(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Indiana 129, Portland 98
Memphis 122, Houston 98
New Orleans 117, Atlanta 112
Orlando 90, Oklahoma City 85
Phoenix 127, Sacramento 124 (OT)
Utah 108, New York 93
San Antonio 110, Golden State 108
Toronto 93, Philadelphia 88
Final Boston 124 Denver 104
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Philadelphia 2, NY Islanders 1
Dallas 3, Washington 2
NY Rangers 2, Carolina 0
San Jose 4, Arizona 2
Winnipeg 6, Chicago 4
Buffalo 3, Vancouver 2 (OT)
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Arizona 85, TCU 80
Villanova 71, Ohio St. 61
Final Miami 79, Auburn 61
Duke 85, Michigan St. 76
Purdue 81, Texas 71
Texas Tech 59, Notre Dame 53
Iowa St. 54, Wisconsin 49
Houston 68, Illinois 53
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Columbus 1, New York 1 (Tie)
Seattle 1, Austin FC 1 (Tie)
Los Angeles FC 3, Vancouver 1
(DALLAS) — “Multiple” people were shot and one was killed Saturday night in Dallas, officials said.
“At this time, I can confirm one individual was shot and transported to a local hospital where they died from their injuries,” the Dallas Police Department told ABC News. “Multiple individuals were also shot and injured during this incident. This is an active investigation and information is limited.”
Police said they responded at about midnight to the 5200 block of Botham Jean Boulevard.
The search for the next American Idol continued Sunday night, and it was a blast from the past with a lot of the hopefuls drawing inspiration from past contestants.
First up, was 21-year-old Zaréh Turner, whose mother Nadia Turner made it to the Top 8 during the show’s fourth season. She surprised her mother, bringing her to the audition in a blindfold, and eventually won over the judges with a sweet performance of Jazmine Sullivan‘s “Bust the Windows,” earning a trip to Hollywood.
Here’s a look at the rest of the night’s auditions.
Thomas Patrick Moran, 24: After a gimmicky take on Aretha Franklin‘s “Chain of Fools,” the judges pressed him to be more serious and try again. It was his second audition, a surprisingly good rendition of Leon Bridges‘ “River,” that sent him through to Hollywood week, thanks to judges Katy Perry and Lionel Richie.
Sam Moss, 25: This familiar face first auditioned in Austin, Texas and was back for her “redemption story.” She earned a standing ovation — and a trip to Hollywood — after performing an original song that the judges said was one of the best they’d heard this season.
Fritz Hager, 21: Inspired by Phillip Phillips from season 11 of American Idol, Hager strummed his guitar as he belted out Lewis Capaldi‘s “Before You Go” and made it through to the next round.
Kevin Gullage, 23: After sharing that he was inspired by William Hung, known for his amusing audition of Ricky Martin‘s “She Bangs”, Gullage gave a shockingly beautiful performance of Otis Redding‘s “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” effortlessly floating into Hollywood week.
Jacob Moran, 27: Three years ago, Moran made it to Hollywood week and now he’s back for another shot. 60 pounds lighter and booming with confidence, he performed Katy’s song “Rise,” securing his second go at Hollywood week.
Haley Slaton, 23: Five month pregnant with her son, Slaton needed a moment of redemption after her first audition of Miley Cyrus‘ “The Climb” fell short, leaving the judges unsure. A second try performing Adele‘s “One and Only” proved to be a much better suit, sending her through to the next round.
Ellie Rowe, 19: With a sweet and innocent voice like hers, it’s no surprise Rowe made it though to Hollywood after performing Allen Stone‘s “Give You Blue.”
Dan Marshall Griffith, 24: From college football to music heartthrob? That’s the hope for Griffith who did an amazing audition of Garth Brooks‘ “The Dance.” He made it to Hollywood, but if music doesn’t work out, Katy thinks he could have a shot at movie business due to his sharp jawline.
Douglas Mills Jr., 18: Closing out the show, Mills came though with an emotional and moving performance. He was the winner of a local ABC affiliate’s “silver ticket” contest and dedicated his performance of Nina Simone‘s “Strange Fruit” to the Black community and all they’ve had to endure. His performance left Luke Bryan speechless and had Katy declaring him a “superstar.”
Not all auditions lead to Hollywood, of course.
Kenzie Elizabeth tried to sway the judges by performing Avril Lavigne‘s “I’m With You,” but the judges thought her voice was more suited for broadway than American Idol.
