Black boxes found as Lithuania begins investigation into deadly DHL plane crash
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(LONDON and BELGRADE) — A team of Lithuanian investigators recovered the black boxes from Monday’s deadly cargo plane crash, as they began their probe into what caused the aircraft to go down and worked to clear the crash site.
Investigators from the U.S. were dispatched to aid in the investigation, officials said. German aviation experts had arrived to help, while Spanish investigators were expected to arrive later Tuesday.
The jet crashed on Monday morning less than a mile from the runway at Vilnius International Airport, officials said. One of the four people onboard was killed in the crash, local officials said.
Lithuanian police and prosecutors have opened a “pre-trial” investigation into the crash, according to Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, whose office held a meeting late Monday on the government response.
The government has ordered an investigation under the country’s criminal code, which calls for probes into “‘Improper maintenance or repair of vehicles or roads, or of equipment thereon,’ which provides for liability in the event of loss of life, serious injury to persons or very serious damage to property,” the prime minister’s office said.
“I urge everyone to have confidence in the investigating authorities’ ability to conduct a thorough and professional investigation within an optimal timeframe,” Šimonytė said in a statement. “Only these investigations will uncover the true causes of the incident—speculation and guesswork will not help establish the truth.”
The investigation will be led by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania Transport Accident and Incident Investigation Division, with aid from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the board said on Monday.
The results of that investigation are expected to be made public, the NTSB said.
Lithuanian officials said on Tuesday that they expected the inspection of the crashed plane to be mostly completed within three days, at which point the destroyed plane will be removed from the site. Officials told reporters that they were searching for a hanger where they can begin to place aircraft parts.
The DHL cargo plane — a Boeing 737-476 operated by Swiftair — had flown into Lithuania from Germany. It crashed in a residential area in Liepkalnis, on the outskirts of the capital, Vilnius, the Lithuanian airport authority said in a statement posted on social media on Monday.
One of the pilots, who was from Spain, was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was transferred to a local hospital in critical condition, Bozena Jerenkovic, a medical doctor who was part of the emergency team on site, told ABC News on Monday. It appeared that the cockpit had been separated from the plane’s fuselage, she added.
The Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center confirmed to ABC News that the pilot is in critical condition. The other two people who were injured in the crash are doing OK, the center said.
ABC News has reached out to Bonn, Germany-based DHL for comment.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Melissa Gaffney contributed to this report.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken (L) and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrive at Kyiv train station in Kyiv, on September 11, 2024, amid the Russian invasion on Ukraine. (LEON NEAL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — No decisions were made on Ukraine’s use of American long-range weapons against Russia during a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian leadership on Wednesday, according to an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky.
The discussion comes as Blinken announced more than $700 million in new funds to support Ukraine during remarks in Kyiv.
Restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American long-range weapons against targets inside Russia have been one of the most pressing issues for Blinken during the visit. America’s top diplomat was accompanied by British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
During a lengthy meeting, Zelenskky and Blinken discussed lifting the ban on strikes deeper in Russian territory and weapon supplies, according to an adviser to Zelenskyy with knowledge of the meeting. Zelenskyy gave Blinken a detailed plan of how Ukraine could use long-range missiles for strikes into Russia and gave him a list of possible targets, the adviser said.
Blinken confirmed with reporters during remarks following the meeting that he discussed long-range fires with Ukrainian officials, “but a number of other things as well.”
Blinken said he will share what he learned from his talks with Ukrainian leadership on this trip with President Joe Biden, who is set to meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday to “discuss how to further help Ukraine.”
‘We have adjusted and adapted as needs have changed, as the battlefield has changed, and I have no doubt that we’ll continue to do that as this evolves,” Blinken said.
He said escalation from Russia — including the acquisition of Iranian ballistic missiles — is “one of the factors that we always consider, but it’s certainly not the only factor.”
“We’re determined to ensure that they have what they need to succeed,” he added.
Blinken said the more than $700 million in new funds announced on Wednesday will help repair Ukraine’s energy and electric grid and provide humanitarian support as Ukraine heads into the fall fighting season against Russia.
“We remain fully committed to Ukraine’s victory, to not only ensuring that Ukraine can defend itself today, but can stand on its own feet strongly, militarily, economically, democratically for many, many days ahead,” Blinken said.
