A lot of fans are boldly going with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, according to Paramount+.
The prequel series set a record for the streaming service as the most-watched original series in the Star Trek franchise over its first 90 days and ranked as one of Paramount+’s top two original shows overseas.
The series, which stars Anson Mount as U.S.S. Enterprise Captain Christopher Pike — Captain Kirk’s predecessor at the starship’s helm — launched in May.
The show is one of a quintet of new Trek shows available on the streaming service, including Picard and the animated comedy show Star Trek: Below Decks, all produced by Alex Kurtzman.
George Cheeks, president and chief executive officer at CBS, celebrated in a statement: “Over the past six years, Alex … and his amazing team have brilliantly created and carefully curated a new Star Trek universe for Paramount+ with five complementary series – each different in tone, style, story and in some cases target audience.”
He adds, “Each series is a success in its own right, and now the franchise’s newest edition, Strange New Worlds, is earning critical acclaim and delivering notable performance achievements on the service.”
The new series also stars Rebecca Romijn as Pike’s Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock.
(NEW YORK) — Inflation data released on Wednesday revealed that price increases slowed in July, easing the strain on household budgets as the Federal Reserve fights inflation with a series of borrowing cost hikes.
While still elevated, price hikes waned from the near-historic pace reached in June, giving hope to policymakers and consumers that inflation has peaked.
The consumer price index, or CPI, rose 8.5% year-over-year in July, a marked slowdown from 9.1% in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On a monthly basis, the consumer price index rose 1.3% in July, remaining unchanged from the rise seen in June, according to the bureau. While food and shelter costs increased over the last month, the gasoline index price fell 7.7% in July to offset those increases.
The inflation data arrives as other indicators have sent mixed signals about the economy in recent weeks.
A slowdown in the inflation rate emerged in part because the national average price of gasoline, which makes up a key portion of the consumer price index, has declined for more than 50 consecutive days, according to AAA.
Meanwhile, a government report on Friday revealed that hiring in July more than doubled economists’ expectations, defying Fed efforts to slow the economy and rebuking fears of a recession.
The significant uptick in hiring last month — an added 528,000 jobs and unemployment rate drop to 3.5% — came alongside elevated wage increases that may put upward pressure on consumer prices.
The heightened wage increases match a pattern that stretches back months. A closely observed measure of U.S. wages, called unit-labor costs, rose 9.5% over the second quarter of this year, the fastest rise of that metric since the first quarter of 1982, according to data released by the federal government on Tuesday.
When facing high inflation, policymakers fear what’s referred to as a price-wage spiral, in which a rise in prices prompts workers to demand raises that help them afford goods, which in turn pushes up prices, leading to a self-perpetuating cycle of runaway inflation.
The Fed has sought to avoid a price-wage spiral with a series of borrowing cost increases, Maurice Obstfeld, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, told ABC News. At meetings in each of the past two months, the central bank has increased its benchmark interest rate 0.75% — dramatic hikes last matched in 1994.
“The data is telling us not that rate hikes have been ineffective but that the Fed will have to go quite a bit further,” Obstfeld said.
However, other data suggests that inflation fears have waned significantly.
A survey released by the New York Federal Reserve on Monday showed that consumers expect inflation to slow down.
Individuals who responded to the July survey said they expect inflation to run at a 6.2% pace over the next year and a 3.2% rate for the next three years, both of which marked significant declines from the inflation expectations expressed by consumers in the month prior.
The Flannel Nation festival is going back in its drawer.
The ’90s nostalgia concert, which was set to take place this Saturday, August 13, in San Pedro, California, with artists including Everclear, Soul Asylum, Sugar Ray, Candlebox and Filter, has been canceled.
In a statement posted to Facebook Tuesday, Flannel Nation organizers wrote, “We regret to announce that due to ongoing problems and logistical setbacks, putting on Flannel Nation as intended has become infeasible.”
Presumably, those “ongoing problems” and “logistical setbacks” include several bands dropping off the lineup, including Everclear, who wrote in an Instagram post that the Flannel Nation organizers “do not have the adequate means to provide the level of experience our fans expect and deserve while attending an Everclear show.”
