Delegations leave peace talks between representatives from Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey. – Onur Coban/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The first face-to-face peace talks in more than two weeks between Ukraine and Russia concluded after five hours on Tuesday in Turkey with both sides reporting progress in the negotiations.
In an unexpected move, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Alexander Fomin told reporters following Tuesday’s talks that Russia’s military activity is being dramatically curtailed near the Ukraine capital Kyiv and in Chernihiv in an attempt to increase “mutual trust and create conditions required for further negotiations.”
Formin said the “ultimate goal” of the talks is reaching a peace treaty.
Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said Tuesday’s talks were “constructive.”
“We have received proposals from Ukraine to consider their clearly formulated position on inclusion in the treaty,” Medinsky told reporters following the session.
Ukrainian negotiator Alexander Chaly said the next talks in about two weeks could involve other countries in the negotiation process.
David Arakhamia, another Ukrainian negotiator, added, “We believe that enough material has already been developed to involve the presidents of Ukraine and Russia in the talks.”
Medinsky noted that Tuesday’s “substantive conversation” could clear the way for a meeting between the heads of state.
“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.
The in-person talks were held in Istanbul and Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan addressed the opposing parties before the negotiation session started.
“It is in the hands of the parties to stop this tragedy,” Erdogan said in his opening remarks, which were carried live on Russian TV.
Erdogan said Turkey sees both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “valuable friends.”
Also participating in the negotiations was Roman Abramovich, the billionaire Russian oligarch whose assets have been frozen by sanctions imposed by the West due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Previous in-person peace talks have been held in Belarus and representatives of both parties have also been communicating via video conferencing.
Russia initially only presented Ukraine with ultimatums but has changed its strategy as its troops have met tough resistance from Ukrainian forces, which have managed to re-take some towns and villages.
Prior to Fomin’s announcement that Russia was de-escalating its military activities in Kyiv and Chernihiv, a U.S. defense official said Monday that Russian troops around Kyiv have stopped making advances toward the city, though they continue using long-range fires. Russian troops remain 15-20 miles north/northwest of the city and about 35 miles east.
“Static situation on the ground there, except for the fact that we continue to see Ukrainians defend the city and try to push Russians back as well,” the U.S. official said on Monday.
Before Tuesday’s negotiations, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned the Ukrainian delegation to be on guard for sabotage, including 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,” Kuleba said.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea’s long-range missile launch last week may have been a modified version of a type they tested in 2017, not the newly developed type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Pyongyang claims to have fired, according to South Korean lawmakers who were briefed by South Korea’s military in a closed meeting Tuesday.
“South Korea and the U.S. intelligence concluded that North Korea’s claim is false, that it was actually Hwasong-15 [not Hwasong-17]. That’s why we are saying that North Korea is deceiving,” Min Hong Chul, a South Korean lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party and a former general in the army, told reporters.
Hwasong-15 refers to the type of ICBM North Koreans successfully tested in November 2017. It was tested again two weeks ago in a failed attempt. Hwasong-17 is the type that Pyongyang announced to have successfully launched last Thursday.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff had confirmed the latest launch saying the missile flew 671 miles at an altitude of 3,852.5 miles.
Regardless of whether that missile was the new or old type, South Korean and Japanese military analysis confirmed the trajectory shows a considerable improvement in technology, and the range and scale of the ICBM could potentially reach New York or Washington.
South Korea’s opposition lawmaker Ha Tae-keung also claimed that his North Korea sources witnessed “debris falling from the skies in Pyongyang area” on the day of the failed launch on March 16. So in order to make up for the failure and loss of credibility to the people, he told reporters, the country may have exaggerated the success of the latest launch, upgrading it to a new missile type.
However, Ha’s claims about debris were dismissed by other lawmakers and defense officials as it can not be verified at the moment.
North Korea’s state television on Friday had widely reported the launch through a 12-minute-long, theatrical video claiming this “new Hwasong-17” will “mark the end to a self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range missiles since 2017” and “make the whole world clearly aware of the power of our strategic armed forces once again.”
The meticulously produced Hollywood-style video showed leader Kim Jong-Un directing the launch wearing a black leather jacket and black sunglasses, including a slow-motion video of him strutting through the launch area in front of the missile. Many analysts believe from the video that the footage was shot on different dates.
ABC News’ Hakyung Kate Lee contributed to this report.
(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, 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.
(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.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time last week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
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.
(LONDON) — Members of Britain’s royal family gathered Tuesday to celebrate the life of Prince Philip, who died at age 99 almost one year ago.
Queen Elizabeth led the royal family at the service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey for Philip, her husband of over 70 years.
The 95-year-old queen has battled health conditions over the past several months — including COVID-19 and a brief hospitalization for what Buckingham Palace said was “preliminary investigations” — so her attendance was all the more noteworthy.
The queen entered Westminster Abbey using a walking stick and holding on to the arm of her son, Prince Andrew, who last month agreed to settle a sexual assault lawsuit. The last time Andrew appeared in a public capacity with the royal family was last April, when the family gathered in London for Prince Philip’s funeral.