For Charvonay, the superstar personality was there, but unfortunately the voice didn’t match.
The journey to find the next American Idol continues Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Lainey Wilson has got another hit on her hands, as “Never Say Never” — her duet with Cole Swindell, and the follow-up to her chart-topping “Things a Man Oughta Know” — is inside the top 10 and rising at country radio.
It may still be cold and dreary in Nashville, but when Cole first sent Lainey the song, she was someplace much more tropical: on a beach vacation.
“There I am, sitting on a beach in Mexico on my first vacation in, like, 10 years, and he texts me out of the blue,” she remembers, adding that the song hooked her as soon as she heard it. “Well, I was drinking a piña colada. I don’t know if that had anything to do with me saying yes, but y’all, I listened to the first verse and chorus and knew immediately that this song was special.”
All jokes — and alcoholic beverages — aside, Lainey says the song gave her the same kind of excitement she’d felt when she was working on “Things a Man Oughta Know.”
“It made me feel the same kind of feelings I felt the day that I wrote ‘Things a Man Oughta Know,’ or the day that we recorded it,” she notes. “It’s a completely different kind of song, but it still gave me that feeling that everybody wants to feel.”
Lainey’s knack for recognizing a powerful song hasn’t let her down yet. “Things a Man Oughta Know” earned her a Song of the Year trophy at the 2022 ACM Awards, where she was also crowned the New Female Artist of the Year.
The 12-track collection features guest contributions from a variety of well-known artists, including Jackson Browne, Lindsey Buckingham, John Fogerty, longtime Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench, Doobie Brothers multi-instrumentalist John McFee, blues-rocker Kenny Wayne Sheppard and acclaimed session drummer Jim Keltner.
Schmit has released the album’s lead track, “Simple Man,” as an advance digital single, while a companion music video has premiered at his official YouTube channel.
“Simple Man” is an introspective folk-rock tune featuring lead guitar from from Buckingham and harmony vocals from ex-Beach Boys touring members Chris Farmer and Matt Jardine — son of founding Beach Boy Al Jardine.
The video captures Schmit in and around his home studio in rural Los Angles County, and includes scenes where Timothy appears to be singing with two other versions of himself.
Day by Day also includes a song titled “Grinding Stone,” which features Schmit harmonizing with Browne and Fogerty.
Timothy’s daughter Jeddrah also sings backing vocals on the album.
Day by Day is Schmit’s seventh solo album overall, and his first since 2016’s Leap of Faith. It was recorded at his home studio during breaks on the Eagles’ tour schedule.
Reflecting on his songwriting, Timothy says, “I try to latch on to whatever’s floating my way through the ethers. I just want to make good music and put a smile on people’s faces. I love the process and feel extremely lucky to be able to make new music as an older guy, and this is very satisfying.”
CD and two-LP versions of the upcoming record can be pre-ordered now at Timothy’s online store.
Here’s the full Day by Day track list:
“Simple Man”
“The Next Rainbow”
“Heartbeat”
“Mr. X”
“Question of the Heart”
“Something You Should Know”
“I Come Alive”
“Feather in the Wind”
“Grinding Stone”
“Taste Like Candy”
“Conflicted”
“Where We Belong”
(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 this 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 20, 2:34 pm
Ukraine accuses Russia of forcibly deporting some civilians to Russia
Local authorities in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol have accused Russian forces of forcibly deporting residents to Russia.
Mariupol’s city council said in a statement it received information Sunday morning that Russian troops were forcing residents of Azovstalkaya Street and from part of the Levoberezhny area to go to Russia. The statement said Russian forces were confiscating the Ukrainian passports of those being deported and issuing them a piece of paper.
ABC News has not independently confirmed the reports of people being forced to leave by Russian troops.
The Russian state news agency TASS reported on Saturday that 13 buses carrying 350 people were moving to Russia. About 50 of those people were to be sent by railway to the Yaroslavl region and the rest to temporary processing centers in Taganrog, a city in Russia’s southeastern Rostov region near Ukraine.
Ukraine has been trying to evacuate thousands of residents from Mariupol, with tens of thousands managing to escape in the past few days — mostly in private cars heading towards the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia. Around 300,000 people are trapped in Mariupol, according to Ukrainian officials.
In some parts of Ukraine, Russia has opened “humanitarian corridors” to Russia. Some people in some cities have chosen to go to Russia to escape the fighting, though the vast majority are seeking to move to safety in other parts of Ukraine.
