(DOMINICAN REPUBLIC) — The death toll has continued to rise after the roof of a Dominican Republic nightclub collapsed during a concert.
At least 58 people were killed in the roof collapse at the Jet Set nightclub, located in the capital of Santo Domingo, according to national police.
At least 160 people were injured, the Dominican civil defense said earlier.
A search-and-rescue operation was underway in the rubble following the collapse, police said.
The incident happened at 12:34 a.m. Tuesday, during a concert by the Dominican merengue singer Rubby Pérez, according to the national police. The roof collapsed within seconds, police said.
“We deeply regret the tragedy that occurred at the Jet Set nightclub,” Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader said in a post on social media. “We have been following the incident minute by minute since it occurred. All relief agencies have provided the necessary assistance and are working tirelessly in the rescue efforts. Our prayers are with the affected families.”
The deceased included former MLB player Octavio Dotel, 51, according to the Dominican Republic’s minister of interior and police, Faride Raful.
The Dominican pitcher played for 13 MLB teams, including the Mets, which held a moment of silence for Dotel before their game on Tuesday.
“We mourn the passing of Octavio Dotel,” the Mets said in a social media post. “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy in the Dominican Republic.”
Dotel was part of a combined no-hitter against the Yankees in June 2003, a team he would play for three years later.
Montecristi Gov. Nelsy Milagros Cruz Martinez was also among those killed, according to national police and Abinader’s office. She was the sister of former MLB star Nelson Cruz, who shared a statement from the Cruz Martinez family on social media that said her “legacy of service and love for others will live forever in our hearts.”
Many families gathered at the scene looking for their loved ones who were inside the club, according to DJ Shakirax, who was at the nightclub and shared videos from the scene.
An investigation into the cause of the collapse is underway, police said.
There was a fire in 2023 that damaged part of the nightclub, authorities said.
(DOMINICAN REPUBLIC) — The death toll has continued to rise after the roof of a Dominican Republic nightclub collapsed during a concert.
At least 44 people were killed and 160 people injured at the Jet Set nightclub, located in the capital of Santo Domingo, according to the Dominican civil defense.
A search-and-rescue operation was underway in the rubble following the collapse, police said.
The incident happened at 12:34 a.m. Tuesday, during a concert by the Dominican merengue singer Rubby Pérez, according to the national police. The roof collapsed within seconds, police said.
“We deeply regret the tragedy that occurred at the Jet Set nightclub,” Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader said in a post on social media. “We have been following the incident minute by minute since it occurred. All relief agencies have provided the necessary assistance and are working tirelessly in the rescue efforts. Our prayers are with the affected families.”
The deceased included Montecristi Gov. Nelsy Milagros Cruz Martinez, according to national police and Abinader’s office. She was the sister of former MLB star Nelson Cruz, who shared a statement from the Cruz Martinez family on social media that said her “legacy of service and love for others will live forever in our hearts.”
Many families gathered at the scene looking for their loved ones who were inside the club, according to DJ Shakirax, who was at the nightclub and shared videos from the scene.
An investigation into the cause of the collapse is underway, police said.
There was a fire in 2023 that damaged part of the nightclub, authorities said.
(LONDON) — A 14-year-old dual Palestinian-U.S. citizen was killed in the West Bank on Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Monday.
The teen was identified as Amer Mohamad Saada Rabee.
The death comes after Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement Sunday that they identified “three terrorists who hurled rocks toward the highway, thus endangering civilians driving” in the Turmus Ayya area of the West Bank.
Israeli soldiers “opened fire,” killing one person and hitting two others, the IDF said in the statement, though they did not identify the person who was killed.
In response to an ABC News request, the IDF would not comment regarding whether they are investigating the incident. A video of the rock-throwing incident in question was provided with the IDF statement Sunday.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed in a statement to ABC News that a U.S. citizen died in the West Bank.
“We acknowledge the IDF’s initial statement that expressed that this incident occurred during a counter-terrorism operation and that Israel is investigating,” the statement said.
“It is with heavy hearts that The Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) shares the news of the horrific killing of Amer Mohamad Saada Rabee, a young 14-year-old Palestinian American boy from Turmusayya [sic], a village in the West Bank,” the New Jersey-based Palestinian American Community Center said in a statement.
