(JERUSALEM) — A spate of deadly shootings in Israel has sparked renewed fears that the security situation is deteriorating as Palestinians approach the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
On the streets of Bnei Brak, a city just outside Tel Aviv, on Tuesday, a gunman fired upon civilians, killing five, including an Israeli police officer, before the suspect was shot and killed.
Tuesday’s slayings marked the third in a series of unclaimed attacks labelled as terror by the Israeli authorities in just eight days, a wave of violence that’s left 11 dead and raised concerns among political leaders and analysts about further attacks.
Early Thursday morning, two Palestinians were killed and seven were injured during an Israeli army raid on a refugee camp in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. In response to the Jenin attack, the head of Islamic Jihad has ordered all forces to be on high alert.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who had warned of escalating violence while he was in Israel just 24 hours before the Bnei Brak shootings, denounced the attack.
“We strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack in Bnei Brak, Israel, that killed five innocent victims,” Blinken said. “This comes after two other recent horrific terrorist attacks in Hadera and Be’er Sheva, Israel. This violence is unacceptable. Israelis — like all people around the world — should be able to live in peace and without fear. Our hearts go out to the families of those killed in the attacks.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, meanwhile, vowed a tough response to the recent terror attacks.
“Israel is facing a wave of murderous Arab terrorism,” he said. “My heart goes out to the families who lost their loved ones tonight, and I pray for the well-being of the wounded. The security forces are working. We will fight terror with perseverance, stubbornness and an iron fist. They will not move us from here, we will win.”
Nine Israelis and two Ukrainians have been killed since March 22 in three separate attacks labelled as terror by the authorities. The previous attacks were carried out by Arab citizens. Tuesday’s suspect was said to be a Palestinian, from the occupied West Bank, who had been living in Israel illegally.
Hamas, the militant group in charge of the Gaza strip, described the latest attack as “heroic” but made no formal claim of responsibility. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the State of Palestine, condemned the killing of Israeli citizens and warned against reactions aimed at the Palestinian people, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
In response to the violence, 3,000 Israeli police will be deployed in Jerusalem during the month of Ramadan, Israeli TV Channel 12 reported.
On Wednesday, Bennett announced new security measures, and told all Israelis with a license to begin carrying a weapon, compounding the tense atmosphere.
The number of casualties is the highest seen in such a short period of time since 2015. Unlike then, however, when the majority of the attacks were characterized as “lone wolf” knife attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank, the latest attacks in Israel were boldly carried out in major cities in the heart of the country with the use of automatic weapons.
The second in the trio of recent attacks took place in Hedera, carried out by two men reported to have received training in Syria. The apparent rise of some Islamic State group sleeper cells, their capacity to carry out such attacks and their ability to infiltrate the Palestinian community inside Israel and find recruits to carry out such attacks, marks a change in the security situation, analysts say.
The attacks came as a surprise to many observers, with some noting that the issues that came to the fore during the conflict between Israel and Gaza in May 2021 have been left unresolved.
With a succession of Arab states normalizing ties with Israel, there is a sense among analysts that hopes of a peace deal are becoming hopeless — and without that hope comes the threat of more violence.
Israel’s “Nationality Bill,” enacted in 2018, which reaffirmed Israel as a nation-state for Jewish people, has also proved controversial abroad and for the estimated two million Arabs living in the country. There are fears that the escalation could spread violence into Jerusalem and the West Bank, and a repeat of the 2021 war could be on the cards.
And it is charged days like the commemoration of the Land Day on Wednesday or the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan on Saturday, and grievances left unaddressed, which can tip the scale toward a renewed wave of violence.
(ALGIERS, Algeria) — One of President Joe Biden’s first foreign policy moves was a pledge to help end one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises — the war in Yemen — by “stepping up our diplomacy” and “ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.”
More than a year later, the war has escalated — with a sharp increase in civilian casualties, a growing number of Yemenis facing hunger, with less humanitarian funding, less international oversight of airstrikes and more complex attacks against Yemen’s neighbors fighting in the conflict.
A possible new cease-fire for Islam’s holy month of Ramadan could be within reach, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen indicated Wednesday, as he promotes a new peace plan. The Saudi-led coalition announced a unilateral cease-fire starting Wednesday, days after the Houthi rebels announced their own on cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“I don’t want to overstate it because we’ve been here before, but there’s a chance that we actually have a path forward with the new special envoy laying out what is a credible plan,” a senior State Department official told ABC News.
Temporary cease-fires and new peace plans have come and gone for seven years now, with the Yemeni people left to suffer the consequences. Nearly 400,000 people are believed to have been killed by fighting, disease and starvation, according to a U.N. report. Over 20 million — two-thirds of the population — are now reliant on humanitarian aid, including two million children facing acute malnutrition.
“The world cannot forget about Yemen,” said Tamuna Sabadze, the country director for the International Rescue Committee, an aid group on the ground in Yemen — a country the size of California and long the Arab world’s poorest. “The suffering has continued for too long. Those with influence over the warring parties must work to deliver a diplomatic resolution to this crisis.”
The Houthis, a northern rebel group increasingly backed by Iran, swept to power in 2014 when they seized the capital, Sanaa, amid Arab Spring strife. In response, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and an Arab coalition launched a military intervention — seven years ago this past Saturday — to prop up the Yemeni government and keep from power what they saw as an Iranian proxy.
Biden brought new attention to the war early in his term, including by naming career diplomat Tim Lenderking as special envoy for Yemen. On one side, critics, including Republicans and Saudi and Emirati officials, blame increased fighting on his decision to remove the Houthis from the foreign terrorist organization list. On the other, especially among members of Biden’s own party, there have been accusations that the administration is not doing enough to pressure the Saudi-led coalition to end the war.
It’s unclear if measures prescribed by critics on either side would do just that. The last year of diplomatic efforts hasn’t.
But amid rockier ties with those Gulf Arab partners, the Biden administration is shifting toward them — redoubling support for their defense and increasing pressure on the Houthis. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met the UAE’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayan, on Tuesday during a tour of the region. They spent two hours together at a private residence of MBZ, as the powerful prince is known, in Morocco — including a 30-minute one-on-one stroll around the compound.
A senior State Department official said Wednesday the two discussed “different mechanisms” to elevate U.S. support for the UAE’s security, although not an official treaty or security guarantee. But after an increasing number of deadly Houthi attacks on Saudi and Emirati civilian infrastructure, the U.S. is now considering “everything from sanctions to interdictions to other means of preventing [the Houthis] from being able to wage attacks against not just the Emiratis, but the Saudis, as well as within Yemen,” they added.
Houthi attacks have gotten increasingly sophisticated and deadly — killing civilians, striking airports and oil facilities, and using ballistic missiles and drones that are supplied by Iran. Many have come to view the militant group as a proxy force for Iran, which has taken advantage of the war to destabilize its chief rivals in the region, the Saudis and Emiratis.
