Man dead after suspected failed attack on Brazil Supreme Court ahead of G20
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(LONDON) — A man killed by explosions outside of Brazil’s Supreme Court in Brasilia on Wednesday night is suspected to have been trying to launch an attack, a presidential official said, as authorities investigate the incident just days ahead of the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
In a statement, the court said two “loud bangs” were heard Wednesday evening prompting ministers and staff to be evacuated from the area. The incident occurred at the end of the court’s Wednesday session.
The presidential office official said the suspect was named as Francisco Wanderley Luiz. The man was seen leaving his car carrying a small bag at around 7:30 p.m. local time.
The official said Luiz tried to gain access to the Supreme Court building but failed to do so. Luiz then detonated the device he was carrying, killing himself.
Military police told ABC News that explosives and a timer were found on the dead man’s body. They said the first explosion went off in a street next to the Congress building. The second explosion — which killed the suspect — went off at the entrance of the Supreme Court building, military police said.
The prosecutor’s office said the incident is being investigated as a terror attack and that the suspect is believed to have been acting alone as a “lone wolf.”
ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report.
(PORT VILA, VANUATU) — The U.S. Embassy in Port Vila was damaged on Tuesday as a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
The embassy, which is in the capital on the island of Efate, “sustained considerable damage during the earthquake and is closed until further notice,” U.S. officials said in an alert. All staffers who were in the building at the time of the quake were safe and accounted for, officials said in a later update on social media.
“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this earthquake, and the U.S. government will work closely with our partners in Vanuatu,” the update said.
The earthquake struck about 2 miles west of the capital just before 1 p.m. local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said. A series of aftershocks followed, but no tsunami warnings were issued.
“The U.S. Embassy is hearing reports that flights to and from Vanuatu are canceled,” the embassy said in the alert “There are also reports of landslides in the Port Vila area.”
“People are advised to avoid entering buildings as they may be damaged or unstable,” the alert said.
The embassy was opened in July, Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, said at the time.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence said on Monday that at least 30 North Korean soldiers were killed and wounded in weekend battles in Russia’s western Kursk region, prompting commanders to send reinforcements to frontline units.
“North Korean army units are being re-equipped after losses in assaults” around the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka in the Kursk region, the GUR wrote in a post to its official Telegram channel.
On Dec. 14 and 15, the GUR said, “units of the DPRK army suffered significant losses — at least 30 soldiers were killed and wounded,” using the acronym for the country’s official name of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
At least three North Korean troops went missing around the village of Kurilovka in Kursk, the post added.
“Due to losses, the assault groups are being replenished with fresh personnel, in particular from the 94th separate brigade of the DPRK army, to continue active combat operations in the area,” the GUR wrote.
Pyongyang is believed to have sent up to 12,000 troops to Russia in recent months, according to a November briefing by Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder. Their focus is believed to be the Kursk region of western Russia, where Ukrainian forces seized ground in a surprise August offensive.
Sources told ABC News in November that North Koreans may be among the approximately 50,000 troops being readied for a significant counteroffensive in Kursk.
Russian leaders have said they will not consider any peace talks while Kursk remains partially occupied, though officials in Kyiv frame their retention of Russian territory as important negotiating leverage.
North Korea’s provision of troops marked a new level of cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. The two neighbors have drawn closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with North Korea already providing Moscow with artillery munitions and ballistic missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Kyiv has “preliminary data that the Russians have begun to use North Korean soldiers in their assaults — a significant number of them.”
“The Russians include them in combined units and use them in operations in the Kursk region,” Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to his Telegram page. “So far, only there. But we have information suggesting their use could extend to other parts of the frontline. There are also already noticeable losses in this category.”
“We will defend ourselves, including against these North Koreans,” Zelenskyy added. “And we will continue to act in coordination with all our partners to stop this war — to stop it decisively, with guaranteed peace.”
(LONDON) — Donald Trump’s election has already triggered intense discussion of how he will impact the war in Ukraine, with all sides now preparing for potential negotiations once he takes office.
In Ukraine Trump’s victory has been met with mixed reactions. But while his threats to cut U.S. aid and his suggestions he could force Kyiv to give up territory have provoked obvious anxiety, perhaps surprisingly many Ukrainians have welcomed Trump’s win.
Some Ukrainian officials, commanders, soldiers, as well as public commentators, have told other media and ABC News they had hoped Trump would win the election, seeing it as at least a chance to end the war that they feel is not going in Ukraine’s favor, even if it an opportunity also fraught with risks.
