s fight and the struggles to come,” Austin said. “The monthly meetings may be in person, virtual, or mixed.”
Austin, who visited Ukraine on Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, praised Tuesday’s meeting with NATO allies, saying, “We’re all coming away with a transparent and shared understanding of a challenge that Ukrainians face.”
Austin conveyed a sense of urgency for the international community to help the Ukrainians.
“I applaud all of the countries that have risen, and are rising, to this moment,” he said. “But we don’t have any time to waste. The briefings today laid out clearly why the coming weeks will be so crucial for Ukraine. So, we’ve got to move at the speed of war.”
Austin thanked Germany for hosting Tuesday’s meeting and for offering to send Ukraine 50 Cheetah anti-aircraft systems. He also thanked the United Kingdom for its announcement Monday that it would provide Ukraine additional anti-aircraft capabilities.
“We held an important session today with long-term support for Ukraine’s defenses, including what that will take from our defense industrial bases,” Austin said. “That means dealing with the tremendous demand that we’re facing for munitions and weapons platforms, and giving our staunch support to Ukraine while also meeting our own requirements, and those of our allies and partners.”
-ABC News’ Matt Syler
Apr 26, 10:53 am
‘People’s Friendship’ statue taken down in Kyiv
A Soviet-era statue that has stood in the capital of Ukraine since 1982 and once symbolized the friendship between Russia and Ukraine was taken down on Tuesday in response to the war between the two countries.
An ABC News crew was on-hand in Kyiv as a large crane removed the bronze “People’s Friendship” statue from its pedestal.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the statue, a gift from the former Soviet Union, is being dismantled because of the “brutal killing and a desire to destroy our state.”
The statue depicts two workers, a Russian and a Ukrainian, holding up a Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples. The monument was dedicated in November 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the USSR and the 1,500th anniversary of Kyiv.
Klitschko said a 164-foot-tall titanium rainbow-shaped arch the statue rested under will remain and be illuminated with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
-ABC News’ Marcus Moore
Apr 26, 7:07 am
US gathers NATO allies in Germany for Ukraine aid talks
The U.S. will “keep moving heaven and earth” to supply aid to Ukraine, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday at a meeting of the Ukraine Security Consultive Group, which includes military representatives from about 40 countries.
“Ukraine clearly believes it can win. And so does everyone here,” Austin said in his opening remarks at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. “I know that we’re all determined to do everything we can to support Ukraine’s needs as the fight evolves.”
Austin said the group would seek to leave with a common understanding of “Ukraine’s near term security requirements, because we’re going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.”
He called Russia’s war with Ukraine “indefensible,” adding that Putin didn’t “imagine the world [would] rally behind Ukraine’s so swiftly and so surely.”
Apr 26, 6:08 am
Russia attempts to encircle Ukrainian positions in east, UK says
Russian forces appeared to be moving to encircle “heavily fortified” Ukrainian positions in the east, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
“The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium, as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.
Ukrainian forces in Zaporizhzhia were preparing for an attack from the south, the ministry said.
(LONDON) — Trevor Reed, a former Marine from Texas who had been held in a Russian prison for nine years, has been released, according to a statement from Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
Reed was exchanged for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, a convicted drug trafficker, the ministry said.
(LONDON) — The editor of the Mail on Sunday refused a request to meet with the U.K. House of Commons’ speaker over an article widely derided as misogynistic and sexist that accused the deputy leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Angela Rayner, of using Basic Instinct tactics to “distract” Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his weekly audience with lawmakers.
The speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, had summoned David Dillon, the newspaper’s editor, in response to the article, roundly criticized as “misogynistic,” but the Mail on Sunday has refused the request, citing free press concerns and evidence that Rayner may have joked about the comparison.
Rayner, one of the leading figures in the Labour Party, told ITV News that the article was “disgusting,” untrue and had left her “crestfallen,” saying that she felt compelled to wear trousers for her first TV appearance to discuss the story on Tuesday.
