Migos rapper Quavois no stranger to the big screen and for his latest movie role, he’ll star in a new action thriller, called Takeover,about Atlanta’s fascinating car culture.
According to Deadline, Quavo will play main character Guy Miller, a recent prison parolee who’s working to rehabilitate his life when he gets wrapped back up into the city’s dangerous “takeover” car scene.
“I’m really excited for this opportunity, especially shooting in my hometown of Atlanta,” Quavo said, as reported by Deadline. “This film is an ideal opportunity to further delve into my craft, and I can’t wait to see how the action plays out in this animated environment.”
Speaking of “action,” the “MotorSport” rapper announced on Wednesday that his annual seven-on-seven celebrity football game will take place in Atlanta this Saturday, April 30. The event kicks off at 5:30 p.m. at the historic Pullman Yards, with the first of two celebrity games scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the last set to start at 9:00 p.m.
In a promo video shared to his Instagram, Quavo said, “It’s About That Time.. Huncho Day!” He’ll play alongside fellow musicians, entertainers and professional athletes, with all proceeds of the game collected in support of the Quavo Cares Foundation.
So far, former NFL players Johnny Manziel and Terrell Owens are expected to take the field, with more stars to be announced.
Tickets for Quavo’s “Huncho Day,” are available for purchase now.
(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill Tuesday that bans the use of nonbinary gender markers on state birth certificates.
It’s the first ban of its kind in the U.S., according to LGBTQ legal advocacy group Lambda Legal. Several states have done the exact opposite in recent years, allowing citizens to use nonbinary gender markers on state documents.
States like Colorado, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Indiana and Hawaii have adopted the gender-inclusive policy. The federal government now also allows nonbinary gender markers on passports.
The bill follows a 2021 civil case against the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The agency was sued after it refused to allow a nonbinary option on a birth certificate. The department settled the lawsuit and allowed the use of the nonbinary option.
Despite the settlement, Stitt issued an executive order that would prohibit people from changing their gender on birth certificates. A federal lawsuit against the state from Lambda Legal is ongoing and seeks to allow transgender people to correct the gender marker on their Oklahoma birth certificates.
This ban on gender markers is the latest bill targeting the LGBTQ community that Stitt has signed into law.
Just a few weeks earlier, Stitt signed a bill banning transgender women and girls from competing on women’s and girls’ sports teams in state public K-12 schools and higher education institutions.
Across the country, similar Republican-led efforts have succeeded.
Tennessee signed a trans sports ban into law on Monday and the Kansas Senate voted on Tuesday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a similar transgender athlete ban.
Other governors, including Republican governors in Utah and Indiana, have vetoed such bills to protect LGBTQ youth from the social and emotional harms they say these bans can have on individuals.
LGBTQ advocacy groups have slammed legislative efforts.
“We should be increasing access to the things that can help protect this group of young people that already face increased risk for suicide. But a small group of anti-LGBTQ politicians is instead fighting to decrease it,” said Sam Ames, the director of advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project.
Sara Bareilles is ready to jump into her next musical, playing the Baker’s Wife in an upcoming Into The Woods stage performance.
The “Brave” singer stars opposite of Neil Patrick Harris, who has been cast as the Baker, in the New York City Center Encores! production. The musical is set to run from May 4 through May 15.
In a rehearsal sneak peak, Sara tells Playbillthat rehearsals were grueling as the cast puts in a lot of hours to put forth the best version possible. “What we’re doing is hard,” she remarked.
“It is mad complicated,” Harris added, noting he was a big fan of the musical but had no idea just how many moving parts that go into bringing the stage production to life.
Playbill also shared footage of the full cast performing “Ever After” — which shows Sara dancing around in her prosthetic baby bump — and “Stay with Me.”
Sara of course is an old hand at Broadway musicals. She wrote and also starred in the musical Waitress, for which she earned both a Tony and Grammy nomination.
Tickets for Into the Woods, which runs for two weeks only, are on sale now on the venue’s website. Proof of vaccination and masks are mandatory.
(NEW YORK) — A college softball star from James Madison University has died at the age of 20, the university announced Tuesday. Her death marks the third of a female college athlete since March.
Lauren Bernett, a sophomore biology major from McDonald, Pennsylvania, was named the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week on Monday, just one day before her death was announced. Last year, she helped the school reach the Women’s College World Series.
Authorities said Wednesday they are classifying the death of Bernett as an “apparent suicide.”
