At least 4 tourists dead in submarine accident in Egypt: Officials
alxpin/Getty Images
(LONDON) — At least four people are dead in a submarine accident that occurred while it was carrying crew members and 45 Russian tourists in Egypt, officials said.
Russia’s embassy in Egypt confirmed in a statement obtained by ABC News that there was an accident on Thursday morning involving a submarine carrying crew members and 45 tourists — all Russian citizens — in the Red Sea less than a mile off the coast of Hurghada, Egypt.
At least four of those aboard the submarine were killed in the incident, the Russian embassy said.
Doctors in the emergency department at the Royal Hospital Hurghada confirmed to ABC News that they received five patients from a submarine accident on Thursday.
The circumstances remain unclear, including whether the submarine was submerged at the time and the numbers of those who have been injured in the incident.
It is also currently not known how many people were on board the submarine at the time of the accident or what the cause might have been.
Hurghada is a popular tourist destination for beachgoers along the Red Sea and is well known for its scuba diving and snorkeling.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor and Nasser Atta contributed to this report.
Flowers and candles are laid at the statue of John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized with pneumonia, in Rome on February 27, 2025. (Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)
(ROME) — The Vatican said that the pope “slept well during the night and is now resting” peacefully on Thursday morning as the pontiff begins his 14th day in hospital.
Pope Francis’ condition improved slightly on Wednesday, though officials say they “remain guarded” over his prognosis, according to the Vatican.
The slight renal insufficiency the pope had in recent days has subsided and a Tuesday CAT scan of the chest showed a normal evolution of the pulmonary inflammatory picture.
The blood chemistry and blood cell count tests carried out Wednesday have confirmed the pope’s improvement, but he remains on high-flow oxygen therapy and did not have any asthmatic-like respiratory crises.
The pope received the Eucharist on Wednesday morning and the afternoon was dedicated to work activities, the Vatican said.
Pope Francis’ condition remains “critical but stable,” Vatican officials said in a brief update on Tuesday.
“There have been no acute respiratory episodes and hemodynamic parameters continue to be stable. In the evening, he underwent a scheduled CT scan for radiological monitoring of the bilateral pneumonia. The prognosis remains uncertain,” the Vatican said Tuesday.
The pontiff, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, was diagnosed with pneumonia last week, according to the Vatican.
(LONDON) — Ukraine has accused Russia of committing a war crime after a Russian drone struck a military hospital in Kharkiv overnight.
Ukraine’s General Staff said the strikes were a “deliberate, targeted striking” of the hospital and that it appeared soldiers being treated there were injured. It said the medical center and nearby residential buildings were damaged as a result of a “defeat of” a Russian Shahed drone.
Photos from the scene appear to show damage to the hospital, with an entrance way demolished.
Russian drones also hit apartment blocks and a shopping mall in the center of Ukraine’s second largest city, killing at least two people and wounding 25, according to Kharkiv’s governor.
“War crimes have no statute of limitations. The relevant evidence will be transferred to the bodies of international criminal justice,” the General Staff wrote in a statement on the hospital attack.
Ukrainian cites are bombed by dozens of Russian drones every night, and this weekend has seen a particularly intense wave of attacks in civilian areas of major cities. Dnipro in southeast Ukraine suffered on Friday night heavy strikes that started major fires.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday said over the past week Russia had launched over 1,000 drones, nine missiles and over 1,300 guided aerial bombs, with most of Ukraine’s regions coming under attack. He said Ukraine had shot down a “significant number” of the drones and missiles.
“Russia is dragging out the war,” Zelenskyy wrote in a statement on X, saying Ukraine had shared information on Russia’s strikes with its allies and that it expects a “response from the United States, Europe and all our allies to this terror against our people.”
Russia has also intensified its ground offensive operations in recent days amid, according to Ukraine’s military, amid the ongoing efforts by the Trump administration to end the war.
Ukraine’s General Staff as well as Ukrainian military analysts report in the past few days Russia has launched some of the largest number of ground assaults since the start of the year.
“The number of enemy assaults has exceeded 200 times per day for the last three days,” Deep State, a blog account that tracks the war and is close to Ukraine’s military, wrote Friday. This is the highest three-day intensity of the year.”
It follows warnings this week by Zelenskyy that Russia is preparing to launch a major spring offensive, even as it tries to drag out negotiations with the Trump administration.
The Russian attacks are focused most of all in eastern Ukraine, in the direction of Pokrovsk, an important defensive hub that Russia has been trying to seize for more than 6 months.
