(LONDON) — Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned Wednesday that “a whole series of nuances” needs to be addressed before Russia will agree to any U.S.-brokered peace deal to end Moscow’s 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking with journalists, Peskov appeared to downplay hopes of a quick peace agreement — which President Donald Trump said this weekend he wants to secure within two weeks.
President Vladimir Putin, Peskov said, “said that he supports this initiative — the establishment of a ceasefire, he supports it, but before going for it, a whole series of questions need to be answered and a whole series of nuances need to be resolved,” as quoted by the state-run Tass news agency.
Peskov was responding to suggestions — including from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — that Putin is not genuine about his professed desire to agree a peace deal.
Zelenskyy again urged greater international pressure on the Kremlin on Wednesday, citing the latest round of drone strikes in which 45 people were injured in Kharkiv — including two children — and one person was killed in Dnipro.
“Russian drones continue flying over Ukrainian skies all morning,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “And this happens every single day. That’s why pressure on Russia is needed — strong, additional sanctions that actually work. Not just words or attempts at persuasion — only pressure can force Russia to agree to a ceasefire and end the war.”
“Pressure from the United States, Europe and everyone in the world who believes war has no place on Earth,” the president wrote.
Zelenskyy said that more than 100 Russian attack drones were launched at Ukrainian targets overnight into Wednesday, with a total of 375 drones launched so far this week.
Ukraine’s air force said its forces shot down 50 of the 108 drones launched, with another 22 lost in flight without causing damage.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed 35 Ukrainian drones overnight into Wednesday morning.
ABC News Guy Davies and Oleksiy Pshemyskiy contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — A professional hockey player who was arrested in connection with the 2023 on-ice death of former NHL player Adam Johnson will not face charges, British prosecutors announced on Tuesday.
Johnson, 29, was killed during an October 2023 game between two British professional teams, the Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers. Johnson, who was playing for the Panthers, suffered a fatal neck injury when he was slashed by a skate during the game.
A Steelers player was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter a month later in the incident. Following a “thorough” police investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service said Tuesday it has decided not to bring criminal charges against the player.
“This was a shocking and deeply upsetting incident,” Michael Quinn, deputy chief crown prosecutor, said in a statement.
“Following a thorough police investigation and a comprehensive review of all the evidence by the CPS, we have concluded that there is not a realistic prospect of conviction for any criminal offence and so there will not be a prosecution,” the statement continued. “Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Adam Johnson.”
Prosecutors did not identify the hockey player who was arrested in the case.
The Panthers, who play in England’s Elite Ice Hockey League, called Johnson’s death a “freak accident” at the time.
Prosecutors did not identify the hockey player who was arrested in the case.
The Panthers, who play in England’s Elite Ice Hockey League, called Johnson’s death a “freak accident” at the time.
ABC News’ Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
(VATICAN CITY) — The cardinal of Baghdad, Louis Raphael Sako, reportedly told journalists at the Vatican on Tuesday that he expects a “short conclave” that could select Pope Francis’ successor in as little as two days.
“It will be a short conclave, two, three days,” Sako said, as quoted by Italy’s ANSA news agency, speaking to reporters before today’s general congregation.
“There is a very fraternal atmosphere and a spirit of responsibility,” the cardinal said.
When asked if he had an idea of who he would vote for to become the new pope, Sako replied: “I have a very clear idea but I cannot say it.”
The conclave to elect the Catholic Church’s 267th leader will begin Wednesday, May 7, the Vatican announced on Monday. Cardinals will convene at the Vatican to begin the process.
Francis, who died last Monday at the age of 88, was buried on Saturday in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.
ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey contributed to this report.
Yurii Tynnyi/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — U.S. and Russian officials continued Ukraine peace discussions on Monday as the Kremlin announced a 3-day ceasefire during May’s Victory Day celebrations — and as Kyiv cited continued Russian missile and drone attacks as evidence that Moscow has no genuine interest in peace.
On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry released a transcript of an interview with Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov in the Brazilian Newspaper O Globo, in which he set out maximalist demands for a deal.
Among Moscow’s demands, Lavrov reportedly said, are Ukraine’s non-admission to NATO and future non-aligned status and international recognition of Russian control of all Ukrainian regions claimed annexed by the Kremlin — including Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, both of which are only partially occupied by Russian forces.
Lavrov also said Russia is still seeking the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine, the lifting of international sanctions and the return of frozen Russian assets.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Lavrov by phone “at Lavrov’s request” on Sunday, the State Department announced on Monday. Rubio has previously said that the U.S. is still evaluating whether the Kremlin is serious about reaching an agreement to end its 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine.
The conversation was a follow-on to Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Moscow last week, with Rubio and Lavrov discussing “next steps in Russia-Ukraine peace talks” and “the need to end the war now,” per the State Department’s readout.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, on Monday unilaterally announced a ceasefire to mark Victory Day — the 80th anniversary commemoration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
The ceasefire will last from May 8 to May 10, the Kremlin said. “Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow this example,” its statement said. “In the event of violations of the truce by the Ukrainian side, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will give an adequate and effective response.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was dismissive of the proposal.
