(NEW YORK) — Even as U.S. households begin to enjoy relief from inflation woes, a spike in heating bills could crunch budgets this winter due to a rise in natural gas prices.
Nearly half of the nation’s households rely on natural gas for warmth. The price of the fuel surged last year following a jump in demand after extreme weather forced consumers to run heat and air conditioning more than usual, analysts told ABC News.
Exacerbating the greater need for natural gas, the U.S. suffered a dearth of supply as gas exports soared, analysts told ABC News.
Last year, the average price of natural gas reached its highest point since 2008, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, a federal agency that tracks gas data.
The price was expected to climb even further this winter, increasing nearly 30% above where it stood a year prior, according to an EIA projection released in October.
“The prices people are paying for their heating bills right now are up enormously,” Eli Rubin, an analyst with EBW Analytics Group, told ABC News.
The sky-high prices are primarily due to a jump in U.S. gas exports in response to heightened demand from European countries that previously relied on natural gas from Russia, analysts told ABC News.
After Russia invaded Ukraine last February, those nations sought alternative sources of natural gas, including the U.S, they added.
“There was a huge shortage in Europe,” Rubin said.
In turn, the U.S. sent more natural gas for sale on the international market, leaving less available for U.S. consumption. When domestic demand outpaced supply, it sent prices soaring.
“There was a supply crunch,” Clark Williams-Derry, an energy analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, told ABC News. “Essentially, we were exporting more and more natural gas and importing high prices as a result.”
As U.S. supply faltered, a bout of extreme weather increased the need for indoor air conditioning and heat, causing a jump in demand, analysts said.
Winter storm Uri, for instance, battered Texas with snow and sleet last February, besetting the Southwest with unusually frigid weather. The summer months, meanwhile, brought a string of dangerous heat waves across the U.S.
“We had a cold winter that flipped into a record-hot summer,” said Rubin, of EBW Analytics Group. “We used natural gas to fuel power generation to run everybody’s heat and air conditioners.”
That upward pressure on prices endured through the end of last year. The average price of wholesale gas rose 47% in December compared with the same month a year prior, said Williams-Derry, of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
The price of wholesale gas has fallen over the last couple of weeks, however, as a warm spell assuaged fears of a persistent gas shortage, Rubin said.
Still, the recent decline in prices likely won’t offer relief for consumers this winter, since there’s typically a lag between a change in the wholesale price and the amount paid by the end consumer in his or her heating bill, he added.
Looking ahead, however, the outlook for U.S. prices appears bright, since the country is unlikely to experience the massive increase in gas exports that it endured last year, analysts said.
Over the course of this year, the price of natural gas is expected to moderate, offering relief for heat bills by the time next winter arrives, they added.
That rosy prediction requires caveats, of course, Williams-Derry said. A period of erratic weather or another supply crisis akin to the Russia-Ukraine war could send prices rising again, he added.
“All sorts of things can make the price do funny things, but all else being equal, we can expect an easing of last year’s record prices,” he said.
Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Some Florida educators and students are concerned about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ vow against “trendy ideologies” in state colleges and universities.
“We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideologies,” DeSantis said during his Jan. 3 inauguration speech.
Some faculty members and students say they fear DeSantis’ “anti-woke” policies will be harmful, impacting school clubs, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) requirements and committees, as well as courses that touch on racial history, or race-based perspectives.
Bryn Taylor, a graduate student at the University of Florida, told ABC News that getting rid of DEI efforts would “take us back in social progress” and leave opportunities in higher education for privileged people.
“It’s about lowering barriers … for any marginalized group,” Taylor said, adding that it doesn’t just affect people of color and LGBTQ populations. “That includes first-gen students, low-income students, international students, students with disabilities.”
Taylor is the co-president of the Graduate Assistants United at the University of Florida and a member of a DEI committee at the school.
“Why don’t you want your base to become educated?” Taylor said. “Why don’t you want your citizens to have the best access to the best schools in the world?”
The DEI movement and critical race theory, the systemic racism via the legal system, have been around for decades, scholars have told ABC News.
DeSantis’ anti-“woke” efforts in education
The governor’s self-proclaimed war against “woke” beliefs has begun.
Woke is defined by the DeSantis administration as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them,” according to DeSantis’ general counsel, as reported by The Washington Post.
In December, DeSantis’ office requested data on funding, staffing and more for courses and programs that include “diversity, equity and inclusion” and “critical race theory” in a recent memo to school administrators across the state.
In response to backlash, his office told ABC News that “the governor, as chief executive of the state, has every right to ask how public dollars are being spent by public state entities, like state colleges and universities. In fact, that is good government.”
However, DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE” Act — which restricts race-related curriculum and conversation in workplaces, schools and colleges — has been temporarily blocked from being implemented in colleges and universities. The law is still being battled out in the courts.
WOKE in the bill stands for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees.”
DeSantis has also stacked the board of trustees at Sarasota’s New College of Florida — a college known for its progressive campus culture — with conservative figures such as Christopher Rufo, who popularized misinformation on critical race theory.
The governor’s office told ABC News that DeSantis made his decisions because “the public expects their tax dollars to go towards [New College’s] statutorily stated mission of ‘provid[ing] a quality education.'”
“Instead, New College has publicly committed to ‘eliminating outcome disparities for underrepresented and underserved groups,'” a statement from DeSantis’ office read.
DeSantis’ office asserted that the college’s statement “quite literally admits the institution will adjust outcomes based on non-academic factors of their choosing.”
Educators and students fight back
Andrew Gothard, the president of the United Faculty of Florida union, said that one of the complaints he’s heard from faculty against recent education restrictions is that “nobody really knows what the governor and the Office of the Governor are looking for here.”
“When we listen to politicians talk about this subject matter, they seem to use it as a catch-all for any course or topic or subject matter that talks about people who aren’t white,” Gothard told ABC News. “In higher education, we know that DEI and CRT are much more specific in their usage, but they also can relate to a larger array of issues.”
Critical race theory, which is taught in universities and colleges, seeks to understand how racism has shaped U.S. laws.
“Students in a higher education classroom should be educated on what this is, so that then they can make their own decisions about how they feel about it,” Gothard said.
Educators and librarians are left to ask themselves: “How do I know if my subject area is DEI- or CRT-related in the way that the governor thinks those terms work?” according to one librarian.
Kestrel Ward, a librarian at the University of Florida, fears the reaction to the lists being made of the funding, staffing and production of programs and courses relating to DEI and race.
“People in power creating lists of people they find undesirable has not led anywhere good for the people who are on those lists,” Ward said.
Ward said restrictions on DEI and “critical race theory” could be far-reaching — and could affect their book displays, programs and library selection.
Ward has considered leaving the position at the library due to the impending restrictions.
“It is becoming increasingly untenable, particularly for marginalized people, but for lots of people to work in higher education because there’s so much hostility from the government, which is an infringement on our academic freedom, but it’s also an infringement on our First Amendment rights,” Ward said.
(NEW YORK) — A customer-service center uses artificial intelligence to identify a caller’s agitation, an insurance company scans voice data to flag illness and raise rates, a five-star restaurant denies a reservation over personal details revealed by the tone on the other end of the line.
Far from science fiction, such scenarios have leapt into the realm of possibility, said Joseph Turow, a professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication and author of The Voice Catchers: How Marketers Listen In to Exploit Your Emotions, Your Privacy and Your Wallet.
The rise of voice-assisted products in homes and workplaces has driven a wave of private sector innovation, honing the intake of fast food drive-thru orders, replacing handheld tech typically used by warehouse employees, and refining smart home devices that adapt to a user’s vocal tics, according to privacy experts and advocates who spoke with ABC News.
But voice data collection also fuels targeted marketing based on personal information gleaned from recordings and risks data breaches that could place one’s voice in the hands of cyber criminals aiming to imitate it, they added.
“This has become a real issue as more and more people are using voice-activated devices like Alexa and Siri,” Marc Rotenberg, founder and executive director for the nonprofit Center for AI and Digital Policy, told ABC News. “There’s a ticking time bomb with the collection of voice recordings.”
“These companies gather voice recordings to improve a service,” Rotenberg added. “But their retention of these voice recordings is a real concern for privacy.”
While voice assistants recently arrived in consumers’ pockets and living rooms, the technology goes back more than a half-century.
In the early 1960s, IBM released the Shoebox, a calculator that could do basic arithmetic in response to voice commands. Roughly a decade later, the “Harpy” speech recognition system launched by Carnegie Mellon could identify more than 1,000 words in a user’s voice.
Ultimately, the technology reached an inflection point more than a decade ago, when Apple released Siri as a feature of the iPhone, equipping tens of millions with voice command. Three years later, Amazon came out with Alexa, a voice assistant that could play songs or look up facts in response to a simple utterance. Soon after, Google launched Google Assistant, a voice-recognition feature available on its Android and Google Home devices.
Meanwhile, the technology has grown well beyond a consumer curiosity, as businesses have sought it out to improve operations and marketers have explored secondary uses of voice data. In all, the worldwide voice recognition market surpassed $3.5 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $10 billion by 2028, according to research firm Global Market Insights.
