(PARIS) — French President Emmanuel Macron comfortably won a second term in office on Sunday, defeating far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in a closely watched runoff election.
Final results released by the French Ministry of the Interior on Monday show the centrist incumbent secured a decisive 58.54% of the vote, while Le Pen garnered 41.46%. Macron, 44, is the first sitting French president to be reelected in 20 years. He and Le Pen, 53, emerged as the top candidates in the 2022 French presidential election after a first-round vote on April 10. Sunday’s runoff was a rematch of the 2017 presidential election, in which Macron beat Le Pen by a landslide.
This year, however, Macron’s victory was marred by low voter turnout and Le Pen’s ever-rising popularity. According to official figures, approximately 28% of registered voters in France did not vote in Sunday’s presidential election, the highest amount in the past two decades. French voters can also show their dissatisfaction with both candidates by voting “blanc.” Blank ballots represented 6.35% of the votes on Sunday.
While Le Pen conceded defeat on Sunday night, she told her supporters that the “result represents in itself a dazzling victory” because the amount of votes she won was the highest by a far-right candidate in France’s modern history.
Henri Wallard, the chairman of French polling institute Ipsos in Paris and its global deputy CEO, said the outcome of the 2022 presidential election showed that Le Pen’s “‘de-demonization’ has partially worked.”
“A Le Pen vote is increasingly seen as a credible alternative and not just a protest vote,” Wallard told ABC News on Monday.
Douglas Yates, a professor of international relations and diplomacy at the American Graduate School in Paris, said Macron was triumphant “less because the French support his programs and more because they did not support Le Pen’s.”
“He must keep this in mind,” Yates told ABC News on Monday. “She promised domestic programs that would be popular, things that help them fight the cost of living. He should take out his checkbook and write them some checks if he wants to keep his majority in the upcoming legislative elections.”
Macron was all but absent from the campaign trail as he moderated talks between Putin and Western countries, which ultimately failed to prevent the war in Ukraine. Many French citizens were feeling disenfranchised by Macron’s stringent COVID-19 policies and unpopular plans to raise the legal retirement age amid widespread inflation and soaring gas prices.
Nevertheless, the election outcome proved that “there still was an anti-Le Pen front in large urban constituencies,” according to Wallard.
During his victory speech in front of Paris’ Eiffel Tower on Sunday night, Macron vowed to unite his divided country.
“An answer must be found to the anger and disagreements that led many of our compatriots to vote for the extreme right,” Macron told his supporters. “It will be my responsibility and that of those around me.”
Although Le Pen’s far-right French political party National Rally has performed poorly in previous legislative elections, Yates said the party’s strongholds in the south, east and north of France “might give them seats” when voters return to the polls in June.
Le Pen, known for her vociferous rhetoric, sought to soften her image as the leader of the National Rally during this year’s election. The former lawyer was no longer directly calling for France to leave the European Union and abandon the euro currency.
However, she was likened to former U.S. President Donald Trump with her hard-line policies on Islam and immigration. If elected, she vowed to ban Muslim headscarves in public and give French citizens priority over foreigners for housing and job benefits.
Le Pen was also criticized for her history of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. She called Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine “unacceptable” and said she’s in favor of sanctions, but she publicly opposed restrictions on Russian energy imports, citing concerns about the rising cost of living in France. She also pledged to withdraw France from NATO’s integrated military command, which could undermine support for Ukraine’s fight. Le Pen previously spoke out in favor of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
Ahead of the vote, French street artist Jaeraymie created distorted versions of Le Pen’s campaign posters in an effort to call out extremism. In one of his posters seen in Paris, Le Pen is depicted wearing a hijab, a Muslim headscarf, with the words: “Don’t submit to a thinly veiled extreme right.”
“She wants to ban the hijab in public spaces in France,” Jaeraymie told ABC News earlier this month. “So I found it interesting to tell her: ‘Why not imagine what it’s like to be a hijabi woman in France?'”
A passerby at the time was amused by the large poster, telling ABC News: “It’s quite funny to put into question their ideas.”
(HONG KONG) — A new COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing is raising fears that China’s capital could be sent into a hard lockdown, like the one in Shanghai that’s entering a fifth week.
Beijing residents are stocking up and clearing shelves, despite authorities telling residents there are enough supplies to go around.
About 3.5 million residents in Beijing’s affluent Chaoyang district, which includes the central business district, will have to undergo mandatory mass testing three times this week to contain a spike in cases, with 70 infections reported citywide there since Friday.