Joining the queen to celebrate Philip, in addition to Andrew, are the couple’s three other children — Princes Charles and Edward and Princess Anne — and many of their grandchildren, including Prince William and his wife, Duchess Kate.
Several of the queen and Philip’s great-grandchildren, including William and Kate’s two oldest children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, also attended the service.
Notably absent from the service was Prince Harry, who stepped down from his senior royal role in 2020 and now lives in California with his wife, Meghan, and their two children. A spokesperson for Harry, the duke of Sussex, confirmed earlier this month he would not attend.
Harry, who did attend his grandfather’s funeral last April, has expressed concern about his safety in the United Kingdom. Earlier this year, he filed a legal challenge asking that the U.K. government allow him to pay for his own police protection while in the U.K.
The service of Thanksgiving that Harry missed was a much larger affair than Prince Philip’s funeral, which was held at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor and had to be modified due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The queen was “actively involved” in planning the Thanksgiving service for her husband, “with many elements reflecting Her Majesty’s wishes,” according to Buckingham Palace.
The service of Thanksgiving, led by the dean of Westminster, was designed to “pay tribute to The Duke of Edinburgh’s contribution to public life and steadfast support for the over 700 charitable organizations with which His Royal Highness was associated throughout his life,” according to the palace.
Philip, the duke of Edinburgh, was known as one of the hardest-working members of the royal family during his tenure alongside the country’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth.
When he retired in 2017, at the age of 96, Philip had completed 22,219 solo engagements since 1952, gave 5,496 speeches in his travels to more than 76 countries, authored 14 books, served as patron to 785 organizations and made 637 solo overseas visits, Buckingham Palace said at the time.
Tuesday’s service also put a spotlight on a program beloved by Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, which he launched in the 1950s to encourage “young people to serve their communities” and “experience adventure,” according to the royal family’s website.
The only non-member of the clergy to speak at the service was Doyin Sonibare, a recipient of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, according to the palace.
In addition to Philip’s family members, Tuesday’s service was also attended by royals from around the world, including Spain, Sweden, Bahrain Romania, Serbia, Norway and Greece, according to Buckingham Palace.
Philip was born in Greece, in 1921, as the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg. His family was exiled from Greece when he was a baby, and he spent some of his childhood in France.
He was known as Prince Philip of Greece until he became a British subject in 1947 and dropped his titles, becoming Philip Mountbatten.
Upon his marriage to Elizabeth in 1947, he became the duke of Edinburgh.
One decade later, in 1957, the queen made Philip a “Prince of the United Kingdom.”
(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.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time last week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
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.
(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.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time last week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 28, 6:44 pm
Russian troops ‘pushed away from Kyiv’: Zelenskyy
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his evening address Monday that Irpin was liberated and Russian forces have been “pushed away from Kyiv.”
“The occupiers are pushed away from Irpin. Pushed away from Kyiv,” he said.
However, he said Russian troops still control the north of Kyiv.
“They are trying to restore the destroyed units. The level of their losses, even at 90%, is not an argument for them to stop. Hundreds and hundreds of units of burned and abandoned enemy equipment do not convince them that this will happen to everyone,” he said.
Zelenskyy also said the situation in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv regions, along with Donbas and southern Ukraine, remains tense.
“This is a ruthless war against our nation, against our people, against our children.
As of today, 143 children are known to have died,” Zelenskyy said Monday.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 28, 4:00 pm
Biden says he ‘was expressing moral outrage’ with comment that Putin ‘cannot remain in power’
President Joe Biden told reporters Monday that when he said in Poland this weekend that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” he “was expressing moral outrage that I feel,” adding, “I make no apologies for it.”
Biden did not dispute when a questioner noted the line had not been in his prepared remarks.
“The last part of the speech was talking to the Russian people, telling them what we thought. I was communicating this to not only the Russian people but the whole world. This is — this is just stating a simple fact that this kind of behavior is totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. And the way to deal with it is to strengthen and put — keep NATO completely united and help Ukraine where we can,” Biden said.
“I want to make it clear, I wasn’t then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change,” Biden said.
“The last thing I want to do is engage in a land war or a nuclear war with Russia,” he said. “That’s not part of it. I was expressing my outrage at the behavior of this man.”
Biden said that if Putin “continues on this course that he’s on, he is going to become a pariah worldwide.”
He said he didn’t think his comments complicated diplomatic efforts, but that it is Putin’s actions that are complicating the situation.
“He shouldn’t remain in power. Just like, you know, bad people shouldn’t continue to do bad things. But it doesn’t mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way,” Biden said.
The president said “it’s ridiculous” to think his remark was a statement of U.S. policy.
“People like this shouldn’t be ruling countries, but they do. The fact they do doesn’t mean I can’t express my outrage about it,” he said.
Biden told ABC News that he’s confident Putin won’t view his remarks as an excuse for escalation.
“The idea that he is going to do something outrageous because I called him for what he was and what he’s doing, I think is just not rational,” Biden said.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Mar 28, 1:50 pm
UN Secretary-General appeals for a humanitarian ceasefire
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine.