One form of pressure the Emiratis and Saudis are unlikely to get, however, is re-adding the Houthis to the State Department’s foreign terrorist organization list, a designation that carries similar sanctions to those the Houthis are already under, but adds potential criminal prosecutions for anyone supporting them.
Emirati officials in particular have been lobbying for a reversal, with Biden announcing in January that one is under consideration and the State Department consistently calling Houthi attacks “terrorism.”
But even as they review re-designating the Houthis, the senior State Department official said, the administration’s argument for the last year against the designation remains — that it would restrict aid flowing into Yemen because of that threat of prosecutions.
“It’s fair to say that they [the Emiratis] and others in the region see the FTO designation in one way, whereas we see it primarily through the impact on our ability to deliver and support humanitarian assistance,” the senior State Department official told ABC News.
Still, the talk of strong support for UAE, Saudi Arabia, and others is a far cry from where some members of Biden’s own party are.
“Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes and air-and-sea blockade have cost hundreds of thousands of lives and threatened millions more with famine, triggering the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. On this grim anniversary – spanning seven years and three presidential administrations – we are calling for an immediate end to American involvement in the Saudi-led coalition’s brutal military campaign,” Sen. Bernie Sanders and three progressive House members — Pramila Jayapal, Peter DeFazio, and Ro Khanna — said, adding they will use a War Powers resolution to force his hand.
The U.S. military’s involvement in the conflict has been limited since November 2018 when, under similar bipartisan pressure, the Trump administration halted midair refueling for Saudi-led coalition aircraft. That air force has been accused by the U.N. of potential war crimes — indiscriminate bombardments and targeting civilian infrastructure.
The Houthis have also been accused of potential war crimes, including indiscriminate attacks and land mines, according to the same U.N. panel. Increasingly, they’ve also conducted complex, coordinated attacks on Saudi Arabia and UAE — including one last Friday that set two Saudi Aramco facilities ablaze and sent black smoke billowing into the air. While there were no casualties, Saudi officials said it would affect oil production amid the global energy crunch.
Fighting in recent months has been worse than in years — with January the deadliest month since 2018 — just three months after the UN Human Rights Council voted to disband that U.N. panel investigating war crimes.
While the majority of civilians have been killed by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, the senior State Department official said the coalition “has been saying they’re prepared to engage” in negotiations towards a cease-fire and ultimately a political resolution.
The coalition on Wednesday launched a unilateral cease-fire. The U.N.’s new special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, welcomed it as part of his call for a truce for Ramadan, Islam’s holy month which starts this weekend. Grundberg has been conducting extensive consultations with not just the warring countries, but also political parties, civil society activists and women’s rights advocates.
The Gulf Cooperation Council, a Riyadh-based bloc of regional countries, is also hosting a peace conference this week of Yemeni parties.
The Houthis have rejected both the Saudi cease-fire and the GCC summit, but days earlier announced they would halt to cross-border attacks until Wednesday, refusing to extend it unless the coalition met certain demands. Those demands — ending restrictions on Yemeni ports and closure of Sanaa’s airport — were not met, but it’s unclear if the Houthis had resumed attacks.
Still, Grundberg expressed some hope Wednesday that his team was “making progress” on reaching a truce — telling the GCC summit, “Yemen needs a truce. I am engaging with the parties with a sense of urgency to reach this truce by the beginning of Ramadan.”
In the meantime, it’s the Yemeni people who suffer — a crisis now exacerbated by Russia’s war against Ukraine. Yemen imports approximately one-fifth of its wheat from the two countries, and with energy prices also soaring, the already severely underfunded humanitarian response is left reeling.
That’s left children like “Isaac” with dimmer futures. In addition to widespread malnutrition, approximately 10,000 children have been killed by the war. Some two million children are out of school, with over 25,000 schools damaged or destroyed.
Isaac, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, told the aid group Save the Children that his school “is definitely not safe anymore.” The 14-year old boy was shot by a sniper in the leg.
“I assumed the sniper would spare me when he saw I was only picking up the ball. He doesn’t usually shoot at us, he rarely does, but he did this time,” he said, according to the group.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 30, 7:26 pm
Zelenskyy said he had detailed conversation with Biden, questions reports of Russian withdrawal
In his daily address Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he held a very “detailed” conversation with President Joe Biden on various topics.
Zelenskyy said he thanked Biden for $1 billion in new humanitarian aid and an additional $500 million in direct support.
Zelenskyy said he stressed the current moment is a turning point
“I told President Biden what Ukraine needs, and I was as sincere as possible with him,” he said. “The support of the United States is vital for us, and now it is especially important to lend a hand to Ukraine, to show all the power of the democratic world.”
The Ukrainian president said he reiterated his calls for more weapons and resources to fight Putin’s forces.
He also said he didn’t buy Russian’s “withdrawal” from Kyiv and Chernihiv.
“We do not believe anyone,” he said. “We will not give up anything, and we will fight for every meter of our land, for every our person.”
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 30, 3:44 pm
Pentagon refers to Russian claims of withdrawing troops near Kyiv as ‘spin’
Over the last 24 hours, the Pentagon has seen less than 20% of the Russian troops that had been around Kyiv “reposition” northward, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby said Russian claims that they are withdrawing troops to deescalate fighting amid peace talks with Ukraine is just “spin.”
Kirby said he was intentionally using the term “reposition” instead of withdrawal to describe the movement of Russian forces “because the way it’s being spun by the Ministry of Defense is that they’re pulling back and they’re trying to deescalate and depressurize the situation. And we just don’t believe we haven’t seen any evidence of that.”
Kirby said the U.S. assesses that the Russians are instead “going to refit these troops, resupply them, and then probably … employ them elsewhere in Ukraine.”
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Mar 30, 3:19 pm
Shelling continues in Chernihiv and Kyiv suburbs
Shelling is continuing in Chernihiv and the suburbs of Kyiv, one day after the Kremlin said Russian operations near the two cities would be “scaled down dramatically.”
In Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, Gov. Viacheslav Chaus said shelling lasted all night and that civilian targets were being destroyed, including shopping malls and libraries. Local authorities said at least one civilian was killed and six were wounded.
Activity was relentless Wednesday in Irpin, near Kyiv, and bombardments in the suburbs have continued into the night.
Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, said Wednesday that Russian troops have not completely abandoned attempts to capture or at least surround Kyiv and Chernihiv. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said some Russian military units are being relocated but that there’s no mass withdrawal of troops.
-ABC News’ James Longman, Bruno Roeber, Irene Hanatiyuk and Oleksii Pshemyski
Mar 30, 12:37 pm
Biden tells Zelenskyy US will give Ukraine $500 million in ‘direct budgetary aid’
President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke on the phone from 11:08 a.m. ET to 12:03 p.m. ET, according to the White House.
Biden said the U.S. will provide Ukraine with “$500 million in direct budgetary aid,” according to a White House readout. The $500 million is for financial assistance that Ukraine can use for budgetary expenses such as paying salaries and maintaining government services, according to the White House.
