Dierks Bentley took part in in the Gosh Darn bike rice, and it looks like it was quite the adventure.
The superstar chronicled his journey on the 100-mile trip on Instagram, revealing that he endured three flat tires and got lost along the way, adding seven miles to the trip. The journey also began with Dierks and his fellow riders crossing a creek at 7 a.m. in 40-degree weather that left him with freezing-cold feet.
Clips show Dierks carrying his bike as he wades through a creek, and cycling a winding road as wind blows in his face. “I need the eagle to carry me home,” he says, panning to the bald eagle and American flag emblem on his shirt.
But Dierks persevered and completed the excursion, which took more than 10 hours. “It was…..fun?” Dierks writes in the caption about the “epic” day.
Gosh Darn, an annual gravel race in Middle Tennessee, benefits Oasis Bike Workshop the helps youth refurbish bicycles for transportation. Dierks also used to host the Miles & Music for Kids motorcycle event in Nashville.
When the members of The Head and the Heart were finally able to meet up and record their upcoming album Every Shade of Blue, they decided to head home.
“We chose to go back to Seattle,” vocalist Jonathan Russell tells ABC Audio. “We chose to go to the same studio that we did our first two records at.”
That return to the city where The Head and the Heart was first founded in 2009, coupled with the fact that the band members hadn’t seen each other in person in over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, made recording Every Shade of Blue feel like a “homecoming.”
“We just had so many memories there,” Russull says. He recalls stumbling upon a bike that he had left at the studio a decade earlier.
“My bicycle was literally in the same position in the garage in the studio,” he shares. “It had some flat tires, but other than that, it was good to go.”
For a recording process so steeped in Seattle, it may seem odd that the current single off Every Shade of Blue pays tribute to a place on the complete other side of the country. The song, titled “Virginia (Wind in the Night),” refers to Russell’s pre-Seattle home, where he’s since moved back to and lives now.
Writing a song about Virginia with a band formed in Seattle, Russell says, represents the “strange dichotomy” of The Head and the Heart.
“We all met in Seattle…but the funny thing was it was purely coincidental,” Russell says. “Two people were from California that came up in completely separate times for different reasons, two of us were from Virginia at different times, and then two members were born-and-raised in Seattle.”
A new tune co-written and recorded by Mick Jagger called “Strange Game” will serve as the theme song to the new Apple TV+ series Slow Horses and will be released this Friday, April 1, coinciding with the premiere of the show’s first two episodes.
The Rolling Stones frontman co-wrote the track with Academy Award-nominated film composer Daniel Pemberton, who produced the song and also is responsible for the score and soundtrack of Slow Horses.
The six-part series, which stars Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jonathan Pryce and Olivia Cooke, focuses on a group of dysfunctional British intelligence agents who are relegated to Slough House, a department that serves as a dumping ground for spies who have made major career mistakes.
“Strange Game” is described as an “atmospheric and infectious” track that includes clever references to various aspects of the program’s storylines.
“Working with Mick Jagger has been one of the most exciting collaborations of my professional career,” says Pemberton, whose previous credits include the scores of Being the Ricardos, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Ocean’s 8 and Yesterday. “I think we have managed to create an incredibly unique and original titles theme and I cannot wait for the rest of the world to hear it.”
Adds Slow Horses director James Hawes, “We always wanted a song to set the tone for the show and there was only ever one name in my mind — Mick Jagger. Hearing the track for the first time was utterly thrilling. Mick’s lyrics and performance have totally nailed the mood of Slow Horses, with all the humour and swagger I dreamed of.”
Getting right to business, the first round of Hollywood week saw the singers choose the genre they felt best represented them and give their best audition for the judges, as they began to narrow down the competition.
The contestants weren’t all on their own though, they had help from Idol alums. Season two winner Ruben Studdard mentored R&B, while season six winner Jordin Sparks mentored Pop. Rock got a hand from season seven winner David Cook and season nine winner Lee DeWyze mentored Folk/Singer-songwriter. Season 10 runner-up Lauren Alaina mentored country and season 10’s second runner-up Haley Reinhart mentored Soul. Reigning American Idol champ Chayce Beckham also made an appearance to help out the country singers.