Mar 20, 12:50 pm
At least 900 killed, nearly 1,500 injured in Ukraine: UN
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine has recorded 2,361 civilian casualties in the country, including 902 dead and 1,459 injured.
In Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region, more than 100 Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries were killed by a missile strike, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed on Sunday.
“A strike using high-precision air-to-surface missiles has been carried out on a special operations forces training center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, where foreign mercenaries in Ukraine were based near the populated locality of Ovruch in the Zhytomyr region,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said in a press conference.
Mar 20, 12:35 pm
Russian journalist who protested on live television: ‘It’s Putin’s war’
Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian state TV editor who protested the invasion of Ukraine on live television, continued her campaign against the war in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
“The Russian people are really against the war,” Ovsyannikova said. “It’s Putin’s war and not the Russian people’s war.”
Ovsyannikova ran onto the set of the main Russian state news live broadcast earlier this month with an anti-war sign to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, standing behind a Channel One anchor as they were speaking.
The sign read, “NO WAR” and “Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here,” in English and Russian, respectively.
Ovsyannikova said it was a “spontaneous decision” for her to go onto the set, but “the dissatisfaction with the current situation has been accumulating for years, because the propaganda on our state channels has become more and more distorted.”
“What we showed on our programs was very different than the reality,” she said.
Ovsyannikova hoped her demonstration would attract attention to the propaganda and “inspire more people to speak up.”
Ovsyannikova was fined 30,000 rubles (about $280) after being charged with an “administrative offense” stemming from an earlier video she recorded calling on Russians to take part in demonstrations against the war.
-ABC News’ Monica and Dunn Quinn Scanlan
Mar 20, 5:15 am
Zelenskyy accuses Russia of ‘war crimes,’ blocking aid to besieged Mariupol
Russia’s attacks on Mariupol will “go down in history” as a series of “war crimes,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address early on Sunday.
“The terror the occupiers did to the peaceful city will be remembered for centuries to come,” Zelenskyy said, according to an official translation.
More than 9,000 people were evacuated from the besieged city on Friday, followed by an additional 4,000 people on Saturday, according to Ukrainian officials.
But Russian forces blocked aid to those still trapped in the city, Zelenksyy said.
“This is a totally deliberate tactic,” Zelenskyy said in an earlier video address, posted just after midnight on Saturday morning. “They have a clear order to do absolutely everything to make the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukrainian cities an ‘argument’ for Ukrainians to cooperate with the occupiers.”
Blocking aid amounts to a “war crime,” Zelenskyy said, adding that every Russian soldier should be held “100%” accountable with a “compulsory one-way ticket to The Hague,” where the International Criminal Court is located.
Mar 20, 3:33 am
Russia increases ‘indiscriminate shelling’ on eastern cities, UK military says
Russian forces attempted to push into cities in eastern Ukraine have made “limited progress” in the last week, so they’ve turned instead to “indiscriminate shelling,” the UK Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.
The shelling of urban areas has caused “widespread destruction and large numbers of civilian casualties,” the Ministry said in an update.
“It is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower to support assaults on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties,” the update said.
Mar 19, 5:44 pm
847 civilians killed since start of invasion: UN
At least 847 civilians, including 64 children, have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, according to the United Nations.
Another 1,399 have been injured, it said.
The casualties, recorded by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, are believed to be “considerably higher” since officials have not been able to verify information in areas where there is intense fighting, the office said.
“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,” it said.
-ABC News’ Jason Volack
Mar 19, 2:32 pm
Kremlin confirms it used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine
The Kremlin confirmed Saturday that it used hypersonic missiles for the first time since invading Ukraine.
Russia used the Kinzhal aviation missile system, with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles, on the village of Delyatyn in Ukraine on Friday, according to Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry.
“On March 18, the Kinzhal aerial missile system equipped with hypersonic aero-ballistic missiles destroyed a large underground missile and air ammunition depot of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the settlement of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region,” Konashenkov said at a briefing on Saturday.
The Russian military claims it is capable of hitting targets at a range of more than 2,000 kilometers.
Mar 19, 2:23 pm
Ukraine says it has detained at least 562 Russian prisoners of war
At least 562 prisoners of war are being held in Ukraine, Irina Vereshchuk, the head of the country’s Ministry of Reintegration, a ministry established in 2016 to manage occupied Ukrainian territories, said in an interview with Ukrainian news service TSN on Saturday.
Vereshchuk said they are being treated according to international humanitarian law.