China’s daily cases rose 4% to 20,194 on Monday, most of them in Shanghai. The city has now recorded 506,000 infections since the start of March.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has put his personal stamp on China’s “Zero Covid” strategy, defended his government’s approach as recently as last Thursday, when he delivered a keynote speech via video to the Boao Forum for Asia, China’s answer to the Davos forum.
“Safety and health are the prerequisite for human development and progress. For humanity to clinch the final victory against the Covid-19 pandemic, more hard efforts are needed,” he said.
The Chinese leader has made it clear before that he wants to keep the capital city COVID-free. A lockdown in Beijing would add political strain to a strategy of which the economic and social costs are growing by the day.
Chinese stocks dropped to the lowest levels in two years Monday over fears of more curbs to the nation’s capital.
Beijing’s Communist Party Secretary Cai Qi was quoted in Beijing Daily newspaper on Sunday as saying, “Important pandemic measures cannot be left waiting till the next day … all at-risk sites and individuals involved in these cases must be checked that day.”
Chinese health official Pang Xinghuo said on Sunday that cases have been spreading undetected in the city for about a week.
Health workers in Shanghai put up green metal barriers this weekend in some areas where cases are detected. In a notice circulated on Chinese social media, the epidemic control office for the Pudong New Area in Shanghai Authorities referred to this method as “hard isolation,” which is meant to provide a physical barrier between areas with different risk factors and keep the roads clear.
Shanghai reported 51 more deaths on Monday, prompting another round of mass testing for residents in the next few days.
Authorities had hoped to ease restrictions once social transmission was significantly reduced, but the measures have remained strict for most residents in the financial hub.
(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, 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.
(NEW YORK) — The United Nations Security Council’s lack of action to intervene in the war in Ukraine, with more than one resolution being vetoed by Russia, has resurfaced criticism of the body.
The Ukrainian government has heavily criticized the body for not taking action to stop the war, with strong criticism coming from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who, in an address to its Security Council, challenged the body to act or “dissolve” itself.
The U.N. General Assembly passed resolutions condemning the war in Ukraine, including a resolution to remove Russia from the Human Rights Council, exposing what little support Russia has for its war and international condemnation for its alleged war crimes.
Historically, when the Council has been unable to take action, the U.N. General Assembly has intervened, experts told ABC News.
The Security Council, a body consisting of 15 members, five of which are permanent with veto power dubbed the P-5, is responsible for peace and security. The remaining 10 non-permanent seats rotate by election of other U.N. members for two year periods. The permanent members are China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.
This story explores the shortcomings of the Security Council and ways it can be reformed.
Can Russia be removed or its veto power taken away?
Removing a member from the Security Council or the General Assembly requires a recommendation from the Security Council.
Because Russia is one of the P-5 and has veto power, it can block any resolution from being passed, keeping its seat safe. It would be impossible to remove Russia from the council unless it agrees to its own expulsion or suspension.
While there has been wide international condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it could still use its position in the U.N. to serve its domestic interests. Whenever Russia is represented in the U.N. Security Council, it uses the opportunity to sell the war at home, even if the international community does not believe what they are saying, Paul Poast, an associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago, told ABC News in an interview.
“A lot of times, there’s value in being there, even if you’re not getting anything done, just because it’s useful for this domestic political purpose,” Poast said.
Experts agree that is unlikely Russia will be removed, but one expert said it is not impossible.
The U.N. Charter lists the Republic of China as one of the P-5. Experts said this is actually Taiwan, as the charter itself was drafted before the communist revolution in China, Kim Lane Scheppele, an international affairs professor at Princeton who focuses on international law, told ABC News.
The civil war, sparked by the Chinese Revolution in 1948, led to “what had been the government of China [fleeing] to Taiwan. And Security Council membership fled with the government,” Scheppele said.
Taiwan remained a permanent member until 1971 when a General Assembly resolution, pushed for by China, transferred the seat.
“The language of the Republic of China, in the in the U.N. Charter, was reinterpreted to mean that the membership moved from Taiwan to the mainland,” Scheppele said.
This could be applied to Russia as well, given that the U.N. charter lists the “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” as a permanent member of the Council, not Russia. This could leave room for any of the other former Soviet states to replace Russia, possibly even Ukraine, Scheppele said.
“This is kind of the only option that I can see, legally speaking, for how you could do it,” Scheppele said.
Another expert disagrees, and said that there is no way the seat could be taken away from Russia.
“There’s no direct challenger to take that seat and under the current structure of the U.N., and even the current politics of the U.N. General Assembly, there’s no way that I can envision a scenario where there would be a change of the Security Council to either remove Russia completely or even remove the veto power,” Poast said.
Poast later said, “Removing them from the Human Rights Council, in many ways, is probably about as significant of a change as you can make.”