In a statement, Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson said his department is still conducting its investigation and is awaiting a report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia.
On March 2, Stanford University in Stanford, California, announced the death of 22-year-old Katie Meyer, the goalkeeper and captain of the women’s soccer team.
Her parents later shared that Meyer’s death was a suicide, telling NBC’s “Today” show they had “no red flags” about their daughter’s mental health. The Meyers acknowledged the pressure of college sports, however.
“There’s so much pressure I think on athletes, right, especially at that high level balancing academics and a high competitive environment,” Gina Meyer said on the program. “And there is anxiety and there is stress to be perfect, to be the best, to be number one.”
Earlier this month, Sarah Shulze, a cross-country athlete at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, died by suicide, according to a statement from her parents and sisters.
“Sarah took her own life. Balancing athletics, academics and the demands of every day life overwhelmed her in a single, desperate moment,” the family wrote on Shulze’s website. “Like you, we are shocked and grief stricken while holding on tightly to all that Sarah was.”
The family described Shulze as a “power for good in the world” who advocated for social causes and women’s rights and was a member of the Student Athlete Council at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
On college campuses in the United States, around 30% of women and 25% of men who are student-athletes report having anxiety, according to data shared by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
Among athletes with known mental health conditions, only 10% seek care from a mental health professional, according to the ACSM.
The NCAA found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, student-athletes continued to experience “heightened” mental health concerns with students reporting stress due to academic concerns, lack of access to their sport, financial worries and COVID-19 health concerns.
Professional athletes like Michael Phelps, Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka have been public in recent years about the pressure, stress and burnout they’ve faced at the top of their sports, and those are struggles college athletes may feel too.
According to the ACSM, student-athletes face pressures from academics and competing, as well as other stressors like being away home home, traveling for games, feeling isolated from campus and other students due to their focus on sports and adapting to being in the public spotlight.
Cailin Bracken, a lacrosse player at Vanderbilt University, gained national attention this month after writing an essay urging coaches, schools, parents and fellow players to pay attention to the mental health of student-athletes.
“Playing a sport in college, honestly, feels like playing fruit ninja with a butter knife,” Bracken wrote in an essay titled, “A Letter to College Sports.” “There are watermelons and cantaloupes being flung at you from all different directions, while you’re trying to defend yourself using one of those flimsy cafeteria knives that can’t even seem to spread room-temperature butter.”
“And beyond the chaos and overwhelm of it all, you’ve got coaches and parents and trainers and professors who expect you to come away from the experience unscathed, fruit salad in hand,” she added.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.
(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — Protesters shut down a Grand Rapids City Commission meeting on Tuesday, demanding justice for Patrick Lyoya, who was shot and killed by a Michigan police officer earlier this month.
During the commission’s public comment period, several people took to the stand to call for police accountability. As protesters began to shout, Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said the commission will be taking a recess, an online recording of the meeting shows.
Bliss adjourned the meeting as the commotion continued, a spokesperson for the city told ABC News. Commissioners and most city staff left the chambers about five to 10 minutes later, according to local outlet MLive.
Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom later took questions from protesters, who largely voiced their concerns, according to MLive. The meeting ended at 9 p.m. and Winstrom stayed to speak with residents until nearly 11 p.m., according to the spokesperson. Protesters left peacefully and no arrests were made, the spokesperson added.
Winstrom told FOX17 he was not surprised by what had happened at the meeting.
“I’ve been in this situation before, where, people want to scream and yell,” said Winstrom. “It looked to me like it was a group of people who wanted to vent.”
Winstrom added, “Sometimes people want to sit at the table, the seat at the table, they want their voice to be heard and they want to have a discussion and then other times they just want to vent. It sounded to me after the first couple of speakers people just wanted to scream and yell.”
Lyoya, 26, was shot by an officer following a struggle outside a house after he was pulled over for a faulty license plate, according to body cam footage and police.
Amid the struggle, the officer was able to force Lyoya to the ground, shouting, “Stop resisting,” “Let go” and “Drop the Taser” before he shot Lyoya in the back of the head, according to video footage.
Earlier this week, police named Christopher Schurr as the officer who shot Lyoya.
Protesters are demanding that Schurr be arrested and officers get their own liability insurance. They also want Kent County prosecutor Chris Becker to remove himself from deciding whether to charge Schurr, according to MLive.
Grand Rapids Police did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Dierks Bentley‘s diet while on the road really covers the gamut.