“Since the beginning of the Russian invasion one months ago, the war has led to the senseless loss of thousands of lives, the displacement of 10 million people, mainly women and children, the systematic destruction of essential infrastructure and skyrocketing food and energy prices worldwide. This must stop,” Guterres said.
U.N. humanitarian agencies and partners in the last month have reached nearly 900,000 people, mainly in eastern Ukraine, providing food, shelter, blankets, medicine, bottled water and hygiene supplies, he said.
Mar 28, 1:18 pm
US sending six Navy electronic warfare aircraft to Germany
The Pentagon said it’s sending six U.S. Navy EA-18 “Growlers” (Navy fighter aircraft equipped with electronic warfare jamming equipment) and 240 personnel to Germany to boost NATO’s defenses because of the aircraft’s electronic warfare jamming capability.
“They are not being deployed to be used against Russian forces in Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stressed. “They are being deployed completely in keeping with our efforts to bolster NATO’s deterrence and defense capabilities along that Eastern flank. They are not being sent because of some sort of acute threat that was perceived or some specific incident that happened.”
“This is in order to bolster readiness, enhance NATO’s collective defense posture and further increase air integration capabilities with our Allied and partner nations,” Kirby said.
Mar 28, 12:50 pm
Russians prioritizing Donbas, Ukrainians ‘slugging it out’ in Mariupol: US official
The Russians appear to be prioritizing the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Monday.
“We’re not exactly sure what’s behind this reprioritization,” the official said.
This could be Russia refocusing its strategic goals or trying to gain leverage for talks, the official said.
Meanwhile, in the hard-hit city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, “the Ukrainians are slugging it out” and “keeping the Russians at bay,” the official said.
In Kyiv, the situation is static, the official said. Russian troops have stopped making advances toward the capital city, though they continue using their long-range missile fires, the official said.
“We continue to see Ukrainians defend the city and try to push Russians back,” the official said.
Mar 28, 11:41 am
Russia says radiation levels remain stable despite fires in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Radiation levels remain stable in Russia despite fires in the occupied Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Russian public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Monday.
Rospotrebnadzor said it was continuing to monitor the situation.
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a 1,000-square-mile restricted area of deserted, contaminated land around the shuttered Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986. Russian forces seized the defunct plant and surrounding exclusion zone just hours after launching an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management has warned that the radiation hazard is growing due to the blazes in the area, which it said have the potential to spread. The fires observed at more than 30 spots in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone over the past two weeks have exceeded 8,700 hectares in total, according to the agency.
However, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on Monday that the situation was currently “more or less stable.”
Mar 28, 11:32 am
Kremlin expresses concern over Biden’s remark in Poland
Russia is concerned by U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent remark seemingly regarding the need for a change of administration in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
In an address on Saturday from Poland’s capital, Warsaw, Biden made a comment that appeared to be directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
“For god’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.
After the speech, the White House released a statement clarifying that Biden wasn’t calling for a regime change.
“The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change,” a White House official said.
When asked by reporters on Monday about Biden’s remark, Peskov replied: “Indeed, this statement makes us worry.”
“We will continue to closely monitor statements made by the U.S. president,” he added. “We are thoroughly recording them and will be continuing to do so.”
Mar 28, 11:20 am
Cost of damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure estimated at $63 billion
The cost of direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure amid Russia’s ongoing invasion has already reached almost an estimated $63 billion, according to an analysis by the Kyiv School of Economics.
As of March 24, at least 4,431 residential buildings, 92 factories and warehouses, 378 institutions of secondary and higher education, 138 health care institutions, 12 airports, seven thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants have been damaged, destroyed or seized in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s overall economic losses due to the war range from $543 billion to $600 billion, the Kyiv School of Economics said.
Mar 28, 11:15 am
Russia dubs German broadcaster DW a ‘foreign agent’
The Russian Ministry of Justice on Monday added German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) to a list of media organizations it has labeled as “foreign agents.”
The justice ministry said in a statement that it made the decision “based on the documents received from the authorized state authorities,” without providing further details. The designation requires media outlets to publish a disclaimer on all its publications.
“This latest, arbitrary decision by the Russian authorities was unfortunately to be expected,” DW director Peter Limbourg said in a statement. “It is a further attack on press freedom and a fresh attempt to cut the Russian population off from free, independent media.”
“It started with the forced closure of our studio in Moscow at the beginning of February, then our website in all languages was blocked in Russia. There then followed the gradual restriction of social media services and now DW has been labeled a ‘foreign agent,'” he added. “This will not stop us from continuing to provide comprehensive and independent coverage of Russia and the region from our new studio in Latvia and from Germany. We will have to put a lot more effort into censorship circumvention tools in the future. This includes VPN clients like Psiphon or the Tor browser, which we already use.”
Mar 28, 11:00 am
Russia’s Nobel-winning Novaya Gazeta newspaper suspends publication
Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose editor was a co-winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, announced Monday that it is suspending publication until the war ends in neighboring Ukraine.