“I didn’t want people at home thinking, ‘Let’s have a look to see what her legs are like and how short her skirt is or not,'” she said. “Because I feel like I’m being judged for what I wear, rather than what I’m saying to you and how I come across.”
The article, which appeared in the Mail on Sunday last week, reported that anonymous lawmakers from Johnson’s ruling Conservative Party had claimed that Rayner put the prime minister “off his stride” by crossing and uncrossing her legs during prime minister’s questions, the weekly half-hour sessions in the House of Commons when the government is held to account.
The article was accompanied by a picture of Rayner in the House of Commons and a picture of actress Sharon Stone from the 1992 movie Basic Instinct, a reference to the infamous scene where she crosses and uncrosses her legs during a police interrogation. Despite widespread criticism, the original article on the newspaper’s Twitter account has not been deleted.
Rayner said she was “fearful” of the story coming out and asked the Mail on Sunday not to run with it.
“I was with my teenage sons … trying to prepare my children for seeing things online,” she told ITV. “They don’t want to see their mum portrayed that way and I felt really down about that.”
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, who presides over debates in the legislature, summoned the newspaper’s editor for a meeting about the article, which is due to take place on Wednesday. Hoyle described the article as “misogynistic and offensive.”
Both the Mail on Sunday and the Conservative Party have come under a barrage of criticism for the “misogynistic article.” The Mail on Sunday’s publisher, Associated Newspapers, has not commented on the article.
Johnson and a number of other MPs condemned the “misogyny directed anonymously” at Rayner. Though Rayner thanked the prime minister for his comments, she had earlier said that Johnson was “dragging the Conservative Party into the sewer.”
The scandal is the latest in a string of controversies that have dogged the prime minister, who was recently fined for breaking his own lockdown laws.
The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, said that the briefing to the Mail on Sunday was “a disgraceful new low from a party mired in scandal and chaos.”
Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(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 earlier this month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 26, 10:53 am
‘People’s Friendship’ statue taken down in Kyiv
A Soviet-era statue that has stood in the capital of Ukraine since 1982 and once symbolized the friendship between Russia and Ukraine was taken down on Tuesday in response to the war between the two countries.
An ABC News crew was on-hand in Kyiv as a large crane removed the bronze “People’s Friendship” statue from its pedestal.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the statue, a gift from the former Soviet Union, is being dismantled because of the “brutal killing and a desire to destroy our state.”
The statue depicts two workers, a Russian and a Ukrainian, holding up a Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples. The monument was dedicated in November 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the USSR and the 1,500th anniversary of Kyiv.
Klitschko said a 164-foot-tall titanium rainbow-shaped arch the statue rested under will remain and be illuminated with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
-ABC News’ Marcus Moore
Apr 26, 7:07 am
US gathers NATO allies in Germany for Ukraine aid talks
The U.S. will “keep moving heaven and earth” to supply aid to Ukraine, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday at a meeting of the Ukraine Security Consultive Group, which includes military representatives from about 40 countries.
“Ukraine clearly believes it can win. And so does everyone here,” Austin said in his opening remarks at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. “I know that we’re all determined to do everything we can to support Ukraine’s needs as the fight evolves.”
Austin said the group would seek to leave with a common understanding of “Ukraine’s near term security requirements, because we’re going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.”
He called Russia’s war with Ukraine “indefensible,” adding that Putin didn’t “imagine the world [would] rally behind Ukraine’s so swiftly and so surely.”
Apr 26, 6:08 am
Russia attempts to encircle Ukrainian positions in east, UK says
Russian forces appeared to be moving to encircle “heavily fortified” Ukrainian positions in the east, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
“The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium, as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.
Ukrainian forces in Zaporizhzhia were preparing for an attack from the south, the ministry said.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea is as of this month one of only two countries, along with Eritrea, that haven’t administered COVID-19 vaccines, despite continuous international efforts to supply the secretive country with vaccines.
Pyongyang last year turned down nearly two million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines and nearly three million doses of Sinovac vaccines offered by the international COVAX program. The country had requested that the Sinovac vaccines instead be re-allocated to severely affected nations.