Ukrainian forces in Kyiv have detained 127 saboteurs, including 14 infiltration groups, since the Russian invasion began, Mykola Zhyrnov, the capital’s military administration head, (told BBC)[].
Mar 19, 1:12 pm
At least 30 killed in strike on Ukrainian military base: witness
At least 30 people were killed in a strike on a Ukrainian military barrack south of Mykolaiv on Friday, according to a witness.
A civilian working with the Ukrainian military told ABC News that more than 30 people were killed in the attack– believed to be in retaliation to damage done to the Russian controlled facility in Kherson.
On Friday, Mykolaiv’s mayor said that “dozens” of troops were killed in the strike.
Mykolaiv’s governor said the rescue operation is ongoing and no official figures on casualties will be released until it’s over.
-ABC News’ Dada Jovanovic
Mar 19, 11:25 am
UNICEF calls for strengthened measures to protect children fleeing Ukraine from human trafficking, exploitation
The United Nations Children’s fund warned Saturday that children fleeing the war in Ukraine are at an increased risk of human trafficking and exploitation.
“Traffickers often seek to exploit the chaos of large scale population movements, and with more than 1.5 million children having fled Ukraine as refugees since [Feb.24], and countless others displaced by violence inside the country, the threat facing children is real and growing,” UNICEF said.
According to an analysis conducted by UNICEF and the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking, 28% of identified victims of trafficking globally are children.
“In the context of Ukraine, UNICEF child protection experts believe that children would likely account for an even higher proportion of potential trafficking victims given that children and women represent nearly all of the refugees who have fled the country so far,” UNICEF said.
According to UNICEF, more than 500 unaccompanied children were identified crossing the Ukrainian border into Romania between Feb. 24 and March 17. It also estimates that the true number of separated children who have fled Ukraine is likely much higher.
“Displaced children are extremely vulnerable to being separated from their families, exploited, and trafficked. They need governments in the region to step up and put measures in place to keep them safe,” said Afshan Khan, UNICEF’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia.
Khan said children need to be screened for their vulnerability as they cross the border into another country.
“UNICEF is calling on governments to improve cross-border collaboration and knowledge exchange between and among border control, law enforcement and child protection authorities and to quickly identify separated children, implement family tracing and reunification procedures for children deprived of parental care,” UNICEF said.
UNICEF also said additional screening for protection risks should be implemented in shelters, large urban train stations and other locations where refugees gather or pass through.
Mar 19, 11:01 am
Lavrov calls West ‘unreliable’ as an economic partner
The West has proven to be unreliable as an economic partner and a place for keeping foreign exchange reserves, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.
“Even disregarding the situation with Ukraine and the sanctions, conduct of the West proves that it is unreliable both as a part of the world where major reserve currencies are generated, as an economic partner, and as a country where forex reserves could be kept. They might easily be stolen,” Lavrov told finalists of the international stage of the Leaders of Russia competition.
This is why Russia is strengthening cooperation with other countries, including China, he said.
Lavrov also commented on the reinstatement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which would allow Iranian oil supply on the global market.
“We never betray our friends in politics. Venezuela is our friend, and Iran is a state that is very close to us. Secondly, we do not pursue selfish interests, unlike the Americans,” Lavrov said in response to a question whether the JCPOA reinstatement was advantageous to Russia.
“You can see what they [the Americans] are actually doing, trying to spite Russia and teach it a lesson,” he said.
“So, the Americans have been contacting Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar regarding oil and gas. All of those countries, just like Venezuela and Iran, clearly said: when we discuss issues pertaining to the appearance of new actors in the oil market, all of us are committed to the OPEC+ format, where quotas for every actor are discussed and agreed upon by consensus,” he said.
“For now, I see no reason to believe that this mechanism may somehow be dismantled. No one is interested in that,” Lavrov said.
Mar 19, 7:06 am
112 children killed in Ukraine conflict, officials say
At least 112 children have been killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the local Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office said.
More than 140 children have been wounded during the first 24 days of the war, officials said.
Fifty-seven children have been killed in Kyiv, officials said. Another 36 were killed in Kharkiv and 28 were killed in the Donetsk Oblast, they said.
Mar 19, 5:38 am
Russia pursuing ‘strategy of attrition,’ UK military says
As Russia’s attempts to capture Ukrainian territory have been slowed by Ukrainian resistance, the invading forces have switched to a “strategy of attrition,” the UK Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.
“This is likely to involve the indiscriminate use of firepower resulting in increase civilian casualties, destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, and intensify the humanitarian crisis,” the Ministry said on Twitter.
