Category: World news

(LONDON) — Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 337 Ukrainian drones overnight, in what appeared to be Kyiv’s largest cross-border aerial attack on Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

The ministry reported downing UAVs over 10 Russian regions. Moscow air defenses were firing through the night while facing multiple waves of attack drones, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. The Defense Ministry said it shot down 91 drones over the capital.

Six drones were shot down near the Kursk nuclear power plant, the ministry said, close to fierce fighting as Moscow’s forces seek to eject Ukrainian troops from the western Russian region.

The attack on Moscow was “massive,” Sobyanin wrote on Telegram. Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said at least two people were killed and eight injured in the capital.

Several high-rise residential buildings, houses and businesses were damaged by drones or falling debris, Vorobyov said.

Russia’s federal air agency said flights were suspended at all four of Moscow’s airports, with flights at airports in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions to the east of Moscow also grounded.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova denounced the barrage as “a terrorist attack” in a statement posted on Telegram.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said details of the attack were “naturally” reported to President Vladimir Putin and suggested Ukraine had targeted civilian facilities, in comments reported by the state-run Tass news agency.

Asked if the Ukrainian strikes were intended to disrupt nascent ceasefire talks, Peskov responded, “There are no negotiations yet. So far the Americans, in their own words, are trying to understand how ready Ukraine is for peace talks. There are no negotiations yet, so there is nothing to disrupt here yet.”

“But the fact that it is possible to spoil the emerging trend, yes,” Peskov added.

The Ukrainian military did not immediately comment on the strikes.

The drone barrage came as U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators prepared to open ceasefire talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday after weeks of tensions and public disagreements.

President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing Kyiv to make concessions in pursuit of a peace deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion of the country. The White House also wants Ukraine to sign off on a controversial minerals sharing agreement Trump has framed as a way to recoup tens of billions of U.S. aid sent to Ukraine since 2022.

Kyiv has repeatedly said it will not accept any deal that does not include concrete security guarantees to prevent repeat Russian aggression in the future.

Trump has framed Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the main impediment to peace, falsely blaming Ukraine for starting the war, seeking to undermine Zelenskyy’s legitimacy and publicly aligning with Moscow’s false narratives around the conflict. The U.S. has sought to push Ukraine to the negotiating table by putting a freeze on military aid and some intelligence sharing.

“The most important thing that we have to leave here with is a strong sense that Ukraine is prepared to do difficult things,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who will take part in Tuesday’s talks — said on Monday.

Rubio said the Russians “are going to have to do difficult things” too, though Trump and his top officials have not said what concessions Moscow may be asked to make. U.S. and Russian negotiators first met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last month.

Zelenskyy traveled to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman. Zelenskyy will not take part in Tuesday’s talks with the American delegation.

Zelenskyy said he had a “detailed discussion” with Salman on “the steps and conditions needed to end the war and secure a reliable and lasting peace,” in a social media post after the two leaders met.

“I specifically emphasized the issue of the release of prisoners and the return of our children, which could become a key step in building trust in diplomatic efforts. A significant part of the discussion was dedicated to the formats of security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy said a Ukrainian delegation will “remain” in the country to “work with the U.S. team” on Tuesday. Zelenskyy said he hopes for “practical outcomes,” from the U.S.-Ukraine meeting.

“Ukraine’s position in these talks will be fully constructive,” he added.

A source close to Zelenskyy confirmed to ABC News that Ukraine will propose a partial ceasefire in its talks with the U.S. The partial ceasefire would apply to long-range air strikes and attacks at sea, the source said.

The timeframe for the truce remains unclear.

“We want to propose a partial ceasefire that can be monitored and then see how the Russians respond to determine the next steps,” the source added.

Rubio told reporters on Monday he saw some promise in Ukraine’s partial ceasefire proposal.

“I’m not saying that alone is enough, but it’s the kind of concession you would need to see in order to end this conflict,” he said.

Rubio said finalizing the mineral deal with Ukraine was “an important topic, but it’s not the main topic on the agenda.”