While everyone was singing to secure their spot in the next round, the three platinum ticket winners — HunterGirl, Kenedi Anderson, and Jay Copeland — got to relax and move straight to the duets round of Hollywood week thanks to their impressive first auditions. However, they did serenade everyone with a performance of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” when all the auditions were said and done. And, in a surprise twist, the trio had the advantage of picking their partners for duet week, while the judges will pick for the rest of the contestants.
American Idol returns Sunday, April 3 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time last week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 29, 3:22 am
Talks between Russia, Ukraine begin in Turkey
The latest round of in-person peace negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations kicked off in Istanbul on Tuesday morning, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in attendance.
Erdogan addressed both sides with a brief speech before the talks began.
“Establishing a cease-fire and peace as soon as possible will be to everyone’s benefit. We think that we’ve entered a period where we need to achieve concrete results from negotiations,” Erdogan said. “As members of the delegations, you’ve taken on a historic responsibility. The whole world is awaiting the good news that will come from you.”
Footage showing the start of the meeting was broadcast by Russian state-backed television channel RT.
Tuesday’s negotiations are taking place in Dolmabahce Palace in the Besiktas district of Turkey’s capital, according to Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu Agency. It’s the first face-to-face talks to take place between Russia and Ukraine in more than two weeks.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Cleveland 107, Orlando 101
Atlanta 132, Indiana 123
Denver 113, Charlotte 109
Miami 123, Sacramento 100
New York 109, Chicago 104
Toronto 115, Boston 112 (OT)
San Antonio 123, Houston 120
Memphis 123, Golden State 95
Oklahoma City 134, Portland 131 (OT)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Carolina 6, Washington 1
St. Louis 4, Vancouver 1
Buffalo 6, Chicago 5
Edmonton 6, Arizona 1
Seattle 6, Los Angeles 1
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack recommended on Monday that the full chamber hold senior Trump White House officials in contempt of Congress for their refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas for records and testimony related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The panel released a 34-page report on Sunday laying out congressional investigators’ interest in Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino, and how both Trump loyalists rebuffed requests for their cooperation, ahead of Monday night’s vote on whether to refer the matter to the House.
Both men “stonewalled” the committee, Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Monday.
“They’re not fooling anybody. They are obligated to comply with our investigation. They have refused to do so. And that’s a crime,” he said.
A successful House vote would send the referrals to the Justice Department, which would decide whether to pursue criminal charges. Each contempt charge could carry up to a $100,000 fine and up to one year in jail.
Navarro, who officially served as a trade adviser to then-President Donald Trump in the White House’s West Wing, produced a report alleging that the presidential election was stolen from Trump — which he said Trump distributed to all Republican members of Congress prior to Jan. 6.
The committee said it had evidence that Navarro’s work was distributed by then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and attorney John Eastman, who also worked on Trump’s effort to overturn the election results.
The committee wrote in its report that Navarro also worked closely with Trump ally Steve Bannon to delay Congress’ certification of the election and to overturn the results, a plan Navarro dubbed the “Green Bay Sweep” in his book, “In Trump Time.” According to the committee, Navarro spoke to Bannon on Jan. 6, encouraged Trump associates to contact Trump ally Roger Stone to discuss Jan. 6 plans, and encouraged hundreds of state legislators to “take action” ahead of the certification of the election results.
The Justice Department has indicted Bannon for refusing to comply with the committee’s subpoena. The trial for Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty, could begin this summer.
The DOJ has not taken action on a referral from the House over Meadows’ refusal to fully cooperate with the committee’s subpoena.
Navarro has repeatedly rebuffed the committee and has refused to comply with its subpoena, arguing that Trump invoked executive privilege over their communications, even though he detailed parts of his work in his book — and even though President Joe Biden, as the current commander-in-chief, declined to invoke privilege over his testimony.