The new funds include $325 million to help repair Ukraine’s energy and electric grid, $290 million in new humanitarian support to those displaced by the war and $102 million in additional funding to help remove landmines and unexploded ordnances left behind by Russia across Ukraine, according to Blinken.
“The bottom line is this, we want Ukraine to win, and we’re fully committed to keep marshaling the support that it needs for its brave defenders and citizens to do just that now,” Blinken said.
Lammy also announced more than 600 million pounds in new support for Ukraine, including 242 million pounds this financial year for immediate humanitarian energy and stabilization needs.
Lammy additionally announced that the U.K. will send hundreds of additional air defense missiles and tens of thousands of additional artillery ammunition rounds to Ukraine by the end of the year.
“Together, Britain and our allies are united in our commitment to Ukraine, to freedom, to victory, because we both recognize what is at stake here — not just the liberty of Ukraine, but the security of Europe and the security of the West,” he said.
Kyiv has long been advocating for U.S. permission to strike military targets within Russian borders, including airfields that are key to Moscow’s long-range missile campaign against Ukrainian cities.
“We continue to persuade our partners at all levels about long-range capabilities,” Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.
“Russia can avoid seeking peace only as much as the world avoids making strong decisions aimed at Russia’s defeat. Long-range capabilities are one of those key, strategic decisions.”
Yehor Cherniev — a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chairman of his country’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly — told ABC News that Ukrainians are hoping for U.S. permission to use the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System, colloquially known as the ATACMS, for strikes within Russia. The longest-range variant of the weapon can hit targets out to 190 miles.
“It will inspire Ukrainians and our army,” Cherniev said. Russian airfields and military depots will be top of Kyiv’s target list if American restrictions on ATACMS use are indeed lifted, he added.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists at a Wednesday briefing prior to Blinken’s remarks that he expected the U.S. to give its permission.
“Most likely, of course, all these decisions have already been made,” he said, as quoted by the state-run Tass agency.
ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he believes the war with Russia is “closer to an end” than many believe and called on allies to strengthen Ukraine as he arrived in the United States for a week of high-stakes diplomacy.
“The plan of victory is strengthening of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said during a sit-down interview with Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts. “That’s why we’re asking our friends, our allies, to strengthen us. It’s very important.”
Zelenskyy spoke with Roberts as he visited New York on Monday for the United Nations General Assembly this week as part of a trip to the U.S. where he has promised to present what he calls his “Victory Plan” to President Joe Biden, as well as other key American political leaders.
See more of Robin Roberts’ exclusive interview with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska at 8:30 p.m. ET Wednesday on ABC News Live and streaming on Hulu on Thursday.
Zelenskyy declined to provide details of the plan before presenting it to Biden later this week, but he made clear that it was aimed at strengthening Ukraine with the goal of forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate on fair terms. Zelenskyy indicated he did not believe Putin was currently ready for real negotiations.
“It’s not about negotiation with Russia,” Zelenskyy told Roberts. “It’s a bridge to a diplomatic way out, to stop the war. Only in the strong position we can push, we can push Putin to stop the war, diplomatic way.”
A source close to Zelenskyy told ABC News the plan consists of five points and that its core includes specific figures and amounts of military assistance for Ukraine, as well as certain diplomatic and political steps. The plan does not include any proposed concessions to Russia, the source said, but is aimed at forcing the Kremlin to end the war.
Zelenskyy said the plan was an “urgent” one, intended to end the war quickly, not prolong it “one year, or two years or three years.”
Later this week, Zelenskyy is expected to travel to Washington to meet with Biden as well as presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
There are doubts a second Trump administration would continue similar levels of support to Ukraine and could perhaps push it into negotiations. Trump in the debate with Harris two weeks ago declined to say he wants Ukraine to win the war and his running mate JD Vance has said Ukraine should give up Russian-occupied territory and abandon ambitions to join NATO.
Zelenskyy said he hoped the U.S. election wouldn’t influence support for Ukraine but that he understood U.S. policy could change and “therefore we need to prepare in advance.”
That is why the “Victory Plan” is important, he said, saying he wants to discuss it with the candidates.
Zelenskyy again expressed gratitude to Americans and apologized for having to ask again for support.
“I’m so sorry. I know that you have your challenges. But I have to underline it and to repeat,” he said. “We can’t now be weak. We can’t relax. Because we didn’t stop Putin. Didn’t stop him in his crazy ideas. That’s why we have to be strong and I’m asking to understand us. And I think that we are closer to the peace than we think. We are closer to the end of the war. We just have to be very strong, very strong.”