Mar 18, 8:31 pm
Zelenskyy responds to massive Moscow rally
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to the massive concert that occurred Friday in Moscow in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and on the eight-year anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
“A big rally took place. And I want to pay attention to one detail. It is reported that a total of about 200,000 people were involved in the rally in the Russian capital — 100,000 on the streets, about 95,000 at the stadium. Approximately the same number of Russian troops were involved in the invasion of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in his latest national address Friday night.
“Just imagine 14,000 corpses and tens of thousands of wounded and maimed people at that stadium in Moscow,” he continued. “There are already so many Russian losses as a result of this invasion. This is the price of war. In a little more than three weeks. The war must end.”
Zelenskyy noted progress in evacuating more than 180,000 Ukrainians through humanitarian corridors, though charged that Russian invaders are blocking the supply of humanitarian aid to some besieged cities.
“This is a totally deliberate tactic. They have a clear order to do absolutely everything to make the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukrainian cities an ‘argument’ for Ukrainians to cooperate with the occupiers,” he said. “This is a war crime. They will be held accountable for this. 100%.”
Mar 18, 3:36 pm
Biden, Xi hold 1st call in months
President Joe Biden held a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping for one hour and 50 minutes on Friday, marking the first time the two leaders spoke since November.
The White House readout of the call doesn’t say whether the conversation was constructive or not, but the White House said Biden made clear the “implications and consequences” if China aligns with Russia and provides them “material support.”
China’s readout of the call said China supports negotiations but passes the buck to the U.S. and NATO to “conduct dialogue with Russia to solve the crux of the Ukraine crisis and resolve the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine.”
The call was “direct,” “substantive” and “detailed,” according to a senior administration official.
The official said Biden “really wasn’t making specific requests of China” on the call and instead was “laying out his assessment of the situation, what he thinks makes sense, and the implications of certain actions.”
The official said that the call was “less about coming away with a particular view out of conversation today and more about making sure, again, that they were able to really have that direct candidate and detailed and very substantive conversation at the leader level.”
Mar 18, 2:53 pm
Macron speaks to Putin about Mariupol
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone Friday, sharing “his extreme concern” about Russian attacks on the besieged city of Mariupol, the Élysée said.
Macron “asked him for concrete and verifiable measures to lift the siege of Mariupol, humanitarian access and an immediate ceasefire,” the Élysée said.
Russian attacks have prevented many civilians from escaping Mariupol and is keeping humanitarian supplies from being brought in. The Mariupol City Council reported Sunday that 2,187 residents had been killed since the start of the invasion. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk said last week that the city was “beyond a humanitarian disaster,” with most roads destroyed, little communication with the outside and no power, gas or heat.
Mar 18, 1:38 pm
Russians have launched 1,080 missiles at Ukrainian targets: US
The Russians remain largely stalled on day 23 of the invasion of Ukraine and haven’t moved further toward Kyiv, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
Reports of missile strikes near Lviv’s airport seem accurate, the official said, adding that there was no additional information at this time.
Russians stalled on the battlefield by Ukrainian resistance are resorting to artillery and long-range missiles to strike at Ukraine’s cities. Russians have now launched 1,080 missiles at Ukrainian targets — an increase of 80 missiles in one day, the official said.
Mar 18, 1:08 pm
US ambassador calls Russia’s biolab allegations ‘potential false flag effort in action’
During the meeting Russia convened to air its allegations of dangerous biolabs in Ukraine, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told her fellow Security Council members that they may be witnessing one of Moscow’s battle tactics unfolding before their eyes.
“I will reiterate the United States’ deep and serious concern that Russia’s calling for this meeting is — is –a potential false flag effort in action. Russia has repeatedly — repeatedly–accused other countries of the very violations it plans to perpetrate,” she stated. “We continue to believe it is possible that Russia may be planning to use chemical or biological agents against the Ukrainian people.”
“Last week we heard from the Russian representative a tirade of bizarre conspiracy theories. This week, we’re hearing a whole lot more where that came from — things that sound like they were forwarded to him on a chain email from some dark corner of the internet,” she said.
“President Joe Biden has a word for this kind of talk: malarkey,” Thomas-Greenfield continued, again flatly denying claims that Ukraine has a biological weapons program.
Thomas-Greenfield reminded the room that it is Russia that maintains such a program in violation of international law and has a documented history of using nerve agents against enemies of the Kremlin as well as supporting the use of chemical warfare in Syria.