Now that the hitmaker has spent countless years on the road, he has his food regimen down to a science. Seeing as he takes the stage around 9:30 p.m. each night, he eats foods that will give him higher energy later in the day, feasting on an early dinner that consists of a large salad with all the veggies and protein he can find.
About an hour before he hits the stage, Dierks will pivot over to carbohydrates, snacking on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich along with “a lot of alcohol” to kick himself into high gear.
“Food is so fascinating to me because it really does power our bodies and we say that a lot but we don’t think about it very often,” the singer explains to People. “My whole life revolves around energy management. I have to walk on stage at 9:30 like peaking energy, which is a really weird thing because when I’m off the road, I’m usually heading towards bed at that point. It’s this crazy energy swap you have to figure out, so my eating habits aren’t really made for people who aren’t dancing around the stage like an idiot every night.”
Dierks is gearing up for the summer leg of his Beers On Me Tour with Ashley McBryde and Travis Denning that runs from May 27 through September 11.
Kelsea Ballerini made a stop at her “home away from home” — the Grand Ole Opry — on Tuesday night, and her performance was extra special for one big reason: She debuted her new single, “Heartfirst,” on the hallowed stage.
“I’m always excited to play here, but whenever I get to play a new song for the first time, there’s an extra little glitter in the air,” Kelsea explained backstage before the show.
“I’m playing my new single, ‘Heartfirst,’ not only for the first time with my band, ever — truly, ever — but for people for the first time,” she goes on to say.
Kelsea was planning to debut “Heartfirst” at the 2022 CMT Awards — a show she was also set to co-host — but at the last minute, a positive COVID-19 test kept her at home. With the magic of virtual technology, Kelsea was still able to co-host over video chat, and she performed “Heartfirst” the same way. Still, it’s not the same as standing onstage in front of a crowd.
“I’m really excited,” the singer added. “Come along.”
“Heartfirst” came out in early April and is expected to be the first single off a new project.
Kelsea’s been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 2019. She was inducted by Carrie Underwood.
beabadoobee has premiered the video for her new song, “See You Soon.”
The black-and-white clip follows the “Care” singer as she rides down a road in the English countryside.
“I feel like the idea behind ‘See You Soon’ is that it’s meant to make you feel like you’re tripping on shrooms,” beabadoobee says. “Or, I feel like the chorus especially, I want it to sound like a breath of fresh air, like a realization of some sort.”
You can watch the “See You Soon” video streaming now on YouTube.
“See You Soon” will appear on beabadoobee’s upcoming sophomore album, Beatopia, due out July 15. The record also includes the lead single “Talk.”
Immediately following recent reports about Travis Scott‘s music comeback, the rapper’s return to the festival stage was officially announced on Wednesday.
Scott will hit the road this fall as a headliner for the multi-nation Primavera Festival in South America. The tour will make stops in Brazil, Argentina and Chile in November and will also feature pop artists Charli XCX and Lorde and alt rock legend Björk.
The upcoming concert series will be Scott’s first festival performance since his last major headlining gig, Astroworld, in November of last year. During the wildly popular 2021 music fest, which drew upwards of 50,000 fans, Travis Scott performed while the crowd surged toward the stage, resulting in ten deaths and hundreds of injuries.
As a result of the tragedy, Scott was hit with lawsuits from more than 100 victims and the rapper was removed from upcoming performances, including his scheduled appearance at the 2022 Coachella Music & Arts festival. While the “Antidote” rapper didn’t hit the main stage at Coachella this year, he did reportedly attend a private after-party, where he performed five of his songs.
Scott offers to pay for funeral costs of the Astroworld victims and also launched Project Heal, a series of community-focused philanthropy and investment efforts.
In advance of Coachella earlier this month, billboards for Scott’s long-awaited album, Utopia, appeared in California. The boards could signify that the rapper’s fourth studio project is on the way soon.
Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(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 earlier this month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 27, 3:38 pm
Blinken says US could reopen Kyiv embassy in ‘next few weeks’
While U.S. diplomats began returning to Lviv for day trips on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that he hopes to move toward reopening the U.S Embassy in Kyiv in the “next few weeks.”
Blinken appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday for his second of three days of testimony about the Biden administration’s budget request.
Blinken said the administration will put forward a request for supplemental funding in the “next couple days” after President Joe Biden exhausted the funding in his presidential drawdown authority to provide weapons and other military aid immediately to Ukraine.