Limitations of the UN
While experts said the U.N. facilitates diplomacy and keeps the lines of communication open between major powers, the Security Council’s actions are tied to major powers’ interests.
The inequity of the Security Council is that nothing can be done if it opposes what the major powers want, Poast said.
While the Security Council has not been able to pass any resolutions regarding the war in Ukraine or act to stop or prevent it, Poast said taking action is not part of its role. That is why NATO was created; to have a separate union, without China and Russia, allowing Western states to take action.
“One of the big things that drove the process of creating NATO was the recognition sitting around late 1947 [to] 1948, that, from the British and the American perspective, they weren’t going to be able to work with the Soviet Union,” Poast said, adding that the powers needed a separate entity that would enable them to take action. Even in the early days of the U.N., Poast said there were concerns over whether the British, French and Americans would be able to work with the Soviets and Chinese.
This was proven in 1999 when NATO took action in Kosovo, after the Security Council did not act, and again in 2011 when NATO intervened in Libya.
“It’s also a key reason why we’re seeing NATO be very active in this war, because of exactly the fact that the U.N. Security Council has been ineffective in doing anything about this. But in contrast, NATO has been highly effective in trying to do something to support Ukraine,” Poast said.
But, Poast said the U.N. is keeping lines of diplomacy open between the U.S. and Russia, even though their respective Secretary of State and Foreign minister have not been communicating.
“That is still important to be able to have the major powers talking to each other, especially if you go back to the ultimate purpose of the UN, which … is to prevent the major powers from fighting one another, not to keep them from fighting any war,” Poast said.
Another expert said the U.N. has been remarkably effective in preventing wars.
“Before 1945, there were a lot of wars between states and since 1945, there have been very, very few. And the Security Council was designed to regulate war between states and in that sense, it’s been, historically, tremendously effective,” said Lise Morjé Howard, a professor at Georgetown University and president of the Academic Council on the United Nations System.
She added, “there have been a lot of militarized disputes between states that came close to war, or where the war maybe even started. And then the controversy went to the U.N. Security Council, they see a resolution, or decision or some kind of mediation process. Sometimes it’s peacekeeping. And then the war didn’t escalate.”
Howard also said the Council has been able to prevent a great power war from breaking out since its inception after World War II.
Proposed reforms to the Security Council
While Poast thinks a separate entity would be needed to take action, there are several proposals to reform both the UN and the Security Council, including limiting veto power and increasing the number of non-permanent members, both of which would need the consent of the P-5.
As for expanding the number of members, one proposal, known as the G-4, is to give India, Germany, Brazil and Japan permanent seats in the Council, while another proposal is for African countries to be given two permanent seats in the body, according to Howard.
Howard said the G-4 proposal has been popular for the last 10 years, but it could hurt the legitimacy of the Council, which stems from its ability to make decisions.
But, “I, and many other scholars, have argued that if you expand the number of decision makers, you will have fewer decisions on the Security Council,” Howard said.
She added, “That means that they that the council will be less effective at decision making.”
Another proposal, dubbed Uniting for Consensus, is to expand the number of non-permanent members in the Council from 10 to 20, to have more representation in the body. This proposal also suggests that states should be allowed to reapply to be on the Council after their two-year election ends.
Howard said more representation and diversity in the Council could increase its legitimacy.
Alternatively, Liechtenstein, a small country in Europe, has teamed up with more than 50 other countries, including the U.S., on a proposal that would require the P-5 to justify their veto to the UNGA and would trigger public debates in the body.
Scheppele said another way to reform the Council is to subject its decision to approval by the International Court of Justice. The ICJ could rule on whether its decisions are in line with international law, as a way to put some checks on the body.
“If the Security Council does something that the General Assembly believes is contrary to international law, for example, the General Assembly can already, under the charter, refer that question decided by the Security Council to the ICJ,” Scheppele said.
But, enforcement of ICJ decisions would still be a problem and this would not resolve the Council’s inaction, Scheppele said.
While a lot of focus has been placed on the Security Council, Scheppele said the U.N. is a large organization with several bodies heavily involved in Ukraine.
“There’s everything from UNICEF, which is in there, into Ukraine, trying to save kids to UNESCO, which has actually been working with all the museum directors across Ukraine to try to preserve Ukraine’s cultural heritage,” Scheppele said.
She added, “the U.N. is more than the general assembly and the Security Council. And there are probably other pieces of the U.N. that are very actively involved in trying to mitigate the damage from this…the U.N. is a big beast has lots of different wings, and arms and legs, and a bunch of them are involved in the war. It’s just not the Security Council.”