“It’s certainly a deal the president wants to see done but it doesn’t necessarily have to happen tomorrow,” he said. “There’s still more details to work out.”

In the meantime, nightly exchanges of drones and missiles appear set to continue.

Ukraine’s air force said its forces tracked one Iskander ballistic missile and 126 drones fired into the country overnight. The missile and 79 drones were shot down, the air force said, with another 35 UAVs lost in flight without effect.

Donetsk, Odesa, Kharkiv, Sumy and Kyiv were impacted, the statement said.

Nataliia Popova, Ellie Kaufman and Oleskiy Pshemyskiy contributed to this report.

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(LONDON and ROME) — The pope rested peacefully overnight after his prognosis was “lifted” on Monday as he begins his 26th straight day in the hospital, the Vatican said.

Vatican sources told ABC News that Francis’ prognosis being lifted means he’s no longer in imminent danger, but the clinical picture still remains complex.

The 88-year-old pontiff will continue “for additional days, the pharmacological medical therapy in a hospital environment” due to the “complexity of the clinical picture and the significant infectious picture presented at hospitalization,” the Vatican said.

“The improvements recorded in previous days have further consolidated, as confirmed by both blood tests and clinical objectivity and the good response to pharmacological therapy. For these reasons, the doctors decided to lift the prognosis,” the Holy See, the Vatican’s press office, said in a statement Monday.

The pope will move back to noninvasive mechanical ventilation and will continue an antibiotic treatment, the Vatican sources said.

Francis’ doctors said there are positive signs of the pontiff’s recovery, but caution remains, according to the Vatican sources.

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.

Thursday will mark the 12th anniversary of when Pope Francis was voted to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who previously resigned.

ABC News’ Megan Forrester contributed to this report.

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(MANILA, PHILIPPINES)– Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte was detained on Tuesday under an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, which accused him of crimes against humanity in connection with the brutal “war on drugs” he led while in office, the Philippines Presidential Communications Office said.

Members of the Philippine National Police met the former president as he arrived in Manila, the capital, on a flight from Hong Kong, the office said.

Duterte carried out an extensive “war on drugs” after taking office in 2016. Independent rights organizations have accused him of overseeing a crusade of extrajudicial killings, many of which were alleged to have been carried out by so-called “death squads.”

More than 12,000 people were thought to have been killed, according to Human Rights Watch.

Officials in Manila said they received a copy of an ICC arrest warrant via Interpol on Tuesday morning. Dozens of officers swarmed Ninoy Aquino International Airport to arrest Duterte as he and his aides arrived at about 9:20 a.m., the presidential office said.

“The former President and his entourage are in good health and have been examined by government doctors,” the office said in a statement posted on social media in Filipino. “They have assured that he is in good condition.”

The ICC began an investigation into Duterte’s “war on drugs” in September 2021. The Philippine government that year sought to put an end to the probe, a request that was denied in 2023 by Karim A.A. Khan, the ICC prosecutor, according his office.

Khan in rejecting the request pointed to an investigation by the Philippine Commission on Human Rights into police and state activities carried out under the “war on drugs” between 2016 and 2021.

That investigation found that the government “failed in its obligation to respect and protect the human rights of every citizen, in particular, victims of drug-related killings” and “has encouraged a culture of impunity that shields perpetrators from being held to account,” Khan wrote, citing the rights group.

The ICC focused its investigation on Duterte’s actions between 2011, when he was a local mayor, and 2019. During those years, Duterte and other high-level government officials “reportedly encouraged, supported, enabled, and excused the killing of drug users and drug dealers,” the ICC prosecutor said in a filing.

Duterte, who is now 79, swept into national office from Davao City, where he had been mayor, with a promise to curb crime and corruption.

His methods for fighting illegal drug use had been described as “unorthodox” and on the verge of “the illegal,” he said in his inaugural address in 2016.

“As a lawyer and a former prosecutor, I know the limits of the power and authority of the president. I know what is legal and what is not,” he said in that address. “My adherence to due process and the rule of law is uncompromising.”