“My position remains this is not my Executive Privilege to waive and the Committee should negotiate this matter with President Trump.” Navarro said in a statement Sunday, in response to the committee’s report. “If he waives the privilege, I will be happy to comply; but I see no effort by the Committee to clarify this matter with President Trump, which is bad faith and bad law.”
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., on Monday called Navarro a “key witness” who had “written a book boasting about his role in planning and coordinating the activity of Jan. 6, and yet he does not have the courage to testify here.”
The Supreme Court previously rejected Trump’s claims of privilege and refused to block the committee from some Trump White House records. The panel has also argued that Navarro’s election-related work was not done in his capacity as a government official and would not be covered by executive privilege.
“We want to talk to Mr. Scavino and Mr. Navarro about their roles in an attempt to overturn an election. The American people didn’t pay their salaries to do that,” Thompson said, dismissing their claims of privilege.
The committee wrote in its report that Scavino, a deputy chief of staff and longtime Trump aide, was “uniquely positioned to illuminate” Trump’s knowledge and actions leading up to Jan. 6.
Scavino also played a central part in amplifying Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread election fraud in his role managing the then-president’s Twitter and other social media accounts.
“President Trump, working with Mr. Scavino, successfully spread distrust for our courts — which had repeatedly found no basis to overturn the election. And Trump’s stolen election campaign succeeded in provoking the violence on Jan. 6. On this point, there is no doubt — the Committee has videos, interviews, and sworn statements from the violent rioters demonstrating these facts,” Cheney said.
According to the committee’s report, the panel has obtained evidence that Scavino spoke to Trump “several times” on Jan. 6 and was with him at the White House as he faced public and private calls to help stop the violence at the Capitol.
Pointing to his online presence and links to Trump’s following on social media, the committee said it had “reason to believe” that Scavino “may have had advance warning of the possibility of violence on Jan. 6,” given online activity on pro-Trump forums that suggested potential violence in Washington.
“Whether and when the President and other senior officials knew of impending violence is highly relevant to the Select Committee’s investigation and consideration of legislative recommendations,” the committee wrote.
The panel issued three subpoenas to Scavino — including one delivered by U.S. Marshals to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida — and agreed to delay his deposition and document production deadline half a dozen times last year. Yet the committee said in its report that Scavino had “not produced a single document, nor has he appeared for testimony.”
Scavino also sued Verizon in January to stop the carrier from turning over his cell phone records to the committee.
Although Scavino, Navarro, and several other Trump allies have refused to cooperate with the probe, investigators have questioned more than 750 witnesses, including senior Trump White House and administration officials, as the committee works to wrap up the first phase of its inquiry ahead of public hearings and the issuance of a final report later this year.
“We’re now in a critical phase of our investigation,” Cheney said.
An attorney representing Scavino did not respond to requests for comment from ABC News.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Actor Will Smith apologized Monday for slapping Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, at the Oscars.
“I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness,” Will Smith wrote in an Instagram post.
Rock, who was presenting for best documentary, made a joke about Pinkett Smith’s hair when Smith walked onto the stage and struck Rock in the face.
Once back in his seat Smith said, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f****** mouth,” After the strike, most of the exchange was bleeped out for U.S. viewers.
Less than an hour later, Smith would go on to win best actor for his role in King Richard.
“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally,” Smith said Monday.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time last week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 28, 6:44 pm
Russian troops ‘pushed away from Kyiv’: Zelenskyy
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his evening address Monday that Irpin was liberated and Russian forces have been “pushed away from Kyiv.”
“The occupiers are pushed away from Irpin. Pushed away from Kyiv,” he said.
However, he said Russian troops still control the north of Kyiv.
“They are trying to restore the destroyed units. The level of their losses, even at 90%, is not an argument for them to stop. Hundreds and hundreds of units of burned and abandoned enemy equipment do not convince them that this will happen to everyone,” he said.
Zelenskyy also said the situation in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv regions, along with Donbas and southern Ukraine, remains tense.
“This is a ruthless war against our nation, against our people, against our children.