Novaya Gazeta was the last remaining established independent media outlet still operating in Russia and trying to cover the invasion of Ukraine, despite strict censorship. Its decision to halt operations is another watershed moment in the silencing of free media across Russia.
The Moscow-based paper, famous for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, said it made the decision after receiving a second warning from Russia’s state communications and media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, for allegedly violating the country’s repressive “foreign agent” law. Another alleged violation could allow a court to shut Novaya Gazeta down completely.
Novaya Gazeta is best-known by Western countries for the fact that six of its journalists have been murdered since 2000, including most famously Anna Politkovskaya. Last October, the paper’s editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, was jointly awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Rosa, one of the Philippines’ most prominent journalists, for “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”
Before Russian forces attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24, there was still a very small number of popular, influential media outlets able to operate in Russia — albeit under permanent pressure from the government. But since the war began, austerities have moved to crush all of them, and dozens — likely hundreds — of independent journalists have fled abroad. Most are now publishing articles from outside the country. Novaya Gazeta is arguably the most symbolic closure. The paper was co-founded in 1993 by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who still sits on its board.
Novaya Gazeta said in a statement Monday that it is suspending publication until the end of Russia’s so-called “special military operation in Ukraine,” the term the Russian government is using instead of war or invasion. Russia has banned media from using those words to describe the situation. But Novaya Gazeta had been getting around that ban with some symbolic gestures, including blank pages, and replacing the word “war” in its articles with phrases like “word forbidden by Russian government.”
Mar 28, 9:28 am
Ukrainian-American pastor abducted in Ukraine has been freed
Dmitry Bodyu, a Ukrainian-American pastor who was allegedly abducted in Ukraine earlier this month, has been freed, local church officials told ABC News on Monday.
It was unclear where he was released or in what condition.
Bodyu, 50, was taken by a group of about eight to 10 Russian soldiers from his home in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol on March 19, his family told NBC News. He is a pastor of Word of Life Church in Melitopol.
-ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic
Mar 28, 8:05 am
At least 1,119 civilians killed, 1,790 injured in Ukraine: OHCHR
At least 1,119 civilians have been killed and 1,790 others have been injured in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
At least 99 children were among the dead, according to the OHCHR, which noted that the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine had reported at least 139 children were killed as of Sunday.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the agency said in a statement Sunday.
The agency noted that the actual number of casualties are believed to be “considerably higher” because the receipt of information from some areas with intense hostilities, like the southeastern port city of Mariupol, have been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.
Other areas where the number of casualties are still being corroborated include Volnovakha in the Donetsk Oblast, Izium in the Kharkiv Oblast, Popasna and Rubizhne in the Luhansk Oblast, and Trostianets in the Sumy Oblast, where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties, according to the OHCHR. Casualty numbers from these regions are not included.
From 24 Feb—26 March, we recorded 2,909 civilian casualties in context of Russia’s armed attack against #Ukraine: 1,119 killed, incl 99 children; 1,790 injured, incl 126 children, mostly caused by shelling & airstrikes. Actual toll is much higher. Update https://t.co/LlMm7iUqsrpic.twitter.com/OcyhxSUrj3
— UNHumanRightsUkraine (@UNHumanRightsUA) March 27, 2022
Mar 28, 7:33 am
Nightly curfew in Kyiv shifts back, shortens an hour
The nightly citywide curfew in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has been shifted back and shortened by an hour.
Starting Monday night, the curfew will be from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time.
There has been a curfew in Kyiv every day since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24. The previous time frame was from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time.
-ABC News’ Julia Drozd and Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 7:00 am
Russian forces attempt to seize key highways, settlements
Russian forces on Monday morning were attempting to breach defenses from the northwest and east of Ukraine to seize key highways and settlements, which are held by Ukrainian troops, according to Ukrainian officials.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said that hypersonic missiles for the Russian military’s Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile system were being delivered to the Belarusian town of Kalinkovichi. Two of the latest strikes to hit Lutsk, a city in northwestern Ukraine, were launched from neighboring Belarus, according to Ukrainian officials.
Mar 28, 6:20 am
New round of talks could start Monday in Turkey
Ukraine and Russia have both said that a new round of peace negotiations with be held in person in Turkey at the start of this week, but it remains unclear whether the talks begin Monday or Tuesday.
One of the Ukrainian negotiators, David Arakhamia, has said the talks would be held Monday through Wednesday.
Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, has said the talks would start Tuesday.
Arakhamia said the decision to hold the negotiations in person was reached during the latest round of talks via video link, which are taking place everyday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Russian journalists that his country is ready to compromise on Moscow’s demand for neutral status, but wants meaningful security guarantees from Western countries. He said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws all of its troops to areas occupied before the war began.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 6:16 am
Ukraine intel chief says Russia plans a ‘Korean scenario’
Russian President Vladimir Putin may be seeking to split Ukraine in two after failing to seize the capital, Kyiv, according to the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency.
Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said in a statement Sunday that Putin may now be pursuing a “Korean scenario” that would see Russian forces try to occupy the east and south of Ukraine since they no longer have the strength to “swallow the whole state.”
“After the failures near Kyiv and the impossibility to overthrow the central government in Ukraine, Putin is already changing his main direction of operations — to the south and east,” Budanov said. “There are grounds to suggest that he is considering the Korean scenario for Ukraine. That is to attempt to lay down a new line of contact between the non-occupied and occupied regions of our country. In fact, it’s an attempt to create in Ukraine a North and South Korea. Indeed, he definitely doesn’t have the strength to swallow the whole state.”
Budanov said he believes Putin still wants to open a land corridor between the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula and the other Russian-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, which would mean the occupation of besieged Mariupol, a strategic port city in the southeast that has been under heavy Russian bombardment. But he said Ukraine’s continued counterattacks as well as resistance by local people in the occupied areas were disrupting Putin’s plans.
Budanov also predicted the start of guerrilla warfare that would make it impossible for Russia to hold territory.
“Soon the season of the total Ukrainian partisan safari will start,” he said. “Then for the Russians will remain only one relevant scenario — how to survive.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 5:07 am
Ukraine says no humanitarian corridors for Monday
Ukraine’s government announced for the first time in nearly three weeks that no humanitarian corridors for evacuating civilians will be open on Monday due to concerns about possible “provocations” from Russian forces.
“Our intelligence has informed us of possible provocations from the side of the occupiers on the routes of the humanitarian corridors,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on her official Telegram channel. “And so in interest of citizens’ safety today we are not opening humanitarian corridors.”
The Ukrainian government has been evacuating hundreds of thousands of civilians from cities and towns in the north, east and south of the country through established corridors. Officials have previously accused Russian forces of shelling some of the evacuation routes, despite agreeing to cease-fires.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 27, 5:17 pm
Zelenskyy outlines goals for peace agreement to Russian journalists
In his first interview with Russian journalists since his country was invaded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described some of Ukraine’s positions for ending the war.
During an interview with popular Russian independent news sites TV Rain and Meduza, Zelenskyy said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws its troops to the territory occupied before the start of the invasion, meaning Crimea and the separatist-held areas of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said his main goals are “to maximally reduce the number of casualties (and) to shorten the length of this war.”
“The withdrawal of Russia to compromise territories — but that is everything (that) was before 24 February, before the assault. Let them return there,” Zelenskyy said. “I understand that to force Russia to completely liberate territory is impossible. That will lead to a third world war. I totally understand all that. And I say it: compromise. Return to where all this started and there we will try to resolve the question of Donbas, the difficult question of Donbas.”
Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is ready to discuss taking a position of “neutrality” and “non-nuclear status” with Russia, but wants security guarantees for his country in return.
He again said he would put the issue to a referendum in Ukraine and that any treaty would need to be ratified by “guarantor countries” — which other officials have suggested must include the United States.
Zelenskyy reiterated that no guarantor countries, such as the United Kingdom and Turkey, will sign any agreement while Russian troops remain on Ukrainian soil.
(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.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time last week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 28, 12:50 pm
Russians prioritizing Donbas, Ukrainians ‘slugging it out’ in Mariupol: US official
The Russians appear to be prioritizing the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Monday.
“We’re not exactly sure what’s behind this reprioritization,” the official said.
This could be Russia refocusing its strategic goals or trying to gain leverage for talks, the official said.
Meanwhile, in the hard-hit city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, “the Ukrainians are slugging it out” and “keeping the Russians at bay,” the official said.
In Kyiv, the situation is static, the official said. Russian troops have stopped making advances toward the capital city, though they continue using their long-range missile fires, the official said.
“We continue to see Ukrainians defend the city and try to push Russians back,” the official said.
Mar 28, 11:41 am
Russia says radiation levels remain stable despite fires in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Radiation levels remain stable in Russia despite fires in the occupied Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Russian public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Monday.
Rospotrebnadzor said it was continuing to monitor the situation.
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a 1,000-square-mile restricted area of deserted, contaminated land around the shuttered Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986. Russian forces seized the defunct plant and surrounding exclusion zone just hours after launching an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management has warned that the radiation hazard is growing due to the blazes in the area, which it said have the potential to spread. The fires observed at more than 30 spots in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone over the past two weeks have exceeded 8,700 hectares in total, according to the agency.
However, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on Monday that the situation was currently “more or less stable.”
Mar 28, 11:32 am
Kremlin expresses concern over Biden’s remark in Poland
Russia is concerned by U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent remark seemingly regarding the need for a change of administration in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
In an address on Saturday from Poland’s capital, Warsaw, Biden made a comment that appeared to be directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
“For god’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.
After the speech, the White House released a statement clarifying that Biden wasn’t calling for a regime change.
“The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change,” a White House official said.
When asked by reporters on Monday about Biden’s remark, Peskov replied: “Indeed, this statement makes us worry.”
“We will continue to closely monitor statements made by the U.S. president,” he added. “We are thoroughly recording them and will be continuing to do so.”