“We aren’t going to dignify Russia’s disinformation or conspiracy theories. But we will continue to sound the alarm and tell the world where we think Russia is heading,” she added. “And we will remind the world that Russia has repeatedly — repeatedly — lied to this council over recent weeks.”
Mar 18, 12:32 pm
Russian negotiator says Russia, Ukraine have made progress on issue of neutral status, sticking point is ‘security guarantees’
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s lead negotiator in talks with Ukraine, said the two sides have made the most progress on the question of Ukraine’s “neutral status” during the negotiations, but that “nuances” remain around issues of security guarantees for Ukraine if it gives up joining NATO.
The “nuances are connected with what kind of security guarantees Ukraine gets in addition to ones it already has, in the case of renouncing joining the NATO bloc,” Medinsky told Russian media.
Medinsky said the two sides were “somewhere halfway” to meeting each other over the issue of Ukraine’s “demilitarization.”
“As for demilitarisation, I would say it’s 50-50. The issues is I am now authorised to divulge any details of the negotiations and I will not do that, nor concrete figures, nor arguments of the sides, but in this part we are somewhere halfway,” he said.
Mar 18, 10:28 am
Putin speaks at massive concert in Moscow
At a massive concert in Moscow on Friday in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the main goal of the military special operation to stop the genocide of the population of Donbass — a false claim Putin has been spreading.
“It is precisely to save people from this suffering, from this genocide that is the main, main reason, motive and goal of the military operation that we launched in the Donbass and Ukraine,” Putin told the packed crowd in the city’s main stadium.
The concert was timed to mark the eight-year anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Mar 18, 6:48 am
Russian foreign minister threatens countries arming Ukraine
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that any foreign supplies to Ukraine containing military equipment will be considered “legitimate targets” for Russian strikes.
“We clearly said that any cargo moving into the Ukrainian territory which we would believe is carrying weapons would be fair game. This is clear because we are implementing the operation the goal of which is to remove any threat to the Russian Federation coming from the Ukrainian soil,” Lavrov said in an English-language interview with the RT television channel.
Mar 18, 6:29 am
Putin says Ukraine ‘seeking to drag out’ negotiations
The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call with Germany’s leader Olaf Scholz accused Ukraine of “seeking to drag out” negotiations with Russia to end the war by putting forward “new unrealistic proposals.”
Putin told Scholz Russia was “nonetheless ready to continue the search for a solution within the bounds of its well-known principled approaches,” the Kremlin said in a readout of the call.
It’s a negative sign for the ongoing talks with Ukraine that both sides have suggested have made some progress this week.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 18, 4:41 am
Lviv struck by missiles for the first time
Russian missiles have hit the western Ukrainian city of Lviv for the first time Friday, a key location that had been spared from the assault until now.
The missiles struck the area around the city’s airport, according to the mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, around 6:30 a.m. local time, hitting an aircraft repair facility and destroying the building.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the attack, according to the mayor.
Preliminary data indicated that six cruise missiles were fired from the Black Sea, according to the country’s western military command. Two were destroyed by anti-aircraft missile systems.
-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz
Mar 17, 8:34 pm
White House ‘focused’ on ways to help growing Ukrainian refugee crisis
The Biden administration is “focused” on ways to help Ukrainian refugees, as the number of people displaced by the war continues to grow, according to U.S. officials.
More than 3 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency, in Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
“As the numbers increase, as the burden increases for European partners, we will certainly do everything we can to help,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Thursday, adding it was “something we’re very focused on right now.”
Without offering specifics, Blinken confirmed the administration is “looking at things that we can do ourselves and do directly — for example, looking at steps we may be able to take on family reunification and other things.”
One limited option is fast-tracking the process to admit refugees to the U.S. itself, which is defined by law and requires a referral from the U.N.’s refugee agency and thorough vetting. A senior administration official told ABC News that the refugee program “is not an emergency response program, so our goal would be to provide humanitarian assistance to keep people safe where they are for now.”
As Blinken told reporters, the referral process to be granted refugee status “takes time.” Refugee resettlement is a yearslong process, and there are already 7,000 Ukrainian refugees in the pipeline, according to resettlement agency Church World Service.
The senior administration official also said U.S. embassies and consulates in the region are processing emergency visa applications, but that they are overwhelmed. “We are not able to process the volume of the people who are thinking about that as an option,” the official said.