“Russia has consistently rejected everything and continues to manipulate the world, trying to deceive the United States,” he wrote in a statement posted to Telegram.
“Now, yet again, another attempt at manipulation: for some reason everyone is supposed to wait until May 8 before ceasing fire — just to provide Putin with silence for his parade,” he continued.
“We value human lives, not parades,” Zelenskyy wrote. “That’s why we believe — and the world believes — that there is no reason to wait until May 8. The ceasefire should not be just for a few days, only to return to killing afterward. It must be immediate, full, and unconditional — for at least 30 days to ensure it is secure and guaranteed. This is the foundation that could lead to real diplomacy.”
Cross-border strikes continued into Tuesday morning, with Ukraine’s air force reporting 100 Russian drones launched into the country overnight. The air force said it shot down 37 of the drones with another 47 lost in flight without causing damage.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed 40 Ukrainian drones overnight.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with the slow progress being made on reaching a deal to end the war, an agreement he claimed on the campaign trail he would secure within 24 hours of returning to office.
On Sunday, Trump told reporters he wants a deal to end the war in “two weeks or less,” but later said a little more time might be acceptable. The president added he was “very disappointed” that Russia continued to carry out strikes in Ukraine days after he appealed to Putin to stop the attacks while negotiations continued.
Vice President JD Vance told conservative influencer Charlie Kirk on Monday that he is not certain that a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia will be reached, but that he remains optimistic.
“The biggest breakthrough is that we’ve got both of them talking about what they would need in order to stop fighting but what one side needs is different from what the other side needs,” Vance said.
“It’s the job of diplomacy to try to bring those two sides together,” Vance added. “I can’t say 100% certainty, Charlie, we’re going to be able to do it, but I do think that we’re trying very hard, and I feel more optimistic about it today than I did two weeks ago, and I feel more optimistic two weeks ago than I did two months ago.”
Vance added that the administration has found itself “frustrated” with Russians and Ukrainians during the peace talks.
“If I could bring people on the inside, I think what they see is that sometimes you’re incredibly frustrated with Ukrainians,” he said. “Sometimes you’re incredibly frustrated with the Russians.”
“You know, that is the nature of the negotiation as you’re going back and forth, and sometimes you just want to throw your hands up, but that’s what President Trump doesn’t let us do,” Vance said.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — At least 22 people have been killed and three others were injured in a fire at a restaurant in northern China on Tuesday afternoon, according to Chinese state media.
The blaze broke out at around 12:25 p.m. local time on Tuesday in the city of Liaoning, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency and national broadcaster CCTV.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged all-out efforts to treat the injured, assist victims’ families and investigate the cause of the fire, Xinhua and CCTV reported.
Investigators have not yet discovered the cause of the fire but, according to the Associated Press, images from the scene showed huge flames spurting from the windows and doors of the two- or three-story building.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — Israel’s humanitarian aid obligations in Gaza and its ban on UNRWA, the United Nations agency that provides civil and medical services to Palestinian refugees, are under examination in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as a week of hearings began on Monday.
Forty countries and four international organizations are set to participate in the oral proceedings, the court has said.
The weeklong hearing comes after the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) voted to request an advisory opinion from the ICJ concerning “the obligations of Israel in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations, other international organizations and third States.” The United States, Israel’s close international ally, was one of 12 countries to vote against the request.
The court will evaluate the legality of Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA, the U.N.’s Relief and Works’ Agency, the dedicated U.N. body to support Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. It will then issue an advisory opinion, which has been requested by the UNGA, and which will be legally nonbinding. The ICJ’s ruling will not be legally binding, however, but could add to mounting pressure on Israel to reopen the Gaza crossings for aid deliveries.
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, voted to ban UNRWA from operating in Gaza and the West Bank in October 2024. Israel’s government has long accused UNRWA of turning a blind eye to employees who support or belong to Hamas, the militant organization that led a terror attack on Israel in October 2023. UNRWA denies those claims. The ban came into effect at the end of January 2025. UNRWA is the main distributor of aid within Gaza.
Israel has long maintained that humanitarian aid has been looted by Hamas. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says the ban on aid into Gaza is designed to pressure Hamas to release 59 hostages, including one American who is presumed to be alive.
UNRWA Commissioner General Phillipe Lazzarini issued a statement saying he “welcome[d]” the ICJ hearing and that the agency worked in Palestinian territories to “address overwhelming needs.”
Those needs have become more acute since Israel blocked the flow of all goods into Gaza on March 2, international aid organizations said. The World Food Programme said on April 24 that its warehouses had run out of flour in Gaza, and warned the “situation inside the Gaza Strip has once again reached a breaking point.”