Two other people who were also under 18 years old were injured in the incident, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
“Amer, along with two other Palestinian American 15-year-olds from the village, were shot by Israeli military officers. Amer was shot 11 times in total,” the Palestinian American Community Center said.
Mourners gathered Sunday for funeral prayers at the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, New Jersey.
(LONDON) — Iranian officials confirmed Monday that Tehran would hold “indirect” high level talks with U.S. representatives in Oman this weekend regarding Iran’s nuclear program, though appeared to contradict President Donald Trump’s assertion that the negotiations are “direct” in nature.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, “We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started. It’ll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we’ll see what can happen.”
“You know, a lot of people say, ‘Oh, maybe you’re going through surrogates or you’re not dealing directly. You’re dealing through other countries.’ No, we’re dealing with them directly. And, maybe a deal is going to be made,” Trump said.
Asked on Tuesday whether the talks would indeed be direct, a White House National Security spokesperson told ABC News, “The president was clear in his remarks.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that a meeting will take place in Oman on April 12, though stressed they would be “indirect high-level talks.”
“It is as much an opportunity as it is a test,” Araghchi said in a post to social media.
Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani also told a Tuesday press conference that the coming talks with the U.S. will be “indirect.”
“We believe in negotiations,” she said, as quoted by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. “We had previously stated that if the language of respect is used, we will negotiate.”
“Details will emerge during the negotiations,” Mohajerani added. “As negotiations have not started yet, there are no details that we can share now,” she said.
“As a negotiator party with an equal perspective toward the talks, what matters to us is focusing on our national interests, anything that improves the situation for our people, and the topics that have previously been discussed. Hopefully, we will have wise negotiations ahead,” she added.
The U.S. and Iran have engaged in indirect talks several times in recent years. The country has traditionally played a mediating role between Washington and Tehran, including during talks held there in 2023.
Iranian officials have so far refused Trump’s offer to engage in direct talks. President Masoud Pezeshkian said in March that “although direct negotiations between the two parties are rejected, it has been stated that the path for indirect negotiations is open.”
If direct talks happen as Trump said, they would be the first publicly-known direct negotiations between the U.S. and Iran since the president exited the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal in 2018.
In recent weeks, Trump has threatened potential military action against Iran to keep it from developing nuclear weapons.
“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious,” the president said Monday, speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or, frankly, that Israel wants to be involved with if they can avoid it,” he said.
“So, we’re going to see if we can avoid it,” Trump continued. “But it’s getting to be very dangerous territory. And hopefully those talks will be successful. And I think it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are successful.”
ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
This undated photo shows members of Ukraine’s 225th Separate Assault Regiment posing with Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi at an undisclosed frontline location. (225th Separate Assault Regiment Press Office)
LONDON — Maj. Oleh Shyriaiev’s first experience of North Koreans came at the contact line near Kruglenkoe — a village around 8 miles from the Ukrainian border in Kursk, the western Russian region that has become a focal point of the war and an example of both Ukraine’s determination and the brutal war of attrition the two sides are locked in.
Ukraine launched a counteroffensive into the border region in August. Since then, both sides have claimed to have inflicted significant losses on the other. Russia began sending North Korean troops to the region to help fight back against Kyiv’s forces in late 2024, according to Ukrainian, South Korean and Western officials.
“They tried to do an assault with a company group,” Shyriaiev — the commander of the 225th Separate Assault Regiment — told ABC News, speaking by video call from his unit’s operations room close to the front. “We were prepared.”
“We withdrew a bit and we created a minefield,” he recalled. “And after the North Koreans hit those mines, my guys just finished them off with guns.”
The subsequent months saw Pyongyang’s units become the “elite” assault force within Russia’s effort to dislodge Ukrainian troops in Kursk, Shyriaiev said — fighters committed to a mission far from home in horrific battlefield conditions.
Ousting Ukraine’s forces from Kursk became a priority for the Kremlin. But for nearly 8 months, Russian troops struggled, suffering heavy losses for little ground. To drive the Ukrainians out, Russia turned to North Korea for help.