Russian forces had scaled back their attacks in recent weeks in part due to poor ground conditions and apparently also worn down by extremely heavy losses. But it appears they are now renewing their offensive operations.
Ukrainian and western officials warned that President Vladimir Putin of Russia will try to use protracted negotiations as an opportunity to also advance on the battlefield, hoping to crack Ukraine’s defenses as the Trump administration weakens western support for Kyiv.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speaks during a signing ceremony at the Supreme Council of Russia and Belarus, December 6, 2024, in Minsk, Belarus. President Putin is having a one-day trip to Belarus. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — a close ally of President Vladimir Putin — warned that the Kremlin “will never” accept a European troop deployment to Ukraine, as Moscow and Kyiv continue to maneuver for advantage in U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations.
In a wide-ranging interview with blogger Mario Naufal published late Tuesday, Lukashenko praised President Donald Trump’s forthright approach to Russia’s war on Ukraine and suggested Putin was ready to make peace.
Any proposal is unlikely to win Russian support if it includes the deployment of European forces into Ukraine, Lukashenko said.
“Russia will never agree to this,” he said. “At least, this is Russia’s position today. Especially since the leadership of the European Union, primarily in the person of Germany and France, is taking a very aggressive position at the moment.”
But the Belarusian leader also countered attacks by Trump and Putin on the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while offering Belarus as a location for peace negotiations. Unsuccessful ceasefire talks were held in Belarus in the hours and days after Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.
“There is no need to push Zelenskyy now,” Lukashenko said, as quoted by the Belta state-owned news agency. “We need to convince and come to an agreement with Zelenskyy, because a large part of Ukrainian society is behind Zelenskyy.”
“If you want, come. Here, it is nearby — 200 kilometers from the Belarusian border to Kyiv,” Lukashenko added. “We will come to an agreement calmly, without noise, without shouting.”
“Tell Trump: I am waiting for him here together with Putin and Zelenskyy. We will sit down and come to an agreement calmly,” he said. “If you want to come to an agreement.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded positively to the offer of talks in Minsk. “This issue has not been brought up or discussed in any way,” Peskov told reporters Wednesday, as quoted by the state-run Tass news agency. “This is our main ally. Therefore, for us it is the best place for negotiations.”
Moscow has repeatedly accused NATO and its members of seeking to use Ukraine as a launching pad for aggression against Russia. Putin cited NATO expansion since the collapse of the Soviet Union as a key Russian grievance in the run up to his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Lukashenko appeared to play down that issue. “It is not so much about NATO expansion to the east, but about the threats that were created in Ukraine,” he said of Putin’s decision to launch the 2022 attack.
Leaders in Kyiv have framed the proposed and contentious U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal as a means to securing long-term American backing, and as a possible bridge to lasting U.S. security guarantees. Lukashenko suggested that the deal, which seems to have become a cornerstone of Trump’s Ukraine strategy, may unsettle the Kremlin.
“I have not discussed these issues with Russia and Putin,” he said. “But, most likely, this could be alarming if Russia feels that these agreements will go beyond the framework of economic relations.”
Lukashenko repeatedly appealed directly to Trump, who he described as an “incredible person” and a political “bulldozer.”
The Belarusian leader also encouraged the U.S. to align closer with Russia — a prospect that has unsettled European and Ukrainian leaders since Trump’s return to the White House. Indeed, Trump’s decision this week to freeze all U.S. military aid to Ukraine left officials in Kyiv and across Europe reeling.
“The U.S. is the first country in the world, high-tech, rich,” Lukashenko said. “They are capable of many things. Russia understands this. And Russia will strive to establish very good relations with the United States of America.”
“In order for the planet to be in balance, so that there are no incomprehensible wars, like in the Middle East or in Ukraine, so that there are no conflicts, an alliance between Russia and the United States is possible and very important,” he added. “An alliance for economic development. It is possible and important. It will last a long time.”
The Belarusian leader appeared to chastise Trump for his unique political style, warning that the president must deliver on his promises.
“There are too many statements that should not have been made at all,” Lukashenko said. “You need to cool down after the elections. And you need to take steps in the interests of U.S. voters, first of all, and, secondly, the entire world community.”
“You don’t have much time to prove to American society that you are capable of something,” he continued. “If you don’t do this, the Republicans will suffer a crushing defeat in the next elections. And it will be justified.”