“The leaders discussed how the United States is working around the clock to fulfill the main security assistance requests by Ukraine, the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict, and continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country,” the White House said.
Zelenskyy in a tweet said they “talked about specific defensive support, a new package of enhanced sanctions, macro-financial and humanitarian aid.”
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Mar 30, 11:46 am
Zelenskyy warns Norway of Russia’s military buildup in Arctic
Ukraine warned Norway on Wednesday that Russian forces have “amassed in the Arctic region” and will ultimately pose a threat to Europe.
“I think you are experiencing new risks near your border with Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address to Norwegian lawmakers via video link from Kyiv. “A number of Russian troops that has no normal explanation has already been amassed in the Arctic region. For what? Against whom?”
“The future of Europe — the whole continent from north to south, from west to east — is being decided right now,” he added. “On our land, on Ukrainian soil, in Ukrainian air, in Ukrainian sea. So that your soldiers do not have to defend NATO’s eastern flank, so that Russian mines do not drift to your ports and fjords, so that your people do not have to get used to the sound of air alarms and so that Russian tanks are not amassed at your border, we must stop the aggression of the Russian Federation together and only together.”
Zelenskyy said Russian forces are continuing to carry out relentless and indiscriminate attacks on his country. Although Ukrainian troops are holding off Russian advances, he warned that “the columns of Russian armoured vehicles are not decreasing.”
“There are no forbidden targets for Russian troops. They attack everything,” he told Norwegian lawmakers. “Ukraine’s losses are enormous.”
-ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko and Christine Theodorou
Mar 30, 11:18 am
Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister
During a meeting in China, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi doubled down on increasingly close ties between the two nations despite the invasion of Ukraine.
Wang acknowledged the “Ukraine problem” but stopped short of offering support.
Chinese officials have said repeatedly in the past weeks that they are “not a party” to the conflict but “support Russia and Ukraine in overcoming difficulties.”
-ABC News’ Karson Yiu
Mar 30, 9:55 am
Putin advisers ‘afraid to tell him’ about Russian military performance
U.S. intelligence said it believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by his advisers on his troops’ performance in Ukraine “because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth,” a U.S. official told ABC News.
Based on declassified intelligence, the official said, “We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military. There is now persistent tension between Putin and the MOD [Ministry of Defence], stemming from Putin’s mistrust in MOD leadership. Putin didn’t even know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian President.”
The official continued: “We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisors about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth.”
Mar 30, 8:30 am
Poland plans to abandon Russian hydrocarbons by year’s end
Poland announced Wednesday its plan to stop buying Russian oil, gas and coal by the end of 2022.
“Today, we present the most radical plan in Europe to abandon Russian hydrocarbons — oil, gas and coal. This plan is necessary for the recovery of Europe,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a press conference.
According to Morawiecki, Poland “will impose a total embargo on Russian coal in April, at the latest in May.” He said his country has already largely reduced its dependence on oil from Russia and “will do [its] best to abandon Russian oil by the end of the year.” He added that he is also expecting a decline in gas imports in May.
Morawiecki called on other European countries, including Germany, to follow suit. He urged the European Commission “to establish a tax on Russian hydrocarbons so that trade and economic rules in the European single market are fair.”
Mar 30, 8:06 am
Enrollment in Poland’s national guard grows sevenfold
In the Polish village of Zegrze, about 20 miles north of Warsaw, cars line the small street outside a facility belonging to Poland’s Territorial Defense Force (TDF). Officials said interest in training with the TDF has increased sevenfold in the last month, following Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine — creating an unintended traffic backup in the facility’s tiny public parking lot.
The TDF is the fifth military branch of the Polish Armed Forces, behind the Land Forces, Army, Navy and Special Forces. The group is made up of volunteer and part-time privates, and is comparable to the National Guard of the United States.
ABC News got exclusive access into the TDF facility in Zegrze and spoke with several new trainees, all of whom were women. Each one spoke about their underlying interest in the military and wanting to feel confident in protecting themselves and their families. But several said they became motivated to enroll after watching average Ukrainian citizens defend their country. They were inspired to be prepared in the same way.
ABC News’ cameras were allowed to follow a group of trainees — men and women of all ages — as instructors took them into a nearby forest on Tuesday morning. The trainees were clad in army fatigues and their faces were marked with camouflage paint as they crawled along the ground, guns in hand. The training was a grueling, real-life instruction that left them exhausted within an hour.
The program lasts for 16 days, with at least 12 hours of training required each day. At the end, the trainees take a military oath and then are allowed to return home. Many know there is a chance they will soon be called on to help the Polish military as the Russian invasion grinds on in neighboring Ukraine. While they won’t likely see combat, their main objective is to enhance national defense capabilities and protect their local communities.
Mar 30, 7:39 am
Ukrainians attempt to save animals from abandoned zoo near Kyiv
Ukrainians are attempting to rescue exotic animals from an abandoned zoo near the capital.
Vitaly Mukhanov told ABC News that he had volunteered to help bring supplies to Ukrainian soldiers when he came across the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside Kyiv. The park appeared to have been damaged by shelling and the animals, including camels and ostriches, were left with no food. Some were injured, while others were dead.
Videos and images Mukhanov took of the scene and posted on Facebook on Monday quickly went viral and he said he was subsequently contacted by the zoo’s owner, who asked if he could help.
In one of the videos, Mukhanov comes across a wounded ostrich. The bird appeared to be taking its last breaths as he gently stroked its head.
“You can see from the images that the animals were in a very bad way,” Mukhanov told ABC News. “The town nearby was liberated from the Russians two days ago, so the owner is now returning to the zoo and they hope to evacuate the animals in the next couple of days.”
Mukhanov said he has since returned to western Ukraine to get more supplies, but he was told that veterinarians were due to visit the Yasnohorodka family ecopark on Tuesday to provide care to some of the animals.
Mar 30, 7:18 am
Explosion rings out near Russian city of Belgorod
A missile hit a temporary Russian military camp near the border with Ukraine late Tuesday, according Russian state-owned news agency TASS.
TASS, citing a source, reported that preliminary data shows the camp, just outside the Russian city of Belgorod, was fired on from the Ukrainian side. However, Ukraine has denied responsibility and instead blamed the incident on Russian error.
Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement that blasts occurred in the village of Krasny Oktyabr, about 19 miles southwest of Belgorod. He did not cite a cause of the incident, saying he was awaiting a report from the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Video circulating online and verified by ABC News shows an explosion in Krasny Oktyabr on Tuesday night. The cause of the blast was unknown.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk alleged that “an unauthorized detonation of ammunition” took place at a warehouse of the Russian Armed Forces in Belgorod.
“This is an example of typical for Russians neglect of safety precautions and mass use of dangerous ammunition of the Second World War,” Vereschuk said at a press briefing Wednesday.
Belgorod is about 50 miles north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which Russian forces have shelled heavily in recent weeks.
Mar 30, 6:11 am
Russia bombards Chernihiv hours after claiming to curb assault
Air raid sirens sounded off across almost all of Ukraine overnight and into early Wednesday, hours after Russia said it would scale back its military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.