“They do not surrender,” Shyriaiev said of Pyongyang’s troops. “I don’t remember any cases where we have been able to take them captive. We have taken some who were already wounded, but I think they died from their wounds.”
Now, with Ukraine holding onto a sliver of land in Kursk and peace efforts grinding along, Shyriaiev echoed Kyiv’s assertion that the operation was a success, though it ended in Ukrainian retreat.
“They have lost a lot of personnel, both recoverable and irrecoverable losses,” he said of Russian and North Korean forces. “They have lost a lot of equipment, a lot of their infrastructure has been damaged, which means that they would need to rebuild it. This also comes at a cost. And this also weakens Russia.”
For Moscow, the eventual ejection of Ukrainian forces from almost all of Kursk was a signal of Russian resolve. President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Kursk front in March visibly tied him to the operation. “Your task is to completely destroy the enemy,” Putin said, while clad in military fatigues. “The previous status along the borderline must be restored.”
North Korea’s assistance came at a sensitive moment. President Joe Biden was soon to leave the White House, with his successor President Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office promising to quickly end Russia’s war. Trump had repeatedly hinted that a future peace deal would include Ukrainian territorial and political concessions and be twinned with the curtailment of U.S. aid to Kyiv.
Trump has been broadly critical of Ukraine’s conduct since returning to office, repeatedly framing Kyiv as the main impediment to a peace deal. In March, Trump claimed that “thousands of Ukrainian troops” were “completely surrounded” in Kursk, describing their position as “very bad and vulnerable.” Ukrainian leaders rejected the characterization as false.
First contact
Shyriaiev was already a decorated veteran of Ukraine’s fiercest recent battles when his unit crossed into Russia in the vanguard of the surprise Ukrainian August 2024 offensive into Kursk. One month later, he would be recognized as a “Hero of Ukraine” by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“At the very beginning, I had a skeptical view of this,” Shyriaiev said of the daring Kursk operation, which saw Kyiv’s forces seize nearly 500 square miles of Russian territory, initially stunning Russia’s military and embarrassing Putin.
“I am proud that we were the first to actually bring the fight to Russian soil,” Shyriaiev said of his regiment, which is made up of five battalions with a total strength of some 5,500 soldiers.
The theater became the first to which North Korean troops were deployed — a force of some 10,000 soldiers, according to the U.S. — dispatched by Pyongyang to aid Moscow’s embattled soldiers, marking a new level of North Korean involvement in the Kremlin’s 3-year-old war on its neighbor which began with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
As one of the first Ukrainian units to push into Kursk, the 225th was also among the first to come up against North Korean soldiers. The experience gave Shyriaiev and his troops a rare level of insight into Pyongyang’s forces, he said.
Initially, North Korean soldiers were thrown into so-called “meat assaults,” Shyriaiev said, a term Ukrainian troops use to describe the poorly-supported and costly infantry wave attacks employed by Russian commanders throughout the war.
The North Koreans were guided only by limited training inside Russia and their nation’s experience of World War II- and Korean War-era combat. “This experience didn’t include the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, it didn’t include any kinds of modern tactics,” he said.
That lack of experience was reflected in heavy casualties, though exact estimates vary. British intelligence assessed that by March roughly 5,000 of the 11,000 North Korean troops deployed to fight Ukraine had been killed or wounded, with a third likely killed.
Zelenskyy and Kyrylo Budanov — the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence — both said in February that North Korean troops had suffered about 4,000 casualties.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said in March that North Korean forces had suffered around 5,000 casualties, according to the Yonhap news agency, South Korea’s state media.
Shyriaiev’s 225th Regiment soon noticed that the North Koreans had adapted. “They were moving forward not as a company, but in small groups” using reconnaissance, grenade-dropping and first-person view attack drones, Shyriaiev said, recalling later battles to the south of the town of Sudzha.
“They were doing these assaults in small groups so that they would not suffer such large losses at once.”
The 225th’s experience is representative of the broader trajectory of North Korean combat performance in Kursk, Shyriaiev said, with North Koreans quickly becoming the leading element of Russia’s attacks.