In many cases, businesses deploy voice data because it bolsters productivity or betters the service encountered by a customer, Kristin Bryan, an attorney at Squire Patton Boggs who has worked on litigation involving the collection of voice data, told ABC News.
“Companies are increasingly finding novel ways to use voice technology to reduce human error and streamline operations,” she said.
For instance, a growing number of warehouses in the nation’s vast e-commerce network have replaced handheld tablets with wearable technology that allows employees to record their work through voice commands, freeing up both hands for lifting and sorting products, said Roberto Michel, a senior editor for Modern Materials Handling, a trade publication covering the manufacturing industry.
A survey conducted by the trade outlet last year found that 39% of warehouse companies use voice-assisted technology, an increase from 21% of such businesses who reported adoption of the devices a year prior, Michel said.
The technology “speeds up the order-selection process versus fumbling with a handheld,” Michel said.
However, even ostensibly innocuous uses of voice-assisted technology can trigger privacy concerns, said Turow, of the University of Pennsylvania.
Last week, Amazon-owned grocery chain Whole Foods agreed to pay almost $300,000 to workers in a settlement over allegations that a voice-assisted product used to track worker productivity at a Chicago warehouse had recorded employees’ voices without their consent.
Critics fear that voice-assisted products glean more revealing data than many users realize, allowing companies to profit off of utterances made at home or work through carefully honed advertising or the sale of intimate information.
A consumer’s voice could be used to reveal a wealth of knowledge about him or her, including height, weight, ethnicity, personality traits and possible health issues, said Turow, who spoke to scientists about audio sleuthing for his book on the collection of voice data.
In 2019, Amazon announced the development of “a deep learning model to detect when customers are frustrated” with its voice assistant.
“Alexa can now try to adjust, just like you or I would do,” the company said.
“With Frustration Detection, Alexa will recognize positive, negative, and neutral tone for a request. Alexa is not designed to detect distinct emotions like happiness, sadness, anger or surprise,” Amazon Spokesperson Lauren Raemhild told ABC News.
“Customers have several options to manage their Alexa voice recordings, including the option not to save their recordings at all,” she added.
Last June, TikTok updated its privacy policy, expanding data collected by the company to include voice recordings.
Companies that collect voice data could use information to sell products directly to consumers, or pass the data along to advertisers, Turow said.
“As we move into a world where people use voice over typing in their everyday lives, marketers want to know: What can I get out of the voice of this person?” he said.
Rotenberg, of the Center for AI and Digital Policy, warned that the collection of audio data could also result in nefarious actors accessing one’s voice, allowing them to commit fraud or other crimes through impersonation.
A thief deploying the tactic, known as deepfake audio, tricked a Hong Kong-based bank into sending $35 million to a criminal the bank thought was a corporate attorney, Forbes reported last October.
In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Lauren Raemhild said the company takes extensive measures to ensure the security of its data.
“Amazon has hundreds of employees dedicated to designing secure products, innovating on security, and finding and fixing vulnerabilities in Amazon services and devices,” Raemhild said. “We employ numerous tactics and features that help keep our devices and customer data secure, for example, rigorous security reviews during development, encryption to protect data, and regular software security updates.”
Apple and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment about potential theft and abuse of voice data.
Despite the growing use of voice-assisted technology, laws protecting audio data collection remain limited, according to attorneys and advocates who spoke with ABC News.
The U.S. lacks a federal law governing such data, leaving regulation primarily at the state level. So far, four states have enacted laws pertaining to the collection of voice data: California, Texas, Washington and Illinois, said Bryan, of Squire Patton Boggs.
The strongest law, in Illinois, requires that companies obtain written consent from individuals before collecting such data, and afterward firms are prohibited from selling or profiting off of the information. Companies that violate the law face potential financial penalties.
The effort to limit voice data collection requires urgency, before voice-assisted products become more widely adopted, Turow said.
“Once this has congealed, we can’t do much about it,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — Four passengers were killed and another was hurt after a small plane crashed in Lavaca County, Texas, on Tuesday morning, the state’s Department of Public Safety said.
The injured survivor was taken south to a hospital in the nearby small city of Victoria.
Images from the wreck showed the remainder of the small single-engine plane lying in a flat grass field, surrounded by pieces of debris. More than 10 vehicles were visible near the taped-off site as officials stood over it in video filmed at the scene Tuesday.
Some residents living nearby said it was foggy in the area around 11 a.m. when the plane went down — crashing near county roads less than a mile from the Yoakum Municipal Airport in south central Texas. Yoakum, Texas, is a town of under 10,000 people located in between the four major cities of San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Corpus Christi.