Russian forces bombarded the besieged northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv as well as Khmelnytsky Oblast in western Ukraine, while several missiles were shot down over the capital, Kyiv, according to Vadim Denisenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister. The damage and any casualties were still being assessed Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, the Luhansk Oblast has been under heavy shelling for days, Denisenko said.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed Wednesday that the Russian military continues to withdraw part of its troops from near Kyiv and Chernihiv, and are possibly “regrouping units to concentrate the main efforts in the eastern direction.” However, the General Staff said it believes the real goals of the so-called withdrawal are a rotation of individual units, misleading Ukraine’s military leadership and creating an erroneous idea about Russia’s refusal from the plan to encircle Kyiv.
Mar 30, 5:27 am
Over four million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than four million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 9% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in 35 days.
More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
Mar 30, 3:41 am
Russian authorities may ‘single out and detain’ Americans in Russia and Ukraine, US warns
The United States is warning that Russian authorities “may single out and detain U.S. citizens” in both Russia and Ukraine.
The warning came Tuesday as the U.S. Department of State issued new travel advisories for the two warring countries.
The State Department previously warned Americans in Russia that they could be targets for harassment by Russian authorities. But the latest advisory makes it explicit that U.S. citizens could be “singled out,” “including for detention.”
The State Department has also previously warned Americans against traveling to Ukraine to join the fight against Russian forces, pointing to statements from Russian authorities that anyone detained while fighting will not be considered a lawful combatant. That could mean mistreatment or worse, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
“There are continued reports of U.S. citizens being singled out and detained by the Russian military in Ukraine and when evacuating by land through Russia-occupied territory or to Russia or Belarus,” the latest advisory for Ukraine states.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been on the State Department’s “Travel Advisory Level 4 – Do Not Travel” for months, as tensions ratcheted up and with little to no diplomatic presences on the ground.
Attila Husejnow/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WARSAW, Poland) — Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland has taken in 300,000 Ukrainian refugees, according to Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski.
While Trzaskowski told ABC News’ Linsey Davis Tuesday that the city and its residents have welcomed these families and doing their best to accommodate their needs, they still face uphill challenges as more refugees arrive.
“We are going to welcome whoever needs help, but if a strain on the public services, schools, [and] health system [becomes] huge, the solidarity might wane in a few weeks,” the mayor told ABC News.
As the number of refugees is expected to grow while the conflict continues, Trzaskowski is calling on leaders around the world to assist with the refugee efforts.
As of March 29, over 4 million Ukrainians have fled to nearby countries to escape the war, according to data from the United Nations. Poland has taken the majority of those citizens, 2.3 million, according to the U.N.
Trzaskowski said his city’s refugee response has been “improvised” as the local government, regular citizens and organizations have come together to provide the hundreds of thousands of families with support.
Ukrainian citizens have been granted access to free education and free health care in Poland and 13,000 Ukrainian children are already attending Warsaw schools, according to the mayor.
“This is really a huge challenge also financially, but you know, we have to organize it,” Trzaskowski said.
He added that the city’s social workers are overburdened with the daunting task of registering over 300,000 people with Polish social service agencies and programs.
“So now I’m thinking how to put more people at a task of doing it as quickly as possible,” he said.
The mayor tweeted on Monday that the city’s refugee assistance efforts requires more investment and personnel and called on the European Union to offer direct support.
“We need a system because we don’t know [if] maybe we are going to have another wave of refugees in just in just a week or two. We need to be prepared,” he said.
World leaders have recently pledged to help the growing number of families who are fleeing Ukraine.
Last week, President Joe Biden announced the U.S. would accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, and other countries, such as Canada have promised to take them.
Trzaskowski said he is hopeful that more countries and the United Nations will step up their efforts and alleviate some of his country’s burdens, but in the meantime he pledged that his citizens will continue to welcome the refugees as one of their own.
“Ukrainians are among us but they’re with us they’re not as if relegated to the margins of the society they’re in our homes they are participating in our life and that’s that’s the beauty of it,” he said.
(KYIV) — A group of Ukrainian volunteers are attempting to rescue animals from a private zoo near the capital that was abandoned after the Russian army bombed and occupied the area.
Vitaly Mukhanov told ABC News that he had volunteered to help bring supplies to Ukrainian soldiers when he came across the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside Kyiv.
The park appeared to have been damaged by shelling, Mukhanov said. Animals, including camels and ostriches, were left with no food. Some were injured, while others were dead, he said.
“You could tell that many of the animals starved to death.” Mukhanov said.
Videos and images Mukhanov took of the scene and posted on Facebook on Monday quickly went viral and he said he was subsequently contacted by the zoo’s owner, who asked for his assistance.
In one of the videos, Mukhanov comes across a wounded ostrich. The bird appeared to be taking its last breaths as he gently stroked its head.
“You can see from the images that the animals were in a very bad way,” Mukhanov said.
“The town nearby was liberated from the Russians two days ago, so the owner is now returning to the zoo and they hope to evacuate the animals in the next couple of days,” he said.
As of Wednesday morning, Yasnohorodka family ecopark posted on their Facebook page that the animals were being rescued and evacuated from the area.
Mukhanov explained that due to the area being bombed and occupied by Russian forces, the owners and staff were in fear of their lives and had to flee the zoo as quickly as possible, forcing them to leave the animals behind.
“As of now this area has been freed and our Ukrainian troops are there, so we have organized and guaranteed the owner safety so he can evacuate the animals,” he said.
The owner will be returning back to the area hopefully by tomorrow, he said, but there are currently staff and volunteers on-site feeding the animals and safely beginning to evacuate some of them.
ABC News reached out to park operators but have not received a comment.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 31, 4:32 am
Putin ‘massively misjudged’ invasion of Ukraine, UK spy chief says
Russian President Vladimir Putin has apparently “massively misjudged” his invasion of Ukraine, a U.K. intelligence chief said Thursday.
“It’s clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people. He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanize. He underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime, and he overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory,” Jeremy Fleming, head of the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), said during a speech in Australia’s capital, Canberra.
“We’ve seen Russian soldiers, short of weapons and morale, refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft,” he added.
While Fleming agreed with a recent assessment by U.S. intelligence that Putin’s advisers were believed to be too afraid to tell the truth, he said the “extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.” He warned that Russia is searching for cyber targets and bringing in mercenaries to reinforce its stalled military campaign in Ukraine.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 30, 11:46 am
Zelenskyy warns Norway of Russia’s military buildup in Arctic
Ukraine warned Norway on Wednesday that Russian forces have “amassed in the Arctic region” and will ultimately pose a threat to Europe.
“I think you are experiencing new risks near your border with Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address to Norwegian lawmakers via video link from Kyiv. “A number of Russian troops that has no normal explanation has already been amassed in the Arctic region. For what? Against whom?”