“They were always used in assault, and the Russians are then used to secure the ground that the Koreans have taken,” he said.
“They are the best prepared in terms of their physical preparation,” Shyriaiev continued. “They are good marksmen. They are not afraid to engage drones — they are shooting down drones with guns. They do not leave their wounded behind. They always try to evacuate them.”
Where Russian forces are “being sent into battle under duress — as with a horsewhip,” Shyriaiev said, “Koreans are more devoted, and to die heroically on the field of battle is something that Korean soldiers are proud of.”
‘I do not feel pity’
Russia eventually succeeded in largely driving the Ukrainians out of Kursk last month.
Ukrainian troops were forced to hurriedly retreat from Sudzha after Russian and North Korean forces succeeded in breaking through Ukrainian lines, following weeks of increasingly strangling Ukraine’s supply route into the area. Ukraine now still holds a tiny sliver of Kursk, trying to prevent Russia from advancing into the Sumy region.
Ukrainian troops had to adapt to their new North Korean enemies, Shyriaiev said. “It is perfectly possible to fight them if you are prepared,” he said.
“You need to create obstacles for them. You need to create a minefield, and our guys need to be confident enough to go in and finish them after they have stepped on mines or have been hit by any type of artillery rounds which are supplied to us by our American partners.”
South Korean intelligence suggested last year that the families of troops dispatched to Russia had been put in isolation. A former North Korean soldier told ABC News he believes that few of Pyongyang’s forces had been captured while fighting against Ukraine because they are told their families will be executed if they are caught alive.
“If the soldiers are captured and tell information to the enemy, their families will be punished, go to a political prison camp, or worse, they will be executed in front of the people,” said another North Korean defector, Pak Yusung.
Shyriaiev said he was unmoved by any suggestion that the North Korean soldiers sent to Kursk were misled or coerced.
“I do not feel pity towards anyone who is waging war against my country,” he said. “North Koreans are enemies for me and they are the enemies of my country.”
“Also, I do not think that they don’t understand where they have found themselves,” Shyriaiev continued. “It’s impossible that they just don’t know, or are clueless about where they ended up.”
“I do not respect this adversary,” Shyriaiev said. “This is not some kind of a tournament or ceremonial fight between knights. This is a war, a war which is a painful burden for our land, for our families.”
‘Yearning for peace’
Whether waged by Russians or North Koreans, Shyriaiev said he believes the war will drag on despite U.S.-led peace efforts.
“All of us are, of course, yearning for peace,” he said. “But when people begin to talk about loss of territories, this is a very painful, very sensitive issue.”
Ukrainians should consider a ceasefire an opportunity to “prepare for the continuation of a fight, because with this kind of a neighbor, we need to constantly be on guard,” Shyriaiev continued. “We know that Russia is a country that never, never keeps its promises. It is a neighbor that is always a threat that has always aimed to suppress us and to conquer us.”
Moscow has framed its ongoing invasion — plus decades of influence operations and, since 2014, cross-border military action — as a pre-emptive measure to forestall combined Ukrainian-NATO aggression against Russia. The “special military operation,” as the Kremlin termed the invasion, was launched “to defend ourselves from the threats created for us,” Putin said as the attack began.
While Trump’s administration pushes Ukraine to cede land, Shyriaiev suggested that the existential threat posed by Moscow necessitates the recovery of all land within Ukraine’s 1991 internationally-recognized borders — including Crimea and the eastern Donbas region.
“We need to never forget this experience,” he said. “We need to know that at any moment, Russia can attack again. And we need to be prepared.”
Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Pope Francis on Sunday made his first public appearance since being discharged from hospital two weeks ago.
Francis, 88, entered St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in a wheelchair to briefly greet crowds that were gathered to mark the Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Healthcare. The pope was wearing oxygen nasal cannulas.
“Happy Sunday to everyone,” Francis said to those attending the mass, as quoted by the Italian ANSA news agency. “Happy Sunday to everyone,” he repeated. “Thank you very much.”
In a statement, the Vatican press office said Francis “joined the Jubilee pilgrimage.” It added, “Before greeting the pilgrims and faithful in the square, to whom he addressed his thanks, he received the sacrament of reconciliation in St. Peter’s Basilica, gathered in prayer and passed through the Holy Door.”
