Nearly 200,000 Russians being evacuated after massive Ukrainian attack
(KYIV, Ukraine) — Nearly 200,000 people are being evacuated following one of the largest Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, Russian officials said Wednesday.
The overnight strikes marked the biggest combined attack on Russia’s air force infrastructure since the start of the full-scale war, with three Russian military airfields targeted, sources in the Security Service of Ukraine told ABC News.
Russian air defense forces destroyed 117 Ukrainian drones and four Tochka-U missiles over eight regions of Russia overnight, including in Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod and Nizhny Novgorod, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
Local authorities did not confirm the airfields were attacked.
A state of emergency has been declared in the Belgorod region due to “daily Ukrainian attacks,” Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said Wednesday morning.
Nearly 194,000 people are going to be evacuated from the Kursk and Belgorod regions due to the Ukrainian military offensive, according to Russian outlets.
The last time Russians fled en masse from fighting inside the country was during the decadelong Second Chechen War, which started in 1999, according to the independent Russian outlet Agentstvo.
The overnight assault comes more than a week into Ukraine’s major incursion into Russia.
Ukraine’s top commander said Wednesday that Ukraine has advanced again inside Russia’s Kursk region as it continues to try to expand its unprecedented incursion there.
Ukrainian Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi briefed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukrainian troops had advanced about 1 mile in different directions inside Kursk. Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces had completed search-and-destroy operations for Russian forces still in Sudzha, the main border town from which Ukrainian forces have been expanding their bridgehead inside Russia, implying Ukraine now has full control over it.
Some Russian pro-Kremlin military blogger accounts in their latest reports gave similar pictures, suggesting Ukrainian forces had continued to consolidate their gains and were still pushing to expand their zone of control, though without any major advances.
“Unfortunately, for now the situation remains tough. The enemy for now still has the initiative and so, even if slowly, he is continuing to increase his presence in the Kursk region,” one military blogger, Yury Podolyak, wrote on his Telegram channel.
The blogger account Rybar, which is linked to Russia’s military, wrote the situation was “stabilizing” but nonetheless reported multiple efforts by Ukraine to break through Russian positions and intense fighting.
Ukraine continues to try to push in multiple directions from Sudzha. Ukrainian troops are still attempting to flank the village of Korenevo, which would allow them to move toward a key highway. Ukrainian troops are also reported to still be attempting to press north toward Lgov, a town closer to the Kursk nuclear power station, though for now they appear to remain at least 12 miles away.
Podolyak wrote that Ukraine has adapted its tactics, beginning to stop trying to make rapid advances with small columns of armored vehicles and instead was attempting larger, more consolidated assaults.
All indications are Ukraine is still on the attack in the Kursk region and Russian troops are battling hard to hold them back.
ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, the latest round of cease-fire discussions appears to have reached an impasse.
Meanwhile, after six hostages were found dead in Gaza, protests erupted in Israel. Protesters have lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanded the government bring the hostages home.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Aerial attack targets northern Israel, officials say
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported “a hostile aircraft infiltration” in the north of the country on Monday morning.
“Two suspicious aerial targets were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” The IDF said in a statement. “An aerial target fell in the area of Nahariya. No injuries were reported.”
The Magen David Adom (MDA) — Israel’s emergency services — said in a social media post that its personnel “located the site of the impact, as of now no casualties have been found.”
Israeli media reported that a drone detonated after crashing into an apartment block.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir and David Brennan
Hundreds gather in Central Park for hostage vigil
The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters organized twin protests in Tel Aviv and New York on Sunday, as pro-cease-fire activists look to build pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and American politicians.
Hundreds of people rallied in Central Park “to mourn six Israeli and American hostages murdered after 11 months in captivity,” the Forum said in a press release.
Among the speakers were Gilad and Nitza Korngold — the parents of hostage Tal Shoham who was abducted into Gaza on Oct. 7.
“The Red Cross has refused to help our loved ones while shamelessly requesting better conditions for the terrorists in Israel’s imprisonment,” they said, per the Forum’s press release. “We ask everyone here to call your representatives and demand the release of our loved ones from captivity.”
Moran Stela Yanai — released in November 2023 after 54 days as a hostage in Gaza — also spoke, telling attendees: “My brothers and sisters in captivity are hungry and in pain and in constant danger.”
