Car bomb kills senior Russian general in Moscow: Officials
ABC News
(LONDON) — A car bomb in Moscow has killed a senior Russian military officer, Russian officials said.
A statement from the Russian Investigative Committee said that “Lt. General Yaroslav Moskalik, the deputy head of Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed in an explosion,” after an IED that was allegedly planted in a parked car detonated.
A team of investigators are now at the site of the explosion, Russian officials confirmed.
ABC News has seen video of the moment the parked vehicle explodes as a person can be seen walking toward the vehicle.
The footage is seemingly from a CCTV camera overlooking the parking lot of what appears to be an apartment complex.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared likely to block a historic $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun makers as both conservative and liberal justices raised concerns about allowing the government of Mexico to hold firearm manufacturers liable for cartel violence south of the border.
Federal law grants broad immunity to the gun industry, in part to protect companies from costly litigation that could drive them out of business. Mexico alleges the law creates an exception for “aiding and abetting” the illicit sale and trafficking of guns, which the companies deny.
Mexico has only one gun store but is awash in millions of American-made weapons, most funneled into the country by straw purchasers in the United States. The country claims the companies, including Smith & Wesson, Glock, Beretta and Colt, knowingly distribute and market their guns to be trafficked.
By one estimate, at least 200,000 guns flow south of the border each year. The country is seeking $10 billion in damages and court-mandated safety requirements around the marketing and distribution of guns.
“The laws broken here are designed to keep guns out of criminals’ hands. Those violations put guns in criminals’ hands and those criminals harmed Mexico,” Cate Stetson, Mexico’s attorney, told the Supreme Court.
“These acts were foreseeable,” she added. “This court need not vouch for Mexico’s allegations, but it must assume they are true. … Mexico should be given a chance to prove its case.”
Many of the justices seemed unconvinced by Mexico’s case should be allowed to move forward.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested the alleged harms from cartel violence roiling Mexico are too far removed from the manufacturers’ decisions to distribute their products.
“We have repeatedly said mere knowledge is not enough [for liability],” Sotomayor said. “You have to aid and abet in some way. You have to intend and take affirmative action to … participate in what they’re doing.”
Justice Elena Kagan questioned what she perceived as a lack of specificity in Mexico’s allegations.
“There are lots of [gun] dealers. And you’re just saying [the gunmakers] know that some of them [engage in trafficking]. But which some of them? I mean, who are they aiding and abetting in this complaint?” Kagan said.
After Stetson alleged deliberate marketing of guns to cartels, Chief Justice John Roberts voiced skepticism of the claim.
“I mean, there are some people who want the experience of shooting a particular type of gun because they find it more enjoyable than using a BB gun,” he said. “And I just wonder exactly what the defendant, the manufacturer, is supposed to do in that situation. You say no, he shouldn’t be marketing a particular legal firearm because they’re going to go into Mexico at a higher percentage than others?”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised concern about the broader implications of a decision allowing Mexico’s suit to go forward.
“What do you do with the suggestion on the other side … that your theory of aiding and abetting liability would have destructive effects on the American economy in the sense that … lots of sellers and manufacturers of ordinary products know that they’re going to be misused by some subset of people?” he asked. “They know that to a certainty, that it’s going to be pharmaceuticals, cars, what — you can name lots of products. So that’s a real concern, I think.”
Stetson replied, “If you have a product manufacturer of a dangerous product that is alleged to have done all of the things knowing who they’re selling to and what is being done with that product, then and only then, I think, that product manufacturer … has a problem.”
More than 160,000 people in Mexico were killed by guns between 2015 and 2022, according to an analysis by Everytown for Gun Safety.
A large majority of guns involved in the shootings came from U.S. border states. More than 40% of illegal guns seized in Mexico over a five-year period came from Texas, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report.
In 2023 alone, more than 2,600 firearms were seized going south into Mexico, up 65% from the year before, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and 115,000 rounds of ammunition were captured headed the same direction, up 19% from 2022.
A federal district court dismissed Mexico’s case in 2022 citing immunity under federal law. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in early 2024, saying Mexico had made a plausible case for liability under the law’s exception.
The Supreme Court is expected to decide by the end of June whether or not a liability case can move forward.
Sudiksha Konanki is seen in this undated photo shared to Meta. (Sudiksha Konanki via Meta)
(PUNTA CANA, DR) — Lawyers for the Minnesota college student who was with University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki the night she went missing in Punta Cana have requested a habeas corpus hearing, a source from the Dominican Republic Ministry of Justice told ABC News.
Joshua Riibe — who has not been charged with a crime — has been questioned by prosecutors over three days, an official close to the investigation told ABC News.
Riibe’s lawyers believe he’s being detained illegally and want to prevent the 22-year-old from being placed in custody, the source said. Authorities have confiscated Riibe’s passport and his attorneys said he’s being surveilled at his hotel.
In the Dominican Republic, people can challenge an unlawful detention through a habeas corpus hearing. Detained individuals are required to be brought before a judge within 48 hours, or they must be either charged or released.
A ruling on the habeas corpus hearing request cannot prevent an order of arrest by Dominican authorities, according to Riibe’s lawyer and a source from the Dominican Republic Ministry of Justice.
Authorities said they believe 20-year-old Konanki died by drowning, officials told ABC News.