(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, 6:13 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.
(PARIS) — Early estimates show that French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to win France’s presidential runoff election in which he faced his far-right rival Marine Le Pen.
According to the estimates, which were confirmed to ABC News by Ipsos polling institute deputy CEO Henri Wallard, Macron received 58% of the votes, which is higher than the polls predicted.
Votes will continue to be counted overnight with final results being released Monday afternoon by the interior ministry.
As French media announced the preliminary results on Sunday evening, supporters at Macron’s rally near the Eiffel Tower cheered: “We won, she lost!”
One Macron supporter told ABC News that he was “relieved” — “relieved because I was afraid Marine Le Pen would win,” he said.
Le Pen was the first to take the stage after the results of her loss came in. While admitting defeat, Le Pen said, “Tonight’s result represents in itself a dazzling victory.” The far-right leader gained an estimated 42% of the votes, a score never before reached by a far-right party in France’s modern history.
She promised to “pursue her engagement for France and for the French” and to “lead the battle of the legislative elections.”
Macron, the centrist incumbent, and Le Pen emerged as the top candidates after a first-round vote on April 10. Sunday’s runoff is a rematch of the 2017 presidential election, in which Macron beat Le Pen by a landslide.
Recent opinion polls reported by French media showed a close race before the election, with Macron leading Le Pen by 13 percentage points.
“The gap between the two candidates as measured in the polls is much more narrow than five years ago,” Wallard, the chairman of Ipsos in France and its global deputy CEO, told ABC News.
Le Pen, 53, has sought to soften her rhetoric and image as the leader of the far-right French political party National Rally. She is no longer directly calling for France to leave the European Union and abandon the euro currency. However, she has been likened to former U.S. President Donald Trump with her hard-line policies on Islam and immigration. She has proposed to ban Muslim headscarves in public and give French citizens priority over foreigners for housing and job benefits.
“Her image has considerably softened,” Wallard said. “She comes across as less extremist than before.”
Le Pen has also been criticized for her history of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. She has called Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine “unacceptable” and said she’s in favor of sanctions, but has publicly opposed restrictions on Russian energy imports, citing concerns about the rising cost of living in France. She has also pledged to withdraw France from NATO’s integrated military command, which could undermine support for Ukraine’s fight. Le Pen previously spoke out in favor of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
“Her victory would be a political earthquake,” Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C., told ABC News. “She would probably not wreck that coalition, but raise difficult questions.”
Meanwhile, Macron, 44, has been all but absent from the campaign trail as he has moderated talks between Putin and Western countries, which ultimately failed to prevent the war in Ukraine. Many French citizens are also feeling disenfranchised by Macron’s stringent COVID-19 policies, unpopular plans to raise the legal retirement age amid widespread inflation, and soaring gas prices.
For some, the former banker-turned-president is the lesser of two evils and a vote for Macron is considered a vote against Le Pen. Still, no one had ruled out the possibility of a triumph for Le Pen.
ABC News’ Jay Alpert, Guy Davies, Nicky de Blois and Grant Lawson contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — As the people of Ukraine continue to defend against a Russian onslaught, Yevheniia Kravchuk, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, says the nation is still looking for three main things from the United States: heavy weapons, sanctions on Russia and financial aid.
“We are capable of winning and we are capable of kicking Russians out.”
“We need more weapons… Because right now Russians are putting artillery, tanks, everything they have, and also they bombed civilians to terrorize the whole country,” Kravchuk told “This Week” Co-Anchor Martha Raddatz. “As long as we’re getting more than we burn every day, we are capable of winning and we’re capable of kicking Russians out because that’s the way how to end this — to end this war.”
Last week, President Joe Biden announced another $800 million to aid Ukrainian military efforts in the Donbas region and said he will send a supplemental budget request to Congress to keep supporting the nation. The new aid includes artillery weapons, anti-air missiles and helicopters.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also announced Thursday the department would provide an additional $500 million in financial aid.
Kravchuk, a member of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party in the nation’s parliament, said it’s important that the U.S. provide the offensive weapons “because it’s sort of a green light to other countries in Europe, for example, to give these weapons as well.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia had taken the eastern city of Mariupol, a claim Ukrainians have pushed back on with 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers holed up in a steel plant as they continue to fight.
There have also been reports of 120,000 civilians still trapped in the besieged city.
Last week, just four buses and a few private vehicles were able to escape the city — the first to leave in about two weeks.
“Is there any chance for [a] humanitarian corridor at this point?” Raddatz asked.
“Yesterday Russians did not let the humanitarian corridor to work,” Kravchuk said. “Hundreds of people were gathered at one point to go out of Mariupol and Russian soldiers just came and said no, we’re not allowing this to happen.”