“We must find the strength to keep fighting for them and bring them home,” she added, as quoted in the Forum’s press release.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and David Brennan
Jordanian border crossings partly reopened after shooting
Israeli and Jordanian authorities confirmed the partial reopening of border crossings on Monday following their closure due to the killing of three police officers at the Allenby Bridge.
An Israel Airport Authority spokesperson said the crossings at Yitzhak Rabin near Eilat, at the Jordan River near Beit Shean and at the Allenby Bridge would open for passenger traffic.
The media spokesman for the Jordanian Public Security Directorate said that King Hussein Bridge leading to the Allenby entry point would remain closed to freight traffic.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s Interior Ministry said that its preliminary investigations into Sunday’s shooting at the Allenby Bridge crossing confirmed that the alleged gunman was a Jordanian citizen named Maher Dhiyab Hussein Al-Jazi.
The alleged shooter — whom Israeli security forces said they shot and killed — was a resident of the Al-Husseiniyah area in Ma’an Governorate, and was crossing the bridge as a driver of a freight vehicle carrying commercial goods.
Al-Jazi acted alone, the ministry said, noting its investigation is ongoing. Authorities are attempting to organize the return of his body so he can be buried in Jordan.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Ghazi Balkiz and David Brennan
Airstrikes hit Syrian scientific research center, state media says
Strikes targeted a Syrian scientific research area in the city of Masyaf in the Hama countryside on Sunday night, Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.
“Ambulance vehicles rushed towards the center of the area” amid reports of casualties, the SOHR — a U.K.-based war monitor — said on its website.
Both Syrian state media and the SOHR attributed the strikes to Israel. The SOHR said Syrian anti-aircraft weapons intercepted some Israeli missiles.
There was no immediate confirmation on the number of casualties. At least 14 people were killed and 43 others were wounded, Syrian state news agency SANA reported. ABC News was not able to immediately confirm the reported casualties or whether they were military personnel.
ABC News asked the Israel Defense Forces for comment. Israel typically does not confirm or deny responsibility for strikes in Syria, where it has been engaged in a “shadow war” with Iran and its allies — including the Lebanese Hezbollah militia — for several years.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and David Brennan
Nearly 70% of children in Gaza vaccinated against polio, health ministry reports
The polio vaccination campaign continued today in south Gaza, Khan Younis and Rafah, after early issues in the region when vaccines could not be properly distributed to the eastern side of Gaza.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced Sunday that 441,647 children in Gaza have received the first dose of the polio vaccine, so far.
This accounts for about 69% of the targeted population, according to the ministry.
According to the World Health Organization, 95% of children need to be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease effectively.
On Monday, vaccinations will be offered in northern Gaza where daily, eight-hour pauses in fighting and airstrikes will be instituted so children can be taken to one of the roughly 33 locations across Gaza City and north Gaza where the vaccine will be administered, according to the ministry.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaulé
Israel closes Jordan border crossings after deadly shooting
Israel closed on Sunday the two land crossings between Jordan and Israel, as well as the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the occupied West Bank, the Israel Airports Authority — which oversees the crossings — told ABC News.
The closures followed a shooting on Sunday morning at Allenby that killed three police officers.
The gunman — who was shot dead by security forces — came from the Jordanian side, but it was not immediately clear if he was affiliated with any militant group. Both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad issued congratulatory statements about the shooting.
Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying it was attributable to the “murderous ideology led by Iran’s ‘Axis of Evil’.”
Israel did not say how long the closures would last. The Allenby crossing is one of the key entries through which goods destined for Gaza pass.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Nasser Atta, Victoria Beaule and David Brennan
Hamas rocket commander ‘eliminated’ in Gaza: IDF
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported the killing of a Hamas rocket commander in an airstrike last week.
The IDF wrote on social media on Sunday that its Southern Command “eliminated” Raef Omar Salman Abu Shab — the commander of the rocket unit of the eastern Khan Younis Brigade — in an airstrike on Tuesday
The commander was “responsible for launching rocket barrages from the area of Khan Younis toward southern and central Israel since the start of the war,” the IDF said.
(LONDON) — A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with a stabbing that injured at least eight people in the United Kingdom, police and emergency officials said Monday.
