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(LONDON) — Ukrainian authorities reported a major Russian missile and drone strike on targets across the country on Tuesday night, with a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanding an immediate end to Moscow’s barrages as a condition for any peace deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 181 strike drones and three missiles into the country in the latest attack. The air force said 115 drones were shot down and 55 lost in location without causing damage.

The barrage coincided with President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, in which he said a potential peace between the two nations would be “beautiful.” The strikes began before Trump entered Congress and continued into the morning, indicated by Ukrainian air force alerts.

“Russia must stop the daily shelling of Ukraine immediately if it truly wants the war to end,” Andriy Yermak — the head of Zelenskyy’s office — wrote on Telegram.

Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev — the former Russian president and prime minister now serving as the deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council — wrote on social media that “inflicting maximum defeat on the enemy” remains Moscow’s “main task.”

Authorities in the southern port city of Odesa reported a “massive” strike, with at least one person killed by drone shrapnel and parts of the city cut off from utilities.

“As a result of the attack in Odesa, critical infrastructure has been damaged and part of the city has been left without electricity, water and heat,” the city’s military administration wrote on Telegram.

“Private houses in the suburbs of Odessa were damaged by debris from downed enemy drones,” the statement said. Fires broke out and a missile hit “an empty sanatorium,” the administration said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces “hit the infrastructure of military airfields, an oil depot providing fuel to [Ukrainian military] units, production workshops and control points for unmanned aerial vehicles, the location of [Ukrainian] special operations forces’ boats.

The ministry said it also shot down eight Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.

Russian and Ukrainian drone strikes have continued as both sides jostle for advantage in renewed peace talks being facilitated by President Donald Trump’s administration. Last month, the effort began with a meeting between American and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia without any Ukrainian involvement. The two sides expressed their intentions to revive bilateral ties and explore areas for future economic cooperation.

U.S.-Ukrainian ties have frayed badly since Trump returned to office with a vow to rapidly end the war. Tensions came to a head in last week’s explosive Oval Office meeting between the two presidents and with Vice President JD Vance in attendance. The meeting devolved into a shouting match with Zelenskyy’s team being asked to leave the White House afterwards.

As European allies mobilized to back Zelenskyy and urge reconciliation, Trump announced a freeze on all U.S. aid to Ukraine. Administration officials demanded an apology from Zelenskyy and assent for a controversial deal to give the U.S. access to valuable Ukrainian natural resources.

During his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, Trump said he received a letter from Zelenskyy, reading part of it aloud and suggesting that tensions between the two camps had cooled.

“I appreciate that he sent this letter, just got it a little while ago,” Trump said. “Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”

In his first comments after the U.S. aid freeze was announced, Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Ukraine is ready to sign the minerals deal “in any time and in any convenient format.”

“None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. “Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”

“We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this,” Zelenskyy continued.

Referring to the disastrous Oval Office meeting, the Ukrainian leader said it “did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”

ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — a close ally of President Vladimir Putin — warned that the Kremlin “will never” accept a European troop deployment to Ukraine, as Moscow and Kyiv continue to maneuver for advantage in U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations.

In a wide-ranging interview with blogger Mario Naufal published late Tuesday, Lukashenko praised President Donald Trump’s forthright approach to Russia’s war on Ukraine and suggested Putin was ready to make peace.

Any proposal is unlikely to win Russian support if it includes the deployment of European forces into Ukraine, Lukashenko said.

“Russia will never agree to this,” he said. “At least, this is Russia’s position today. Especially since the leadership of the European Union, primarily in the person of Germany and France, is taking a very aggressive position at the moment.”

But the Belarusian leader also countered attacks by Trump and Putin on the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while offering Belarus as a location for peace negotiations. Unsuccessful ceasefire talks were held in Belarus in the hours and days after Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.

“There is no need to push Zelenskyy now,” Lukashenko said, as quoted by the Belta state-owned news agency. “We need to convince and come to an agreement with Zelenskyy, because a large part of Ukrainian society is behind Zelenskyy.”

“If you want, come. Here, it is nearby — 200 kilometers from the Belarusian border to Kyiv,” Lukashenko added. “We will come to an agreement calmly, without noise, without shouting.”

“Tell Trump: I am waiting for him here together with Putin and Zelenskyy. We will sit down and come to an agreement calmly,” he said. “If you want to come to an agreement.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded positively to the offer of talks in Minsk. “This issue has not been brought up or discussed in any way,” Peskov told reporters Wednesday, as quoted by the state-run Tass news agency. “This is our main ally. Therefore, for us it is the best place for negotiations.”

Moscow has repeatedly accused NATO and its members of seeking to use Ukraine as a launching pad for aggression against Russia. Putin cited NATO expansion since the collapse of the Soviet Union as a key Russian grievance in the run up to his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Lukashenko appeared to play down that issue. “It is not so much about NATO expansion to the east, but about the threats that were created in Ukraine,” he said of Putin’s decision to launch the 2022 attack.

Leaders in Kyiv have framed the proposed and contentious U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal as a means to securing long-term American backing, and as a possible bridge to lasting U.S. security guarantees. Lukashenko suggested that the deal, which seems to have become a cornerstone of Trump’s Ukraine strategy, may unsettle the Kremlin.

“I have not discussed these issues with Russia and Putin,” he said. “But, most likely, this could be alarming if Russia feels that these agreements will go beyond the framework of economic relations.”

Lukashenko repeatedly appealed directly to Trump, who he described as an “incredible person” and a political “bulldozer.”

The Belarusian leader also encouraged the U.S. to align closer with Russia — a prospect that has unsettled European and Ukrainian leaders since Trump’s return to the White House. Indeed, Trump’s decision this week to freeze all U.S. military aid to Ukraine left officials in Kyiv and across Europe reeling.

“The U.S. is the first country in the world, high-tech, rich,” Lukashenko said. “They are capable of many things. Russia understands this. And Russia will strive to establish very good relations with the United States of America.”

“In order for the planet to be in balance, so that there are no incomprehensible wars, like in the Middle East or in Ukraine, so that there are no conflicts, an alliance between Russia and the United States is possible and very important,” he added. “An alliance for economic development. It is possible and important. It will last a long time.”

The Belarusian leader appeared to chastise Trump for his unique political style, warning that the president must deliver on his promises.

“There are too many statements that should not have been made at all,” Lukashenko said. “You need to cool down after the elections. And you need to take steps in the interests of U.S. voters, first of all, and, secondly, the entire world community.”

“You don’t have much time to prove to American society that you are capable of something,” he continued. “If you don’t do this, the Republicans will suffer a crushing defeat in the next elections. And it will be justified.”

 

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(ROME) — The pope “rested well during the night” and woke shortly after 8 a.m. this morning, his 20th day in hospital, as his condition remains stable and his prognosis remains reserved, according to the Vatican.

The pontiff had needed medical intervention amid two episodes of “acute respiratory failure” on Monday, Vatican sources told ABC News.

The pope did not have any episodes of respiratory failure or bronchospasm on Tuesday, according to the Vatican.

Pope Francis has remained “alert, cooperating with therapy and oriented,” the Vatican’s press office, the Holy See, said. He underwent “high-flow oxygen therapy and respiratory physiotherapy” on Tuesday, the Vatican said.

He resumed noninvasive mechanical ventilation overnight into Wednesday morning “as planned,” according to the Vatican.

The pope, 88, was taken off noninvasive mechanical ventilation and resumed receiving supplemental oxygen through a nasal tube, Vatican sources said Tuesday. He was no longer wearing a mechanical ventilation mask, a device that pumped oxygen into his lungs, the sources said.

Wednesday marks Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, which is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting and giving. It concludes with Holy Week, which leads to Easter Sunday, the most important day in the Christian calendar.

The Vatican said last week that Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, major penitentiary and delegate of the pope, will replace Pope Francis at Wednesday’s liturgical celebration for Ash Wednesday in Rome.

The Cardinal will read the Homily prepared by the Pope and the text will be released later today, the Vatican said.

Francis, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia. The pontiff had a bronchospasm attack on Friday, church officials said.

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(LONDON) — The U.S. embassy in Somalia has warned Americans that they are tracking “credible information” regarding potentially imminent terror attacks “against multiple locations in Somalia including Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport,” officials said.

The U.S. embassy in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu said that all movements of embassy personnel have been canceled until further notice in a statement released on Tuesday.

“The U.S. Department of State level four travel advisory (“do not travel”) for Somalia remains in effect due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, health issues, kidnapping, and piracy,” U.S. officials said.

“The U.S. Embassy in Somalia reminds U.S. citizens that terrorists continue to plot kidnappings, bombings, and other attacks in Somalia,” the statement continued. “They may conduct attacks with little or no warning, targeting airports and seaports, checkpoints, government buildings, hotels, restaurants, shopping areas, and other areas where large crowds gather and Westerners frequent, as well as government, military, and Western convoys.”

Shortly after Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the United States used manned fighter jets to conduct an airstrike against Islamic State targets in Somalia in early February.

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the airstrike, claiming no civilians were harmed in the attack. No details were released about the targets aside from the president labeling the target as a “Senior ISIS Attack Planner.”

Hegseth said the airstrikes were carried out “at President Trump’s direction and in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia.”

The embassy warned that potential methods of attack include, but are not limited to, car bombs, suicide bombers, individual attackers and mortar fire.

“The U.S. government has extremely limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Somalia due to the lack of a permanent consular presence in Somalia,” officials said.

The embassy warned Americans who are still in Somalia to continue to exercise vigilance, review your personal security plans, notify a trusted person of your travel and movement plans and to avoid all large crowds, gatherings and demonstrations.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump signaled another twist in the back-and-forth over his effort to force a negotiated end to the Ukraine-Russia war during his speech Tuesday night.

As he first mentioned Ukraine 90 minutes into his address, Trump provided an update following last week’s blowup in the Oval Office between him and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy left the White House after the shouting match and did not sign an anticipated deal that would have given the U.S. rare minerals from Ukraine.

Trump claimed during his speech Zelenskyy sent him a letter just before his speech indicating that he was ready to come back to the negotiating table and was willing to sign the agreement to give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare materials.

“Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians, he said. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts. We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine,” Trump claimed the letter said.

Zelenskyy and Ukrainian officials didn’t immediately comment, The letter hasn’t been released by the White House or Ukrainian officials.

Trump indicated to top advisers he wanted to get the deal done before the speech, sources told ABC News.

ABC News’ Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared likely to block a historic $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun makers as both conservative and liberal justices raised concerns about allowing the government of Mexico to hold firearm manufacturers liable for cartel violence south of the border.

Federal law grants broad immunity to the gun industry, in part to protect companies from costly litigation that could drive them out of business. Mexico alleges the law creates an exception for “aiding and abetting” the illicit sale and trafficking of guns, which the companies deny.

Mexico has only one gun store but is awash in millions of American-made weapons, most funneled into the country by straw purchasers in the United States. The country claims the companies, including Smith & Wesson, Glock, Beretta and Colt, knowingly distribute and market their guns to be trafficked.

By one estimate, at least 200,000 guns flow south of the border each year. The country is seeking $10 billion in damages and court-mandated safety requirements around the marketing and distribution of guns.

“The laws broken here are designed to keep guns out of criminals’ hands. Those violations put guns in criminals’ hands and those criminals harmed Mexico,” Cate Stetson, Mexico’s attorney, told the Supreme Court.

“These acts were foreseeable,” she added. “This court need not vouch for Mexico’s allegations, but it must assume they are true. … Mexico should be given a chance to prove its case.”

Many of the justices seemed unconvinced by Mexico’s case should be allowed to move forward.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested the alleged harms from cartel violence roiling Mexico are too far removed from the manufacturers’ decisions to distribute their products.

“We have repeatedly said mere knowledge is not enough [for liability],” Sotomayor said. “You have to aid and abet in some way. You have to intend and take affirmative action to … participate in what they’re doing.”

Justice Elena Kagan questioned what she perceived as a lack of specificity in Mexico’s allegations.

“There are lots of [gun] dealers. And you’re just saying [the gunmakers] know that some of them [engage in trafficking]. But which some of them? I mean, who are they aiding and abetting in this complaint?” Kagan said.

After Stetson alleged deliberate marketing of guns to cartels, Chief Justice John Roberts voiced skepticism of the claim.

“I mean, there are some people who want the experience of shooting a particular type of gun because they find it more enjoyable than using a BB gun,” he said. “And I just wonder exactly what the defendant, the manufacturer, is supposed to do in that situation. You say no, he shouldn’t be marketing a particular legal firearm because they’re going to go into Mexico at a higher percentage than others?”

Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised concern about the broader implications of a decision allowing Mexico’s suit to go forward.

“What do you do with the suggestion on the other side … that your theory of aiding and abetting liability would have destructive effects on the American economy in the sense that … lots of sellers and manufacturers of ordinary products know that they’re going to be misused by some subset of people?” he asked. “They know that to a certainty, that it’s going to be pharmaceuticals, cars, what — you can name lots of products. So that’s a real concern, I think.”

Stetson replied, “If you have a product manufacturer of a dangerous product that is alleged to have done all of the things knowing who they’re selling to and what is being done with that product, then and only then, I think, that product manufacturer … has a problem.”

More than 160,000 people in Mexico were killed by guns between 2015 and 2022, according to an analysis by Everytown for Gun Safety.

A large majority of guns involved in the shootings came from U.S. border states. More than 40% of illegal guns seized in Mexico over a five-year period came from Texas, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report.

In 2023 alone, more than 2,600 firearms were seized going south into Mexico, up 65% from the year before, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and 115,000 rounds of ammunition were captured headed the same direction, up 19% from 2022.

A federal district court dismissed Mexico’s case in 2022 citing immunity under federal law. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in early 2024, saying Mexico had made a plausible case for liability under the law’s exception.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide by the end of June whether or not a liability case can move forward.

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(LONDON) — President Donald Trump directed his administration to “pause” all military aid to Ukraine, two White House officials told ABC News on Monday, following last week’s combative Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and with Trump pressuring Kyiv into accepting a peace deal to end Russia’s invasion of the country.

The freeze in American aid poses a severe strategic problem for Ukraine, which has become reliant on military and economic support from its Western partners as it tries to repel Russia’s three-year-old invasion and stave off President Vladimir Putin’s push for a peace deal beneficial to Moscow. Experts say that Ukraine and its European partners now produce most of the weaponry destined for the battlefield. But there are crucial American systems that Kyiv will struggle to replace.

“It’s shocking,” Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee, told ABC News. “Until the last moment I hoped that Trump wouldn’t do it because he wants to be popular and such a move would definitely cause a backlash.”

“Trump is helping Putin to kill Ukrainians,” he added.

A White House official told ABC News that Trump has been clear that he is focused on peace. “We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well,” they said. “We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”

“It looks like Trump is trying to make a deal with Russia over the heads of Ukraine and Europe at the cost of Ukraine,” Merezhko said. “He doesn’t apply leverage over the aggressor but is trying to force the victim, the weaker party, to accept demands of the aggressor.”

“If Trump has a different plan in mind he should have at least talked to Zelenskyy about it behind closed doors, which never happened,” the lawmaker said.

Fellow member of parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko told Sky News that “thousands of people will die” due to the “catastrophic” decision.

Allied leaders and officials — already mobilizing to provide more aid and political backing for Ukraine in response to the Trump administration’s skepticism — also expressed concern over the White House decision.

“We need the Americans militarily,” Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said during a Chatham House think tank event in London on Tuesday when asked about the aid pause. “On the battlefield, Russia has not really been advancing in recent months,” she added. “This definitely shouldn’t be a moment where we give in.”

Benjamin Haddad, The French minister delegate for Europe, said the pause to U.S. aid “means moving peace further away.” He added, “To end the war, pressure must be put on the aggressor, Russia,” suggesting European nations must now mobilize to fill the gap left by the U.S.

In Russia, meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists, “It is obvious that the U.S. has been the main supplier of this war so far,” as quoted by the state-run Tass news agency. “If the U.S. stops being one or suspends supplies, this will probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace,” Peskov said.

Two officials familiar with the matter told ABC News that around 90% of the military equipment committed to Ukraine by past Presidential Drawdown Authority packages have already been delivered to the country.

That includes the vast majority of critical munitions and anti-armor systems — such as Javelin anti-tank weapons — they said, adding that most of what is still in the pipeline are armored vehicles that take longer to refurbish. Those were expected to be ready for delivery in the coming months, with all PDA equipment previously on track for delivery by August 2025.

A steady flow of arms is still set to move from the U.S. to Ukraine for at least the next several years thanks to contracts Kyiv signed with private American companies for newly produced weapons.

Many — if not most — of those contracts have been paid. The Trump administration could still attempt to disrupt those shipments through the use of emergency authorities, but there is currently no indication it is trying to do so.

Exactly what equipment earmarked for Ukraine will now be frozen in place is not clear.

Among former President Joe Biden’s final four PDA packages announced in December and January — collectively worth some $3 billion — were missiles and support equipment for Ukraine’s U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, rockets for use by American-made HIMARS systems, artillery munitions and surface-to-air missiles for Ukrainian air defense batteries.

Malcolm Chalmers, the deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute think tank in the U.K., told ABC News that recent estimates indicate the U.S. share of all military hardware sent to the front has fallen to around 20%, with 25% coming from Europe and 55% domestically produced in Ukraine.

But the 20% accounted for by the U.S. “is the most lethal and important,” Chalmers said. “Ukraine will not collapse — they already experienced an aid cutoff last year. But the effect will be cumulative.”

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War suggested that the suspension of U.S. aid will encourage Putin “to continue to increase his demands and fuel his conviction that he can achieve total victory through war.”

Mykola Bieleskov, an analyst at Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies, told ABC News that Ukraine can keep fighting at the current tempo for six months to a year while Europe and Kyiv try to ramp up production to fill the gap.

A member of Ukraine’s parliamentary defense committee, Fedir Venislavskyi, told Ukrainian media that Kyiv has a resilience reserve of about six months — even without systematic support from the U.S.

Still, Venislavskyi said the situation will be complicated by any freeze in U.S. aid, adding that work is currently underway to find alternative sources of supply for critically important weaponry.

ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Michelle Stoddart, Shannon Kingston and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

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(MEXICO CITY) — There is only one gun store in the entire country of Mexico, yet America’s southern neighbor is awash in violent crimes perpetrated with millions of firearms made in the United States.

In a historic case on Tuesday, the Supreme Court will consider whether American gun manufacturers, including Smith & Wesson, Glock, Beretta and Colt, can be held liable for allegedly “aiding and abetting” the illicit flow of weapons across the border.

The high court has never before taken up the issue of the sweeping gunmaker immunity found in a 2005 federal law aimed at protecting the industry. Its decision could have a significant impact on firearm companies and the victims of gun violence pursuing accountability.

The government of Mexico is seeking $10 billion in damages and court-mandated safety mechanisms and sales restrictions for U.S.-made guns. The justices will decide whether the case can move forward under an exception in the law.

“Between 70-90% of the crime guns in Mexico are illegally trafficked from the U.S.,” said Jonathan Lowy, an attorney representing the Mexican government. “Essentially, Mexico’s gun problem and the problem of armed cartel violence is almost entirely a result of this crime — a gun pipeline from the U.S. gun manufacturers ultimately to the cartels.”

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005 broadly bars lawsuits against any gun manufacturer over the illegal acts of a person using one of a manufacturer’s guns. But it does create an exception for claims involving a gun company’s alleged violation of rules governing the sale and marketing of firearms.

Mexico alleges the manufacturers have for years knowingly marketed and distributed their weapons to border community dealers who participate in illegal gun trafficking into Mexico.

“The law is clear that any person or company can be responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their actions and, in this case, of their deliberate actions,” Lowy said.

The gun companies, which declined ABC News’ request for an interview, said in court documents that the exception does not apply and the case should be dismissed, in part, because the alleged link to crimes in Mexico is too diffuse and far removed.

“Mexico’s alleged injuries all stem from the unlawful acts of foreign criminals,” the gun companies argued in their Supreme Court brief.

The court has “repeatedly held that it requires a direct connection between a defendant’s conduct and the plaintiff’s injury,” the companies claimed. “Thus, the general rule is that a company that makes or sells a lawful product is not a proximate cause of harms resulting from the independent criminal misuse of that product.”

More than 160,000 people in Mexico were killed by guns between 2015 and 2022, according to an analysis by Everytown for Gun Safety.

A large majority of guns involved in the shootings came from U.S. border states. More than 40% of illegal guns seized in Mexico over a five-year period came from Texas, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report.

In 2023 alone, more than 2,600 firearms were seized going south into Mexico, up 65% from the year before, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and 115,000 rounds of ammunition were captured headed the same direction, up 19% from 2022.

“In its zeal to attack the firearms industry, Mexico seeks to raze bedrock principles of American law that safeguard the whole economy,” the companies wrote in their brief. “It is the criminal who is responsible for his actions, not the company that made or sold the product.”

A federal district court dismissed Mexico’s case in 2022 citing the PLCAA protections. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in early 2024, saying Mexico had made a plausible case for liability under the law’s exception.

The Supreme Court will decide whether to affirm that judgment and allow the case to continue toward what would be a first-of-its-kind trial.

Mexico, in the meantime, announced it will expand its lawsuit after the Trump administration designated six Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

“You will also see an expansion of this lawsuit for the complicity of those who sell weapons, which are [then] introduced into our country,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters last month.

In essence, Mexico will argue that American gun manufacturers aren’t just enabling ordinary gun crime but terrorism, by the U.S. government’s own characterization.

The Supreme Court is expected to deliver an opinion in the case, Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, by the end of June.

ABC News’ Matt Rivers and Patty See contributed to this report.

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(SEOUL) — A former sergeant in the North Korean military says that few of Pyongyang’s soldiers have been captured fighting against Ukraine because they’re told their families will be executed if they are caught alive.

“Most soldiers will kill themselves before they’re killed by the enemy, it’s the biggest shame to be captured,” the former soldier, Ryu Seong-hyeon, told ABC News.

Ryu defected to South Korea in 2019, running across a minefield in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas.

Pyongyang has deployed more than 12,000 soldiers to Russia to fight in the Ukraine war, according to US estimates, with experts claiming Russian forces have also used North Korean weapons.

An estimated 300 North Korean soldiers have died in the fighting, and over 2,700 have been wounded, Seoul’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in a closed briefing last week.

Pyongyang has deployed more than 12,000 soldiers to Russia to fight in the Ukraine war, according to US estimates, with experts claiming Russian forces have also used North Korean weapons.

An estimated 300 North Korean soldiers have died in the fighting, and over 2,700 have been wounded, Seoul’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in a closed briefing last week.

South Korea’s spy agency told journalists Thursday that an unknown number of additional North Korean soldiers have been sent to the frontlines in Russia’s western Kursk region since early February, after a near month-long lull in fighting against Ukrainian troops, who launched a surprise offensive across the border last August.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in January that his forces had captured two North Korean soldiers, marking the first time that Ukraine had captured Pyongyang’s troops alive.

In a nearly 3-minute video released by Ukraine following the capture of the two North Korean troops, one of the soldiers says he wants to remain in Ukraine when asked if he wishes to return home. The Korean translator asks, “Did you know you were fighting in a war against Ukraine?” The soldier shakes his head.

South Korean intelligence assessed that the two soldiers were with the Reconnaissance General Bureau, a key North Korean military intelligence agency.

“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.

‘They just die like a dog’

Pyongyang’s soldiers have struggled to adapt to the modern battlefield, the North Korean defectors suggested, as videos released by the Ukrainian military appear to show North Korean soldiers being chased down by attack drones.

Ryu and Pak defected long before the fighting that’s underway in Russia, but they said that, in their experience, most of the soldiers would not have seen a drone in their life.

“Before they go they don’t have any practice in how to defend against a drone or how to fight Ukrainians, that’s why they just die like a dog,” Ryu said. “They don’t have the skill, the language or the information.”

Pak and Ryu’s analysis lines up with information released by South Korean intelligence, which said North Korea has clearly instructed the soldiers to kill themselves to avoid being captured alive.

Seoul’s spy agency also said it attributes the “massive casualties” of North Korean soldiers to their “lack of understanding of modern warfare,” including their “useless” act of shooting at long-range drones, based on the agency’s analysis of a recent combat video.

Ryu, who was about 110 lbs. at the time of his defection, said if he were still a North Korean soldier, he would also want to go: “If I went to Ukraine, I could eat food, and I could see another country.” He said there are also big financial incentives, and the soldiers would have no idea that their chances of dying were so high.

Selling lies

Ryu and Pak said North Korean soldiers were being sold a lie. “From a young age they’re told to hate the American ‘wolves’, and now they are told they are finally killing Americans,” the defectors said.

Ryu said in his experience with the Korean air force, about 50% of the pilots were only trained in theory, and did not have experience flying a fighter jet.

Pak, who is a researcher at the North Korea Institute, said Kim would be receiving critical technology in exchange for the manpower, in what should be a deeply worrying sign for the world, Kim also gets more real combat experience in case of a war on the peninsula.

“If Russia wins the war, it will empower the dictator alliance,” Pak said.

“This is just the start. If the Ukraine war keeps going, Kim will keep sending soldiers. Inside North Korea more people will start knowing and that could be a threat to Kim.”

When asked what they could possibly do about it when living in a dictatorship controlled by fear, Pak said, “Think about it: your sons died on the battlefield and not for your own country.”

Ryu added, “You cannot send so many people to the labor camps.”

Pak and his team of four North Korean defectors, Voices of North Korean Youth, have been trying to push the international community to condemn Russia and North Korea with one voice, and also called for the International Criminal Court to hold Kim Jong Un accountable.

ABC News’ Karson Yiu contributed to this report.

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(ROME) — Pope Francis “slept all night” following Monday’s medical intervention amid two episodes of “acute respiratory failure,” the Vatican said Tuesday.

“The pope slept all night, now he continues his rest,” the Holy See, the Vatican’s press office, said in a brief update.

The episodes on Monday were caused by a “significant accumulation of endobronchial mucus and consequent bronchospasm,” the Vatican said.

According to doctors, acute respiratory failure indicates the pope was not responding to oxygen therapy. Endobronchial mucus means there is mucus and fluid in the deep parts of the lung or lungs, causing a bronchospasm, also known as a coughing attack, doctors said.

The pope’s prognosis “remains reserved,” the Vatican said in its Monday evening update.

Francis, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia. The 88-year-old pontiff had a bronchospasm attack on Friday, church officials said.

ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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