“The future of Europe — the whole continent from north to south, from west to east — is being decided right now,” he added. “On our land, on Ukrainian soil, in Ukrainian air, in Ukrainian sea. So that your soldiers do not have to defend NATO’s eastern flank, so that Russian mines do not drift to your ports and fjords, so that your people do not have to get used to the sound of air alarms and so that Russian tanks are not amassed at your border, we must stop the aggression of the Russian Federation together and only together.”
Zelenskyy said Russian forces are continuing to carry out relentless and indiscriminate attacks on his country. Although Ukrainian troops are holding off Russian advances, he warned that “the columns of Russian armoured vehicles are not decreasing.”
“There are no forbidden targets for Russian troops. They attack everything,” he told Norwegian lawmakers. “Ukraine’s losses are enormous.”
-ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko and Christine Theodorou
Mar 30, 11:18 am
Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister
During a meeting in China, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi doubled down on increasingly close ties between the two nations despite the invasion of Ukraine.
Wang acknowledged the “Ukraine problem” but stopped short of offering support.
Chinese officials have said repeatedly in the past weeks that they are “not a party” to the conflict but “support Russia and Ukraine in overcoming difficulties.”
-ABC News’ Karson Yiu
Mar 30, 9:55 am
Putin advisers ‘afraid to tell him’ about Russian military performance
U.S. intelligence said it believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by his advisers on his troops’ performance in Ukraine “because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth,” a U.S. official told ABC News.
Based on declassified intelligence, the official said, “We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military. There is now persistent tension between Putin and the MOD [Ministry of Defence], stemming from Putin’s mistrust in MOD leadership. Putin didn’t even know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian President.”
The official continued: “We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisors about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth.”
Mar 30, 8:30 am
Poland plans to abandon Russian hydrocarbons by year’s end
Poland announced Wednesday its plan to stop buying Russian oil, gas and coal by the end of 2022.
“Today, we present the most radical plan in Europe to abandon Russian hydrocarbons — oil, gas and coal. This plan is necessary for the recovery of Europe,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a press conference.
According to Morawiecki, Poland “will impose a total embargo on Russian coal in April, at the latest in May.” He said his country has already largely reduced its dependence on oil from Russia and “will do [its] best to abandon Russian oil by the end of the year.” He added that he is also expecting a decline in gas imports in May.
Morawiecki called on other European countries, including Germany, to follow suit. He urged the European Commission “to establish a tax on Russian hydrocarbons so that trade and economic rules in the European single market are fair.”
Mar 30, 8:06 am
Enrollment in Poland’s national guard grows sevenfold
In the Polish village of Zegrze, about 20 miles north of Warsaw, cars line the small street outside a facility belonging to Poland’s Territorial Defense Force (TDF). Officials said interest in training with the TDF has increased sevenfold in the last month, following Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine — creating an unintended traffic backup in the facility’s tiny public parking lot.
The TDF is the fifth military branch of the Polish Armed Forces, behind the Land Forces, Army, Navy and Special Forces. The group is made up of volunteer and part-time privates, and is comparable to the National Guard of the United States.
ABC News got exclusive access into the TDF facility in Zegrze and spoke with several new trainees, all of whom were women. Each one spoke about their underlying interest in the military and wanting to feel confident in protecting themselves and their families. But several said they became motivated to enroll after watching average Ukrainian citizens defend their country. They were inspired to be prepared in the same way.
ABC News’ cameras were allowed to follow a group of trainees — men and women of all ages — as instructors took them into a nearby forest on Tuesday morning. The trainees were clad in army fatigues and their faces were marked with camouflage paint as they crawled along the ground, guns in hand. The training was a grueling, real-life instruction that left them exhausted within an hour.
The program lasts for 16 days, with at least 12 hours of training required each day. At the end, the trainees take a military oath and then are allowed to return home. Many know there is a chance they will soon be called on to help the Polish military as the Russian invasion grinds on in neighboring Ukraine. While they won’t likely see combat, their main objective is to enhance national defense capabilities and protect their local communities.
Mar 30, 7:39 am
Ukrainians attempt to save animals from abandoned zoo near Kyiv
Ukrainians are attempting to rescue exotic animals from an abandoned zoo near the capital.
Vitaly Mukhanov told ABC News that he had volunteered to help bring supplies to Ukrainian soldiers when he came across the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside Kyiv. The park appeared to have been damaged by shelling and the animals, including camels and ostriches, were left with no food. Some were injured, while others were dead.
Videos and images Mukhanov took of the scene and posted on Facebook on Monday quickly went viral and he said he was subsequently contacted by the zoo’s owner, who asked if he could help.
In one of the videos, Mukhanov comes across a wounded ostrich. The bird appeared to be taking its last breaths as he gently stroked its head.
“You can see from the images that the animals were in a very bad way,” Mukhanov told ABC News. “The town nearby was liberated from the Russians two days ago, so the owner is now returning to the zoo and they hope to evacuate the animals in the next couple of days.”
Mukhanov said he has since returned to western Ukraine to get more supplies, but he was told that veterinarians were due to visit the Yasnohorodka family ecopark on Tuesday to provide care to some of the animals.
Mar 30, 7:18 am
Explosion rings out near Russian city of Belgorod
A missile hit a temporary Russian military camp near the border with Ukraine late Tuesday, according Russian state-owned news agency TASS.
TASS, citing a source, reported that preliminary data shows the camp, just outside the Russian city of Belgorod, was fired on from the Ukrainian side. However, Ukraine has denied responsibility and instead blamed the incident on Russian error.
Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement that blasts occurred in the village of Krasny Oktyabr, about 19 miles southwest of Belgorod. He did not cite a cause of the incident, saying he was awaiting a report from the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Video circulating online and verified by ABC News shows an explosion in Krasny Oktyabr on Tuesday night. The cause of the blast was unknown.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk alleged that “an unauthorized detonation of ammunition” took place at a warehouse of the Russian Armed Forces in Belgorod.
“This is an example of typical for Russians neglect of safety precautions and mass use of dangerous ammunition of the Second World War,” Vereschuk said at a press briefing Wednesday.
Belgorod is about 50 miles north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which Russian forces have shelled heavily in recent weeks.
Mar 30, 6:11 am
Russia bombards Chernihiv hours after claiming to curb assault
Air raid sirens sounded off across almost all of Ukraine overnight and into early Wednesday, hours after Russia said it would scale back its military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.
Russian forces bombarded the besieged northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv as well as Khmelnytsky Oblast in western Ukraine, while several missiles were shot down over the capital, Kyiv, according to Vadim Denisenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister. The damage and any casualties were still being assessed Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, the Luhansk Oblast has been under heavy shelling for days, Denisenko said.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed Wednesday that the Russian military continues to withdraw part of its troops from near Kyiv and Chernihiv, and are possibly “regrouping units to concentrate the main efforts in the eastern direction.” However, the General Staff said it believes the real goals of the so-called withdrawal are a rotation of individual units, misleading Ukraine’s military leadership and creating an erroneous idea about Russia’s refusal from the plan to encircle Kyiv.