Filter and Candelbox also canceled their sets, bothciting “unforeseen circumstances.”
Meanwhile, Flannel Nation plans to “retool” and “reschedule” to take place on a new date.
Simon Cowell is dishing a few secrets about X Factor, a show that produced stars like Harry Styles and Camila Cabello.
Speaking with Extra, the mega producer explained that he is the reason Camila was able to audition. The “Havana” singer made a name for herself on the show’s second season as a member of Fifth Harmony, but Cowell said his first meeting with her wasn’t a happy one.
“I happened to go backstage and I saw her crying, asked her why she was crying and she said, you know, it was too late for her to audition because she was a reserve, whatever that meant,” he recalled. “She wasn’t really supposed to audition.”
Cowell must have seen something in Camila, because he personally intervened on her behalf. “I said to her, ‘Well, I’m one of the producers, you just got an audition,'” he revealed.
He said that is a clear example of why he loves doing reality competition shows.
“Seeing Camilla today or Harry Styles, Leona Lewis, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, there’s been so many times luckily where I’ve been there at that moment where their career is going to go in a completely different direction,” said Cowell. “If we didn’t have those things happen, then there’d be no point making the shows.”
Speaking of Harry, the producer said he saw greatness in the “Adore You” singer during his first audition. “I remember his audition like it was yesterday. He was very charming, he was very confident, he was very funny, and I liked him,” Cowell said. “I just thought there’s something … special about him … You never forget those moments.”
He added discovering some of the world’s biggest stars and helping them achieve success is what he’s “most proud of,” which he says adds more depth to his shows.
Every month, MTV Push connects the world to artists via live performances, interviews and other forms of content. This go-round, the platform is bringing fans closer to Saucy Santana via an exclusive chat that sees him discussing everything from his key to success to his single “Booty.”
Santana started his career as a makeup artist for City Girls and went on to release his first song in 2019. He followed up with a few more releases, breaking through to the mainstream with the help of the viral hit “Walk.” TikTok fans have also assisted in the success of “Material Girl,” which most recently resulted in him sharing a stage and remix with Madonna.
Saucy attributes his wins to simply embracing who he is. “It’s so easy to wake up every day and be yourself, that’s you, that’s the only person you know how to be,” he told MTV Push, “and that’s how I’ve gotten this far being Santana the only way I know how.”
Santana has been on a run, performing at shows like Summer Walker‘s New York concert and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Commonly on his set list is his recently released song, “Booty,” a Latto collaboration that serves different purposes.
“Booty is as loud as you can, driving around in the car,” he said of the song. “Booty is getting ready for the club, Booty is a work out, a lot of people I’m seeing are working out to the song … it’s a cardio record!”
Jake Owen is teaching his daughter a vital country life skill — fishing.
The singer took to Instagram to share a video of him and his 3-year-old daughter, Paris, fishing on a river. Paris holds a child-size fishing rod in her hands as her dad talks her through the process of how to properly use it. “Push it in and let it go when you release it,” he advises as the tot gives a hopeful look at the camera before casting the reel into the water.
“There you go! Good job,” Jake says. “Did you get one?” he asks as Paris reels in the line, repeating after her dad as he says, “Come here, fish.”
“Are we fishing or what?” he asks his youngest child, who gives a smile and a thumbs-up. “Raise a girl that can cast a fishing pole,” Jake adds in the caption.
Jake and his fiancé, Erica Hartlein, welcomed Paris in 2019. She joins older sister Olive Pearl, whom Jake shares with his ex-wife.
Queen‘s Brian May and ex-Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman are among the musicians who will participate in the 2022 Starmus festival, which is scheduled to take place in Yerevan, Armenia, from September 5 to September 10.
May co-founded the festival in 2011 with Dr. Garik Israelian, one of the world’s leading astrophysicists, who had helped Brian complete his PhD thesis in astrophysics in 2007. The event promotes science communication and music. It features speeches from Nobel laureates, astronauts, scientists and authors, as well as musical performances.
The festival seeks to inspire and educate a new generation of explorers and spark their interest in making new discoveries.
The sixth annual Starmus festival will mark May’s first visit to Armenia. In 1988, May participated in the Rock Aid Armenia campaign, a humanitarian project organized to help those affected by a devastating earthquake that hit the country.