Refugee resettlement agencies say the administration is considering using the Lautenberg program, which allows religious minorities — including Ukrainian Greek Catholics and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Christians — to bring family members to the U.S. with a potentially expedited refugee status. One agency told ABC News there are thousands of Ukrainian applicants who the U.S. could swiftly admit.
The administration has already approved temporary protected status for any Ukrainians in the U.S. before March 1 — allowing them to stay and work in the U.S. for at least the next 18 months.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson, Sarah Kolinovsky and Conor Finnegan
(NEW YORK) — At least 24 people were shot, including children, at a car show in rural Arkansas on Saturday night. At least one person has died, according to police.
The shooting took place in Dumas, about 90 miles southeast of Little Rock, at about 7:30 p.m. local time, according to Arkansas State Police.
Keith Finch, Dumas’ chief of police, told ABC News that children were among those injured in the shooting, but did not have a specific number. Organizers for the event told ABC News that six children were injured but are “doing OK.”
Preliminary information suggests the shooting was the result of a gang-related fight that spilled into a public area and not a random act. Detectives are continuing their investigation, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told ABC News.
Finch said police have a person of interest in custody but continue to investigate whether more people may have been involved.
It’s unclear what caused the shooting or the conditions of many of those injured.
(NEW YORK) — Sen. Dick Durbin on Sunday defended the Biden administration’s decision to not facilitate the delivery of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine from Poland.
“There are other ways for us to provide surface to air missiles and air defenses that will keep the Russians at bay in terms of their aerial attack,” Durbin, D-Ill., told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “There are other ways to do that that are consistent with the NATO alliance and would not jeopardize expanding this into World War III or even worse.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a virtual address to Congress on Wednesday, pleading with the U.S. for additional military aid, further sanctions and a no-fly zone over Ukraine to stop the Russian invasion. Zelenskyy also asked the U.S. to assist with the delivery of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine from Poland, but the Biden administration has held firm against the request, insisting that is an offensive move that could lead to World War III.
There is bipartisan support for sending planes, with Democratic members of Congress in favor, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“We’re asking for one-third of the Polish Air Force to be sent into Ukraine,” Durbin, the Senate majority whip, added.
While President Vladimir Putin has shown no signs of backing down, Durbin said Ukraine has shown no signs of backing down either and the U.S. firmly stands with the Ukrainian effort to stop the Russian invasion.
“The desperate things that he’s doing now killing innocent civilians and children, for goodness sakes, he will have a stained name in history forever for this,” Durbin said of Putin.
President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping spoke Friday morning and Biden made clear the “implications and consequences” if China aligns with Russia, according to the White House readout.
“How about tougher economic sanctions right now, not only on Russia, but also potentially for China?” Stephanopoulos pressed. “We know that President Biden spoke with President Xi on Friday. It doesn’t appear that China, at least not yet, is ready to back off their support for Putin.”
Durbin told Stephanopoulos that Xi must “decide his place in history and China’s place in the world” and he thinks Biden made that clear in the call, but did not answer whether he thinks the U.S. should implement sanctions on China.
“If (China) is going to be part of Putin and his barbaric conduct in Ukraine, he’s going to run the risk of discrediting his own nation,” Durbin said.
Stephanopoulos pressed Durbin on GOP criticism that Biden is turning to dictators for oil while blaming high gas prices on the Russian invasion when he could ramp up American oil production.
“One of the things we’ve seen at home recently is, of course, inflation, higher gas prices across the board,” Stephanopoulos pressed. “President Biden has said that the sanctions on Putin are at least part of the issue there for causing the rise in the prices. But our next guest, Senator Barrasso, has taken that on.”
Sen. John Barrasso said Tuesday that “Biden would rather turn to dictators like those in Iran and those in Venezuela rather than turn against the climate elitists who dictate the energy policy of that Democratic Party and of his presidency. So now he’s trying to pass the buck to Vladimir Putin.”
Asked to respond, Durbin said the Biden administration is working to reduce the impact of cutting off Russian oil and that it is “completely wrong” to blame Biden’s efforts to stop Putin for inflation, saying “other countries are going through the same inflation.”
Confirmation hearings for Biden’s historic Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, will begin Monday. Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, will preside over the hearings.
Stephanopoulos asked Durbin about recent GOP attacks on Jackson, including a series of tweets from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., that incorrectly suggest Jackson is soft on child pornography. Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler gave Hawley’s assertion “Three Pinocchios.”
Durbin slammed Hawley’s attacks, calling them inaccurate and unfair, and said Jackson has been scrutinized more than any person he could think of.