The incident isn’t being treated as terror-related and no other suspects are being sought, police said. A motive isn’t clear, police added.
“Armed police have detained a male and seized a knife. He has been taken to a police station,” the department said in a statement.
Officers responded just before noon local time to reports of a stabbing at a property on Hart Street in Southport, a seaside town about 20 miles north of Liverpool, according to Merseyside police.
The eight injured people were transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Southport and Formby hospital, the North West Ambulance Service said on social media. The patients’ conditions and ages were not immediately released.
Thirteen ambulances had been dispatched to the scene, along with a Hazardous Area Response Team, an Air Ambulance and and Merit Doctors, emergency officials said.
Officials at Alder Hey said they were “working with other emergency services to respond to this incident and our Emergency Department is currently extremely busy.” The Liverpool hospital said it had declared Monday’s stabbing a “major incident.”
“We ask parents to only bring their children to the Emergency Department if it is urgent,” the hospital said in a statement.
“Horrendous and deeply shocking news emerging from Southport,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on social media. “My thoughts are with all those affected. I would like to thank the police and emergency services for their swift response. I am being kept updated as the situation develops.”
The town of Southport sits in the county of Merseyside, in England’s northwest.
(VIENNA, Austria) — Bomb-making materials were found in the home of one of two people suspected of planning a terror attack on upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna, authorities said Thursday, adding that both suspects appeared to be inspired by the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda.
The main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian citizen, fully confessed to attack plans during an interrogation, according to Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of Austria’s Directorate of State Security and Intelligence.
The suspect was “clearly radicalized in the direction of the Islamic State” and allegedly intended to kill himself and “as many people as possible” outside the concert venue using knives and homemade explosives, Haijawi-Pirchner said at a news conference Thursday.
The 19-year-old, who was from the Austrian town of Ternitz and had North Macedonian roots, had been preparing for the attack since late July and drastically changed his appearance, according to Franz Ruf, the public security director at Austria’s Ministry of Interior. The 19-year-old researched bomb-making techniques and uploaded to the internet an oath of allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State, Haijawi-Pirchner said.
A second suspect — a 17-year-old Austrian citizen — was arrested in Vienna on Wednesday afternoon. A 15-year-old Turkish citizen was also detained and questioned, according to Haijawi-Pirchner. No further suspects are being sought, Ruf said.
Each of the two suspects was known to police and both were said to have been involved in the direct preparation of the foiled attack, according to Haijawi-Pirchner. Most of the plans and preparations were made at the 19-year-old’s home, Ruf said.
The 15-year-old, who was interrogated, had been asked by the main suspect about ignition mechanisms, Haijawi-Pirchner said.
The 17-year-old suspect, who has Turkish-Croatian roots, was employed a few days ago at a facility company providing services at the concert venue and would have been working there, according to Haijawi-Pirchner. It was discovered during the investigation that he was on the grounds of Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium, where Swift’s concerts were to be held.
Swift had concerts scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Vienna.
When Ruf announced the arrests on Wednesday, he said security at the shows would be increased. Hours later, the concerts were canceled.
“We have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety,” a message from Barracuda Music said. “All tickets will be automatically refunded.”
The Vienna shows were expected to draw 65,000 concertgoers per day, with an additional 10,000 to 15,000 fans outside of the area, police said.
One of those fans planning to attend a Vienna show, Joelle Ferri, told ABC News that, despite the cancellation, Swifties have gathered to sing song and make friends.
“There are so many Swifties everywhere trading bracelets, wearing merch, wearing the outfits they were going to wear for the concert,” Ferri said. “This is genuinely the most beautiful thing I have experienced, seeing everyone come together after such a horrible thing happened and everyone kept their head high and made it a good experience for everyone.”
Another would-be concertgoer, Colleen Boltz, told ABC News she was at the airport in Minneapolis, en route to Vienna, when she learned the show was canceled.
“We still plan on going to Vienna and participating in the Swiftie gatherings. I’m meeting up with Swifties that I met online and it will still be a blast,” she said.
Boltz also has a ticket to one of Swift’s upcoming London shows. The pop star is set to return to London’s Wembley Stadium from Aug. 15 to Aug. 20.
“We really hope that she does not need to cancel London,” Boltz said.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Sky News on Thursday that the concerts will go on as scheduled.