ABC News’ Andrew Evans and Karson Yiu contributed to this report.

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(PUNTA CANA, DR) — Missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki’s clothes were found on the Dominican Republic beach where authorities believe she was last seen going for a swim, two police sources with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News on Monday.

The 20-year-old Konanki, a legal permanent U.S. resident and an Indian citizen, vanished early Thursday while she and a group of students were on a spring break trip to a resort in Punta Cana, according to the Loudoun County, Virginia, Sheriff’s office.

Konanki and one of her traveling companions were Loudoun County residents, the sheriff’s office said.

Konanki’s clothes were discovered on a portable beach bed close to the beach where she went missing, the sources told ABC News. Police have found no evidence of violence, according to the sources.

After going to a nightclub on Wednesday night, Konanki and a group of people went to the beach about 4 a.m. local time on Thursday, the sources said. The other women traveling with Konanki went back to their hotel about 5:55 a.m. and were captured on security camera returning to their rooms, the sources noted.

A man stayed behind with Konanki on the beach, according to a Dominican Republic investigative police report. The man, whose name was not released, told police that he and Konanki went for a swim and got caught by a big wave, the police report said.

The man, according to sources, told police that when he got back to the beach he threw up and went to sleep on a beach bed. When he woke up, Konanki was nowhere to be seen, the sources said.

Security video showed the man coming back to his hotel room at 9:55 a.m., according to the sources.

The man is not considered a suspect in Konanki’s death, the chief of the Civil Defense in the Dominican Republic told ABC News on Monday.

Right now, the investigation is being treated as an accident, the chief said.

Law enforcement authorities are increasing the perimeter of the search area of beaches and water in the ongoing operation to find Konanki, according to the chief.

Three Dominican officials involved in the investigation told ABC News over the weekend that Konanki is believed to have drowned in the ocean.

The last time Konanki was seen on the beach on security camera footage was around 4:15 a.m. Thursday, the Dominican Republic Public Ministry told ABC News.

The Public Ministry was first contacted by the U.S. embassy in the Dominican Republic on Friday, the Ministry said.

Officials said Konanki’s friends who were with her around the time of her disappearance were questioned by police and have not been charged with crimes.

A joint investigation Konanki’s disappearance is being conducted by the FBI, the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic, the Dominican National Police and the Dominican Prosecutor’s office, sources close to the investigation told ABC News.

The investigators will question everyone involved in the incident again, including hotel employees and the man Konanki’s friends say she was with before she disappeared, the sources said.

All security camera footage since the day Konanki and her five friends arrived on the island is now being analyzed, sources said.

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(LONDON) — Ukrainian forces are struggling to prevent what could be a significant military setback, as their hold on the area of Russian territory they seized last year is becoming increasingly precarious.

A Russian offensive supported by North Korean troops in the past few days has made a serious advance in Russia’s Kursk region northeast of Ukraine, breaking through Ukrainian positions and forcing them to withdraw to new defense lines, according to Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers. Russia is attempting to cut Ukraine’s crucial supply road into Kursk, which is already under fire, meaning several thousand Ukrainian troops inside Russia are now at growing risk of encirclement.

Ukraine seized a foothold in the Kursk region with a surprise offensive in August, capturing hundreds of square miles of Russian territory, which it hoped to use as a bargaining chip in any peace negotiations. Russia for months has sought to dislodge the Ukrainians from the region, including with North Korean troops, but until recently had made slow progress while suffering heavy casualties.

Over the past week, Russian progress has dramatically increased, according to bloggers and Ukrainian troops on the ground, with Ukrainian troops clearly under severe pressure and forced to withdraw largely back toward the main town they control in the region, Sudzha. The Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed Sunday that Russian forces are “collapsing” the northern part of the Ukrainian lines in Kursk.