Mar 28, 11:20 am
Cost of damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure estimated at $63 billion
The cost of direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure amid Russia’s ongoing invasion has already reached almost an estimated $63 billion, according to an analysis by the Kyiv School of Economics.
As of March 24, at least 4,431 residential buildings, 92 factories and warehouses, 378 institutions of secondary and higher education, 138 health care institutions, 12 airports, seven thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants have been damaged, destroyed or seized in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s overall economic losses due to the war range from $543 billion to $600 billion, the Kyiv School of Economics said.
Mar 28, 11:15 am
Russia dubs German broadcaster DW a ‘foreign agent’
The Russian Ministry of Justice on Monday added German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) to a list of media organizations it has labeled as “foreign agents.”
The justice ministry said in a statement that it made the decision “based on the documents received from the authorized state authorities,” without providing further details. The designation requires media outlets to publish a disclaimer on all its publications.
“This latest, arbitrary decision by the Russian authorities was unfortunately to be expected,” DW director Peter Limbourg said in a statement. “It is a further attack on press freedom and a fresh attempt to cut the Russian population off from free, independent media.”
“It started with the forced closure of our studio in Moscow at the beginning of February, then our website in all languages was blocked in Russia. There then followed the gradual restriction of social media services and now DW has been labeled a ‘foreign agent,'” he added. “This will not stop us from continuing to provide comprehensive and independent coverage of Russia and the region from our new studio in Latvia and from Germany. We will have to put a lot more effort into censorship circumvention tools in the future. This includes VPN clients like Psiphon or the Tor browser, which we already use.”
Mar 28, 11:00 am
Russia’s Nobel-winning Novaya Gazeta newspaper suspends publication
Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose editor was a co-winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, announced Monday that it is suspending publication until the war ends in neighboring Ukraine.
Novaya Gazeta was the last remaining established independent media outlet still operating in Russia and trying to cover the invasion of Ukraine, despite strict censorship. Its decision to halt operations is another watershed moment in the silencing of free media across Russia.
The Moscow-based paper, famous for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, said it made the decision after receiving a second warning from Russia’s state communications and media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, for allegedly violating the country’s repressive “foreign agent” law. Another alleged violation could allow a court to shut Novaya Gazeta down completely.
Novaya Gazeta is best-known by Western countries for the fact that six of its journalists have been murdered since 2000, including most famously Anna Politkovskaya. Last October, the paper’s editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, was jointly awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Rosa, one of the Philippines’ most prominent journalists, for “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”
Before Russian forces attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24, there was still a very small number of popular, influential media outlets able to operate in Russia — albeit under permanent pressure from the government. But since the war began, austerities have moved to crush all of them, and dozens — likely hundreds — of independent journalists have fled abroad. Most are now publishing articles from outside the country. Novaya Gazeta is arguably the most symbolic closure. The paper was co-founded in 1993 by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who still sits on its board.
Novaya Gazeta said in a statement Monday that it is suspending publication until the end of Russia’s so-called “special military operation in Ukraine,” the term the Russian government is using instead of war or invasion. Russia has banned media from using those words to describe the situation. But Novaya Gazeta had been getting around that ban with some symbolic gestures, including blank pages, and replacing the word “war” in its articles with phrases like “word forbidden by Russian government.”
Mar 28, 9:28 am
Ukrainian-American pastor abducted in Ukraine has been freed
Dmitry Bodyu, a Ukrainian-American pastor who was allegedly abducted in Ukraine earlier this month, has been freed, local church officials told ABC News on Monday.
It was unclear where he was released or in what condition.
Bodyu, 50, was taken by a group of about eight to 10 Russian soldiers from his home in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol on March 19, his family told NBC News. He is a pastor of Word of Life Church in Melitopol.
-ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic
Mar 28, 8:05 am
At least 1,119 civilians killed, 1,790 injured in Ukraine: OHCHR
At least 1,119 civilians have been killed and 1,790 others have been injured in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
At least 99 children were among the dead, according to the OHCHR, which noted that the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine had reported at least 139 children were killed as of Sunday.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the agency said in a statement Sunday.
The agency noted that the actual number of casualties are believed to be “considerably higher” because the receipt of information from some areas with intense hostilities, like the southeastern port city of Mariupol, have been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.
Other areas where the number of casualties are still being corroborated include Volnovakha in the Donetsk Oblast, Izium in the Kharkiv Oblast, Popasna and Rubizhne in the Luhansk Oblast, and Trostianets in the Sumy Oblast, where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties, according to the OHCHR. Casualty numbers from these regions are not included.
From 24 Feb—26 March, we recorded 2,909 civilian casualties in context of Russia’s armed attack against #Ukraine: 1,119 killed, incl 99 children; 1,790 injured, incl 126 children, mostly caused by shelling & airstrikes. Actual toll is much higher. Update https://t.co/LlMm7iUqsrpic.twitter.com/OcyhxSUrj3
— UNHumanRightsUkraine (@UNHumanRightsUA) March 27, 2022
Mar 28, 7:33 am
Nightly curfew in Kyiv shifts back, shortens an hour
The nightly citywide curfew in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has been shifted back and shortened by an hour.