The Vatican press office also released the Pope’s Angelus message. “Dearest ones, as during my hospitalization, even now in my convalescence I feel the ‘finger of God’ and experience his caring caress,” the pope’s message read.
“Let us continue to pray for peace: in the tormented Ukraine, hit by attacks that cause many civilian victims, including many children,” it continued.
“And the same thing happens in Gaza, where people are reduced to living in unimaginable conditions, without a roof, without food, without clean water. Let the weapons fall silent and dialogue resume; let all the hostages be freed and the population be helped.”
“Let us pray for peace throughout the Middle East; in Sudan and South Sudan; in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; in Myanmar, also severely tested by the earthquake; and in Haiti, where violence is raging, which a few days ago killed two nuns,” Francis’ message read.
The pope was discharged from hospital on March 23 after being treated for double pneumonia.
ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian and Phoebe Natanson contributed to this report.
This handout photograph taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on April 6, 2025, shows a firefighter working on a fire following the Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Handout/State Emergency Service of Ukraine
(LONDON) — A Russian missile strike killed at least one person in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the early hours of Sunday, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, as Moscow continued an intense period of long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine’s air force reported 23 missiles and 109 strike drones launched into the country overnight, of which 13 missiles and 40 drones were shot down, with another 53 drones lost in flight without causing damage.
Damage was reported in the Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy and Mykolaiv regions, the air force said.
In the capital, Klitschko said one person was killed and three people were injured, while fires broke out in “non-residential buildings.” One office building was also partly destroyed, he said.
Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, wrote on Telegram, “Russia is increasing the intensity of attacks and clearly does not want to cease fire, does not want peace. It wants to kill Ukrainians, our children.”
“The language of force is the only one that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin understands,” Yermak added. “All our partners must switch to this language.”
Zelenskyy said the strike proved that the “pressure on Russia is still not enough.”
“Such attacks are Putin’s response to all international diplomatic efforts,” Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to Telegram. “There can be no easing of pressure. It is worth directing all forces to ensure security and bring peace closer.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down 11 Ukrainian drones overnight over three Russian regions.
Both sides are continuing long-range attacks as U.S.-brokered ceasefire negotiations continue. Last month, both Kyiv and Moscow said they agreed to freeze strikes on energy infrastructure and end attacks in the Black Sea.
Both sides have since accused the other of repeatedly violating the agreement to pause attacks on energy infrastructure.
Ukraine has also accused Russia of intentionally targeting civilians in major strikes over the past week. On Friday, a Russian ballistic missile and drone attack on the city of Kryvyi Rih — Zelenskyy’s home town — killed 19 people, including nine children.
“Yes, the war must end,” Zelenskyy wrote in a Saturday morning statement. “But in order to end it, we must not be afraid to call a spade a spade. We must not be afraid to put pressure on the only one who continues this war and ignores all the world’s proposals to end it.”
“We must put pressure on Russia, which chooses to kill children instead of a ceasefire. We must introduce additional sanctions against those who cannot exist without ballistic strikes on neighboring people. We must do everything possible to save lives.”
City utility workers clean up after a Russian drone attack on April 4, 2025 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The Russian army carried out around six strikes in the Novobavarskyi district. Nearly 30 residential high-rise buildings and dozens of cars were damaged. More than 30 people were injured, and 5 were killed. (Photo by Hnat Holyk/Gwara Media/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(LONSON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for “sufficient pressure on Russia” after a day of missile and drone strikes that killed at least 23 people and as Kirill Dmitriev — the CEO of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund and an envoy of President Vladimir Putin — met with officials in the U.S.
Eighteen people were killed — among them nine children — in a Russian ballistic missile attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, Oleksandr Vilkul — the head of the local defense council — said in a post on Telegram. Another 56 people were injured in the strike, Vilkul said.
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink wrote in a post to X, “Horrified that tonight a ballistic missile struck near a playground and restaurant in Kryvyi Rih. More than 50 people injured and 16 killed, including 6 children. This is why the war must end.”
Zelenskyy said in a Saturday morning post to Telegram that the American reaction was inadequate.