Russian forces have also succeeded in a flanking attack back across the border into Ukraine, aiming to reach the main supply road to the Ukrainian forces in Sudzha, according to open-source analysts. While Ukraine has, for now, reportedly blunted the Russian push, Russian troops are close to both sides of the route, which has already been under artillery and drone fire.

Over the weekend, Russian forces reached the outskirts of Sudzha itself, entering its industrial zone after launching an attack through a gas pipeline, according to military bloggers. Ukrainian units withdrew from much of their western flank in Kursk after Russian forces crossed the Psel River, allowing Russia to recapture several villages there, according to Clément Molin, a military analyst based in Lyon, France, and co-director of the Atum Mundi think tank.

The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, on Monday denied that Ukraine’s forces were at risk of encirclement, saying the situation was under control and they were inflicting heavy casualties on Russia.

Yurii Butusov, a prominent Ukrainian military journalist, confirmed Monday on his Telegram channel that the situation is “very difficult” but said there is currently no threat of Ukrainian troops being encircled, and that reinforcements continue to arrive into Sudzha.

Russia has intensified its efforts to drive Ukraine out of Kursk, as efforts at possible negotiations to end the three-year-old war have intensified under the Trump administration. The Kremlin has repeatedly signaled it will not start meaningful negotiations with Ukraine as long as it occupies parts of Kursk.

The ISW and other analysts have suggested the Trump administration’s sudden cutoff of U.S. intelligence sharing earlier this month is likely impacting Ukraine’s ability to defend in Kursk. The ISW noted that the Russian offensive appears to have intensified around the same time as President Donald Trump announced aid cutoff to Ukraine last week, suggesting Russia is trying to take advantage of it.

Ukrainian officials who spoke to ABC News last week said the curtailing of intelligence was intended to limit Ukraine’s strikes into Russia and warned it would hamper Ukraine’s ability to hit forces massing in Kursk.

“This will help Russians to concentrate their forces,” the source told ABC News on Thursday. “For example, now we know that North Korean soldiers are concentrating there again. We could have hit them preemptively, but now we can’t.”

The situation in Kursk, however, was already deteriorating before Trump halted intelligence sharing.

Ukraine’s deteriorating position in Kursk comes as it is finally seeing more positive developments on the eastern front in Donbas, where Russian forces’ advance appears to be stalling out and Ukraine is now mounting a number of counterattacks, according to independent military analysts.

For six months, Russia has crept forward toward the city of Pokrovsk, an important defensive hub, but there are signs its advance may now be close to exhausted there after suffering extremely high losses, according to Ukrainian military accounts and independent researchers.

Ukrainian troops in the past two weeks have managed to launch successful counterattacks on Russian positions around Pokrovsk, recapturing some ground. Ukraine has also managed to counterattack in another city, Toretsk, which, despite nine months of intense urban fighting, Russian forces have failed to capture.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has officially revoked access to the President’s Daily Brief, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard posted on Monday.

Former President Joe Biden — who barred Trump from receiving classified briefings after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob — will no longer receive the top-secret intelligence information according to Trump’s directive, a process he first ordered begun in February.

The moves are the latest in Trump’s retribution campaign against what he claims was “weaponization” of the justice and intelligence segments of the federal government under Biden and Democrats.

Trump also ordered revoked the security clearances of former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former national security adviser Jake Sullivan, former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and attorneys Mark Zaid, Norman Eisen, and Andrew Weissman.

Gabbard confirmed the decision on X, writing: “Per @POTUS directive, I have revoked security clearances and barred access to classified information for Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Lisa Monaco, Mark Zaid, Norman Eisen, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Andrew Weissman, along with the 51 signers of the Hunter Biden “disinformation” letter. The President’s Daily Brief is no longer being provided to former President Biden.”

Andrew Weissman, who has most recently been a commentator on MSNBC, served as the chief prosecutor in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mark Zaid is a national security lawyer who represented the whistleblower at the heart of the Trump first impeachment inquiry involving Ukraine. Eisen is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, an attorney and a CNN legal analyst and co-founder of the States United Democracy Center.