Nearly 250,000 doses of Novavax vaccines allotted for North Korea by COVAX were canceled early this year, apparently due to a lack of response from Pyongyang. Experts say that Pyongyang’s dissatisfaction with the number and type of vaccines offered likely prompted them to turn down the shipments.
“The vaccines offered to North Korea so far are mostly those from AstraZeneca and Sinovac. What Pyongyang wants is U.S.-made vaccines, such as those from Pfizer,” Lee Wootae, director and research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told ABC News.
Another expert pointed out that North Korea turned down the vaccine offer because it didn’t fulfill the quantity the isolated regime wanted.
“It is not unreasonable for Pyongyang to decide that administering such a small amount of doses would have little effect,” Shin Young-jeon, professor at the Hanyang University College of Medicine, told ABC News.
Some believe Pyongyang’s reluctance is primarily affected by political judgment.
“The message that North Korea overcame a medical crisis with the help of U.S.-made vaccines will be difficult for the Kim Jong Un regime to justify, considering its critical stance towards the U.S.,” Lim Eul Chul, a professor at The Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, told ABC News.
The secretive regime may also have taken issue with the possibility of international supervision. The condition for receiving vaccines may not have been a comfortable prospect for Pyongyang, given the country’s state of total seclusion.
“For Pyongyang to accept vaccine offers, it must guarantee a transparent vaccine distribution plan. This means letting international monitors into the country and allowing them to interfere with how the vaccine is being distributed, and to whom,” Lim added.
(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 now launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 25, 6:34 pm
Fate of democracy in Europe being decided in Ukraine, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned European superpowers that the fate of the continent is being determined by the conflict currently unfolding in Ukraine.
The future of global security and democracy in Europe are currently being decided in Ukraine, Zelenskyy said during his nightly address on Monday.
“The lessons of history are well known,” he said. “If you are going to build a millennial Reich, you lose. If you are going to destroy the neighbors, you lose. If you want to restore the old empire, you lose. And if you go against the Ukrainians, you lose.”
Ukraine Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Monday that Russia is attempting to make it seem like the world is on the brink of World War III because it has lost its “last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine.”
“Thus the talks of ‘real danger’ of WWIII,” Kuleba wrote “This only means Moscow senses a defeat in Ukraine.”
-ABC News’ Max Uzol and Christine Theodorou
Apr 25, 4:59 pm
Russian foreign minister says NATO supplies essentially a proxy war against Russia
In an interview with Russia’s Channel One, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said NATO weapons supplied to Ukraine are essentially a proxy war and that Russian troops will consider the Ukrainian warehouses storing the weapons as legitimate targets.
“Of course, these weapons will be a legitimate target for the Russian armed forces, which operate as part of a special armed operation. And warehouses, including in western Ukraine, have become such targets more than once,” Lavrov said Monday. “If NATO, in fact, goes to war with Russia, through a proxy, and arms this proxy, then in war as in war.”
Lavrov also claimed that “the real position of Ukraine is determined in Washington, London and other Western capitals.”
“Therefore, our political analysts say, why talk with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy]’s team, we need to talk with the Americans, negotiate with them, reach some kind of agreement,” Lavrov said.
-ABC News’ Natalia Shumskaia
Apr 25, 3:01 pm
Russian forces target railways, killing at least 5
Russian forces have carried out five strikes targeting Ukraine railway stations, according to the head of the state-run Ukrainian railways, Oleksandr Kamyshin.
The hardest hit were the towns of Zhmerynka and Kozyatyn, where five people were killed and 18 were injured, according to Serhii Borzov, the head of the Vinnytsia regional military administration.
No casualties were reported in the other railway strikes, which were in the Lviv, Rivne and Zhytomyr regions, officials said.