Wakeman, who has taken part in several previous Starmus festivals, joins May on this year’s lineup of performers, which also includes contemporary prog-rock group Sons of Apollo and Armenian-American rock singer Serj Tankian of the band System of a Down.
For more information about the festival, visit Starmus.com.
Campbel in 2021’s “Scream” — Paramount Pictures/Brownie Harris
Neve Campbell is opening up about her future — or lack thereof — in the Scream franchise.
The actress, who played hard-to-kill heroine Sidney Prescott in five Scream films, announced in June that she was stepping away from the series over an apparent salary dispute.
In a statement at the time, she said, “I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”
She called the move a “very difficult decision.”
However, Campbell recently told Entertainment Tonight the coffin isn’t nailed shut on her possible return to the series.
“I care about these movies,” Campbell said. “If they were to come to me with an amount that felt in keeping with … the value that I bring them, I would certainly consider it.”
The Party of Five alum praised the directors of the fifth Scream movie, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and wished them luck on the next film.
However, she stood firm in her decision to walk away from the series: “My feeling truly is, had I been a man in this franchise — 25 years, five movies — the offer would have been very different,” she said, explaining women should be “on par financially with men.”
“I fought for a long time to have that be a part of my life and … I really just didn’t feel that what was offered to me really equated to what I bring to these films — the value that I bring to these films and that Sidney brings to these films,” she said.
“The idea of being on set and feeling taken for granted or taken advantage of just seemed impossible for me to endure, to be honest.”
(CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.) — One manufacturer believes it has a solution to the gun violence plaguing the United States – a personalized smart gun that uses fingerprint technology to make firearms safer.
Ginger Chandler is the co-founder of LodeStar Works in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She said she believes her company’s smart gun can be a solution to the rising gun-related deaths in the country.
Chandler said the smart gun can only be fired by an authenticated user; in this case, verified by his or her fingerprint.
“What we know is if an unauthorized person picks up that firearm in a time of stress or they’re going to do something quick, they’re not going to be able to do it,” said Chandler.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recently published data, overall firearm-related deaths increased by 15% in 2020, to over 45,000 deaths, the highest number ever recorded by the CDC since it began tracking firearm deaths in 1968.
Daniel Webster is the co-director of Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. He has been researching approaches to reduce gun violence through a public health lens rather than solely a criminal justice approach.
“By thinking about this as a public health problem, you really expand how you think about it and the potential solutions that you have to address it…[For example] reducing unintentional shootings involving young people, teen suicides and juvenile perpetrated homicides,” said Webster.
An analysis from the New England Journal of Medicine labeled the increasing firearm-related mortality rates as a “preventable cause of death.”
Chandler said that the three fail-safes — an app, a pin-pad and a fingerprint — manufactured into the smart gun can help combat some of those preventable deaths.
“First, there’s an app on the phone… The other way to unlock it is just a pin-pad on the side,” said Chandler. “And then if you put your fingerprint on that pad.”
Not all are convinced. Webster said that, despite “some really big safety gains” from smart guns, it is “not realistic” that the guns will help lower the homicide rate.
In the past, the National Rifle Association has supported smart guns, but raised concerns about the tech becoming mandatory for all firearms sold in the United States.
But many Americans favor gun control laws. An ABC News IPSOS poll found 89% of Americans support background checks for all buyers.
Chandler said that making guns safer is a “net positive” — without taking away guns from Americans.
“I’m a shooter. I hunt. It is something I am involved in. It’s a passion. I enjoy it,” said Chandler. “I absolutely respect the person who says we should not have any more guns… I respect that and I just want the same respect.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Aug 10, 10:06 AM EDT
Russian strike kills at least 13 civilians in southeastern Ukraine
Russian shelling killed at least 13 civilians in eastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region early Wednesday morning, local authorities said.
At least 11 others were injured, with five people remaining in critical condition, according to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko, who said Russian forces fired 80 rockets at residential areas in the region.
“They deliberately and sneakily struck when people were sleeping in their homes,” Reznichenko said in a statement Wednesday.