Starting Monday night, the curfew will be from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time.
There has been a curfew in Kyiv every day since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24. The previous time frame was from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time.
-ABC News’ Julia Drozd and Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 7:00 am
Russian forces attempt to seize key highways, settlements
Russian forces on Monday morning were attempting to breach defenses from the northwest and east of Ukraine to seize key highways and settlements, which are held by Ukrainian troops, according to Ukrainian officials.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said that hypersonic missiles for the Russian military’s Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile system were being delivered to the Belarusian town of Kalinkovichi. Two of the latest strikes to hit Lutsk, a city in northwestern Ukraine, were launched from neighboring Belarus, according to Ukrainian officials.
Mar 28, 6:20 am
New round of talks could start Monday in Turkey
Ukraine and Russia have both said that a new round of peace negotiations with be held in person in Turkey at the start of this week, but it remains unclear whether the talks begin Monday or Tuesday.
One of the Ukrainian negotiators, David Arakhamia, has said the talks would be held Monday through Wednesday.
Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, has said the talks would start Tuesday.
Arakhamia said the decision to hold the negotiations in person was reached during the latest round of talks via video link, which are taking place everyday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Russian journalists that his country is ready to compromise on Moscow’s demand for neutral status, but wants meaningful security guarantees from Western countries. He said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws all of its troops to areas occupied before the war began.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 6:16 am
Ukraine intel chief says Russia plans a ‘Korean scenario’
Russian President Vladimir Putin may be seeking to split Ukraine in two after failing to seize the capital, Kyiv, according to the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency.
Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said in a statement Sunday that Putin may now be pursuing a “Korean scenario” that would see Russian forces try to occupy the east and south of Ukraine since they no longer have the strength to “swallow the whole state.”
“After the failures near Kyiv and the impossibility to overthrow the central government in Ukraine, Putin is already changing his main direction of operations — to the south and east,” Budanov said. “There are grounds to suggest that he is considering the Korean scenario for Ukraine. That is to attempt to lay down a new line of contact between the non-occupied and occupied regions of our country. In fact, it’s an attempt to create in Ukraine a North and South Korea. Indeed, he definitely doesn’t have the strength to swallow the whole state.”
Budanov said he believes Putin still wants to open a land corridor between the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula and the other Russian-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, which would mean the occupation of besieged Mariupol, a strategic port city in the southeast that has been under heavy Russian bombardment. But he said Ukraine’s continued counterattacks as well as resistance by local people in the occupied areas were disrupting Putin’s plans.
Budanov also predicted the start of guerrilla warfare that would make it impossible for Russia to hold territory.
“Soon the season of the total Ukrainian partisan safari will start,” he said. “Then for the Russians will remain only one relevant scenario — how to survive.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 5:07 am
Ukraine says no humanitarian corridors for Monday
Ukraine’s government announced for the first time in nearly three weeks that no humanitarian corridors for evacuating civilians will be open on Monday due to concerns about possible “provocations” from Russian forces.
“Our intelligence has informed us of possible provocations from the side of the occupiers on the routes of the humanitarian corridors,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on her official Telegram channel. “And so in interest of citizens’ safety today we are not opening humanitarian corridors.”
The Ukrainian government has been evacuating hundreds of thousands of civilians from cities and towns in the north, east and south of the country through established corridors. Officials have previously accused Russian forces of shelling some of the evacuation routes, despite agreeing to cease-fires.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 27, 5:17 pm
Zelenskyy outlines goals for peace agreement to Russian journalists
In his first interview with Russian journalists since his country was invaded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described some of Ukraine’s positions for ending the war.
During an interview with popular Russian independent news sites TV Rain and Meduza, Zelenskyy said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws its troops to the territory occupied before the start of the invasion, meaning Crimea and the separatist-held areas of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said his main goals are “to maximally reduce the number of casualties (and) to shorten the length of this war.”
“The withdrawal of Russia to compromise territories — but that is everything (that) was before 24 February, before the assault. Let them return there,” Zelenskyy said. “I understand that to force Russia to completely liberate territory is impossible. That will lead to a third world war. I totally understand all that. And I say it: compromise. Return to where all this started and there we will try to resolve the question of Donbas, the difficult question of Donbas.”
Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is ready to discuss taking a position of “neutrality” and “non-nuclear status” with Russia, but wants security guarantees for his country in return.
He again said he would put the issue to a referendum in Ukraine and that any treaty would need to be ratified by “guarantor countries” — which other officials have suggested must include the United States.
Zelenskyy reiterated that no guarantor countries, such as the United Kingdom and Turkey, will sign any agreement while Russian troops remain on Ukrainian soil.
Alex Chan Tsz Yuk/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(LONDON) — The cost of direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure amid Russia’s ongoing invasion has reached almost an estimated $63 billion, according to an analysis by the Kyiv School of Economics.