She said Russian soldiers are making “forcible deportations” out of Ukraine to Vladivostok, a Russian city thousands of miles away.
“They’re trying to make forcible deportations to Russian territory from Mariupol…It’s sort of something that can’t be happening in the 21st century,” Ukrainian Parliament member Yevheniia Kravchuk tells @MarthaRaddatz. https://t.co/Ilk5doBFrVpic.twitter.com/DGIeHJ8eIi
“And we do not know how to bring them back to Ukraine. They have pulled these people from Mariupol — they are put to filtration camps,” Kravchuk said. “It’s sort of something that can’t be happening in the 21st Century. And we really hope that maybe with help of other Western leaders, other leaders of similar worlds, we will be able to take out the kids and women who are still in the basements of this factory and inside of Mariupol.”
Zelenskyy has announced that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will arrive in Kyiv on Sunday to discuss the logistics of providing more military assistance. U.S. officials have yet to confirm the visit.
Asked by Raddatz about the significance of that visit, Kravchuk called it “a really, really symbolical and powerful signal to Russia that Ukraine will not be left alone with this war.”
(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 23, 11:28 am
Russian missile attack kills 5 people in Odesa, including 3-month-old
Russian forces fired at least six cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city of Odesa, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on Telegram.
Five citizens were killed, including one 3-month-old baby and 18 people were injured, said Andriy Yermak, the head of the president’s office.
“These are only those who were found. And most likely, there will be more,” he wrote.
Ukrainian forces were able to shoot down several missiles, but at least one landed and exploded, Gerashchenko said.
“Residents of the city heard explosions in different areas,” Gerashchenko said in a post on Facebook. “Residential buildings were hit.”
“The only aim of Russian missile strikes on Odesa is terror. Russia must be designated a state sponsor of terrorism and treated accordingly. No business, no contacts, no cultural projects. We need a wall between civilization and barbarians striking peaceful cities with missiles,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet.
Apr 23, 9:08 am
Ukraine resists Russian advance in the East: UK defense ministry
Despite the increased activity, Russian forces have made no major gains in the last 24 hours as Ukrainian counterattacks continue to hinder their efforts, according to the UK Ministry of Defense.
Russian air and maritime forces have not established control in either domain, owing to the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air and sea defense.
Despite their stated conquest of Mariupol, heavy fighting continues to take place frustrating Russian attempts to capture the city, further slowing their desired progress in the Donbas.
Apr 23, 8:45 am
UN Secretary-General to meet with Zelenskyy
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on April 28.
Guterres will also meet with staff of U.N. agencies to discuss scaling up humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine.
Apr 22, 6:29 pm
1 dead, 27 missing from Moskva ship, Russian Defense Ministry says
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that one service member died and another 27 crew members went missing from its Black Sea Fleet flagship vessel Moskva last week.
“The remaining 396 crew members were evacuated from the cruiser to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet,” the defense ministry said Friday.
The warship sank on April 14 following what the Ukrainians claimed was a missile attack. Russia did not acknowledge an attack on the ship and continued to say a fire broke out after ammunition detonated.
The defense ministry’s latest announcement contradicts its earlier statement that all Moskva crew members had been rescued.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian
Apr 22, 4:28 pm
More than 20 countries to attend defense talks hosted by US
More than 20 countries have accepted an invitation to attend a Ukraine-focused defense talk on Tuesday hosted by the U.S., Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Friday.
More than 40 NATO and non-NATO countries have been invited to the talks, which will be hosted by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Kirby said.
“The goal is to bring together stakeholders from all around the world for a series of meetings on the latest [Ukrainian] defense needs and … ensuring that Ukraine’s enduring security and sovereignty over the long-term is respected and developed,” Kirby said.
Apr 22, 12:19 pm
UN chief to meet with Putin in Moscow
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday.
Guterres wrote separate letters to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday asking to meet “to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine,” a U.N. spokesperson said earlier this week.
The international swimming federation FINA said it has suspended swimmer Evgeny Rylov, a Russian Olympic gold medalist, for allegedly attending a March concert where Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine. The suspension will last nine months.
FINA also said Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials won’t be invited to any FINA events through the end of 2022.
Apr 22, 9:30 am
European Council president holds call with Putin
European Council President Charles Michel and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a call Friday. Michel said afterwards on Twitter that he “strongly urged for immediate humanitarian access and safe passage from Mariupol and other besieged cities all the more on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.”
Michel also said he “firmly reiterated” the EU’s support for Ukraine and “condemnation and sanctions for Russia’s aggression.”