Harvest Church in Germantown, Tennessee, posted online Tuesday afternoon identifying the victims as its members and asking for prayers. The Memphis-area church said Bill Garner, Steve Tucker, Tyler Patterson and Tyler Springer all died in the crash.
“All were beloved members of Harvest Church and their loss currently leaves us without the proper words to articulate our grief,” the church said, announcing its worship center would be open for prayer and mourning time Tuesday night.
The post said pastor Kennon Vaughan was the lone survivor taken to the hospital and he was in stable condition as of the last report.
The flight tracking website FlightAware showed the aircraft appeared to depart from Memphis International Airport hours before the crash and traveled round trip from Memphis to Dallas just days ago.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a statement Tuesday afternoon saying it is “investigating the Jan. 17, crash of a Piper PA-46-350P aircraft near Yoakum, Texas.”
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the crash as well.
(NEW YORK) — A fisherman is missing after he was reportedly pulled into the ocean when he hooked a “huge” ahi tuna off the coast of Hawaii.
The incident occurred at approximately 5 a.m. on Sunday morning when 63-year-old Mark Knittle of Captain Cook, Hawaii, was fishing with a friend on a boat near Hōnaunau on the west coast of the Island of Hawaii.
“Knittle and a friend were fishing near the ‘C’ buoy, four miles outside of the Hōnaunau Boat Ramp, when Knittle hooked an ahi,” the Hawaii Police Department in a statement detailing the accident. “The friend heard Knittle say, ‘the fish is huge,’ then saw Knittle go overboard into the water.”
Police say Knittle’s friend attempted to grab the line in an initial and unsuccessful attempt to save him.
“Knittle was seen on the surface and disappeared within seconds,” the Hawaii Police Department said. “The friend attempted to jump in after Knittle but could not see him anywhere.”
The Hawaii Fire Department and Coast Guard personnel were immediately dispatched and have been conducting a continuous 72-hour search for Knittle. Authorities have not disclosed whether any clues have been recovered during their search.
Knittle is described as 5’10” tall and weighs approximately 185 pounds. He has curly brown hair with a white mustache and beard. Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this incident to contact the Hawaii Police Department’s non-emergency line at (808) 935-3311.
The search and investigation for Knittle is ongoing.
(NEW YORK) — A polar bear chased down and killed a woman and a young boy when it entered a remote village community in Alaska before a resident was able to shoot and kill the bear during the attack.
The incident occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Wales, Alaska — the westernmost point of the American mainland with an estimated population of about 170 people — when a polar bear reportedly entered the remote community, police said.
“Initial reports indicate that a polar bear had entered the community and had chased multiple residents,” according to a statement released by the Alaska Department of Public Safety on Tuesday in the aftermath of the attack. “The bear fatally attacked an adult female and juvenile male.”
The bear was shot and killed by a local resident as it attacked the victims, according to authorities.
Polar bear attacks are very rare but male polar bears can weigh anywhere from 600 to 1,200 pounds with female polar bears ranging between 400 and 700 pounds, according to the Alaska Department for Fish and Game. Their average life span is about 25 years.
“Current and predicted future declines in sea ice led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list polar bears as threatened under the ESA (Endangered Species Act) throughout their range,” according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “Thinner ice and longer ice-free periods in summer may reduce the length of time polar bears have to hunt, and result in population declines.”
An investigation into the attack is ongoing as “troopers and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game are working to travel to Wales as weather conditions allow,” the Alaska Department of Public Safety confirmed.
The identities of the victims have not yet been confirmed and the next of kin notifications are still in progress.
Jason Aldean‘s latest top ten hit continues his longstanding tradition of recording songs written by members of his band, particularly Tully Kennedy and Kurt Allison.
And when it comes to “That’s What Tequila Does,” the boss was instantly intoxicated.
“I was like, ‘Man, there’s something really cool about that,'” Jason recalls. “And I think that was one that they specifically went in really kinda trying to write for our album. And I can kinda hear those things like when they play me the song.”
“So I loved it, I thought it was great, really well-written,” he continues. “And we wanted to go back and pull something out [of] the first part of the album. And to me, that was just a cool thing to follow up ‘Trouble With Heartbreak’ and [it] comes off great live.”
“That’s What Tequila Does” is from the Macon half of Jason’s double album, which came out in November of 2021, while his most recent #1, “Trouble with a Heartbreak,” is from Georgia, which arrived in April of last year.
Tully and Kurt had a hand in writing both songs, as well as John Morgan, who’s signed to Jason’s label and opened for him last year. Songwriters John Edwards and Brett Beavers also contributed to “Tequila” and “Trouble,” respectively.