Shocking images and videos have emerged in recent weeks showing just some of the devastation across Ukraine since Russian forces attacked on Feb. 24. Where businesses, homes, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure once stood, there are now massive piles of unrecognizable rubble and crumbling shells of concrete.
The KSE Institute, an analytical unit of the Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine’s capital, has been collecting and analyzing data from the “Russia Will Pay” project, launched in collaboration with the Ukrainian president’s office and the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy.
Through the resource, Ukrainian citizens, government officials and local authorities can confidentially submit reports on the loss of or damage to physical infrastructure across the country as a result of the war, including roads, residential buildings, businesses and other facilities. Analysts at the KSE Institute then assess those reported damages and estimate the financial value.
“It is aimed at collecting information about all the facilities destroyed as a result of the war that Russia waged against Ukraine,” the KSE Institute said in a recent statement about the “Russia Will Pay” resource. “The Ukrainian government will use this data as evidence in international courts for Russia to compensate for the intended damages.”
The latest analysis shows that, as of March 24, at least 4,431 residential buildings, 92 factories and warehouses, 378 institutions of secondary and higher education, 138 health care institutions, 12 airports, seven thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants have been damaged, destroyed or seized in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24 — totaling an estimated $62,889,000. Compared to the previous estimate published on March 17, net growth amounted to $3.5 billion, according to the KSE Institute.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s overall economic losses due to the war — taking into account both direct losses calculated from the project as well as indirect losses, like GDP decline — range from $543 billion to $600 billion, according to an estimate by the KSE Institute and the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy.
Before updating its calculations, the KSE Institute said it received “detailed data” from the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure on the destruction of its facilities, which allowed analysts to clarify and, in some cases, reduce the assessment of losses.
The KSE Institute said it has improved the methodology of assessing losses from the destruction of residential real estate “based on the World Bank’s experience in analyzing losses in Syria and Iraq, as well as the recommendations of the leading Ukrainian investment company Dragon Capital.”
“These calculations are based on the analysis of several thousands of public notifications from Ukrainian citizens, the government, local authorities about losses and damages throughout the country, as well as indirect assessment methods such as calculating the estimated area of the war-damaged property in the most affected cities,” the KSE Institute said. “These estimates are not exhaustive: information on numerous damages and destruction may be missing due to the inability of citizens, local and state authorities to promptly record the damage in each city and town.”
(NEW YORK) — The silence of the Polish countryside is shattered by the piercing rattle of heavy artillery fire.
A smokescreen obscures the horizon, and suddenly, the soldiers swarm. Moving in on armored vehicles, in helicopters, and atop assault watercraft, more than 2,000 soldiers combine to form a united front on the battlefield against an imagined enemy.
This is a NATO exercise — preparation in case these troops are called upon to defend the alliance’s territory. While it’s a scenario that once seemed unthinkable, here, just 10 miles from the Belarusian border and against a geopolitical backdrop dominated by rapacious Russian aggression, this is more than just a drill.
“It’s a show of force,” Lt. Karol Frankowski of Poland told ABC News, adding that Belarus, Russia’s staunchest ally, is likely watching over them via aircraft or drone.
Soldiers from Poland, Croatia, Romania, the U.K. and U.S. make up the battle group, one of four that received a surge of manpower to defend the eastern front in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Their American commander, Lt. Col. Trevor Phillips, said today’s practice feels “absolutely” different, colored by the crisis.
“It’s difficult to watch and not be able to do anything about it. We’re direct action type people. Our whole motto while we are here is ‘stronger together,'” Frankowski said. “No nation should stand alone. That’s why this is so important to us.”
Even the objective of the practice is shaped by the warfare in Ukraine. The scenario — troops facing off against rival forces who attempt to barricade a bridge — recreates the challenges of modern warfare, officials said.
“The idea is to destroy the enemy and make free passage for the troops,” Col. Piotr Fajkowsli, the leader of the Polish brigade, told ABC News.
ABC News’ Martha Raddatz asked Fajkowsli if he believed Russia would ever strike inside his homeland’s boundaries.
“Anything can happen,” said Fajkowsli, saying that not long ago, the thought of Russia descending on Ukraine with such brute force would have been considered by most to be “impossible in the 21st century.”
“Now we can see destroyed towns burning. It is crazy,” he said.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during Friday’s press briefing it’s an assessment the president and the White House believe as well.
“We do believe Russian aggression in Ukraine shows a willingness by the Russians to disregard international borders and to disregard the basic rules of the road of the international community that have been built in sustained over the course of seven decades,” he said.
Fajkowsli said they are ready to face anything the opposition throws at them. The people he is sworn to protect are a different story.
“We as soldiers are ready to fight against chemical weapons. We have protective gear. The civilians, they don’t,” he said. “This is the danger.”
After the bridge is won, the troops break. With the day’s mission completed, they stand temporarily at ease. They will convene again tomorrow to once again play out these war games that now seem all too real.
Phillips hopes the conflict doesn’t spill over NATO’s borders.