That sentiment reflects the deep disillusionment with the Biden administration widespread in recent months among Ukrainians, many of whom view its policy as giving Ukraine enough to barely survive but not to achieve victory or even force fair negotiations. Though grateful for the huge support provided early in the war, many Ukrainians express frustration at what is termed Biden’s “self-deterrence,” imposing restrictions on some weapons and sometimes slow-rolling aid over what they see as overblown fears Russia will further escalate the war.
“Trump’s rise to power gave Ukraine hope,” a commander of a drone unit fighting in eastern Ukraine told ABC News. “He is too straightforward a person who will not pretend to help us, as the Democrats did. He is stronger than Biden and is ready to make strong decisions,” said the commander, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Trump during the election campaign repeatedly vowed to end the war in “24 hours” by forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine to negotiate. He and members of his campaign have previously suggested that might be required to accept territorial losses.
While many Ukrainians worry Trump may still cut aid, some are ready to gamble on him, believing it’s better than continuing on a path that is bleeding the country and which many think is unlikely to regain Ukrainian territory in any case.
Russia is slowly advancing at multiple places on the frontline in eastern Ukraine, with Ukrainian troops stretched thin, reporting dangerous shortages of manpower.
“The only way left is the diplomatic path,” the commander in eastern Ukraine told ABC News.
Other Ukrainians are much more fearful, worried with Putin in a strong position he will succeed in imposing his terms in negotiations. A senior Ukrainian military official told ABC News he feared negotiating now could be a “fatal mistake”, that could see Ukraine lose territory permanently while receiving little future protection.
“You understand why Russia is agreeing to negotiations,” the official said. “They’re also run into the ground and tired. They want a breather and to regroup.” Putin would use any ceasefire now to re-arm and then re-invade Ukraine, the official warned, saying instead the U.S. should strengthen Ukraine and negotiate once Russia’s military further cracked.
Others believe that Trump, who prizes a strongman image, is unlikely to simply capitulate to Putin. Instead, they hope if Putin refuses to negotiate, Trump might supply Ukraine with more weapons with fewer restrictions to force Russia to the table.
“Do you think Trump will agree to be brought to his knees by Putin? I doubt it,” said Oleksandr Chalyi, Ukraine’s former ambassador to Washington. “Donald Trump, who says ‘let’s make America great and strong again, America first’ is not ready for a dialogue where he will be humiliated.”
Trump’s selection of Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida as his national security adviser and potential pick of Sen. Marco Rubio for his secretary of state, offered some potential encouragement to those who hope a Trump administration might take a tough line on Russia during negotiations.
Both Waltz and Rubio have been strong supporters of Ukraine during the war, while vehemently criticizing the Biden administration’s strategy and insisting NATO countries should do more.
Waltz, a former Green Beret with a reputation as a China hawk, wrote in an op-ed for The Economist magazine this month that a Trump administration should use economic pressure, in particular through reinforced sanctions on Russia’s oil exports, to force Putin to negotiate. If Putin refuses, the U.S. should increase weapon supplies to Ukraine, he wrote. He also told NPR that the U.S. could lift restrictions on Ukraine using Western long-range weapons to hit deep inside Russia, to pressure Putin to a deal.
The current Biden approach would still end in a stalemate with Rusia occupying some Ukrainian territory, Waltz wrote in The Economist, saying that it “will just take more time, blood, and treasure to get there.”
Trump has yet to formally announce he will select Rubio as his Secretary of State and he would need Senate approval.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has spoken to Trump by phone since his election, so far has publicly rejected giving up any territories and last week warned that a quick peace deal would likely end badly for Ukraine.
“We all want to end this war, but a fair ending,” Zelenskyy told journalists during a European summit in Budapest. “If it is very fast, it’s going to be a loss for Ukraine.”
The head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s parliamentary party, David Arakhamia, told ABC News last week it was too soon to discuss specific plans. But he warned Ukraine could only accept freezing the war if the U.S. provided “real security guarantees” that would prevent Russia from simply using a ceasefire to re-arm.
“We have to find the solution that guarantees people that once the war is over, it’s not going to be repeated again,” said Arakhamia, saying real security guarantees were Ukraine’s “number one” priority. But, he said, it was “good” that the U.S. is thinking seriously about the resolution to the war.