As of today, 143 children are known to have died,” Zelenskyy said Monday.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Mar 28, 4:00 pm
Biden says he ‘was expressing moral outrage’ with comment that Putin ‘cannot remain in power’
President Joe Biden told reporters Monday that when he said in Poland this weekend that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” he “was expressing moral outrage that I feel,” adding, “I make no apologies for it.”
Biden did not dispute when a questioner noted the line had not been in his prepared remarks.
“The last part of the speech was talking to the Russian people, telling them what we thought. I was communicating this to not only the Russian people but the whole world. This is — this is just stating a simple fact that this kind of behavior is totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. And the way to deal with it is to strengthen and put — keep NATO completely united and help Ukraine where we can,” Biden said.
“I want to make it clear, I wasn’t then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change,” Biden said.
“The last thing I want to do is engage in a land war or a nuclear war with Russia,” he said. “That’s not part of it. I was expressing my outrage at the behavior of this man.”
Biden said that if Putin “continues on this course that he’s on, he is going to become a pariah worldwide.”
He said he didn’t think his comments complicated diplomatic efforts, but that it is Putin’s actions that are complicating the situation.
“He shouldn’t remain in power. Just like, you know, bad people shouldn’t continue to do bad things. But it doesn’t mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way,” Biden said.
The president said “it’s ridiculous” to think his remark was a statement of U.S. policy.
“People like this shouldn’t be ruling countries, but they do. The fact they do doesn’t mean I can’t express my outrage about it,” he said.
Biden told ABC News that he’s confident Putin won’t view his remarks as an excuse for escalation.
“The idea that he is going to do something outrageous because I called him for what he was and what he’s doing, I think is just not rational,” Biden said.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Mar 28, 1:50 pm
UN Secretary-General appeals for a humanitarian ceasefire
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine.
“Since the beginning of the Russian invasion one months ago, the war has led to the senseless loss of thousands of lives, the displacement of 10 million people, mainly women and children, the systematic destruction of essential infrastructure and skyrocketing food and energy prices worldwide. This must stop,” Guterres said.
U.N. humanitarian agencies and partners in the last month have reached nearly 900,000 people, mainly in eastern Ukraine, providing food, shelter, blankets, medicine, bottled water and hygiene supplies, he said.
Mar 28, 1:18 pm
US sending six Navy electronic warfare aircraft to Germany
The Pentagon said it’s sending six U.S. Navy EA-18 “Growlers” (Navy fighter aircraft equipped with electronic warfare jamming equipment) and 240 personnel to Germany to boost NATO’s defenses because of the aircraft’s electronic warfare jamming capability.
“They are not being deployed to be used against Russian forces in Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stressed. “They are being deployed completely in keeping with our efforts to bolster NATO’s deterrence and defense capabilities along that Eastern flank. They are not being sent because of some sort of acute threat that was perceived or some specific incident that happened.”
“This is in order to bolster readiness, enhance NATO’s collective defense posture and further increase air integration capabilities with our Allied and partner nations,” Kirby said.
Mar 28, 12:50 pm
Russians prioritizing Donbas, Ukrainians ‘slugging it out’ in Mariupol: US official
The Russians appear to be prioritizing the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Monday.
“We’re not exactly sure what’s behind this reprioritization,” the official said.
This could be Russia refocusing its strategic goals or trying to gain leverage for talks, the official said.
Meanwhile, in the hard-hit city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, “the Ukrainians are slugging it out” and “keeping the Russians at bay,” the official said.
In Kyiv, the situation is static, the official said. Russian troops have stopped making advances toward the capital city, though they continue using their long-range missile fires, the official said.
“We continue to see Ukrainians defend the city and try to push Russians back,” the official said.
Mar 28, 11:41 am
Russia says radiation levels remain stable despite fires in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Radiation levels remain stable in Russia despite fires in the occupied Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Russian public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Monday.
Rospotrebnadzor said it was continuing to monitor the situation.