“#Gaza: children are starving,” Lazzarini posted on X over the weekend. “The Government of Israel continues to block the entry of food + other basics. A manmade & politically motivated starvation. Nearly two months of siege. Calls to bring in supplies are going unheeded.”
Israel has submitted a written defense to the court, but it declined to send a legal representative to The Hague court proceedings. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said that Israel would not be attending the court in person, describing the proceedings as a “circus.”
“The goal is to deprive Israel of its most basic right to defend itself,” he said at a press conference that coincided with the start of the ICJ hearings. “It is not Israel that should be on trial. It is the U.N. and UNRWA. The U.N. has become a rotten, anti-Israel, and antisemitic body.”
Ammar Hijazi, the Palestinian ambassador to the Netherlands, accused Israel of breaching international law on the first day of the oral hearings on Monday.
“Israel is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organizations trying to save their lives,” he said.
This week’s hearings mark the latest legal pressure placed on Israel since the war in Gaza began after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack. Last July the ICJ issued an advisory opinion ruling Israel’s occupation of the West Bank to be illegal under international law, and a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide is still ongoing. Israel has rejected the ruling and the allegation of genocide.
Over 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage into Gaza in the Hamas-led assault on Israel of Oct. 7. More than 52,000 people have been killed in Gaza have been killed during Israel’s retaliatory military campaign response, with more than 2,000 killed since the latest ceasefire broke down on March 18, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
(LONDON) — Millions of people in Spain, Portugal and parts of France lost power on Monday due to an unknown grid issue, the Spanish government confirmed to ABC News.
The Spanish government said it called an emergency crisis meeting to fix the situation as soon as possible.
Authorities, meanwhile, asked people to stay at home and to avoid circulating, while emergency generators were also being put in place.
Red Eléctrica, the corporation that operates the national electricity grid in Spain, confirmed power outages across the country.
“Plans to restore the electricity supply have been activated in collaboration with companies in the sector following the zero that occurred in the peninsular system,” it wrote in a post to X. “The causes are being analyzed and all resources are being dedicated to solving it.”
A later post said power was recovered in some areas.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary ceasefire to come into effect during the 80th anniversary commemoration of V Day, which celebrates the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in 1945.
The ceasefire will come into effect on May 8 and end on May 10, the Kremlin announced in a statement posted to its official Telegram channel Monday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(VANCOUVER) — At least 11 people were killed and “dozens” of others were injured Saturday as a vehicle plowed into a large crowd at a street festival in Vancouver, officials said, describing it as a “mass casualty incident.”
“A 30-year-old suspect, a Vancouver man, was arrested at the scene,” the Vancouver Police Department said in a social media post, later adding, “At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism.”
Vancouver police identified the suspect as Kai-Ji Adam Lo. The BC Prosecution Service charged him with eight counts of second degree murder.
Lo, a Vancouver resident, appeared in court on Sunday and remains in custody. The charge assessment is ongoing and further charges are anticipated.
The suspect is believed to have acted alone and there is currently no active threat to Canadians, Prime Minister Mark Carney said while delivering short remarks in Hamilton, Ontario, on Sunday.
The suspect had a history of interactions with police and health professionals for mental health reasons, Vancouver Police Interim Chief Constable Steve Rai told reporters Sunday.
“This is the darkest day in our city’s history,” Rai said. “Last night, as thousands of members of Vancouver’s Filipino community gathered for an important cultural celebration, the actions of a single person shattered our collective sense of safety.”
Crowds had gathered in the Canadian city to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day, Mayor Ken Sim said in a statement. A vehicle “drove into a large crowd of people” at the festival in the South Vancouver neighborhood at about 8:14 p.m., police said.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time,” Sim said, describing the incident as “horrific.”
The ages of the 11 victims ranged from 5 to 65, according to Rai on Sunday. He also said the number of dead could rise in the coming days or weeks.
The block party celebrating Filipino culture and Lapu-Lapu, a national hero of the Philippines, had been scheduled to run through 8 p.m. on Saturday, according to the organizers. Rai said there was a risk assessment conducted before the festival, and there were “no known threats to the event or to the Filipino community.”
“It is hard to make sense of something so senseless,” Rai said.
Videos from the scene, which were verified by ABC News, appear to show the aftermath of the incident, which happened on a stretch of East 43rd Avenue that had been lined on both sides with food trucks.
The videos appear to show first responders rushing to help the injured between the rows of food trucks. A black SUV can be seen in one video with what appears to be heavy damage to its hood. Police have not yet publicly identified the suspect’s vehicle.
Carney said he was “devastated by the horrific events” at the festival, adding that at least 20 people were injured in addition to the 11 killed.
“I extend my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver,” he said in a statement. “We are all mourning with you. We are closely monitoring the situation and are grateful to our first responders for their swift action.”
The investigation is ongoing, Carney added.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, who spoke at the festival, said he was “horrified to learn of an incident at Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day celebrations that injured and killed innocent people.”
“As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families — and Vancouver’s Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience,” he said in a statement.