According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Michel asked Putin to have direct contact with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Kremlin said Putin “reaffirmed the well-known position on this matter, noting that such a possibility depends, in particular, on concrete results in the ongoing negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives, during which the Ukrainian side is showing inconsistency and is not ready to seek mutually acceptable solutions.”
Apr 22, 8:15 am
UK to reopen embassy in Kyiv
The United Kingdom announced Friday that it will soon reopen its embassy in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
The U.K. Embassy in Kyiv, in northern Ukraine, was forced to temporarily close in late February due to Russia’s invasion. A contingent of British staff remained in western Ukraine to provide humanitarian and other support. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Friday that the embassy will reopen next week, “dependent on the security situation,” according to a press release from the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
“The extraordinary fortitude and success of President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people in resisting Russian forces, means we will shortly be re-opening our British Embassy in Kyiv,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. “I want to pay tribute to the bravery and resilience of the Embassy team and their work throughout this period.”
The embassy premises in Kyiv are currently being made secure before staff return, starting with U.K. ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons. The U.K. continues to advise its citizens against all travel to Ukraine, according to the FCDO.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Apr 22, 7:58 am
Russia aims to ‘contain Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol,’ UK says
Russia’s decision to blockade a steel plant in Mariupol “likely indicates a desire to contain Ukrainian resistance” in the strategic port city “and free up Russian forces to be deployed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Friday in an intelligence update.
The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant is the last holdout for Ukrainian fighters in besieged Mariupol.
“A full ground assault by Russia on the plant would likely incur significant Russian casualties, further decreasing their overall combat effectiveness,” the ministry said.
Meanwhile, heavy shelling and fighting continues across eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region as Russian forces seek to advance further toward settlements including Krasnyy Lyman, Buhayikva, Barvinkove, Lyman and Popasna, “as part of their plans for the region,” according to the ministry.
“Despite Russia’s renewed focus they are still suffering from losses sustained earlier in the conflict,” the ministry added. “In order to try and reconstitute their depleted forces, they have resorted to transiting inoperable equipment back to Russia for repair.”
Apr 22, 6:34 am
Putin to speak with European Council president
Russian President Vladimir Putin will have a telephone conversation with European Council President Charles Michel on Friday before meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Putin will now have an international conversation,” Peskov told reporters Friday. “It will be the President of the European Council, Michel. And then during the day, Putin is scheduled to have an operational meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council.”
The U.S. has assessed that the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol remains contested, and that Russian airstrike activity remains focused there and on the Donbas region, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
Russia now has 85 battalion tactical groups, each made up of roughly 800 to 1,000 troops, inside of Ukraine, the official said. More of these groups are headed to the Donbas region, the official said.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has 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 22, 12:19 pm
UN chief to meet with Putin in Moscow
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday.
Guterres wrote separate letters to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday asking to meet “to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine,” a U.N. spokesperson said earlier this week.
The international swimming federation FINA said it has suspended swimmer Evgeny Rylov, a Russian Olympic gold medalist, for allegedly attending a March concert where Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine. The suspension will last nine months.
FINA also said Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials won’t be invited to any FINA events through the end of 2022.
Apr 22, 9:30 am
European Council president holds call with Putin
European Council President Charles Michel and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a call Friday. Michel said afterwards on Twitter that he “strongly urged for immediate humanitarian access and safe passage from Mariupol and other besieged cities all the more on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.”
Michel also said he “firmly reiterated” the EU’s support for Ukraine and “condemnation and sanctions for Russia’s aggression.”
According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Michel asked Putin to have direct contact with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Kremlin said Putin “reaffirmed the well-known position on this matter, noting that such a possibility depends, in particular, on concrete results in the ongoing negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives, during which the Ukrainian side is showing inconsistency and is not ready to seek mutually acceptable solutions.”
Apr 22, 8:15 am
UK to reopen embassy in Kyiv
The United Kingdom announced Friday that it will soon reopen its embassy in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
The U.K. Embassy in Kyiv, in northern Ukraine, was forced to temporarily close in late February due to Russia’s invasion. A contingent of British staff remained in western Ukraine to provide humanitarian and other support. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Friday that the embassy will reopen next week, “dependent on the security situation,” according to a press release from the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
“The extraordinary fortitude and success of President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people in resisting Russian forces, means we will shortly be re-opening our British Embassy in Kyiv,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. “I want to pay tribute to the bravery and resilience of the Embassy team and their work throughout this period.”