“Unfortunately, the reaction of the American Embassy is unpleasantly surprising: such a strong country, such strong people — and such a weak reaction,” he said. “They are even afraid to say the word ‘Russian’ when talking about the missile that killed children.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the strike targeted a meeting of Ukrainian commanders and “Western instructors” at a restaurant in the city. Ukrainian officials disputed the Russian justification.
Zelenskyy said in a statement on Friday evening that the strike in Kryvyi Rih — his home town — hit “an area near residential buildings: hitting a playground and regular streets,” describing those responsible for the attack as “inhuman.”
The president also reported a strike drone attack in the northeastern city of Kharkiv which killed five people and wounded 34 others. Another attack in the southern city of Kherson “hit an energy facility — the Kherson thermal power plant,” Zelenskyy wrote.
“Yes, the war must end,” Zelenskyy wrote in his Saturday morning statement. “But in order to end it, we must not be afraid to call a spade a spade. We must not be afraid to put pressure on the only one who continues this war and ignores all the world’s proposals to end it.”
“We must put pressure on Russia, which chooses to kill children instead of a ceasefire. We must introduce additional sanctions against those who cannot exist without ballistic strikes on neighboring people. We must do everything possible to save lives.”
Russia and Ukraine both launched more strikes overnight into Sunday morning. Ukraine’s air force reported 92 drones entering the country overnight, of which 51 were shot down and 31 lost in flight without causing damage. The air force reported damage in the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 49 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Artyom Zdunov — the head of the Mordovia region, to the southeast of Moscow — said in a Telegram post that a drone targeted an industrial site there. “Operational and emergency services are working on the territory,” he wrote. “According to preliminary information, there are no casualties.”
Andriy Kovalenko — the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council — wrote on Telegram that a strike by “unknown drones” targeted a military industrial complex in Saransk, the capital of Mordovia. Kovalenko said goods produced there are used “in control, communication and data transmission systems, in particular — in the deployment of secure communication channels for the Russian army and in the control of drones.”
Both Ukraine and Russia have accused the other of continuing strikes on energy facilities despite the U.S.-brokered partial ceasefire that all parties said they agreed to last month. The agreement was intended to freeze all attacks on energy infrastructure and in the Black Sea, Kyiv, Moscow and Washington said.
Zelenskyy on Friday again accused Russia of violating the terms of the deal.
“These strikes cannot be accidental,” the president said. “The Russians know exactly that these are energy facilities and that such facilities should be protected from any attacks under what Russia itself promised to the American side.”
“Every Russian promise ends with missiles or drones, bombs or artillery,” he continued.
“Diplomacy means nothing to them. And that’s why pressure is needed — sufficient pressure on Russia so they feel the consequences of every lie of theirs, every strike, every single day they take lives and prolong the war.”
Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also accused Ukraine of violating the partial ceasefire. Moscow passed information about the alleged violations to the U.S., the foreign minister said. On Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry alleged 14 Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the previous 24 hours.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration is waiting to see whether Moscow is serious about reaching an agreement to end its 3-year-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Noting Dmitriev’s meetings in Washington this week, Rubio said, “He’ll take some messages back” to Moscow. “And the message is, the United States needs to know whether you’re serious or not about peace. Ultimately, Putin will have to make that decision.”
“If there’s a delay tactic, the President’s not interested in that,” Rubio said. “If this is dragging things out, President Trump’s not going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations about negotiations,” he added.
Washington’s messages to the Kremlin via Dmitriev were not “threatening,” Rubio said, but were instead “more of an explanation of…our timeline,” which Rubio said was a matter of “weeks.”
“It’s pretty short. At the same time as we now have seen, members of Congress have begun to file bills to increase sanctions. So there is going to be growing pressure from Capitol Hill to impose sanctions,” Rubio continued. “All these factors have been explained in the nicest way possible. Hopefully he’ll take that message back to Moscow.”
As to potential violations of the partial ceasefire, Rubio suggested some incidents were to be expected. “I think there’s things they’re not striking that they were before,” he said.
But “if all of a sudden we wake up tomorrow and the Russians are launching a massive offensive, then I think that’s a pretty clear sign they’re not interested in peace,” Rubio added. “That hasn’t happened yet.”