With “Tequila” likely to continue Jason’s streak of number ones, what will the ACM Artist of the Decade order to celebrate?
“My go-to tequila is probably Casamigos, and my go-to tequila drink is tequila — just that’s it. Just a shot!” he laughs. “Shot and chase it with a beer, you know,” he adds.
Former music exec Tony King is opening up about the crazy experiences he had working as head of A&R for The Beatles’ label, Apple Records, back in the day.
“It was so mad, Apple. The poor office boy had to do Ringo (Starr‘s) shopping every Friday,” King shares in a new interview with The Guardian. “There would be all these toilet rolls stacked in the lobby while they counted them out, making sure they’d got the right number for Ringo.”
Noting that the “mad side of it was lovely,” King went on to reveal, “We had an Apple darts team and we’d challenge different record companies. Keith Moon showed up wanting to play, but he was so drunk, the office boys had to hold him up so he could throw a dart.”
King, whose new memoir, The Tastemaker, comes out January 31, was friends with plenty of artists over the years, including Elton John, John Lennon, Freddie Mercury and Charlie Watts. He feels there was a simple reason they liked him. “I suppose I was always very straightforward, a straight speaker,” King says. “I wasn’t an artist but I understood the artists, I was in their camp. I think I had an innate understanding of what artists needed, and I didn’t put up with bullsh**.”
Class is officially back in session with Grown-ish returning tonight for the second half of season five.
So what’s in store for the students at Cal U this semester? Marcus Scribner,Trevor Jackson, and Diggy Simmons, who portray Junior, Aaron, and Doug on the show, respectively, all agree it’s going to be stressful.
“But that’s what life is, right?” Jackson tells ABC Audio. “It’s about the journey, trying to figure it out. And it’s about finding the peace within that. You know, you’re not always going to be happy. And so on the journey to that, being happy within that, if that makes sense.”
Another theme for the season is relationships, says Scribner.
“It’s going to be a lot of relationship drama,” he shares, explaining, “Junior’s got his five star reputation, he’s really out there. He’s outside. And he’s still dealing with his stuff with Annika. He’s got all of these other females. So we’ll see how Junior deals with it.”
When it comes to Doug, Simmons describes him simply as “broke.”
“Broke and he’s trying to find his way out of that,” he adds. “I think that’s what can happen when you’re fresh out of college, right? And you think that you are you have the answers and then life shows you that you just don’t.”
As for what the semester looks like for the rest of the gang, viewers will have to tune in.
Grown-ish airs Wednesdays on Freeform and is available on Hulu the next day.
(NEW YORK) — More than 10 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Putin’s forces in November pulled out of key positions, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting the city. Russian drones have continued bombarding civilian targets throughout Ukraine, knocking out critical power infrastructure as winter sets in.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 18, 3:57 AM EST
Helicopter crash near Kyiv kills interior minister
Ukrainian officials were killed on Wednesday morning in a helicopter crash near Kyiv.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, deputy Evgeniy Yenin and the state secretary of the interior ministry, Yuriy Lunkovych, died when a helicopter crashed in Brovary, a town on the outskirts of Kyiv, chief of the national police Igor Klymenko said on Facebook.
The emergency services helicopter crashed near a kindergarten in a residential area, according to officials.
According to the interior ministry, at least 18 people died, including three children. Another 22 people, including 10 children, were wounded, officials said.
The cause of the crash is unclear for now.
Jan 17, 5:06 PM EST
Zelenskyy confirms Netherlands sending Patriot Missile System
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the Netherlands will provide Ukrainian forces a Patriot Missile System.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces will now have three guaranteed Patriot batteries.
-ABC News Will Gretsky
Jan 17, 3:34 PM EST
White House condemns Dnipro attack
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre talked about the latest developments in Ukraine and slammed Russia over its missile strike on the apartment building in Dnipro.
“This weekend’s strikes are another example, as you’ve heard us say, of the brutal and barbaric war that Russia is waging against the Ukrainian people,” she told reporters during a White House press briefing.
“And we have seen this over and over again,” she added.
Jean-Pierre also praised the UK’s announcement Monday that it plans to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.
The press secretary didn’t say whether the U.S. would provide tanks to Ukraine or if Biden would pressure other countries to do so.
She noted that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was going to host another multinational meeting on Friday of the “Ukraine Contact Group” — a gathering of defense ministers to discuss security assistance to Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Jan 17, 12:39 PM EST
Death toll from Dnipro missile attack rises to 45: Mayor
The death toll from Saturday’s missile attack on an apartment building in Dnipro has risen to 45, including six children, according to Borys Filatov, the city’s mayor.