“There’s no truth to what he says and he’s part of the fringe within the Republican Party,” Durbin said. “This was a man who was fist-bumping the murderous mob that descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6 of the last year. He doesn’t have the credibility he thinks he does.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian people do not support Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian journalist who made headlines after staging an anti-war protest on live TV, said Sunday, branding the unprovoked invasion “Putin’s war.”
“It’s Putin’s war, not [the] Russian people’s war,” Ovsyannikova told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos in her first interview with an American broadcast network.
Ovsyannikova ran onto the set of the main Russian state news live broadcast last Monday with an anti-war sign to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, standing behind a Channel One anchor as they were speaking.
The sign read, “NO WAR,” and “Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here,” in English and Russian, respectively.
The program cut away within seconds, and officials took Ovsyannikova into custody, where she stayed overnight. The court fined Ovsyannikova 30,000 rubles (about $280) after being charged with an “administrative offense” stemming from an earlier video she recorded calling on Russians to take part in demonstrations against the war.
Under a newly enacted censorship law, any person speaking out against the Russian government’s narrative about the war, including by calling it a “war” or “invasion,” faces up to 15 years in prison. Ovsyannikova could still be charged under this law.
Stephanopoulos asked Ovsyannikova why she took the risk of speaking out.
“As soon as the war began, I could not eat. I could not sleep,” Ovsyannikova said.”What we showed on our programs was very different from what was going on in reality.”
Ovsyannikova told Stephanopoulos she wanted to do something that would attract more attention than protesting in the square, as well as to show the rest of the world that Russians do not support the war.
“I could show to the Russian people that this is just propaganda, expose this propaganda for what it is and maybe stimulate some people to speak up against the war,” Ovsyannikova said.
Ovsyannikova encouraged people to analyze information from multiple sources to understand what is really happening.
An independent protest monitoring group reports that as of Sunday, more than 15,000 people have been detained in Russia for protesting against the country’s war against Ukraine.
Stephanopoulos asked Ovsyannikova if she is worried for her safety, despite rejecting France’s offer of asylum.
“I am very worried for the safety of my children,” Ovsyannikova replied. “I have publicly refused to take political asylum in France because I am a patriot; I want to live in Russia.”
She acknowledged Russia is in a “very dark and difficult” period, but she encouraged people to speak up.
Stephanopoulos followed up, asking Ovsyannikova what her message is for President Vladimir Putin and the West.
Ovsyannikova said she wanted to show the world that not all Russians believe the same thing. She said that the sanctions against Russia are not just impacting Putin and his oligarchs.
“Ordinary people, ordinary Russian citizens who are against the war are also being affected,” Ovsyannikova said.
Ovsyannikova then gave her final message to her fellow citizens: “to think critically and analyze the information that is being presented to them critically.”
(STREPY-BRACQUEGNIES, Belgium) — A car slammed into about 100 people, killing six, on Sunday morning during a carnival in Strépy-Bracquegnies, Belgium, officials said.
At least 37 people were wounded, including 10 with life-threatening injuries, according to Belgium’s Interior Ministry.
A car driving at a high speed hit a crowd at about 5 a.m. local time, an official said. Two people were found inside the vehicle and arrested for murder; both are from La Louvière, deputy prosecutor Damien Verheyen said at a news conference. No charges have been filed yet.
Between 150 and 200 people were gathered for the annual folklore parade when the vehicle appeared, Jacques Gobert, mayor of the nearby town of La Louviere, told Reuters.
One member of the carnival troupe described the scene as “horrible,” telling Reuters that they “saw bodies flying everywhere.”
“It was supposed to be a celebration day, but it turned out to be a tragedy,” he said.
One woman who heard the crash from her apartment said her house shook as the car passed by. “A couple of seconds after” the driver struck the troupe, she added.
“Frankly, he wasn’t driving slowly,” she said, adding that her daughter was at the scene.
A preliminary investigation indicates the attack was not terror related, Verheyen said, adding that the two people are not known to the police for similar facts.”
The village of Strépy-Bracquegnies is in the municipality of La Louvière and about an hour south of Brussels.
Sunday’s event was planned as a launch for a post-COVID carnival, scheduled to run through Tuesday.
![‘It’s Putin’s war, not [the] Russian people’s war’: Russian anti-war journalist](https://s3.amazonaws.com/syndication.abcaudio.com/files/2022-03-20/032022_ABCNews_RussianJournalist.jpg "‘It’s Putin’s war, not [the] Russian people’s war’: Russian anti-war journalist")