The embassy premises in Kyiv are currently being made secure before staff return, starting with U.K. ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons. The U.K. continues to advise its citizens against all travel to Ukraine, according to the FCDO.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Apr 22, 7:58 am
Russia aims to ‘contain Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol,’ UK says
Russia’s decision to blockade a steel plant in Mariupol “likely indicates a desire to contain Ukrainian resistance” in the strategic port city “and free up Russian forces to be deployed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Friday in an intelligence update.
The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant is the last holdout for Ukrainian fighters in besieged Mariupol.
“A full ground assault by Russia on the plant would likely incur significant Russian casualties, further decreasing their overall combat effectiveness,” the ministry said.
Meanwhile, heavy shelling and fighting continues across eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region as Russian forces seek to advance further toward settlements including Krasnyy Lyman, Buhayikva, Barvinkove, Lyman and Popasna, “as part of their plans for the region,” according to the ministry.
“Despite Russia’s renewed focus they are still suffering from losses sustained earlier in the conflict,” the ministry added. “In order to try and reconstitute their depleted forces, they have resorted to transiting inoperable equipment back to Russia for repair.”
Apr 22, 6:34 am
Putin to speak with European Council president
Russian President Vladimir Putin will have a telephone conversation with European Council President Charles Michel on Friday before meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Putin will now have an international conversation,” Peskov told reporters Friday. “It will be the President of the European Council, Michel. And then during the day, Putin is scheduled to have an operational meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council.”
The U.S. has assessed that the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol remains contested, and that Russian airstrike activity remains focused there and on the Donbas region, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
Russia now has 85 battalion tactical groups, each made up of roughly 800 to 1,000 troops, inside of Ukraine, the official said. More of these groups are headed to the Donbas region, the official said.
(NEW YORK) — As Russia’s military gears up for what it hopes will be a decisive victory over Ukraine in the eastern part of the country, the U.S. is rushing to send weapons and equipment needed to hold off the larger invading force in the rural and open Donbas terrain — a far different battlefield from the urban fighting where Ukrainian forces held an advantage.
What could make all the difference now is the new $800 million military aid package for Ukraine President Joe Biden announced Thursday.
It’s a race against time — maybe a matter of weeks, a U.S. defense official said.
“Now they’ve launched and refocused their campaign to seize new territory in eastern Ukraine, and we’re in a critical window now of time where they’re going to set the stage for the next phase of this war,” Biden said of the Russian offensive, which U.S. military officials believe is just getting started.
“We know that time is not our friend,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.
Russia gains by being closer to its border
With Ukrainian forces focused in the east, Russia intends to push down from the north, near the city of Izium, and up from the south, surrounding the Ukrainian defenders to “finish them or force them to surrender,” a senior U.S. official said Thursday.
If Russia takes the beleaguered city of Mariupol in the south, it could free up thousands of troops to join the push north to trap Ukraine forces, according to the official.
Although Russia and Ukraine have been battling over Donbas for eight years, Russia’s concentrated flow of troops and weapons into the region could bring “a whole different level of fighting,” Kirby said Tuesday.
There are now 85 battalion tactical groups (BTGs), Russia’s main fighting units, inside Ukraine, according to the official. Each BTG is made up of roughly 800-1,000 troops. About 10 of them crossed into the country this week, most heading to the Donbas region.
Kirby said the U.S. is focused on sending Ukraine weapons and systems that are not only useful for the rural eastern terrain, but that the Ukrainians can use in the fight without much training.
Russia, meanwhile, is trying not to repeat blunders it committed in northern Ukraine, and will enjoy certain geographic advantages in Donbas.
Early on, Russian invaders in the north were beset by supply problems, running out of food for troops and fuel for vehicles, failing to achieve any major victories. Pentagon officials believe they did not expect such strong resistance from Ukrainians so they didn’t adequately prepare for a prolonged fight.
But since withdrawing its troops in the north to focus on Donbas, Russia has been putting equipment and support forces in place ahead of its combat troops to favorably condition the battlefield.
“We believe that they are trying to learn from past mistakes, and you can see that in just the way they are conducting these shaping operations,” Kirby told reporters Monday. “They’re conducting themselves in ways that we didn’t see around Kyiv, for instance.”
Another advantage for Russia is that its logistics will be simplified by fighting closer to its own border, while Ukraine will now face the challenge of transporting heavy weapons and ammunition coming over its western border all the way across the country, meaning more miles for something to go wrong, and more chances for Russia to strike these vital shipments.
How US-provided artillery and radars could make a difference
To stand a chance fighting in the open Donbas landscape, Ukraine will need more long-range weapons and the ability to quickly move troops on the ground and in the air, according to Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and ABC News contributor.