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a 1,000-square-mile restricted area of deserted, contaminated land around the shuttered Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986. Russian forces seized the defunct plant and surrounding exclusion zone just hours after launching an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management has warned that the radiation hazard is growing due to the blazes in the area, which it said have the potential to spread. The fires observed at more than 30 spots in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone over the past two weeks have exceeded 8,700 hectares in total, according to the agency.
However, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on Monday that the situation was currently “more or less stable.”
Mar 28, 11:32 am
Kremlin expresses concern over Biden’s remark in Poland
Russia is concerned by U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent remark seemingly regarding the need for a change of administration in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
In an address on Saturday from Poland’s capital, Warsaw, Biden made a comment that appeared to be directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
“For god’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.
After the speech, the White House released a statement clarifying that Biden wasn’t calling for a regime change.
“The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change,” a White House official said.
When asked by reporters on Monday about Biden’s remark, Peskov replied: “Indeed, this statement makes us worry.”
“We will continue to closely monitor statements made by the U.S. president,” he added. “We are thoroughly recording them and will be continuing to do so.”
Mar 28, 11:20 am
Cost of damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure estimated at $63 billion
The cost of direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure amid Russia’s ongoing invasion has already reached almost an estimated $63 billion, according to an analysis by the Kyiv School of Economics.
As of March 24, at least 4,431 residential buildings, 92 factories and warehouses, 378 institutions of secondary and higher education, 138 health care institutions, 12 airports, seven thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants have been damaged, destroyed or seized in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s overall economic losses due to the war range from $543 billion to $600 billion, the Kyiv School of Economics said.
Mar 28, 11:15 am
Russia dubs German broadcaster DW a ‘foreign agent’
The Russian Ministry of Justice on Monday added German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) to a list of media organizations it has labeled as “foreign agents.”
The justice ministry said in a statement that it made the decision “based on the documents received from the authorized state authorities,” without providing further details. The designation requires media outlets to publish a disclaimer on all its publications.
“This latest, arbitrary decision by the Russian authorities was unfortunately to be expected,” DW director Peter Limbourg said in a statement. “It is a further attack on press freedom and a fresh attempt to cut the Russian population off from free, independent media.”
“It started with the forced closure of our studio in Moscow at the beginning of February, then our website in all languages was blocked in Russia. There then followed the gradual restriction of social media services and now DW has been labeled a ‘foreign agent,'” he added. “This will not stop us from continuing to provide comprehensive and independent coverage of Russia and the region from our new studio in Latvia and from Germany. We will have to put a lot more effort into censorship circumvention tools in the future. This includes VPN clients like Psiphon or the Tor browser, which we already use.”
Mar 28, 11:00 am
Russia’s Nobel-winning Novaya Gazeta newspaper suspends publication
Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose editor was a co-winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, announced Monday that it is suspending publication until the war ends in neighboring Ukraine.
Novaya Gazeta was the last remaining established independent media outlet still operating in Russia and trying to cover the invasion of Ukraine, despite strict censorship. Its decision to halt operations is another watershed moment in the silencing of free media across Russia.
The Moscow-based paper, famous for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, said it made the decision after receiving a second warning from Russia’s state communications and media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, for allegedly violating the country’s repressive “foreign agent” law. Another alleged violation could allow a court to shut Novaya Gazeta down completely.
Novaya Gazeta is best-known by Western countries for the fact that six of its journalists have been murdered since 2000, including most famously Anna Politkovskaya. Last October, the paper’s editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, was jointly awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Rosa, one of the Philippines’ most prominent journalists, for “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”
Before Russian forces attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24, there was still a very small number of popular, influential media outlets able to operate in Russia — albeit under permanent pressure from the government. But since the war began, austerities have moved to crush all of them, and dozens — likely hundreds — of independent journalists have fled abroad. Most are now publishing articles from outside the country. Novaya Gazeta is arguably the most symbolic closure. The paper was co-founded in 1993 by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who still sits on its board.