Russian shells hit civilian objects in the region’s southern Nikopol district from the area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian troops some 30 miles away, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
More than 20 high-rise buildings, two schools, a city council building and several other administrative buildings in the city of Marhanets were damaged in the attack, Yermak said.
The city of Nikopol and the surrounding areas have been subject to regular shelling for several weeks. Russian forces fired 120 MLRS missiles at Nikopol early Tuesday, damaging several residential and commercial buildings.
Russian missiles also struck the southern city of Mykolaiv on Wednesday, injuring three people, including a child.
Meanwhile, explosions and casualties were also reported in the eastern Sumy region on Wednesday morning.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak and Max Uzol
Aug 10, 7:28 AM EDT
Woman killed in Russian strike on outskirts of Zaporizhzhia, mayor says
Russian forces shelled the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia overnight, killing at least one civilian, the city’s acting mayor, Anatoly Kurtev, said Wednesday.
The strike on the Kushugum community left three homes destroyed and almost 30 others damaged. The civilian who died was a woman, according to Kurtev.
That same night, Ukrainian troops defending the Zaporizhzhia region shot down two Russian missiles, Kurtev said, citing “preliminary information.”
“Take care of yourself and your loved ones,” the acting mayor said in a statement on Telegram. “Don’t ignore the air alarm!”
Aug 09, 5:17 PM EDT
Ukraine behind attack in Crimea, source says; 1 dead
A source familiar with the operation confirmed to ABC News that Ukraine was behind a Tuesday explosion in Russia-annexed Crimea. One person died from the blasts in Novofedorivka in Crimea, Russia’s semi-official Interfax reported, citing Crimean official Sergei Aksyonov.
This is the first major attack in Crimea since the war began in February.
–ABC News’ Britt Clennett and Dada Jovanovic
Aug 08, 2:20 PM EDT
US says 80,000 Russians may have died or been injured in Ukraine conflict
The U.S. estimates that 70,000 to 80,000 Russians have been killed or wounded since the start of the war in Ukraine, Colin Kahl, the undersecretary for defense for policy at the Department of Defense, told reporters Monday.
“There’s a lot of fog in war, but, you know, I think it’s safe to suggest that the Russians have probably taken 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months,” Kahl said. “I think that’s kind of in the ballpark.”
Kahl would not talk about specific Ukrainian casualties but noted that “Ukrainian morale and will to fight is unquestioned and much higher, I think, than the average morale and will to fight on the Russian side.” He added, “I think that gives the Ukrainians a significant advantage.”
Russia has gone through “a significant percentage of their precision guided munitions and their standoff munitions,” Khal said. Because they’re “running low,” they’re not using them as much and keeping what they have in reserve for other contingencies, he said. And because of sanctions against Russia, it will be tougher for the military to rebuild their stocks, he said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Aug 08, 1:30 PM EDT
Pentagon announces new $1 billion military aid package
The Pentagon has announced a new $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine.
The package includes more missiles for the HIMARS advanced rocket systems; 1,000 more Javelin anti-tank weapons; 55,000 rounds of artillery for 155mm howitzers; and armored vehicles.
“This package provides a significant amount of additional ammunition, weapons, and equipment that Ukrainians are using so effectively to defend themselves and will bring total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to approximately $9.8 billion since the beginning of this Administration,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The Treasury Department also announced Monday another $4.5 billion in direct economic assistance to help support Ukraine’s government, including paying salaries and keeping hospitals and schools open.
Aug 08, 9:49 AM EDT
More ships leave Ukraine, raising hopes for peace
Two dry cargo ships loaded with export grain were scheduled to leave the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdenne on Monday after a busy weekend that saw four additional cargo vessels sail through Ukrainian waters.
The vessel Sakura, carrying 11,000 tonnes of soy, was the first to leave the Ukrainian port of Pivdenne on Monday as part of an initiative to export grain from Ukraine, local media reported.
The ship set course for Italy in the company of another dry cargo carrier — Arizona — which left Chornomorsk, another Ukrainian Black Sea port, with 50,000 tonnes of corn on Monday. The Arizona vessel is bound for Turkey.
Another four-ship convoy left Ukraine on Sunday morning, carrying 170,000 tons of agricultural produce, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry said over the weekend.