Zelenskyy also repeated his appeal to the United States to drop its restrictions on the long-range missiles they have provided to Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia.
Zelenskyy said he would raise the issue again with Biden again this week, saying it would allow Ukraine to strike Russian airbases used to launch hundreds of bombs into eastern Ukraine. He said he believed other allies such as France, Britain, Italy, and Germany would allow it but that the U.S. needed to lead the decision.
“But the main role is in the United States, in the president of United States, Biden. Everybody’s looking up to him, and we need this to defend ourselves,” he said.
Putin, meanwhile, has warned that the use of Western weapons to strike targets in Russia would mean NATO countries are at war with Russia and promised a response.
Zelenskyy’s request comes amid heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine where Russia has been making steady advances in recent weeks. Russian forces are also still struggling to reverse Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine has said it seized hundreds of square miles and dozens of villages inside the Kursk region in the early days of its surprise offensive.
Zelenskyy told Roberts that Putin is “afraid” of the Kursk operation.
“It’s true. He’s afraid very much,” Zelenskyy said. “Why? Because his people saw that he can’t defend, that he can’t defend all his territory.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine launched the surprise operation because of intelligence suggesting that Russia had been preparing to mount its own offensive into Ukraine’s northern Sumy region.
“They have the desire to occupy the city of Sumy,” he said. “And we decided that we need preventive steps. We had to move in with our troops. And we did it so that they did not occupy our north.”
Zelenskyy also accused Russia of using Chinese satellites to photograph Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, perhaps in preparation for possible strikes on them.
“The recent information is that, Russia has been using Chinese satellites and taking photos of the details of the objects on nuclear facilities,” Zelenskyy told Roberts. “And in our experience, if Russia takes photos of certain objects, then there is a threat of strikes against the nuclear objects.”
Zelenskyy did not say whether the Chinese satellites Russia has used were commercial satellites or controlled by the Chinese government. He said he would share information Ukraine had with leaders at the General Assembly this week.
Asked to comment on Monday, China’s embassy in Washington did not respond.
Zelenskyy was joined by his wife, first lady Olena Zelenska, who is also attending events at the General Assembly.
Zelenska, who is addressing events focusing on the impact of the war on children, said she was also seeking to campaign for greater international help in returning tens of thousands of Ukrainian children deported to Russia. She said at least 19,500 remained held in Russia, but that the true number could be significantly higher.
She said so far only 308 children had been returned through negotiations, saying she hoped a 30-country coalition would find a way to do more.
“This can’t carry on like this. If we are going to bring our children back at this rate, we will need more than 30 years to bring them back,” she said. “So we need to bring pressure to bear to make sure they can be brought back.”
(NEW YORK) — Israel had a hand in the manufacturing of pagers that exploded on Hezbollah operatives this week, with this type of “supply chain interdiction” operation having been planned for at least 15 years, a U.S. intelligence source confirmed to ABC News.
The CIA has long been reluctant to employ this tactic because the risk to innocents was too high, the source said.
Planning for the attack involved shell companies, with multiple layers of Israeli intelligence officers and their assets fronting a legitimate company that produced the pagers, the source confirmed to ABC News, with at least some of those doing the work unaware of who they were actually working for.
Israel’s hand in the manufacturing was first reported by The New York Times.
One to two ounces of explosives and a remote trigger switch to set off the blast were planted in the pagers, according to the sources.
The last two days of explosions in Lebanon, triggered remotely with explosives inside pagers or walkie-talkies, have killed at least 37 people and wounded 2,931, according to Lebanese Health Minister Firass Al-Abyad.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel grew wider on Thursday, with Israel launching strikes on Lebanon and Hezbollah returning fire.
ABC News has reached out to BAC Consulting — the Hungary-based company contracted to produce the pagers on behalf of Gold Apollo in Taiwan — but neither company has responded to our repeated requests.
The pagers were never in Hungary and the company was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary,” a spokesperson for the Hungarian government told ABC News on Wednesday.
In a speech Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group’s top leadership had old pagers, not the new ones used in the attack, which were reportedly shipped in the last six months. The group has begun a full investigation into the explosions.
“Not all of the pagers had been distributed and some of them were turned off,” Nasrallah said.
“Over two days, the enemy wanted to kill at least 5,000 people. … The enemy knew that the pager devices numbered 4,000,” he added.