The search and rescue operations have ended, according to the emergency services.
In addition to the fatalities, there were 79 people wounded, including 16 children, according to emergency services.
Thirty-nine people were rescued from the rubble, including six children, emergency services said.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Jan 16, 4:56 PM EST
Ukrainian soldiers arrive in US for Patriot missile training
Ukrainian soldiers arrived in the United States on Sunday to begin training on the Patriot air defense missile system at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, a U.S. military official said.
The training at Fort Sill is expected to last several months, and then switch briefly to Europe, officials said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jan 16, 4:33 PM EST
39 people, including 6 children, rescued from rubble in Dnipro
Emergency crews have rescued 39 people, including six children, who were buried under the rubble caused by a missile strike on a high-rise apartment complex in Dnipro over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his Monday evening address.
The death toll remains at 40, including three children, he said.
The Kremlin denied being responsible for the attack, saying Russia doesn’t strike residential areas and claiming the destruction was a result of Ukrainian air defense.
“The debris of the house destroyed by the Russian missile is still being dismantled in Dnipro,” Zelenskyy said. “I thank everyone who is carrying out this rescue operation. Every employee of the State Emergency Service and police, every doctor, every volunteer. Everyone who is involved.”
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Jan 16, 4:09 PM EST
Civilian survivors speak out after missile strike in Dnipro
Emergency workers were still looking for survivors Monday following a strike on a high-rise apartment building on Saturday in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
The death toll rose to 40 dead, including three children, making it the deadliest strike on a residential area in Ukraine in the last three months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “Russian terror,” saying Ukraine was “fighting for every person, every life” under in rubble in Dnipro and would “find everyone involved in this terror.”
The attack on an apartment building destroyed 72 units and wounded 75 residents.
Rescuers have been using cranes to remove chunk after chunk of rubble, looking for survivors.
One of the survivors, Yevgeni, told ABC News that he was in his bed when the missile struck his apartment.
“I can’t understand. I didn’t hear any bang, any voice, any sound of the missile,” said Yevgeni, adding that he suffered a head injury and that his broken window frame fell on him.
He described seeing smoke and “a lot of dust” at the scene. He said “the most scary thing (was hearing) the voices of people screaming.”
Local resident Natali Nodykova told ABC News that a friend called her to tell her there was a bombing in her neighborhood.
“My son was alone at home and of course I was afraid,” Nodykova said.
Emergency workers rescued 39 people, Ukrainian officials said. Twelve people remained unaccounted for Monday.
The attack was caused by a Soviet-made Kh-22, a long-range missile used to take down aircraft carriers, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
The massive 13,000-pound missile causes huge amounts of casualties when used in civilian areas.
The Kremlin denied the attack, saying Russia doesn’t strike residential areas and claiming the destruction was a result of Ukrainian air defense.
The same type of weapon had been used in a previous attack on a shopping mall in the town of Kremenchuk back in July that killed 22 people, according to Ukrainian authorities.
-ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud, Bruno Roeber, Oleksii Pshemyskiy, Matt Gutman and Max Uzol
Jan 16, 10:24 AM EST
Three children among 40 killed in Dnipro missile strike
The death toll climbed to 40 on Monday from a weekend missile strike on a high-rise apartment complex in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to Ukrainian officials.
At least three children were among those killed, officials said. Another 70 people were injured.
The death toll is expected to rise as 30 people remain unaccounted for, officials said.
On Saturday, a missile slammed into a block of high-rise apartment buildings in the central Dnipro. While Ukrainian officials blamed Russia for the strike, one of the deadliest attacks since the war began, the Kremlin denied Russia was involved.
“The Russian armed forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure, they strike military targets,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday.
Jan 15, 3:40 PM EST
Survivor pulled from rubble in Dnipro as death toll rises
The death toll from a Russian missile strike on a block of high-rise apartment buildings in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 29 on Sunday.
Amidst the devastation, rescuers pulled one woman alive from the rubble on Sunday and officials said she was saved by a cocoon of concrete that surrounded her.
The survivor was rescued from a block of apartment buildings hit by a Russian missile on Saturday in the city about 500 miles southeast of the capital of Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a child was among those killed in the Dnipro missile attack.
Despite Sunday’s rescue, emergency workers said the hope of finding more survivors is fading.
The rocket attack reduced part of a high-rise apartment building to a pile of rubble that was still smoldering on Sunday. Noxious fumes from burning couches, curtains and TVs emanated from the pile as firefighters sprayed water hoses on it and rescue workers dug through the debris with their bare hands, an ABC News crew in Dnipro reported.