Novaya Gazeta said in a statement Monday that it is suspending publication until the end of Russia’s so-called “special military operation in Ukraine,” the term the Russian government is using instead of war or invasion. Russia has banned media from using those words to describe the situation. But Novaya Gazeta had been getting around that ban with some symbolic gestures, including blank pages, and replacing the word “war” in its articles with phrases like “word forbidden by Russian government.”
Mar 28, 9:28 am
Ukrainian-American pastor abducted in Ukraine has been freed
Dmitry Bodyu, a Ukrainian-American pastor who was allegedly abducted in Ukraine earlier this month, has been freed, local church officials told ABC News on Monday.
It was unclear where he was released or in what condition.
Bodyu, 50, was taken by a group of about eight to 10 Russian soldiers from his home in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol on March 19, his family told NBC News. He is a pastor of Word of Life Church in Melitopol.
-ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic
Mar 28, 8:05 am
At least 1,119 civilians killed, 1,790 injured in Ukraine: OHCHR
At least 1,119 civilians have been killed and 1,790 others have been injured in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
At least 99 children were among the dead, according to the OHCHR, which noted that the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine had reported at least 139 children were killed as of Sunday.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the agency said in a statement Sunday.
The agency noted that the actual number of casualties are believed to be “considerably higher” because the receipt of information from some areas with intense hostilities, like the southeastern port city of Mariupol, have been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.
Other areas where the number of casualties are still being corroborated include Volnovakha in the Donetsk Oblast, Izium in the Kharkiv Oblast, Popasna and Rubizhne in the Luhansk Oblast, and Trostianets in the Sumy Oblast, where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties, according to the OHCHR. Casualty numbers from these regions are not included.
From 24 Feb—26 March, we recorded 2,909 civilian casualties in context of Russia’s armed attack against #Ukraine: 1,119 killed, incl 99 children; 1,790 injured, incl 126 children, mostly caused by shelling & airstrikes. Actual toll is much higher. Update https://t.co/LlMm7iUqsrpic.twitter.com/OcyhxSUrj3
— UNHumanRightsUkraine (@UNHumanRightsUA) March 27, 2022
Mar 28, 7:33 am
Nightly curfew in Kyiv shifts back, shortens an hour
The nightly citywide curfew in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has been shifted back and shortened by an hour.
Starting Monday night, the curfew will be from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time.
There has been a curfew in Kyiv every day since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24. The previous time frame was from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time.
-ABC News’ Julia Drozd and Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 7:00 am
Russian forces attempt to seize key highways, settlements
Russian forces on Monday morning were attempting to breach defenses from the northwest and east of Ukraine to seize key highways and settlements, which are held by Ukrainian troops, according to Ukrainian officials.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said that hypersonic missiles for the Russian military’s Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile system were being delivered to the Belarusian town of Kalinkovichi. Two of the latest strikes to hit Lutsk, a city in northwestern Ukraine, were launched from neighboring Belarus, according to Ukrainian officials.
Mar 28, 6:20 am
New round of talks could start Monday in Turkey
Ukraine and Russia have both said that a new round of peace negotiations with be held in person in Turkey at the start of this week, but it remains unclear whether the talks begin Monday or Tuesday.
One of the Ukrainian negotiators, David Arakhamia, has said the talks would be held Monday through Wednesday.
Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, has said the talks would start Tuesday.
Arakhamia said the decision to hold the negotiations in person was reached during the latest round of talks via video link, which are taking place everyday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Russian journalists that his country is ready to compromise on Moscow’s demand for neutral status, but wants meaningful security guarantees from Western countries. He said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws all of its troops to areas occupied before the war began.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 6:16 am
Ukraine intel chief says Russia plans a ‘Korean scenario’
Russian President Vladimir Putin may be seeking to split Ukraine in two after failing to seize the capital, Kyiv, according to the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency.
Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said in a statement Sunday that Putin may now be pursuing a “Korean scenario” that would see Russian forces try to occupy the east and south of Ukraine since they no longer have the strength to “swallow the whole state.”