In February, Trump issued an executive order to start the process of revoking security clearances held by dozens of intelligence officials he says falsely claimed in a letter during the 2020 election season that Hunter Biden’s laptop contained Russian disinformation.

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(ROME) — Pope Francis’ prognosis was “lifted” on Monday, marking his 25th consecutive day in the hospital, according to the Vatican.

“The improvements recorded in previous days have further consolidated, as confirmed by both blood tests and clinical objectivity and the good response to pharmacological therapy. For these reasons, the doctors decided to lift the prognosis,” the Holy See, the Vatican’s press office, said in a statement Monday.

Vatican sources told ABC News that Francis’ prognosis being lifted means he’s no longer in imminent danger, but the clinical picture still remains complex.

Regardless of the improvements, the 88-year-old pontiff will continue “for additional days, the pharmacological medical therapy in a hospital environment” due to the “complexity of the clinical picture and the significant infectious picture presented at hospitalization,” the Vatican said.

Francis’ doctors said there are positive signs of the pontiff’s recovery, but caution remains, according to the Vatican sources.

The pope will move back to noninvasive mechanical ventilation and will continue an antibiotic treatment, the Vatican sources said.

On Monday morning, Francis was able to participate in spiritual exercises for Lent for the Roman curia, received the Eucharist and then “went to the Chapel of the private apartment for a moment of prayer,” the Vatican said.

He continued to participate in the spiritual exercises via a video link and spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between prayer and rest, the Vatican said.

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.

On Sunday, Francis released a text of his Angelus address — his weekly address — thanking the doctors and nurses who have been caring for him in the hospital.

“During my prolonged hospitalization here, I too experience the thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care, in particular from the doctors and health care workers, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart,” the pope said.

Thursday will mark the 12th anniversary of when Francis was voted to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who previously resigned.

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(NEW YORK) — A U.S.-flagged oil tanker has collided with a Portuguese container ship in the North Sea, north of England, with both ships catching on fire, according to officials.

“HM Coastguard is currently co-ordinating the emergency response to reports of a collision between a tanker and cargo vessel off the coast of East Yorkshire resulting in fires aboard both vessels,” the U.K. coast guard said in a statement.

The U.S. ship was identified as the Stena Immaculate, while the Portuguese-flagged container ship was identified as the Solong.

A coast guard helicopter has been sent, as well as a fixed-wing aircraft, several lifeboats and vessels with firefighting capabilities, the coast guard said.

“The incident remains ongoing and an assessment of the likely counter pollution response required is being enacted,” the coast guard said in a statement.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(ROME and LONDON) — Pope Francis on Sunday spent his 24th consecutive day in the hospital receiving therapy and getting an update on world and church affairs, the Vatican’s press office said in a brief statement.

“The night was quiet, the pope is resting,” the Holy See said Sunday morning.

The Vatican said Sunday night that the pope’s condition remains “stable.” But his “overall situation remains complex, prompting doctors to maintain a guarded prognosis.”

The pope took part in mass Sunday morning in the chapel in his 10th-floor apartment in Gemelli hospital, the Vatican said. On Sunday evening, the pope watched live coverage of the first day of Spiritual Exercises for Lent for the Roman curia held in the Paul VI Audience Hall in the Vatican.

The Vatican said Pope Francis also continued his treatment Sunday and underwent motor and respiratory physiotherapy.

“His ventilation continues to switch from the day use of high-flow to anti-invasive mechanical ventilation at night,” according to the Vatican statement.

The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the substitute for general affairs of the secretary of state, Archbishop Penna Parra, visited the Pope in the hospital to update him on church and world matters on Sunday, according to the Vatican.

Officials with the Catholic Church, which the pope has led since 2013, said on Saturday that the 88-year-old pontiff had demonstrated a good response to therapy.

“The doctors, hoping to record these initial improvements in the coming days, are prudently keeping the prognosis as still guarded,” the Vatican said.

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.

Earlier Sunday, the pope released the text of his Angelus address, or weekly address, thanking the doctors and nurses caring for him. He also prayed for the many people around the world who are enduring illness, according to the Vatican.