Mar 30, 5:27 am
Over four million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than four million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 9% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in 35 days.
More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
Mar 30, 3:41 am
Russian authorities may ‘single out and detain’ Americans in Russia and Ukraine, US warns
The United States is warning that Russian authorities “may single out and detain U.S. citizens” in both Russia and Ukraine.
The warning came Tuesday as the U.S. Department of State issued new travel advisories for the two warring countries.
The State Department previously warned Americans in Russia that they could be targets for harassment by Russian authorities. But the latest advisory makes it explicit that U.S. citizens could be “singled out,” “including for detention.”
The State Department has also previously warned Americans against traveling to Ukraine to join the fight against Russian forces, pointing to statements from Russian authorities that anyone detained while fighting will not be considered a lawful combatant. That could mean mistreatment or worse, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
“There are continued reports of U.S. citizens being singled out and detained by the Russian military in Ukraine and when evacuating by land through Russia-occupied territory or to Russia or Belarus,” the latest advisory for Ukraine states.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been on the State Department’s “Travel Advisory Level 4 – Do Not Travel” for months, as tensions ratcheted up and with little to no diplomatic presences on the ground.
(DZHEZKAZGAN, Kazakstan) — NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth Wednesday, after spending a record-breaking 355 days in low-Earth orbit. Vande Hei shared a spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts as tensions between the Russia and the U.S. continue amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Vande Hei returned in a Soyuz spacecraft with Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov, making a parachute-assisted landing at 7:28 a.m. in Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. The trio had departed the International Space Station at 3:21 a.m. ET.
Vande Hei broke the record for the longest spaceflight by a NASA astronaut by 15 days. The record was previously held by retired astronaut Scott Kelly.
On this spaceflight, Vande Hei completed 5,680 orbits of the Earth and a journey of more than 150 million miles, roughly the equivalent of 312 trips to the Moon and back, according to NASA.
This trip gave Vande Hei a lifetime total of 523 days in space.
“Mark’s mission is not only record-breaking, but also paving the way for future human explorers on the Moon, Mars, and beyond,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a press release. “Our astronauts make incredible sacrifices in the name of science, exploration, and cutting-edge technology development, not least among them time away from loved ones.”
Nelson added: “NASA and the nation are proud to welcome Mark home and grateful for his incredible contributions throughout his year-long stay on the International Space Station.”
According to NASA, Vande Hei contributed to dozens of studies from the hundreds executed during his mission, including six science investigations supported by NASA’s Human Research Program.
As NASA plans to return to the Moon, under the Artemis program, and prepares for the exploration of Mars, the agency said Vande Hei’s extended mission will provide researchers the opportunity to observe the effects of long-duration spaceflight on humans.
After the crew goes through post-landing medical checks, they will be flown to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, on Russian helicopters. Vande Hei will then board a NASA plane to Cologne, Germany, for refueling, prior to his return home.
Shkaplerov and Dubrov will be flown home to Star City, Russia, on a Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center aircraft.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 29, 7:26 pm
Zelenskyy says Russia still has ‘significant potential’ to continue attacks
In his latest national address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to stay vigilant and warned that Russia still has “significant potential” to continue its attacks.
The comments come after Russia claimed it would move forces away from Kyiv and Chernihiv and the latest round of in-person peace negotiations kicked off in Turkey.
Zelenskyy said there were positive signals that came out of Tuesday’s talks in Istanbul and that Ukraine is willing to continue the negotiation process, but that his country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be guaranteed.
“There can be no compromise on sovereignty and our territorial integrity. And there will not be any,” he said.
The president called for sanctions targeting Russia to be intensified amid continued shelling.
“The question of [lifting Russian] sanctions cannot even be raised until the war is over, until we get back what’s ours and until we restore justice,” he said.
-ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko
Mar 29, 7:01 pm
Ukraine outlines proposals for new system of security guarantees
Ukraine outlined proposals for a new system of security guarantees for their country during talks with Russia in Turkey on Tuesday, officials said.
Ukraine is seeking security guarantees comparable to NATO’s collective defense clause, Article 5, in that in the event of an attack on Ukraine, “guarantor countries” would be legally obligated to provide arms and impose a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine, according to David Arakhamia, the head of Ukraine’s negotiation team. The security guarantees would “not work temporarily” in the currently occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Crimea, the government said.
The suggested list of guarantors includes permanent members of the UN Security Council — the U.S., Great Britain, France, China and Russia — as well as Turkey, Germany, Canada, Italy, Poland and Israel.
In exchange, Ukraine’s would “undertake not to deploy foreign military bases, foreign military contingents on its territory, not to join military-political alliances, and military exercises on the territory of Ukraine will be possible with the consent of the guarantor countries,” the government said.
It is “fundamentally important” that a potential treaty does not deny Ukraine’s right to join the European Union, Oleksandr Chalyi, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, said in a statement.
Negotiations with Russia will continue in the next two weeks, and Ukraine has already begun consultations with all countries they would like to see on the guarantor list, according to Chalyi.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 29, 2:30 pm
Biden says ‘we’ll see’ if Russians will follow through on moving forces away from Kyiv, Chernihiv
President Biden on Tuesday expressed skepticism regarding Russia’s claim that its forces will move away from Kyiv and Chernihiv.
“I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are. We’ll see if they follow through on what they’re suggesting,” Biden said during a joint press conference with Singapore’s prime minister.
Biden also commented on the ongoing negotiations in Turkey between Ukraine and Russia and said there is consensus among Western allies to “see what they have to offer.”
“But in the meantime, we’re going to continue to keep strong sanctions. We are going to continue to provide the Ukrainian military with their capacity to defend themselves and we are going to continue to keep a close eye on what’s going on,” Biden said.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Mar 29, 2:16 pm
Rocket strike on Mykolaiv government building leaves 12 dead, 33 injured
A rocket strike on a regional administration building in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv killed 12 and injured 33 people, according to Ukrainian State Emergency Services.
Emergency services said 18 people were rescued from the rubble.
According to state officials, the strike occurred Tuesday at 8:45 a.m. local time. Search and rescue operations are still underway.
-ABC News’ Natalya Kushnir
Mar 29, 2:14 pm
Top military commander says US will likely need more troops in Europe, may become permanent force
Gen. Tod Wolters, the top U.S. military commander in Europe, met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday, telling them he expects he’ll need more U.S. troops and it’s possible they may become a permanent force in the country.
With U.S. troop levels in Europe now at 100,000 from 60,000 just a few months ago, Wolters said it’s very likely that the number of troops could continue to rise depending on the situation in Ukraine.
“My suspicion is we’re going to still need more,” Wolters said. “And obviously, there’s always a mix between the requirement of permanent versus rotational and there are pluses and minuses of each one. We’ll have to continue to examine the European contributions to make a smart decision about where to go in the future.”
Wolters praised Ukraine’s military and its ability to stall Russian military operations through the weapons systems provided by the U.S. military.