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman, Christopher Boccia, Tanya Stukalova and Oleksiy Pshemyskiy contributed to this report.
(SEOUL) — South Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, whose short-lived declaration of martial law late last year plunged the country into political chaos, in a decision that removes the suspended leader from office.
The verdict was read in court shortly after 11 a.m. Friday local time (10 p.m. Thursday ET). Police across the country had been placed on the highest security alert level ahead of the verdict, with a security perimeter established around the court in Seoul, according to the Yonhap news agency.
With the court’s decision, Yoon is formally removed from office and South Korea will hold a snap presidential election within 60 days, according to the news agency.
Yoon was removed from office by the opposition-controlled National Assembly after declaring martial law in a televised speech on Dec. 3, claiming the opposition party sympathized with North Korea and was paralyzing the government.
The move sparked fierce protests, and several hours after the declaration, the National Assembly voted to demand that the president lift the martial law order.
Separate from his removal from office, Yoon was indicted by South Korean prosecutors on insurrection charges over the brief imposition of martial law.
An arrest warrant against him led to a standoff between his security team and police earlier this year.
In a dramatic scene, thousands of police descended on his home and were met with crowds of the impeached president’s backers, including some who lay down in front of police vehicles in an attempt to block authorities from reaching the residence.
Yoon was eventually arrested several days later and held in custody until March 8.
(HUNGARY) — Hungary announced it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court, the world’s first and only permanent tribunal for war crimes and genocide, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Budapest for a four-day visit.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant last November for Netanyahu and former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
At the time, the ICC said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant committed war crimes in Gaza, and added that Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction is not required. Israel is not a member of the ICC.
As a member of the ICC, Hungary would be obligated to arrest Netanyahu when he visited.
Netanyahu was accused of being responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts from at least Oct. 8, 2023, until at least May 20, 2024, according to the ICC.
Netanyahu has rejected the ICC’s arrest warrant and said the actions and charges are “absurd and false.” Gallant also rejected the warrant and said it was an “attempt to deny the State of Israel the right to defend herself.”
Hungary will initiate its withdrawal from the ICC on Thursday, Gergely Gulyás, the Hungarian prime minister’s chief of staff, said in a post on Facebook.
“I am convinced that this otherwise important international judicial forum has been degraded into a political tool, with which we cannot and do not want to engage,” Orbán said Thursday at a press conference after welcoming Netanyahu, according to The Associated Press.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban first extended an invitation to Netanyahu in November after the ICC issued its arrest warrant, according to The Associated Press. The divisive Orban has been the leader of Hungary since 2010, and previously served in the same role from 1998 to 2002. The conservative nationalist leader has close ties to Russia and has been celebrated by Donald Trump.
Hungary joined the ICC in November 2001 during Orban’s first term as prime minister.
The 125 states that recognize the ICC — including France, Germany and the United Kingdom — are obliged to arrest anyone with an outstanding arrest warrant who enters their territory.
The Presidency of the of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, which leads the ICC and is currently composed of the president, Finland’s Päivi Kaukoranta, and vice presidents, Poland’s Margareta Kassangana and Sierra Leon’s Michael Kanu, said it “expresses concern” at Hungary’s decision to remove itself from the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC.
“When a State Party withdraws from the Rome Statute, it clouds our shared quest for justice and weakens our resolve to fight impunity,” the presidency said in a statement. “The ICC is at the centre of the global commitment to accountability, and in order to maintain its strength, it is imperative that the international community support it without reservation. Justice requires our unity.”
The White House also rejected the court’s decision to issue warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. Since taking office, Trump has issued sanctions against the ICC claiming the court has “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”
The ICC granted membership to the state of Palestine in 2015, giving the court territorial jurisdiction over crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. A pretrial chamber affirmed the ratification in 2021.
The ratification laid the groundwork for the arrest warrant issued by the court against Netanyahu and Gallant in November 2024.
At the same time, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, though the mastermind of Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel was believed to have been killed in an Israeli airstrike several months before the warrant was issued. Hamas confirmed in January that Deif had been killed last August.