Pope Francis welcomed the safe departure of the ships on Sunday while speaking at the noon-day Angelus prayer. “This event can be seen as a sign of hope,” the Pope said, adding that the export deal charts the path forward toward peace. “I sincerely hope that, following this path, we can put an end to the fighting and arrive at a just and lasting peace.”
So far, around 250,000 tonnes of corn, as well as 11,000 tonnes of soybeans, 6,000 tonnes of sunflower oil and 45,000 tonnes of sunflower meal have been exported from Ukraine on 10 ships since the first departure on Aug. 1, when the deal to establish safe corridors for ships to pass through was struck, according to a Reuters data tally.
Ukraine is planning to send up to five cargo ships a day from three Black Sea Ports in the following weeks, the local Sea Ports Authority said on Monday. Local authorities are also working to ensure that Ukrainian ports can receive at least three to five ships per day within two weeks, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Saturday.
The resumption of grain exports is being overseen by a Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, comprised of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. personnel.
Meanwhile, the very first ship with Ukrainian grain that left the port of Odesa on Aug. 1 has been delayed in Tripoli, Lebanon, according to Ihor Ostash, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Lebanon.
“We are waiting for the conclusion of the negotiation process. Following this vessel, 20 others are already ready to leave Odesa,” the ambassador said on Sunday.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Fidel Pavlenko and Max Uzol
Aug 07, 1:35 PM EDT
Jessica Chastain meets with Zelenskyy
Actress Jessica Chastain was photographed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday in Kyiv following a meeting in which the Oscar winner expressed support for the country under siege by Russia.
“For us, such visits of famous people are extremely valuable,” Zelenskyy wrote on his verified Telegram account. “Thanks to this, the world will hear, know and understand the truth about what is happening in our country even more.”
In the post, Zelenskyy thanked Chastain for her support and published several photos of Chastain sitting at a table with Zelenskyy and two of his advisers.
Chastain has been vocal on social media regarding the plight Ukrainians are experiencing. In March, she tweeted photos published by Vogue Ukraine that highlighted the women being forced to give birth in bomb shelters are the start of the invasion.
-ABC News Christine Theodorou
Aug 05, 4:05 PM EDT
Russia shelled nuclear plant, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Friday.
Zelenskyy said forces twice struck the plant, which is in Russian-controlled territory in the southeast, and called the action “an act of terror,” in a statement released on Telegram.
“Russia should be responsible for the very fact of creating a threat to the nuclear power plant,” he said in the statement.
The facility is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
The Russian military, however, claimed it was a Ukrainian artillery strike that led to the reduction of activities of one power unit, and power falling at another.
They claimed 20 shells were fired at the city of Enerhodar and the power plant.
“Fortunately, the Ukrainian shells did not hit the oil and fuel facility and the oxygen plant nearby, thus avoiding a larger fire and a possible radiation accident,” Russia’s defense ministry said, according to Reuters.
Earlier this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency officials said the situation at Zaporizhzhia was “out of control” as routine safety checks had not been observed. IAEA officials have appealed for access to the Russian-controlled plant.
Aug 05, 6:33 AM EDT
3 more ships carrying Ukrainian grain leave Odesa-area ports
Another three commercial ships carrying Ukrainian grain have departed from Odesa-area ports under a wartime deal, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense said Friday.
The vessels are bound for Turkey, the United Kingdom and Ireland, with a combined total of 58,000 tons of Ukrainian corn onboard. All three ships will undergo inspection in Istanbul, as is required under the grain exports deal, according to the ministry.
The United Nations confirmed Thursday that three more grain ships — two from the port of Chornomorsk and one from Odesa — were cleared to depart through the designated “maritime humanitarian corridor.”
On Monday, the first commercial vessel carrying Ukrainian grain set sail from Odesa’s port under the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative, bound for the Lebanese port of Tripoli. Last month, Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
Aug 04, 10:24 AM EDT
Ukrainian fighting tactics endanger civilians, Amnesty International says
Ukrainian forces attempting to repel the Russian invasion have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, Amnesty International said Thursday.
The London-based international human rights group published a new report detailing such tactics, saying they turn civilian objects into military targets.