“During my prolonged hospitalization here,” the pope said, “I too experience the thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care, in particular from the doctors and healthcare workers, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart.”

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(OTTAWA, CA) — Canada selected a new prime minister-elect on Sunday night, as Justin Trudeau’s reign nears a close amid a trade war with the United States.

Canada’s Liberal Party announced that Mark Carney was chosen to succeed Trudeau after party members voted in a nominating contest between four candidates.

In his acceptance speech, Carney addressed U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada and the threat Trump has posed towards the country, calling the current events the “greatest crisis of our lifetimes.”

“We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves, so the Americans, they should make no mistake, in trade as in hockey, Canada will win,” Carney said.

Indirectly addressing Trump’s calls to make Canada the 51st state of the U.S., Carney added, “America is not Canada, and Canada never, ever will be part of America in any way, shape or form.”

Carney also criticized Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods and said he supports the retaliatory tariffs Canada has imposed on the U.S.

“Donald Trump has put, as we know, unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell, on how we make a living, he’s attacking Canadian workers, businesses and families… we cannot let him succeed and we won’t,” Carney said. “My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect.”

Carney is expected to be sworn in sometime this week by the governor general of Canada, a representative in Canada of Britain’s King Charles III.

The newly elected Liberal Party leader is expected to immediately call for an election as early as late April.

Trudeau, who was first elected prime minister in November 2015, announced on Jan. 6 his intention to resign as Liberal Party leader and prime minister once a new party leader is determined through what he said would be “a robust, nationwide, competitive process.”

The candidates for prime minister included Chrystia Freedman, Canada’s longtime deputy prime minister who, until December, served as Trudeau’s finance minister; Frank Baylis, a businessman and former member of the House of Commons; Karina Gould, a member of Parliment, who served in Trudeau’s Cabinet as minister of International Development and minister of Democratic Institutions; and Mark Carney, an economist who served as governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England.

Heading into the vote, Carney, who has never held an elected office, had emerged as a front-runner.

Carney, who as governor of the Bank of Canada, is credited with helping to guide the country through the worst of the 2008 financial crisis as governor of the Bank of Canada. Carney has compared the comments of President Donald Trump, who has also threatened to make Canada the 51st U.S. state, to a villain in the Harry Potter series.

“When you think about what’s at stake in these ridiculous, insulting comments of the president, of what we could be, I view this as the sort of Voldemort of comments,” the 59-year-old Carney told supporters at an event in Winnipeg last month.

Trudeau initially said he would serve as prime minister until March 24. He will then be replaced by the new Liberal Party leader.

The Canadian Parliament was supposed to begin its new session of 2025 on Jan. 27, but Trudeau had asked the governor general to extend and not start a new session of Parliament until March 24.

“I’m a fighter. Every bone in my body has always told me to fight because I care deeply about Canadians. I care deeply about this country, and I will always be motivated by what is in the best interest of Canadians,” Trudeau said when he announced his plans in early January to resign.

At the time, Trudeau said he believed his resignation would “bring the temperature down” and allow Parliament to reset and get back to work “for Canadians.”

“Parliament needs a reset, I think, needs to calm down a bit and needs to get to work for Canadians,” Trudeau said when answering reporters’ questions following his announcement. “Removing me as the leader who will fight the next election for the party should decrease the polarization that we have right now.”

Support for Trudeau’s party has declined steadily for months, with the Liberals falling in early January to their lowest level of support in years, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

In recent days, Trudeau has emerged as the face of Canada in a trade war that erupted with the United States over 25% tariffs that Trump imposed on products from Canada.

Canada countered by imposing a 25% tariff on goods from the United States, including American orange juice, peanut butter, coffee, appliances, footwear, cosmetics, motorcycles, and certain pulp and paper products.

Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said a second wave of retaliatory tariffs would be suspended after Trump announced on Thursday that he is pausing for a month tariffs on some products from Canada and Mexico.

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