-ABC News’ Natalya Kushnir, Fidel Pavlenko and Christine Theodorou
Apr 25, 2:14 pm
UN secretary-general heading to Moscow for Lavrov, Putin meetings
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is traveling on Monday to Moscow, where on Tuesday he will have a working meeting and lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov followed by a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a deputy spokesperson for the secretary-general said.
On Thursday, Guterres will visit Ukraine where he’ll meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 25, 1:25 pm
About 15,000 Russian troops killed in Ukraine war
About 15,000 Russian troops have been killed since the Ukraine invasion began, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Members of Parliament on Monday, according to the British Press Association.
Russia has lost more than 60 helicopters and fighter jets, and over 2,000 of Russia’s armored vehicles have been destroyed or captured, Wallace added.
Apr 25, 9:25 am
Biden announces nominee for ambassador to Ukraine
President Joe Biden is nominating Bridget Brink to serve as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, he announced Monday.
Brink is currently the U.S. ambassador to the Slovak Republic and previously served as senior adviser and deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
“Brink spent her twenty-five-year career in the Foreign Service focused on advancing U.S. policy in Europe and Eurasia,” Biden’s statement said.
Apr 25, 6:13 am
Blinken says Russia ‘already failed’ to achieve war goals
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said Russian had “already failed” to achieve its stated goals in Ukraine.
“In terms of Russia’s war aims, Russia has already failed,” Blinken told reporters in Poland, near the Ukrainian border. “And Ukraine has already succeeded because the principal aim that President Putin brought to this, in his own words, was to fully subsume Ukraine, back into Russia to take away its sovereignty and independence. And that has not happened and clearly will not happen.”
Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met on Sunday with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv, the capital, becoming the highest-level U.S. officials to visit the war-torn country since Russia invaded in February.
Topics discussed during their three-hour meeting included defense assistance, further sanctions on Russia and financial support for Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy’s office.
“We appreciate the unprecedented assistance of the United States to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said, according to his office. “I would like to thank President Biden personally and on behalf of the entire Ukrainian people for his leadership in supporting Ukraine, for his personal clear position.”
He added, “To thank all the American people, as well as the Congress for their bicameral and bipartisan support. We see it. We feel it.”
Apr 25, 1:03 am
US to provide $322M in additional aid, diplomats to return to Ukraine, officials tell Zelenskyy
The United States will provide Ukraine with $322 million in new aid and some diplomats will return to the war-torn country, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday.
Blinken told Zelenskyy the U.S. would begin returning its diplomats to Ukraine this week, according to the senior State Dept. official. The U.S. will reopen offices in Lviv in western Ukraine, with diplomats traveling there from Poland each day, with the goal to “have our diplomats return to our embassy in Kyiv as soon as possible.”
President Joe Biden will also formally nominate Bridget Brink, currently serving as U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, according to the senior State Dept. official.
Among the new assistance announced last week, the first of the new Howitzers have arrived in Ukraine, Austin told Zelenskyy, a senior defense official told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 24, 5:23 pm
US secretary of state, defense chief meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv
An advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Chief Lloyd Austin are meeting with Ukraine’s leader on Sunday in Kyiv.
The adviser, Oleksii Arestovich, said in an interview on Ukrainian TV late Sunday that the talks are going on “right now.”
-ABC News’ Jason Volack
Apr 24, 5:08 pm
More than 2.9M people have fled Ukraine to Poland
More than 2.9 million people have fled Ukraine and sought refuge in Poland since the Russian invasion began in February, the Polish Border Guard said on Sunday.
In recent days, however, the number of people crossing the border into Poland has fallen, while the number of refugees going back into Ukraine has risen, according to the border guard.
On Saturday, about 21,100 people entered Ukraine from Poland, while 15,100 fled to Poland from Ukraine, the agency said on Twitter.
Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(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 now launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 26, 6:08 am
Russia attempts to encircle Ukrainian positions in east, UK says
Russian forces appeared to be moving to encircle “heavily fortified” Ukrainian positions in the east, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
“The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium, as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.
Ukrainian forces in Zaporizhzhia were preparing for an attack from the south, the ministry said.