“We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said in a statement. “Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law.”
Between April and July, Amnesty International researchers spent several weeks investigating Russian airstrikes in the Kharkiv, Donbas and Mykolaiv regions of Ukraine. The organization inspected strike sites, interviewed survivors, witnesses and relatives of victims of attacks, as well as carried out remote-sensing and weapons analysis. Throughout the probe, researchers found evidence of Ukrainian forces launching strikes from within populated residential areas as well as basing themselves in civilian buildings in 19 towns and villages in the regions, according to Amnesty International.
The organization said most residential areas where Ukrainian soldiers located themselves were miles away from front lines, with viable alternatives that would not endanger civilians, such as nearby military bases or densely wooded areas, and other structures further away. In the cases documented, Amnesty International said it is not aware of the Ukrainian troops asking or assisting civilians to evacuate nearby buildings in the residential areas, which the organization called “a failure to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians.”
Amnesty International, however, noted that not every Russian attack it documented followed this pattern. In certain other locations in which the organization concluded that Russia had committed war crimes, including in some areas of the city of Kharkiv, the organization did not find evidence of Ukrainian forces located in the civilian areas unlawfully targeted by the Russian military.
Aug 03, 11:21 AM EDT
Inspectors in Turkey clear 1st grain ship from Ukraine, but no sign of more
The first commercial vessel carrying Ukrainian grain under a wartime deal has safely departed the Black Sea, the United Nations said Wednesday.
The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni set sail from the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Monday, with more than 26,000 tons of Ukrainian corn on board. The vessel docked off the coast of Istanbul late Tuesday, where it was required to be inspected before being allowed to proceed to its final destination, Lebanon.
A joint civilian inspection comprising officials from Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the U.N. inspected the Razoni on Wednesday morning, checking on the cargo and crew. After three hours, the team cleared the ship to set sail for Lebanon, according to the U.N. said.
“This marks the conclusion of an initial ‘proof of concept’ operation to execute the agreement,” the U.N. said in a statement Wednesday.
It’s the first commercial vessel carrying Ukrainian grain to safely depart the Black Sea since the start of Russia’s ongoing offensive, and the first to do so under the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative. Last month, Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
In a statement Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Razoni’s journey a “significant step” but noted that “this is only a first step.”
No other grain shipments have departed Ukraine in the last two days and officials on all sides have offered no explanation for that delay.
The U.N. said Wednesday that three Ukrainian ports “are due to resume the export of millions of tons of wheat, corn and other crops,” but didn’t provide further details.
Since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, the cost of grain, fertilizer and fuel has skyrocketed worldwide. Russia and Ukraine — often referred to collectively as Europe’s breadbasket — produce a third of the global supply of wheat and barley, but a Russian blockade in the Black Sea combined with Ukrainian naval mines have made exporting siloed grain and other foodstuffs virtually impossible. As a result, millions of people around the world — particularly in Africa and the Middle East — are now on the brink of famine.
Aug 03, 9:58 AM EDT
Thousands flee ‘hell’ in Ukraine’s east
Two-thirds of residents have fled eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast since the start of Russia’s invasion in late February, according to the regional governor.
Speaking to Ukrainian media on Tuesday, Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said some 350,000 residents remain in the war-torn region.
During his Tuesday evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the hostilities in Ukraine’s east “hell.”
“It cannot be described with words,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian forces cannot yet “completely break the Russian army’s advantage in artillery and manpower, and this is very noticeable in the fighting,” he added.
Last month, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 200,000 civilians must be evacuated from the Donetsk Oblast before the weather gets colder, as there is no proper electricity or gas supply in the area for residents to heat their homes. Russian forces are also destroying heating equipment, according to Vereshchuk.
Zelenskyy has ordered the mandatory evacuation of Donetsk Oblast residents, urging them to leave as soon as possible. Those who comply will be compensated.
“The more people leave [the] Donetsk region now, the fewer people the Russian army will have time to kill,” he said.
Although many refuse to go, Zelenskyy stressed that “it still needs to be done.”
Mandatory evacuation from Donetsk Oblast began on Aug. 1. The first two trains evacuated 224 people to the central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskyi, according to local officials.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak
