US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed another executive order to protect abortion rights, this time in regards to out of state travel for the procedure.
It’s the latest bid by the Biden administration to ensure access to abortions after the Supreme Court ruled in June to end the nationwide constitutional right to abortion.
What does the order do?
The order will allow states which have not banned abortion to apply for Medicaid funds. This money can then be used to support women who travel from out of state, and facilitate their access to an abortion.
The application of the order could be tricky, as Medicaid funds are not to be used for abortion services unless the woman’s life is in jeopardy or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
The order also urges healthcare providers to comply with federal non-discrimination laws in regards to medical care.
The latest executive order on abortion by Biden comes amid Republican-led efforts across the country to outlaw and restrict access to the procedure. The recent Supreme Court reversal on Roe v. Wade struck down the constitutional right to an abortion, leaving it up to the states to decide whether it should be legal.
Biden hails Kansas abortion vote
Biden on Wednesday also touted a major pro-choice victory in Kansas.
Kansans a day earlier voted against amending the state constitution to say there is no right to an abortion. The vote is unusual in a state that leans highly conservative.
“Last night in the American heartland, the people of Kansas sent an unmistakable message to the Republican extremists,” Biden said. “If it’s going to happen in Kansas, it’s going to happen in a whole lot of states.”
In other parts of the country, abortion rights are still under attack, however. In several weeks, the western state of Idaho will enact a near-total ban on abortion, with the Biden administration suing over the measure.
The Midwestern state of Indiana also recently advanced a near-total ban in the state Senate, with the legislation now headed for debate in the state’s House of Representatives this week.
Following a long review of U.S.-Cuba relations, the White House is reportedly working on a plan to make it easier for Americans to visit their friends and relatives in Cuba.
Such policy changes would partially reverse some of the former Trump administration’s harsh policies implemented against the island nation, easing travel restrictions that are presently in place.
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Part of the plan would include expanding flights to Cuba, enabling travelers to fly into locations other than the single airport in Havana that had been sanctioned under the Trump administration rules. New regulations would allow airports beyond the capital city to open themselves to charter flights, Travel Noire reported.
“The measures today again are practical steps that we are taking to address the humanitarian situation and to respond to the needs of the Cuban people,” a senior administration official told NPR. “President Biden is also fulfilling his commitment to the Cuban-American community and their family members in Cuba by announcing measures in four key areas which we plan to implement in the coming weeks.”
A senior administration official also told NPR that the White House’s impending moves are intended to help the Cuban people.
One of the aims of this policy overhaul is to expand authorized travel between the U.S. and Cuba. However, the loosening of some restrictions doesn’t mean that the communist-led Caribbean country would be fully open to U.S. tourists.
Only groups that plan on going to Cuba for educational or work purposes will be permitted to travel under the group ‘People to People’ authorized travel category, although the Biden administration’s announcement didn’t offer any details about how this travel exception would be implemented.
Mark Feierstein, a former senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development under President Biden, called the upcoming policy revision “a big change” and said that it’s “tilting back” toward Obama-era policies.
Havana, Cuba. (Photo via Collette Vacations)
As part of these policy changes, the U.S. government will be bolstering its consular services, increasing support for Cuban entrepreneurs and lifting a $1,000 limit on family remittance payments (the transfer of money between people in the U.S. and their family members in Cuba).
It will also reinstate the ‘Cuba Family Reunification Parole Program’, which allows certain eligible U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to apply to bring their family members from Cuba without waiting for their immigrant visas to become available.
However, the intended changes fall short of previous policies toward Cuba that existed under the Obama administration. For example, the individual ‘People to People’ educational travel category that was in place under President Obama will not be reinstated.
Under the Obama-era individual exception, travelers were permitted to use a self-certification of their own compliance with the rules to travel independently to Cuba, which past opponents saw as, “a means for individuals to engage in prohibited tourist travel to Cuba,” according to the legal offices of Holland & Knight.
“Jill and I will be traveling to Texas in the coming days to meet with the families and let them know we have a sense of their pain, and hopefully bring some little comfort to a community in shock, in grief and in trauma,” Biden said at the White House during a signing event for an executive order on police reform.
“As a nation, I think we all must be for them. Everyone,” he added. “And we must ask: When in God’s name will we do what needs to be done to, if not completely stop, fundamentally change the amount of the carnage that goes on in this country?”
Echoing remarks he made Tuesday night in a national address, Biden said he was “sick and tired of what’s going on.”
He said “common sense” gun reform wouldn’t “prevent every tragedy,” but would still “have significant impact, and have no negative impact on the Second Amendment.”
“The Second Amendment is not absolute,” Biden said. “When it was passed you couldn’t own a cannon. You couldn’t own certain kinds of weapons. There’s just always been limitations.”
“The idea an 18-year-old can buy weapons of war designed and marketed to kill is, I think, just wrong. It just violates common sense,” the President continued.
“Where’s the backbone?” he asked. “Where’s the courage to stand up to a very powerful lobby?”
The President said on Wednesday that “one modest step” Congress could take immediately would be to confirm his nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Steve Dettelbach, who vowed earlier Wednesday at a Senate confirmation hearing that he would not be influenced by political considerations if he secures the job.
“The Senate should confirm him without delay, without excuse,” Biden said. “Send the nomination to my desk. It’s time for action.”
With 21 dead and 17 others injured, the attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde was the deadliest school shooting in almost a decade, shaking a nation still reeling from a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, just 10 days ago.
Details about how the shooting unfolded have continued to be released by law enforcement officials on Wednesday as more is learned about the crime. The suspect shot his grandmother, drove to the nearby school, forced his way inside adjoining classrooms and opened fire at a group of kids and faculty. Officers eventually forced their way into the barricaded room and a Border Patrol officer fatally shot him.
Tuesday’s massacre is the second-deadliest school shooting since 2012, when 26 children and adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, and it was at least the 30th shooting at a K-12 school in 2022, according to a CNN tally.
Biden, in his national address Tuesday night, recalled the Sandy Hook shooting, which happened when he was vice president.
“I had hoped when I became President I would not have to do this again,” he said. “How many scores of little children who witnessed what happened — see their friends die as if they’re in a battlefield, for God’s sake? They’ll live with it the rest of their lives.”
Biden signs executive order on police reform
Biden’s comments on Wednesday took place during a ceremony for the signing of an executive order aimed at federal policing reforms.
The order, signed on the second anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd, is more limited than the sweeping legislation that has been blocked by Republican opposition in Congress.
Members of Floyd’s family, the families of other individuals killed by police, members of Congress, members of the law enforcement community and members of the Cabinet were also present.
Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the families in the room at the ceremony, saying that though the order to address police reform will not take away their pain, the new action is “a long overdue, critical step forward.”
The order takes several actions that will be applied to federal officers, including efforts that ban chokeholds, expand the use of body-worn cameras and restrict no-knock warrants.
The order also mandates that the Justice Department create a new national database of police misconduct, which will be used by all federal law enforcement agencies and required for federal personnel screenings. The database will also be used to screen state and local officers who participate in federal joint task forces.
Biden’s order also brings back and enhances Obama-era limitations on the transfer of military equipment to local police departments, which had been rolled back by the Trump administration.
During his speech on Wednesday, Biden again promised to do “everything” in his power to pass police reform and again urged Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
“George’s name is not just going to be a hashtag, your daddy’s name is going to be known for a long time. As a nation, we’re going to ensure his legacy and the legacy of so many others remembered today. It’s not about their death, but what we do in their memory, that matters. Purpose,” Biden said, addressing Floyd’s daughter, Gianna.
After signing the order, Biden invited Gianna to sit at the signing desk.
Harris, who had received the pen Biden used to sign the order moments earlier, then leaned over and gifted it to her.
The President then told the crowd: “You know what she told me when I saw her? … Seriously, she pulled me aside and said, ‘My daddy’s going to change the world.'”
This story has been updated with additional developments on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Texas in coming days to meet families of the young shooting victims killed at an elementary school.
Biden also urged the Senate to quickly confirm his nominee to head the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency, Steven Dettelbach.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Steve Holland; Editing by Chris Reese)
Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry on Saturday released an updated list of nearly 1,000 Americans permanently barred from entering the country, a largely symbolic slap in response to harsh sanctions imposed by Western countries for its brutal invasion of Ukraine in February.
Biden since mid-March had already been banned from visiting Russia, as were Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
But the updated list now includes Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as Biden’s scandal-plagued son Hunter Biden, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and first lady.
The actor Morgan Freeman and billionaire investor George Soros also made the list. Soros’ philanthropic support of liberal causes, and groups in the former Soviet bloc, have made him a boogeyman for both Russia and right-wing conspiracy theorists.
Jen Psaki, who until this month served as Biden’s White House press secretary, posted a sarcastic tweet about the list Saturday evening: “I guess we will have to cancel our August family trip to Moscow…”
Trump was not on the list of 963 banned Americans.
Over the years, Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticized investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election that ended with Trump’s victory over Democratic rival Clinton.
Trump was impeached in 2019 for withholding congressionally appropriated military aid to Ukraine while pressuring that country’s then-newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to announce investigations into Joe Biden, who at the time was the leading Democratic candidate for the White House.
“This is one of the greatest political scandals in history,” Trump said. “Where do I get my reputation back?”
A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his omission from Russia’s travel-ban list.
Former President Barack Obama and Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, also are not on the list, but Pence’s brother, Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., is banned.
So are 211 of Greg Pence’s fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate — along with 224 Democratic members of both congressional chambers.
The GOP House members on the banned list included two hard-core, Republican Trump supporters, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Arizona’s Paul Gosar.
Also making the list are two Democratic House members whose strongly progressive policy stances are anathema to Trump World: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Minnesota’s Rep. Ilhan Omar.
So is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who this week also was banned from receiving communion by the archbishop of the San Francisco Roman Catholic Archdiocese because of her support for abortion rights.
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In a statement published by Russia’s state news agency RIA, the Foreign Ministry said, “Russian counter-sanctions are of a forced nature and are aimed at forcing the ruling American regime to change its behavior” and recognize “new geopolitical realities.”
The ministry also accused the U.S. of trying to impose a neo-colonial “rules-based world order” on the rest of the world.
The ministry said “hostile actions” taken by the U.S. government “boomerang back to hit the United States itself” and “will continue to receive proper rebuffs.”
Russia also has barred entry to the country to hundreds of Canadians, among them Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, and hundreds of members of the United Kingdom’s Parliament.
The White House plans to make it easier for families to visit relatives in Cuba and increase visa processing on the island, reversing some of former President Trump’s policies.
(Image credit: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel Tuesday to Buffalo, New York, “to grieve with the community that lost ten lives in a senseless and horrific mass shooting,” the White House said Sunday.
Ten people were killed and three injured Saturday in what officials are calling a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism. The suspect, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, was arraigned Saturday on a charge of murder in the first degree, the most severe murder charge under New York law. He pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Biden said Sunday that he has been receiving updates from the White House, which is working with the Justice Department.
“We’re still gathering the facts; already the Justice Department has stated publicly and as investigating the matter as a hate crime, racially motivated act of white supremacy and violent extremism as they do,” Mr. Biden said. “We must all work together to address the hate. The remains the stain on the soul of American hearts are heavy once again. What a resolve must never ever waver.”
President Joe Biden speaks at the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service at the U.S. Capitol on May 15, 2022 in Washington, DC. The National Fraternal Order of Police held the 41st Annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service.
TASOS KATOPODIS / Getty Images
A White House official said Sunday that Mr. Biden had spoken to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is from Buffalo, and he had reached out to the city’s mayor, Byron Brown.
Brown told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the suspect, who is White, “came here here to take as many Black lives as possible.” Of the 13 victims, 11 were Black.
Authorities said the suspect, who was heavily armed and wearing tactical gear, got out of his vehicle at Buffalo’s Tops Friendly Market and shot four people in the parking lot, killing three of them. He then allegedly walked inside the store and encountered a retired Buffalo police officer working as a security guard, who fired multiple shots at the suspected gunman. The shooter then killed the guard and walked through the supermarket, shooting others, police said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Saturday that federal authorities are “investigating this matter as a hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism.”
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said Saturday that Gendron came from Conklin, New York, which is approximately a three and a half hour drive from Buffalo. In a hate-filled manifesto purportedly written and posted online by Gendron before the attack, he said that he chose the location because it has a high Black population and “isn’t that far away.”
Victoria Albert, Gabrielle Ake and Melissa Quinn contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — First lady Jill Biden’s weekend trip to Eastern Europe will include a Mother’s Day trip to Slovakia’s border with Ukraine, the White House announced Thursday.
Sunday’s stop at a border crossing in Vyšné Nemecké, Slovakia, will be the latest by a prominent U.S. government official to the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war. There, Biden will survey a checkpoint where Ukrainian refugees receive basic assistance from humanitarian and Slovakian government workers before they travel further west to processing centers and transit hubs, according to the White House.
At the stop, which will also include a visit to a small Greek Catholic chapel, Biden is expected to convey the gratitude of her husband’s administration for the work being done there and learn about the experiences of aid workers and refugees, the White House said.
Also Sunday, Biden will visit a refugee center and school in the larger city of Košice, about 55 miles from the border, where she’ll participate in Mother’s Day activities with both Slovaks and Ukrainian refugees.
The four-day trip to Romania and Slovakia is Biden’s second, solo international trip, following a 2021 trip to Tokyo representing the Biden administration at the Summer Olympic games.
The announced stops will showcase both Biden’s professional role as an educator, and an area of focus during her time as both second and first lady, supporting veterans and military families.
She lands Friday at Mihail Kogalniceanu Airbase near the Black Sea in Romania, where she will visit with — and serve dinner to — U.S. service members part of rotational deployments in support of the NATO ally.
On Saturday, Biden will be briefed on U.S.-led humanitarian efforts in Romania at the U.S. embassy in Bucharest, and also meet with Romanian first lady Carmen Iohannis, who, like Biden, has continued to work as an English teacher since becoming a presidential spouse. She’ll also visit a public school in the capital city that has been hosting Ukrainian refugee students.
Biden’s trip ends Monday in Bratislava where she meets with Slovakian President Zuzana Čaputová, the first woman to hold the office there.
(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 last month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, attempting to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and to secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 02, 10:10 am First group of civilians leave Mariupol steel plant
Dozens of civilians trapped for weeks inside a steel plant in the devastated Ukrainian city of Mariupol were expected to reach Zaporizhzhia on Monday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a statement posted to Twitter on Sunday, Zelenskyy said a first group of about 100 people were already en route to the Ukrainian government-controlled city, about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol.
“Tomorrow we’ll meet them in Zaporizhzhia,” Zelenskyy tweeted. “Grateful to our team!”
Many more civilians remain trapped at the sprawling Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant in Mariupol — the last holdout of Ukrainian resistance to Russia’s bombardment of the strategic southeastern port city — which Russian forces resumed shelling overnight.
“Today, for the first time in all the days of the war, this vitally needed green corridor has started working,” Zelenskyy said Sunday in his nightly address.
May 02, 10:02 am Two explosions heard in Russian city of Belgorod
A pair of “powerful explosions” were heard early Monday in the western Russian city of Belgorod, about 15 miles from the border with Ukraine, according to the regional governor.
“I woke up to the sound of two powerful explosions half an hour ago. According to the anti-crisis center, there were no reports of casualties or damage. Footage showing flashes in the sky has emerged on social media,” Belgorod Oblast Gob. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement posted on Telegram.
The blasts followed a series of other explosions and fires at industrial and military facilities across Russia in recent weeks. On Sunday, the governor of Russia’s western Kursk Oblast, which also shares a border with Ukraine, said a railway bridge used to transfer Russian troops to Ukraine had partially collapsed. In a video posted on Telegram, Kurk Oblast Gov. Roman Starovoit blamed the incident on sabotage.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Irene Hnatiuk and Fidel Pavlenko
May 02, 9:55 am Quarter of Russian units in Ukraine now ‘combat ineffective,’ UK says
Over a quarter of Russian military units committed to fight in Ukraine have been likely rendered “combat ineffective,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Monday in an intelligence update.
“At the start of the conflict, Russia committed over 120 battalion tactical groups, approximately 65% of its entire ground combat strength,” the ministry said. “It is likely that more than a quarter of these units have now been rendered combat ineffective.”
Meanwhile, some of Russia’s most elite units, including the Russian Airborne Forces or VDV, “have suffered the highest levels of attrition,” according to the ministry.
“It will probably take years for Russia to reconstitute these forces,” the ministry added.
On Sunday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said at least 30 senior Russian military officers have been eliminated in the previous five days.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Irene Hnatiuk and Fidel Pavlenko
May 02, 9:30 am Israel lashes out at Russia over Lavrov comparing Zelenskyy to Hitler
Israel on Monday lashed out at Russia over “unforgivable and scandalous” remarks made by its top diplomat about Nazism and antisemitism, including claims that Adolf Hitler was Jewish.
During an interview Sunday with an Italian television channel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was asked about Moscow’s assertion that it invaded neighboring Ukraine to “denazify” the country. Lavrov said the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish does not negate the Nazi elements in his country, drawing a parallel with Hitler, the chancellor of Nazi Germany.
“So when they say: ‘How can Nazification exist if we’re Jewish?’ In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn’t mean absolutely anything. For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites were Jewish,” Lavrov said, speaking to the station in Russian, dubbed over by an Italian translation.
Russia does not insist on Zelenskyy’s surrender, Lavrov said, but wants the Ukrainian president to order “neo-Nazi battalions to halt resistance, lay down their arms and let civilian hostages go.” Lavrov alleged that Moscow only seeks to guarantee the security of pro-Russia Ukrainians in the eastern regions.
Lavrov’s comments came at a time when Israel, which was created as a refuge for Jews in the wake of the Holocaust, has sought to remain neutral amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned the statement made by his Russian counterpart as “unforgivable and scandalous and a horrible historical error.”
“The Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust,” Lapid, the son of a Holocaust survivor, said Monday. “The lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame Jews themselves for antisemitism.”
Ukraine also denounced Lavrov’s statement, with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba saying it exposes “the deeply-rooted antisemitism of the Russian elites.”
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Irene Hnatiuk and Fidel Pavlenko
May 02, 7:18 am Jill Biden to meet with Ukrainian refugees in Romania, Slovakia
U.S. first lady Jill Biden will travel to Romania and Slovakia this week to meet with American soldiers, U.S. embassy staff as well as displaced Ukrainian families, the White House announced Monday.
Romania and Slovakia are hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine who were forced to flee their homes due to Russia’s invasion.
According to a press release from the White House, Biden will depart the United States for Romania on Thursday evening. On Friday, she will visit Mihail Kogalniceau Airbase in southeastern Romania, where she will meet with U.S. military service members.
On Saturday, Biden will travel to Romania’s capital, Bucharest, to meet with Romanian government officials, U.S. embassy personnel, humanitarian aid workers as well as educators who are helping teach displaced Ukrainian children. She will then travel to Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, to meet with U.S. embassy staff there, according to the White House.
On Sunday, which is celebrated as Mother’s Day in the U.S., Biden will travel to the eastern Slovak city of Kosice and the small village of Vysne Nemecke, the largest of three border crossings between Slovakia and Ukraine, to meet with Ukrainian refugees, humanitarian aid workers as well as local Slovakians who are supporting the displaced families, according to the White House.
“On Mother’s Day, she will meet with Ukrainian mothers and children who have been forced to flee their home country because of Putin’s war,” the White House said in a statement.
On Monday, Biden will meet with Slovakian government officials before heading back to the U.S.
-ABC News’ Armando Garcia
May 02, 5:48 am Pelosi leads delegation to Poland after visiting Ukraine
A high-level U.S. congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on Monday, a day after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
“Our distinguished Congressional delegation came to Poland to send an unmistakable message to the world: that America stands firmly with our NATO allies in our support for Ukraine,” Pelosi said in a statement.
Pelosi said their talks with Duda and other Polish officials in the Polish capital “will be focused on further strengthening our partnership, offering our gratitude for Poland’s humanitarian leadership, and discussing how we can further work together to support Ukraine.”
Earlier, Pelosi and the half dozen U.S. lawmakers with her traveled to the southeastern Polish city of Rzeszow, where they met with U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Poland to reassure NATO allies and deter Russian aggression.
“These engagements are even more meaningful following our meeting in Kyiv with President Volodymr Zelenskyy and other top Ukrainian leaders,” Pelosi said. “In that profound and solemn visit, our delegation conveyed our respect and gratitude to President Zelenskyy for his leadership and our admiration of the Ukrainian people for their courage in the fight against Russia’s diabolical invasion. Our Members were proud to deliver the message that additional American support is on the way, as we work to transform President Biden’s strong funding request into a legislative package.”
Pelosi, second in line to the U.S. presidency after the vice president, was the most senior American lawmaker to visit Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24. The delegation’s trip to the Ukrainian capital was not disclosed until they were safely out of the country.
-ABC News’ Chad Murray
May 01, 4:57 pm Russian shelling of Mariupol steel plant resumes: Ukrainian officials
Russian forces resumed shelling the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol on Sunday after some civilians inside the facility and in nearby homes were evacuated during a brief cease fire, according Ukrainian officials.
“They are shelling the plant with all kinds of weapons,” said Denis Schlega, commander of the 12th Brigade of Operational Assignment in Mariupol.
Earlier Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations and Russian Ministry of Defense all confirmed that some civilians were evacuated from the steel plant, where a Ukrainian military unit is making a last stand in the port city that is almost entirely under Russian control.
Zelenskyy said about 100 civilians were evacuated from the steel plant on Sunday and were being taken to Zaporizhia, a city under Ukrainian control.
The Mariupol City Council said in a statement that evacuations from Mariupol had stopped Sunday afternoon due to “security reasons.” The city council said the evacuations would resume on Monday.
May 01, 4:13 pm Civilians killed, injured in shelling of Kharkiv region: Ukrainian official
At least three civilians were killed and eight others injured on Sunday as a result of heavy shelling from Russian forces in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian official.
The casualties were reported in the residential areas of Saltivka, Bohodukhiv and Zolochif, according to Oleg Sinegubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
May 01, 12:24 pm Pope Francis condemns ‘macabre regression of humanity’ in Ukraine
Pope Francis on Sunday described the war in Ukraine as a “macabre regression of humanity” that makes him “suffer and cry.”
Speaking to thousands of people crowded into St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, the pope called for humanitarian corridors to be opened to evacuate civilians trapped inside or near a steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
Evacuation of civilians at the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian forces have been staging a last stand against Russian troops, have started, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Red Cross and the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed on Sunday.
During Sunday’s Vatican service, Francis repeated his criticism of Russia for invading Ukraine.
“My thoughts go immediately to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the city of Mary, barbarously bombarded and destroyed,” the pontiff said of the Russian-controlled southeastern port city, which is named after Mary. “I suffer and cry thinking of the suffering of the Ukrainian population, in particular the weakest, the elderly, the children.”
In Catholicism, the month of May is dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Francis asked for monthlong prayers for peace in Ukraine.
“While we are witnessing a macabre regression of humanity, I ask you, together with so many anguished people, if we are really seeking peace, if there is the will to avoid a continuous military and verbal escalation, if we are doing everything possible to make the weapons stop? Please, let us not give in to the logic of violence, to the perverse spiral of arms. Let us take the path of dialogue and peace. Let us pray.”