That “robust” assistance request will include funding for aid to Ukraine and other U.S. partners and allies and for a functioning U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, he said.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 27, 1:29 pm
Microsoft releases detailed report of Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine
Microsoft has released a detailed report of what it says are “destructive” Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine, which the company says seem “strongly correlated and sometimes directly timed with its kinetic military operations.”
“For example, a Russian actor launched cyberattacks against a major broadcasting company on March 1st, the same day the Russian military announced its intention to destroy Ukrainian ‘disinformation’ targets and directed a missile strike against a TV tower in Kyiv,” Microsoft said. “On March 13th, during the third week of the invasion, a separate Russian actor stole data from a nuclear safety organization weeks after Russian military units began capturing nuclear power plants sparking concerns about radiation exposure and catastrophic accidents. “
Microsoft said it has observed nearly 40 attacks “targeting hundreds of systems.”
The company said “32% of destructive attacks directly targeted Ukrainian government organizations” while “more than 40% of destructive attacks were aimed at organizations in critical infrastructure sectors that could have negative second-order effects on the Ukrainian government, military, economy and people.”
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith
Apr 27, 12:34 pm
Biden to visit facility that manufactures Javelin anti-tank missiles
President Joe Biden will visit a Lockheed Martin facility in Alabama on Tuesday where Javelin anti-tank missiles are being manufactured for Ukrainian troops, the White House said.
The U.S. has committed over 5,500 Javelin anti-armor systems for Ukrainians, according to the Pentagon.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Apr 26, 6:58 pm
War in Ukraine dealt a ‘major shock’ to commodities markets: World Bank
The World Bank issued a report on Tuesday that said the war in Ukraine dealt a major shock to commodity markets and altered global patterns of trade, production and consumption in ways that will keep prices at historically high levels through the end of 2024.
“Overall, this amounts to the largest commodity shock we’ve experienced since the 1970s,” Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s vice president for equitable growth, finance and institutions, said in a statement.
The report said energy prices are expected to rise more than 50% in 2022 before easing in 2023 and 2024.
Wheat prices are forecast to increase more than 40%, putting pressure on developing economies that rely on wheat imports, especially from Russia and Ukraine, according to the World Bank.
Metal prices are projected to increase by 16% in 2022 before easing in 2023, according to the report.
Crude oil prices are expected to average $100 a barrel in 2022, its highest level since 2013 and an increase of more than 40% compared to 2021, the report said. Oil prices are expected to moderate to $92 in 2023, which is above the five-year average of $60 a barrel, the World Bank said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 26, 6:29 pm
Russia’s Gazprom suspends gas deliveries to Bulgaria, Poland
Polish natural gas company PGNiG announced Tuesday they received a notice from Gazprom that deliveries will be suspended starting Wednesday, April 27.
Poland has refused to pay for gas in rubles and PGNiG says they are prepared to procure gas supplies from alternate sources; storage is currently at 80%.
“Not a problem,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Gazprom sent a similar notice to Bulgaria’s natural gas company Bulgargaz, according to a statement from the country’s energy minister Alexander Nikolov.
Morawiecki urged other EU countries, particularly Germany, to stop relying on Russian energy before Russia itself decides to cut them off, or sets economy-crippling prices.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou, Conor Finnegan and Tomek Rolski
Apr 26, 6:00 pm
Sen. Rand Paul confronts Secretary Blinken over war in Ukraine
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had a heated back and forth with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Capitol Hill over the war in Ukraine.
Paul pushed Blinken on support for Ukraine’s possible membership in NATO and what he called “the reasons” for the Russian invasion.
“I’m saying that the countries that have been attacked, Georgia and Ukraine, were part of the Soviet Union since 1920s,” he said.
“That does not give Russia the right to attack them,” Blinken said, explaining that the Kremlin’s security concerns about Ukraine joining NATO were adequately weighed and attempts at diplomacy were made.
“It is abundantly clear, in President Putin’s own words, that this was never about Ukraine, being potentially part of NATO, and it was always about his belief that Ukraine does not deserve to be a sovereign independent country that it must be reassumed into Russia in one form or another,” Blinken said.
Paul interjected during Blinken’s answer, denying he was making the argument that Russia’s actions were justified. The senator then asked Blinken about talks between Russia and Ukraine and the potential outcomes.
“Would the U.S. would President Biden be open to accepting Ukraine as an unaligned neutral nation?” Paul asked.