“After the failures near Kyiv and the impossibility to overthrow the central government in Ukraine, Putin is already changing his main direction of operations — to the south and east,” Budanov said. “There are grounds to suggest that he is considering the Korean scenario for Ukraine. That is to attempt to lay down a new line of contact between the non-occupied and occupied regions of our country. In fact, it’s an attempt to create in Ukraine a North and South Korea. Indeed, he definitely doesn’t have the strength to swallow the whole state.”
Budanov said he believes Putin still wants to open a land corridor between the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula and the other Russian-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, which would mean the occupation of besieged Mariupol, a strategic port city in the southeast that has been under heavy Russian bombardment. But he said Ukraine’s continued counterattacks as well as resistance by local people in the occupied areas were disrupting Putin’s plans.
Budanov also predicted the start of guerrilla warfare that would make it impossible for Russia to hold territory.
“Soon the season of the total Ukrainian partisan safari will start,” he said. “Then for the Russians will remain only one relevant scenario — how to survive.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 5:07 am
Ukraine says no humanitarian corridors for Monday
Ukraine’s government announced for the first time in nearly three weeks that no humanitarian corridors for evacuating civilians will be open on Monday due to concerns about possible “provocations” from Russian forces.
“Our intelligence has informed us of possible provocations from the side of the occupiers on the routes of the humanitarian corridors,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on her official Telegram channel. “And so in interest of citizens’ safety today we are not opening humanitarian corridors.”
The Ukrainian government has been evacuating hundreds of thousands of civilians from cities and towns in the north, east and south of the country through established corridors. Officials have previously accused Russian forces of shelling some of the evacuation routes, despite agreeing to cease-fires.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 27, 5:17 pm
Zelenskyy outlines goals for peace agreement to Russian journalists
In his first interview with Russian journalists since his country was invaded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described some of Ukraine’s positions for ending the war.
During an interview with popular Russian independent news sites TV Rain and Meduza, Zelenskyy said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws its troops to the territory occupied before the start of the invasion, meaning Crimea and the separatist-held areas of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said his main goals are “to maximally reduce the number of casualties (and) to shorten the length of this war.”
“The withdrawal of Russia to compromise territories — but that is everything (that) was before 24 February, before the assault. Let them return there,” Zelenskyy said. “I understand that to force Russia to completely liberate territory is impossible. That will lead to a third world war. I totally understand all that. And I say it: compromise. Return to where all this started and there we will try to resolve the question of Donbas, the difficult question of Donbas.”
Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is ready to discuss taking a position of “neutrality” and “non-nuclear status” with Russia, but wants security guarantees for his country in return.
He again said he would put the issue to a referendum in Ukraine and that any treaty would need to be ratified by “guarantor countries” — which other officials have suggested must include the United States.
Zelenskyy reiterated that no guarantor countries, such as the United Kingdom and Turkey, will sign any agreement while Russian troops remain on Ukrainian soil.
The 11-date Canadian trek is scheduled to kick off on October 5 in Victoria, British Columbia, and is scheduled through an October 18 show in Winnipeg. The tour will include two-night stands in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, respectively on October 9-10 and October 12-13.
Tickets for the Canadian concerts go on sale to the general public this Friday, April 1, at 10 a.m. local time via LiveNation.com. Styx will offer VIP packages and exclusive pre-sale opportunities starting Tuesday, March 29, at 10 a.m. local time at StyxWorld.com.
In addition, American Express card members will be able to buy pre-sale tickets beginning Wednesday, March 30, at 10 a.m. local time; visit Ticketmaster.ca/americanexpress for more information.
Earlier this year, Nancy Wilson’s Heart served as Styx’s special guest at the band’s five-show show Las Vegas residency at The Venetian Theatre that ran from January 28 through February 5.
Before the Canadian trek, Styx has a series of spring U.S. headlining lined up, and then will team up with REO Speedwagon and Loverboy for lengthy Live & Unzoomed Tour, which kicks off May 31 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is mapped out all the way through a September a September 18 performance in Bangor, Maine.