The U.S. has sent Ukraine $3.4 billion of aid since the beginning of the invasion, including many thousands of shoulder-fired missiles, small arms and ammunition, body armor, and medical supplies. The two most recent packages, dedicating $800 million of aid each, announced April 13 and 21, were tailored to reflect the new battle space.
“It’s different,” Biden said Thursday. “It’s flat, it’s not in the mountains, and it requires different kinds of weapons to be more effective.”
To that end, the U.S. is sending 90 of its 155mm howitzers, which officials say will begin arriving over the weekend.
“This is going to be the king of battle out there,” Mulroy said.
While Ukraine already has Russian-made artillery pieces, the U.S. and most Western nations do not have the corresponding 152mm ammunition to offer as it runs through its limited stockpiles. The incoming U.S.-made 155mm guns will bring Ukrainian forces extra firepower, but also the ability to be better resupplied by the West.
To start, the U.S. is sending 184,000 artillery rounds along with the 90 weapons.
Russia has been flowing its own artillery into Donbas in preparation for its renewed offensive. To help Ukraine counter the threat, the U.S. is sending 14 radar systems that can detect incoming artillery and other indirect-fire attacks and find where they’re coming from.
“Right now the Russians are kind of just lobbing artillery without any consequence,” Mulroy said. “They want to give them a whole lot of consequence.”
The radar systems can help the Ukrainians accurately fire back.
“The counter radar is moving to theater this week,” a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday, adding that the howitzers and radar systems complement each other, but can also be used independently.
Training will be critical
About 50 Ukrainians are being trained on the U.S. howitzers outside of the country. This first group of trainees is expected to finish around the same time as the first artillery pieces arrive in their country, likely Sunday or Monday, according to a U.S. official. The U.S. is using a “train-the-trainer” approach so as not to pull too many high-demand troops away from the front — the small group of Ukrainians learning to use the new systems will return to their country to train fellow Ukrainian troops there.
The U.S. took a similar approach with the small, explosive Switchblade drones, hundreds of which are headed to Ukraine.
A small number of Ukrainians were in the U.S. for pre-scheduled military education when Russia invaded their country. The U.S. capitalized on their presence to add a couple days of training on the Switchblades, which are designed to fly directly into targets and explode.
“Although it’s not a very difficult system to operate, we took advantage of having them in the country to give them some rudimentary training on that,” a U.S. defense official said on April 6.
U.S. officials have said other systems being sent to Ukraine will also require a small period of training, likely to also take place outside of the country. Officials have declined to specify where such training could take place, citing operational security concerns.
With Russia intent on surrounding and trapping Ukrainian forces, the ability to move troops quickly by ground and air will be essential, according to Mulroy.
“They’re going to try to envelope the Ukrainians and cut them off and starve them,” he said. “So, the Ukrainians need to have the ability not to let that happen.”
Since the beginning of the invasion, the U.S. has given Ukraine 16 Mi-17 transport helicopters, each able to carry a three-person crew and up to 30 passengers.
Mulroy said an advantage of the Soviet-designed Mi-17 is that Ukrainian pilots already know how to fly them.
The U.S. has also offered Ukraine hundreds of armored personnel carriers that have tracks similar to those of tanks, as well as armored Humvees.
Weather will likely play a factor, and muddy conditions during Spring could limit vehicle mobility for both sides.
“Even just this week, the ground as it is makes it harder for them to operate off of paved roads and highways,” Kirby said.
Time is of the essence
Mulroy said the U.S. is doing a great job shipping military aid to the region, but believes more can be done to speed things up.
“We just have to take every opportunity to increase production and improve the flow, because it is going to make a difference,” he said.
The U.S. has not sent Ukraine any of its M1 Abrams tanks, officials saying they are too different from Ukraine’s T-72s to be useable in the short term. But other nations with the Soviet-era tanks have given theirs.
In total, Ukrainian forces have more tanks in their country than Russia’s military, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
A less tangible but very real factor in the fighting so far has been troop morale.
The Pentagon sees evidence Russian forces are still suffering from low motivation and poor unit cohesion, according to officials.
“Almost half of their enlisted troops are conscripts who don’t receive a lot of training and who we have evidence, even recent evidence, that they’ve been disillusioned by this war,” the senior U.S. defense official said.
Meanwhile Russian officers are frustrated with the performance of other officers and of their own troops, according to the official.
Ukrainian troops have not seemed to suffer any significant morale problems, and throughout the war have been described by U.S. officials as brave and wily in defense of their homeland.
Biden praised the resolve of Ukrainians in a meeting with top military leaders at the White House Wednesday.
“I knew they were tough and proud, but I tell you what, they’re tougher and more proud than I thought,” Biden said.