“We’re not going to be more Ukrainian than the Ukrainians. These are decisions for them to make,” Blinken said.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Connor Finnegan
Apr 26, 5:06 pm
US diplomats briefly return to Ukraine, but embassy remains closed
The United States returned diplomats to Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion with a team making a day trip across the border from Poland to meet Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, the State Department confirmed on Tuesday.
“The deputy chief of mission and members of the embassy team traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, today, where they were able to continue our close collaboration with key Ukrainian partners,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
Price called the move a “first step” toward eventually reopening the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
“Today’s travel was a first step ahead of more regular travel in the immediate future. And as we’ve said, we’re accelerating preparations to resume Embassy Kyiv operations just as soon as possible,” Price said. “We are constantly assessing and evaluating and reassessing the security situation with a view toward resuming those embassy operations as soon as possible.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 4:46 pm
Germany to send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine
Germany plans to supply Ukraine with “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks, the German Minister of Defense announced Tuesday on Twitter.
“We made our decisions in coordination with our allies,” German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said earlier Tuesday during a news conference at a meeting of NATO countries hosted by the United States at Ramstein Air Base. “That is, once it was clear others will deliver certain systems, we support them in that. We deliver as well. That is our way — Germany is not doing it alone. And if Ukraine now urgently needs such air defense systems, then we are also prepared to support them.”
Lambrecht said Tuesday’s gathering of NATO countries to discuss strengthening Ukraine’s military both in the short and long terms was a “starting point.”
“The best security strategy for Ukraine is well-trained and equipped armed forces,” Lambrecht said, “Germany has been providing a very high level of support in a variety of ways since the war began.”
The move from Germany comes just days after Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told ABC News that she was disappointed in Germany for seemingly dragging its feet on sending heavy artillery, including tanks, to Ukraine and said it appeared German leaders are attempting to placate Putin.
“They don’t understand. There is no way to pacify Putin,” Vereshchuk said. “It would be a huge problem for NATO if Russia has dominance over the Black Sea.”
Apr 26, 3:51 pm
Blinken says Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv
Speaking publicly about his visit to Ukraine for the first time since returning home, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv.”
Blinken, who visited Ukraine over the weekend with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, emphasized the need for additional aid to help Ukrainians weather the ongoing war as it enters its next phase.
“As we took the train across the border and rode westward into Ukraine, we saw mile after mile of Ukrainian countryside, territory that just a couple of months ago, the Russian government thought that it could seize in a matter of weeks. Today — firmly Ukraine’s,” Blinken told the committee.
Blinken said that while in Kyiv, he saw the signs of “a vibrant city coming back to life” with people eating outside, sitting on benches and strolling the streets.
“For all the suffering that they’ve endured, for all the carnage that Russia’s brutal invasion continues to inflict, Ukraine was and will continue to be a free and independent country,” he said.
Blinken said the United States has played a vital part in helping Ukrainian forces mount an effective resistance against Russia.
“I have to tell you, I felt some pride in what the United States has done to support the Ukrainian government and its people and an even firmer conviction that we must not let up,” Blinken said. “Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine has underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy.”
He added, “We have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are strategic opportunities, as well as address risks presented by Russia’s overreach as countries are reconsidering their policies, their priorities, their relationships.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 2:28 pm
UN chief presses Putin on urgent need for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine
Prior to meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement calling for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine that are “truly safe.”
Guterres later raised the issue with Putin during a face-to-face meeting, stressing the urgent need for the creation of safe and effective humanitarian corridors in the war-ravaged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where he said thousands of civilians remain trapped, according to the Russian state-run TASS news service. Guterres also proposed the creation of a humanitarian contact group.
“We urgently need humanitarian corridors that are truly safe and effective, and that are respected by all to evacuate civilians and deliver much needed assistance,” Guterres said prior to meeting with Putin. “To that end, I have proposed the establishment of a humanitarian contact group, bringing together the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the U.N. to look for opportunities for the opening of safe corridors, with local cessation of hostilities and to guarantee they are actually effective.”
Guterres made his statement following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
While meeting with Guterres, Putin said the U.N. chief has been misled and insisted that humanitarian corridors in Mariupol are functioning, according to TASS.
“You say that Russia’s humanitarian corridors are not operating. Mr. Secretary-General, you have been misled: these corridors are operating,” Putin said, according to TASS.
Putin told Guterres that up to 140,000 people had fled Mariupol with the assistance of Russia.
“And they can go anywhere. Some want to go to Russia; some want to go to Ukraine. Anywhere! We do not keep them, we provide all kinds of help and support,” Putin said, according to TASS.