When asked if the U.S. had overestimated the Russians and underestimated Ukraine’s defensive capability, Wolters said in part, “When this crisis is over with we will accomplish a comprehensive after-action review in all domains and in all departments and find out where our weak areas. Where it makes sure that we can find ways to improve and this could be one of those areas.”
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Mar 29, 1:22 pm
Some troops moving away from Kyiv but US believes it’s ‘redeployment, not a withdrawal’
The U.S. is seeing some movement of Russian troops away from Kyiv, as Russia has suggested, but the White House does not view this as a withdrawal but rather a “redeployment,” a White House official told ABC News.
“We’re seeing some movement of troops away from Kyiv, which could be an indication of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin having to adjust his original plan,” a White House official said. “But no one should read too much into an adjustment — should momentum build, Russia could change its plans again at any moment, or this could just be a regroup.”
“No one should be fooled by Russia’s announcements. We believe any movement of forces from around Kyiv is a redeployment, not a withdrawal, and the world should be prepared for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine,” the official added.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Mar 29, 12:22 pm
1st superyacht owned by a Russian national seized in UK waters
The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency said it’s seized a superyacht owned by a Russian national — worth around $49.92 million — in Canary Wharf in London.
The National Crime Agency’s statement doesn’t identify the Russian national but says the owner deliberately registered the ship to a company based in Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean. The agency also said the ship carried Maltese flags, allegedly to hide its origins.
British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the seizure “turned an icon of Russia’s power and wealth into a clear and stark warning to Putin and his cronies.” Shapps said the seizure proves “we can and will take the strongest possible action against those seeking to benefit from Russian connections.”
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 29, 11:33 am
4 European countries expel dozens of Russian officials
Belgium announced Tuesday its decision to expel 21 Russian intelligence officers.
The officers were working for the Russian embassy and consulate in Brussels and were allegedly involved “in espionage and influence operations threatening national security,” Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes said in a statement on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands said it has expelled 17 Russian intelligence officers. The officers were in The Netherlands under diplomatic cover, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said in a statement on Twitter.
Ireland confirmed it has asked four senior Russian officials to leave the country.
“This is because their activities have not been in accordance with international standards of diplomatic behaviour,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said in a statement posted to Twitter. “The Government continues to believe that diplomatic channels between Ireland and the Russian Federation should remain open.”
The Czech Republic also announced its decision to expel one Russian diplomat from the Russian embassy in Prague. The individual was requested to leave the country within 72 hours.
“Together with our Allies, we are reducing the Russian intelligence presence in the EU,” the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Twitter.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 29, 10:29 am
Russia says talks were ‘constructive,’ Ukraine says more countries will be involved
Tuesday’s talks in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia have concluded.
Russian delegation head Vladimir Medinsky told reporters the talks were “constructive.”
Meanwhile, Alexander Chaly of the Ukrainian delegation told reporters that talks will continue, and in two weeks they plan to involve other countries in the negotiation process.
Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said he believes enough has been covered to now involve the presidents of Ukraine and Russia in the talks.
Medinsky noted, “As a result of today’s substantive conversation, we have approved and offer a solution, according to which a meeting between the heads of state is possible simultaneously with the initialing of the agreement.”
“The proposed format is like this: first an agreement will be drafted, then the agreement will be approved by the negotiators and signed by the foreign ministers at a meeting, and then the possibility of a meeting between the heads of state will be discussed in order to sign this agreement,” Medinsky said.
Ukrainian officials said a military alliance of other countries — including the U.S. — needs to be created to provide security protections to Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed skepticism about the talks, saying he would leave it to the Ukrainians to characterize any progress.
Mar 29, 9:41 am
Russia says talks are constructive, Ukraine says more countries will be involved in negotiation process
Tuesday’s talks in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia have concluded.
Russian delegation head Vladimir Medinsky told reporters the talks were constructive.
Alexander Chaly of the Ukrainian delegation told reporters that negotiations will continue, and in two weeks they plan to involve other countries in the negotiation process.
Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said he believes enough has been covered to now involve the presidents of Ukraine and Russia in the talks.
Medinsky noted, “As a result of today’s substantive conversation, we have approved and offer a solution, according to which a meeting between the heads of state is possible simultaneously with the initialing of the agreement.”
“The proposed format is like this: first an agreement will be drafted, then the agreement will be approved by the negotiators and signed by the foreign ministers at a meeting, and then the possibility of a meeting between the heads of state will be discussed in order to sign this agreement,” Medinsky said.
Ukrainian officials said a military alliance of other countries — including the U.S. — needs to be created to provide security protections to Ukraine.
Mar 29, 9:07 am
Biden to speak with leaders of France, Germany, Italy, UK
President Joe Biden will hold a call at 9:15am ET Tuesday with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson to discuss the latest with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the White House.
Macron is also set to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Mar 29, 9:01 am
Russia claims it’s ‘drastically’ decreasing military activity near Kyiv, Chernihiv
Russian forces are “drastically” decreasing military activity around Kyiv and Chernihiv to try to improve trust and aid further talks with Ukraine, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Alexander Fomin told reporters.
“Due to the fact that the negotiations on elaborating a treaty on Ukraine’s neutrality and nuclear-free status, as well as on providing Ukraine with security guarantees are shifting to the practical field, and taking into account the principles discussed during today’s meeting, the Russian Defense Ministry has decided to decrease its military activity in the areas of Kyiv and Chernihiv drastically in order to increase mutual trust and create conditions required for further negotiations and for achieving the ultimate goal of reaching an agreement on and signing of the aforementioned treaty,” he said.
Mar 29, 8:54 am
Over 3.9 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than 3.9 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 8.8% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in 34 days.
More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
Mar 29, 8:27 am
Russia says ‘special military operation’ to continue until ‘objectives are achieved’
Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine will continue “until the objectives are achieved,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday.
Shoigu claimed that Russian troops are “actively providing humanitarian assistance to the population of” the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics as well as Ukraine.
“As many as 684 humanitarian operations have been completed and 6,079 tons of cargo have been supplied to 210 populated localities,” Shoigu said at a teleconference.
Mar 29, 8:24 am
Deadly missile strike leaves gaping hole in Mykolaiv government building
Russian forces struck Mykolaiv’s regional state administration building on Tuesday morning, Ukrainian authorities said.
A video posted on Telegram by Mykolaiv Oblast Gov. Vitaliy Kim and verified by ABC News shows the moment the building was hit. A live webcam over the southern city of Mykolaiv captured the missile crossing the camera. Moments later, smoke from an explosion fills the screen.
Another video posted on Facebook by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and verified by ABC News shows a gaping hole in the building where the missile hit. At least seven people were killed and 22 others were injured. Search and rescue operations are ongoing, according to the State Emergency Service.
An image posted on Twitter by Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security (Stratcom) also showed the destroyed building.
Mar 29, 7:44 am
Macron to speak with Putin on Tuesday
French President Emmanuel Macron will speak via telephone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, according to the Elysee Palace.
Their phone conversation is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Paris time.
Mar 29, 7:02 am
Kremlin confirms Abramovich’s involvement in peace talks
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is taking part in Russian-Ukrainian negotiations at the approval of both parties, although he is not an official member of the Russian delegation, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“Abramovich has been engaged in ensuring certain contacts between the Russian and the Ukrainian side,” Peskov said during a daily call with reporters Tuesday. “He is not an official delegation member.”
“Nevertheless, he is also present on our side in Istanbul,” Peskov added, referring to the peace talks currently underway in Turkey’s capital.
Abramovich’s participation in the negotiations has been endorsed by both sides, according to Peskov.
Peskov said it will be clear “today or tomorrow whether [the talks] hold some promise or not.”
Mar 29, 6:59 am
Ukrainian soldiers patrol streets of Irpin after claims of liberation
Ukrainian soldiers were seen patrolling the streets of Irpin on Tuesday, following claims that the besieged Kyiv suburb has been “liberated” from Russian forces.
Video released by the Ukrainian military and verified by ABC News shows their troops driving through Irpin, a northwestern suburb of Kyiv where some of the heaviest fighting near the Ukrainian capital has taken place.
Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn announced in a video posted to Telegram on Monday that “Irpin has been liberated.”
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government released video on Tuesday showing elderly people who had been evacuated from Irpin arriving in Kyiv, where they reunited with their families.
The footage purportedly shows 86-year-old Irpin resident Olga Molchanova being embraced by her daughter and son. Molchanova’s adult children had evacuated Irpin earlier via a humanitarian corridor, but their parents refused to leave at the time, according to Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security (Stratcom).
“Recaptured by Ukrainian army, Irpin remains too dangerous for civilians to stay,” Stratcom said in a post on Twitter alongside the video.
Mar 29, 6:16 am
Abramovich attends peace talks after suspected poisoning
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is taking part in Tuesday’s in-person negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Turkey’s capital, a Turkish presidential source told ABC News.
Abramovich is the owner of the English professional football club Chelsea. The U.K. government has included him among the wealthy Russians targeted in recent sanctions.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that Abramovich and two Ukrainian negotiators suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning after peace talks in Kyiv in early March.
A Turkish presidential source told ABC News that Abramovich suspected he was poisoned after experiencing eye problems.
Turkish officials confirmed there is a discussion regarding the food protocols during Tuesday’s negotiations in Istanbul.
Mar 29, 6:12 am
Ukraine warns delegation not to eat or drink at talks
Ukraine is warning its delegation against eating or drinking while attending in-person peace talks with Russian negotiators, amid fears of potential poisoning.
“I advise to everyone who’s going to any negotiations with Russia, not to eat or drink anything, and also not to touch any surfaces,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement Tuesday.
The warning came a day after The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources, that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and two Ukrainian negotiators had suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning following peace talks in Kyiv in early March.
Mar 29, 3:22 am
Talks between Russia, Ukraine begin in Turkey
The latest round of in-person peace negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations kicked off in Istanbul on Tuesday morning, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in attendance.
Erdogan addressed both sides with a brief speech before the talks began.
“Establishing a cease-fire and peace as soon as possible will be to everyone’s benefit. We think that we’ve entered a period where we need to achieve concrete results from negotiations,” Erdogan said. “As members of the delegations, you’ve taken on a historic responsibility. The whole world is awaiting the good news that will come from you.”
Footage showing the start of the meeting was broadcast by Russian state-backed television channel RT.
Tuesday’s negotiations are taking place in Dolmabahce Palace in the Besiktas district of Turkey’s capital, according to Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu Agency. It’s the first face-to-face talks to take place between Russia and Ukraine in more than two weeks.
(RABAT, Morocco) — The U.S. remains skeptical that Russia is engaging genuinely in negotiations with Ukraine to end its monthlong war against its neighbor.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Kremlin’s negotiators had still not shown “signs of real seriousness,” even after the two sides discussed potential elements of a peace deal shortly after talks in Turkey on Tuesday.
Russia’s military said it would “fundamentally” scale back its military operations near Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and the northern city Chernihiv to give those talks a chance.
But Blinken declined to say whether the U.S. had confirmed a real shift in Russian strategy nearly five weeks after Russian leader Vladimir Putin launched his invasion and aimed for a swift takeover of the Ukrainian government.
“There is what Russia says and what Russia does, and we’re focused on the latter — and what Russia is doing is the continued brutalization of Ukraine and its people, and that continues as we speak,” he told reporters in Rabat, Morocco.
“I have not seen anything that suggests that this is moving forward in an effective way because Russia is not showing signs of real seriousness, but if Ukraine concludes that there is, that’s good, and we support that,” he added.
President Joe Biden also weighed in Tuesday on Russia’s claim that it will move forces, saying “we’ll see if they follow through on what they’re suggesting.”
“I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are,” he said during a joint press statement with Singapore’s prime minister at the White House.
Biden noted the ongoing negotiations in Turkey between Ukraine and Russia and said there is consensus among Western allies to “see what they have to offer.”
“We’ll find out what they do,” he added. “But in the meantime, we’re going to continue to keep strong sanctions. We are going to continue to provide the Ukrainian military with their capacity to defend themselves and we are going to continue to keep a close eye on what’s going on.”
Ukrainian negotiators have laid out a detailed framework for a peace deal, where Ukraine would remain neutral and not joined the Western military alliance NATO — but it would join the European Union and its security would be guaranteed by several regional and world powers, including the U.S.
Asked Tuesday whether the U.S. would join that pact, Blinken expressed support: “If there is some kind of outcome, and if our support for Ukraine can be part of that, can include our support in the future for its defense and security, of course that’s something we’ll want to pursue.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday’s talks made “meaningful” progress, with “a consensus and common understanding” on some issues, according to the Associated Press.
But Blinken was more skeptical, saying it could be Moscow “trying to deflect and deceive people into thinking that it’s not doing what it is doing, whether it’s simply trying to regroup given the heavy losses that it’s suffered – I don’t know.”
Russian forces had already been pushed back from east of Kyiv and moved into defensive positions north of the city, Pentagon officials said last week — a sign the Kremlin was suffering major losses in its efforts to seize the capital and decapitate the Ukrainian government.
Late last week, Russia said its “main goal” was now on the eastern provinces known as the Donbas, where Moscow has led separatist forces for over eight years against the Ukrainian government.
The top U.S. diplomat engaged with his Russian counterpart repeatedly before the war, saying the U.S. had to give diplomacy a chance. But after the Kremlin launched its brutal invasion, he’s been far more skeptical — accusing the Kremlin of not negotiating in good faith and, instead, using the cover of diplomacy to continue its attacks.
After Biden spoke to his British, French, German and Italian counterparts earlier on Tuesday, the British government echoed the same skepticism.
“The Prime Minister underscored that we must judge Putin’s regime by their actions not their words,” a spokesperson for Boris Johnson said.
ABC News’ Libby Cathey contributed to this report.