Her missing persons case is being treated as an accident, sources said. Authorities said Riibe is not a suspect and is cooperating and being questioned as a witness.
Konanki was on spring break with her friends in Punta Cana when she went missing in the early hours of March 6.
She was part of a group that went to a nightclub and then for a walk on the beach, officials involved in the investigation told ABC News.
Most of the group went back to the hotel around 5:55 a.m. after their night of drinking.
Riibe — who Konanki met that night — stayed with her on the beach, according to a Dominican Republic investigative police report.
Riibe told the prosecutor the two went swimming and kissed. He said then they were hit by a wave and pulled into the ocean by the tide, according to a transcript provided to ABC News from two Dominican Republic sources.
Riibe said he held Konanki and tried to get them out of the water.
“I was trying to make sure that she could breathe the entire time — that prevented me from breathing the entire time and I took in a lot of water,” he said.
“When I finally touched the sand, I put her in front of me. Then she got up to go get her stuff since the ocean had moved us,” Riibe told the prosecutor. “She was not out of the water since it was up to her knee. She was walking at an angle in the water.”
“The last time I saw her, I asked her if she was OK. I didn’t hear her response because I began to vomit with all the water I had swallowed,” he said. “After vomiting, I looked around and I didn’t see anyone. I thought she had taken her things and left.”
Riibe said he passed out on a beach chair and woke up hours later and returned to his hotel room.
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The U.S. is “just about” ready to lift its freeze on intelligence sharing with Ukraine, President Donald Trump said Sunday, as American and Ukrainian negotiators prepare for bilateral talks in Saudi Arabia intended to move toward a peace deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion.
“Well, we just about have,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One when asked if he would consider resuming intelligence sharing. “We want to do anything we can to get Ukraine serious about getting something done,” he added.
Trump’s administration has embarked on a dramatic pivot away from the “ironclad” backing of Ukraine practiced by former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Trump has falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war, tried to undermine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimacy, sought to strong-arm Kyiv into a controversial minerals sharing deal and froze military aid and intelligence support in a bid to force Ukraine into making concessions to Russia.
Tuesday’s talks in Riyadh are intended to revitalize bilateral relations following weeks of tense exchanges between Washington, D.C., and Kyiv, which culminated in an explosive Oval Office confrontation between Trump, Zelenskyy and Vice President JD Vance.
The U.S. delegation in Saudi Arabia will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz. The Ukrainian team will be led by Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office. The U.S. side is expecting Ukraine to show willingness to make peace, Trump suggested on Sunday.
“We’ll be looking at a lot of things,” he said. “We have big meetings coming up. As you know, it’s Saudi Arabia that’s going to include Russia. It’ll be Ukraine. We’ll see if we can get something done.”
“I think everybody wants to see it get done,” the president added. “We’re going to make a lot of progress.”
“I think they will sign the minerals deal,” Trump said when asked about progress on the controversial agreement. “I want them to want peace.” Trump claimed that Ukraine has not yet shown that willingness.
Trump avoided answering whether he would place sanctions or tariffs on Russia and pointed to White House officials’ upcoming meetings in Saudi Arabia. The president also avoided giving a definitive answer when asked if the U.S. would resume aid to Ukraine if the minerals deal is signed.
Zelenskyy will travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with the kingdom’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman.
“Tomorrow, we will continue working to bring peace closer — there will be my visit to Saudi Arabia,” the Ukrainian president wrote on social media Sunday. “Also, today, the meeting of our teams — Ukraine and the United States — in Saudi Arabia has been further prepared. We hope for results — both in bringing peace closer and in continuing support.”
On Monday morning, Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram, “Ukraine has been seeking peace since the very first second of the war and we have always said that the only reason the war continues is Russia.”
The public U.S.-Ukraine break has prompted concern among European leaders, with leaders both rallying around Zelenskyy and urging him to repair his fraying relations with Trump. Officials in Russia appeared jubilant, openly suggesting that the Trump administration had aligned its views with the Kremlin’s.
Trump and his top officials have said that both Ukraine and Russia will be expected to make concessions in pursuit of a peace deal to end Moscow’s invasion, which itself is only the latest chapter in more than a decade of cross-border aggression.
Trump last week suggested in a post to Truth Social that he was “strongly considering large-scale sanctions” and tariffs on Russia until a deal is reached, adding that Moscow “is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now.” Trump also told a joint session of Congress he had received “strong signals” that Russia is ready to make peace.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said last week that the U.S.-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia are a “positive” development, though stressed there are unresolved “nuances.”
“The question is who to negotiate with?” Peskov told reporters. Russia has repeatedly framed Zelenskyy as an illegitimate president, citing the delay to planned 2024 presidential elections in Ukraine necessitated by the imposition of martial law.
The Kremlin has also cited a September 2022 Ukrainian decree in which Zelenskyy declared negotiations with Putin “impossible,” after Moscow claimed to have annexed four partially-occupied Ukrainian regions.
Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine are continuing their long-range missile and drone strike campaigns. Deadly weekend strikes by Russia prompted condemnation from several European nations.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, for example, wrote on X, “This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians. More bombs, more aggression, more victims.”
Sunday night saw Russia launch 176 attack drones into Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force, of which 130 were shot down and 42 lost in flight without causing damage. The air force reported impacts in Kharkiv, Poltava and Kyiv regions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down nine Ukrainian drones overnight.
ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