However, Putin “agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol,” according to a readout of the meeting provided by the U.N.
Apr 26, 1:29 pm
UN General Assembly unanimously adopts new rule on veto powers
The U.N. General Assembly — where all 193 countries have a vote — has unanimously adopted a resolution that creates a new accountability mechanism.
Now, whenever a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council uses its veto power to block a resolution, it will automatically trigger a debate in the General Assembly within 10 days.
The move was made primarily in response to Russia’s veto power, which the country has used repeatedly to sink resolutions about its own aggression. It has paralyzed the ability of the Security Council, the United Nation’s most powerful body, to check Russia.
The United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom are the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, while the ten other seats rotate and are won by election.
The United States and Liechtenstein co-sponsored the resolution, with the tiny European country tweeting, “Together we have made sure today that a veto is no longer the last word on issues of peace and security.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 12:19 pm
US to meet with NATO allies monthly as Defense Secretary Austin conveys urgency in Ukraine
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said meetings like the one on Tuesday with more than 40 NATO allies and other partner nations will now occur monthly.
“To ensure that we continue to build on our progress, we’re going to extend this forum beyond today,” Austin said during a news conference at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“I’m proud to announce that today’s gathering will become a monthly contact group on Ukraine’s self-defense,” he said.
The meetings will focus on strengthening Ukraine’s military both in the short and long terms, Austin said.
“The contact group will be a vehicle for nations of good will to intensify our efforts and coordinate our assistance and focus on winning today’s fight and the struggles to come,” Austin said. “The monthly meetings may be in person, virtual, or mixed.”
Austin, who visited Ukraine on Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, praised Tuesday’s meeting with NATO allies, saying, “We’re all coming away with a transparent and shared understanding of a challenge that Ukrainians face.”
Austin conveyed a sense of urgency for the international community to help the Ukrainians.
“I applaud all of the countries that have risen, and are rising, to this moment,” he said. “But we don’t have any time to waste. The briefings today laid out clearly why the coming weeks will be so crucial for Ukraine. So, we’ve got to move at the speed of war.”
Austin thanked Germany for hosting Tuesday’s meeting and for offering to send Ukraine 50 Cheetah anti-aircraft systems. He also thanked the United Kingdom for its announcement Monday that it would provide Ukraine additional anti-aircraft capabilities.
“We held an important session today with long-term support for Ukraine’s defenses, including what that will take from our defense industrial bases,” Austin said. “That means dealing with the tremendous demand that we’re facing for munitions and weapons platforms, and giving our staunch support to Ukraine while also meeting our own requirements, and those of our allies and partners.”
-ABC News’ Matt Syler
Apr 26, 10:53 am
‘People’s Friendship’ statue taken down in Kyiv
A Soviet-era statue that has stood in the capital of Ukraine since 1982 and once symbolized the friendship between Russia and Ukraine was taken down on Tuesday in response to the war between the two countries.
An ABC News crew was on-hand in Kyiv as a large crane removed the bronze “People’s Friendship” statue from its pedestal.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the statue, a gift from the former Soviet Union, is being dismantled because of the “brutal killing and a desire to destroy our state.”
The statue depicts two workers, a Russian and a Ukrainian, holding up a Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples. The monument was dedicated in November 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the USSR and the 1,500th anniversary of Kyiv.
Klitschko said a 164-foot-tall titanium rainbow-shaped arch the statue rested under will remain and be illuminated with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
-ABC News’ Marcus Moore
Apr 26, 7:07 am
US gathers NATO allies in Germany for Ukraine aid talks
The U.S. will “keep moving heaven and earth” to supply aid to Ukraine, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday at a meeting of the Ukraine Security Consultive Group, which includes military representatives from about 40 countries.
“Ukraine clearly believes it can win. And so does everyone here,” Austin said in his opening remarks at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. “I know that we’re all determined to do everything we can to support Ukraine’s needs as the fight evolves.”
Austin said the group would seek to leave with a common understanding of “Ukraine’s near term security requirements, because we’re going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.”
He called Russia’s war with Ukraine “indefensible,” adding that Putin didn’t “imagine the world [would] rally behind Ukraine’s so swiftly and so surely.”
Apr 26, 6:08 am
Russia attempts to encircle Ukrainian positions in east, UK says
Russian forces appeared to be moving to encircle “heavily fortified” Ukrainian positions in the east, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
“The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium, as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.
Ukrainian forces in Zaporizhzhia were preparing for an attack from the south, the ministry said.