In addition to the now 29 killed in the attack, more than 70 people were injured, Ukrainian officials said. The strike left hundreds of apartments uninhabitable, officials said.
Emergency crews brought in cranes Sunday to help move large pieces of debris.
As the rescue operation went on Sunday, periodic moments of silence were called for so rescuers could listen for cries for help from people feared missing in the rubble.
-ABC News’ Matt Gutman
Jan 14, 11:07 AM EST
5 killed, dozens hurt in attack in Dnipro
Five people were killed and at least 27 were wounded in a Russian attack in Dnipro in central Ukraine, according to the governor.
An apartment block was struck and at least two children are among the injured, according to the deputy head of the president’s office.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Jan 14, 9:27 AM EST
Kyiv under Russian missile attack Saturday morning
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said explosions occurred in different districts on both banks in the city on Saturday morning and, in one of the districts, fire broke out in a non-residential area.
There were no casualties as a result of the attack that happened at approximately 6 a.m. but 18 residential houses were damaged in the region, according to the governor Oleksiy Kuleba.
The spokesman for the Ukrainian Airborne Forces, Yuri Ignat, told ABC News that Ukrainian authorities think it could have possibly been a ballistic attack by Russia but could not confirm this.
“Most likely, these are missiles that flew along a ballistic trajectory from the north. Ballistics are not available for us to detect and shoot down,” Ignat said on Ukrainian television.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Jan 13, 4:02 PM EST
Russian forces claim to have taken Soledar
Russian military leaders claim their forces took over the salt-mining town of Soledar.
Video showed Russian soldiers evacuating civilians from Soledar and nearby villages to the city of Shakhtarsk as fighting took place on the outskirts on Friday.
Serhiy Cherevaty, the Ukrainian commander of the Eastern Group of Forces, however, confirmed that fighting was going on in the region but contested Russia’s claims about the status of the city in a statement to ABC News.
“We have a clear understanding of who controls which streets in the city, but I cannot reveal those details,” he told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Patrick Reevell
Jan 12, 1:51 PM EST
Pressure mounts on NATO countries to send tanks to Ukraine
Pressure is mounting for key NATO allies to send tanks to Ukraine.
After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, Polish President Andrzej Duda said his country plans to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine but only as part of an “international coalition.”
“They will be provided within the coalition, because you know that it is necessary to obtain certain official consents. But first we need to build an international coalition and we have decided to form this international coalition,” Duda said.
Duda “expressed hope” other NATO countries would provide Ukraine with tanks as well.
The United Kingdom has not made a final decision on whether to send tanks to Ukraine, according to the spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The United Kingdom is considering supplying Ukraine with the British Army’s Challenger 2 main battle tank, according to British media reports.
Germany is also facing pressure from Ukraine and other NATO allies to send tanks to Ukraine. So far, they have not committed to sending any tanks to the country and neither has the United States.
Germany and the United States have both agreed to supply Ukraine with armored carriers and the Patriot air defense system.
Jan 12, 12:52 PM EST
Russians, Ukrainians give conflicting views in the battle for Soledar
Russian and Ukrainian officials offered conflicting views Thursday on the battle being waged over the eastern Ukraine city of Soledar.
Both sides described their forces as making progress in the fight for the salt mining town in the Donbas region.
“Our defenders continue to hold their positions on the most difficult frontlines and in the battle for (the) Donbas,” said Hanna Maliar, the Ukrainian deputy of defense. “Today, fierce and heavy battles continue in the direction of Bakhmut, in the area of Soledar city.”
Despite the “difficult situation,” Ukrainian soldiers are desperately battling for control of Soledar, Maliar said.
“The enemy is suffering heavy losses, unsuccessfully trying to break through our defenses and capture Soledar,” Maliar said. “Today, the city’s approaches are literally littered with the bodies of Putin’s destroyed troops. Nevertheless, they move over the bodies of their fallen fighters. Our defenders show maximum resilience and heroism.”
But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Russian forces and mercenaries from the Wagner private military company are doing a “truly colossal job” in Soledar.
“These are absolutely selfless, heroic deeds,” Peskov told journalists on Thursday.
Peskov said the hostilities in the region will continue.
“There is still a lot of work to be done. No time to stop, no time to rub our hands and so on. The main work is yet to come,” Peskov said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Russia’s airborne units had blocked Soledar from the north and the south and assault teams were fighting within the town limits.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address on Wednesday that Ukrainian troops are holding onto Soledar.
“The terrorist state and its propagandists are trying to pretend” to have achieved some successes in Soledar, Zelenskyy said. “But the fighting continues.”
Jan 11, 4:51 PM EST
Russian shake-up as military chief in Ukraine replaced
Russia has replaced the military chief in charge in Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.
Army Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, will replace Sergei Surovikin, who has been commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine for the past three months. Surovikin will become one of Gerasimov’s deputies, according to Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s minister of defense, who made the new appointments.
The changes come as the progress of the Russian forces in Ukraine continues to stall.
“The increase in the level of leadership of the special operation is linked to the expansion of the scale of the tasks at hand and the need to organize closer interaction between troops,” Shoigu said.
Jan 11, 12:17 PM EST
Ukrainians deny reports the city of Soledar on verge of falling to Russia
Ukrainian officials on Wednesday denied reports that the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar is on the verge of being captured by Russian forces and claimed the battle for the city is ongoing.
The report contradicts British intelligence officials who on Tuesday said it appeared that Russian troops were close to capturing a salt mining town in an apparent attempt to cut off the enemy’s supply routes. The British officials said Russian forces, along with mercenaries from the Wagner private military company, were likely in control of the city of Soledar, which is about six miles north of Bakhmut in the Donbas region, where heavy fighting has been reported in recent days.
The head of the Wagner group also released a statement on Telegram Tuesday, saying his mercenaries were in control of Soledar.
But Ukrainian officials said Wednesday the city has not fallen into the hands of Russian forces and the Russian mercenary group.
“Russians say that it is under their control; it is not true,” said Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian eastern military command.
The Russian attack on Soledar is an apparent attempt to bypass Bakhmut from the north and disrupt Ukrainian supply routes, the British intelligence officials said. Part of the fighting is being waged near the entrances to the 124 miles of abandoned salt mine tunnels that run under the area.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the fighting in Soledar as “very difficult.”
Jan 10, 4:09 PM EST
Russia not ready to launch new offensive from Belarus: Ukrainian officials
Senior Ukrainian officials said Tuesday that they believe any prospect of Russia launching a new offensive toward Kyiv from Belarus is “not likely at this moment.”
The latest statement from Ukrainian officials contrasted with a series of interviews they gave last month in which they suggested Russia could mount an offensive early this year and even try to take Kyiv.
“Our assessment is that the Russians aren’t in a position to make an advance on Kyiv from Belarus. And if that were their intention, it wouldn’t happen for some time,” a senior Ukrainian official said Tuesday.
The Ukrainian officials added that the mere threat of an assault from Belarus means that Ukrainian forces are “fixed” along the Ukraine-Belarus border.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Jan 10, 2:15 PM EST
Ukrainians set to begin Patriot air defense training in Oklahoma
As many as 100 Ukrainians troops will soon begin training on the Patriot air defense system at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, two U.S. officials told ABC News Tuesday.
Fort Sill is the main artillery school for the U.S. Army and where months-long training on Patriot systems already takes place.
Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, said the Ukrainians could begin training on the Patriot system as soon as next week.
“The training will prepare approximately 90 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers to operate, maintain and sustain the defensive system over a training course expected to last several months,” Ryder said.
Once deployed, the Patriot batteries will fortify Ukraine’s air defense capabilities and provide an additional way for the “Ukrainian people to defend themselves against Russia’s ongoing aerial assaults,” Ryder said.
Ryder would not give a precise time frame, but said that once the training is completed, the system will be sent to Ukraine to be put to use.
President Joe Biden announced last month that the United States will provide Ukraine with a Patriot missile defense system. The German government also agreed this month to supply Ukraine with a second Patriot missile battery.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Jan 10, 1:30 PM EST
Russians on verge of overtaking eastern Ukrainian city
Russian troops were on the verge Tuesday of capturing a salt mining town in eastern Ukraine in an apparent attempt to cut off the enemy’s supply routes, according to British intelligence officials.
The Russian forces, along with mercenaries from the Wagner private military company, were likely in control of the city of Soledar, which is about six miles north of Bakhmut in the Donbas region, where heavy fighting has been reported in recent days, the British officials said.
The attack on Soledar is an apparent attempt to bypass Bakhmut from the north and disrupt Ukrainian supply routes, the British intelligence officials said. Part of the fighting is being waged near the entrances to the 124 miles of abandoned salt mine tunnels that run under the area.
Despite the increased pressure on Bakhmut, Russia is unlikely to be able to encircle the city in the near future because Ukrainian forces have created a stable line of defense and control supply routes in the area, the British officials said.
The Ukrainian Army said Russian troops carried out 86 artillery strikes on Soledar in a 24-hour period, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the fighting there as “very difficult.”
