Putin declares temporary truce during Victory Day anniversary celebrations

(COPENHAGEN, Denmark) — One of the Americans detained for nearly two weeks in Denmark over an alleged assault against an Uber driver while visiting Copenhagen on their college spring break said he was “shocked” that he and his friend were arrested and maintained that they are innocent.

“We were both just very shocked about the fact that we were being arrested over this incident,” Owen Ray told “Good Morning America” on Monday, hours after he and his friend were freed. “We had done nothing wrong,” Ray added.

Ray, a 19-year-old studying at Miami University in Ohio, and his unnamed friend were detained at Copenhagen Airport on April 1 over an alleged dispute with an Uber driver the night prior, Jordan Finfer, a U.S.-based attorney for Ray’s family, told ABC News. Local police detained them while they were heading home after deeming them “flight risks,” claiming they were planning to run from the incident, he said.

In an account relayed to Finfer, who then shared the details with ABC News, Ray said he and his friend realized they had entered the wrong address for their destination — and the Uber driver allegedly refused to take them anywhere else.

Ray said they decided to cancel their Uber and left the vehicle. Then, after they walked a few blocks, the Uber driver pulled up, got out of the car and “started yelling at us, thinking he hadn’t been paid for the Uber, but in fact, he had been paid for the Uber,” Ray said.

“He then got in our faces and was saying, ‘I’m gonna call 10 guys,'” Ray said.

“We said, ‘We’ve done nothing wrong. We’ve done nothing wrong.’ He then started an altercation with us,” Ray said.

“The safety of everyone who uses the Uber app is a top priority, and we take reports of violence very seriously,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News on Sunday. “Any additional questions about the investigation should be directed to the Danish police,” the statement added.

Copenhagen police said the two students were charged with common assault.

Following his arrest, Ray said he thought he would be able to explain to a judge what happened and be released.

“But then we went to the judge, and we were actually told that we would be imprisoned in a Danish prison for 10 days,” he said.

Ray said he wasn’t able to make a phone call for 36 hours after his arrest and didn’t know if his parents even knew where he was.

“I was initially very worried about making sure that I could get into contact,” he said.

He said he was able to text his mother from a phone at court, and she ended up flying to Denmark.

“I was very relieved to have heard that she was able to do that, and thankful that she was able to,” Ray said. “I’m very thankful to my family and everyone else who’s been supporting me throughout this situation.”

Ray said it also helped that he and his friend had each other while detained.

“We read books, we played cards, we played chess and luckily we were able to get through it in a good mental state,” he said.

Their initial 10-day, pre-trial detention amid the investigation into the incident was subsequently extended until April 24, a Copenhagen police spokesperson told ABC News.

Ray said his Danish attorney filed an appeal last week, and the judge ruled in their favor on Monday, releasing them.

The teen said Danish authorities have their passports and they have to check in with police daily until they get an update on the case. He said he believes they are waiting for either the investigating authorities to drop the case or for a trial date to be set.

Ray said he and his friend are in a good mental state, and that he plans to maintain a positive attitude about the ordeal while hoping for it to be resolved soon.

“I just hope that Denmark and the legal authorities here are able to — and the U.S. government can help us and do what they can to help us be released by Easter, so I can be home with my family,” Ray said.

“I think the best case would be for the Danish police and the prosecutor to drop the case at this point, because we’re completely innocent, and for them to return us our passports and allow us to head back to the United States,” he said.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday that they are “aware of media reports of two U.S. citizens detained in Denmark. Staff at our embassy in Copenhagen are providing consular assistance.”

“The Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad,” the statement continued. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”

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(LONDON) — A man has been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter after a cargo ship collided with an anchored oil tanker Monday in the North Sea, police said.

The Portuguese container ship Solong struck the U.S.-flagged oil tanker Stena Immaculate while the tanker was anchored on the U.K.’s eastern coast near Hull, England, with both vessels catching on fire, officials said Monday.

Thirty-six people between the two ships were safely brought to shore, the U.K. coast guard said.

One of the Solong’s crew members remains missing in the wake of the collision, according to Ernst Russ, the manager of the container vessel.

The search for the missing crew member was unsuccessful and has ended, the U.K. coast guard said in an update Monday night. The missing person is believed to be dead, U.K. Transport Minister Mike Kane told the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Humberside police said they began a criminal investigation into the collision and have arrested a 59-year-old man following the “conclusion of search operations by HM Coastguard for the missing crew member of the Solong.”

“The man arrested remains in custody at this time whilst enquiries are underway, and we continue speaking with all those involved to establish the full circumstances of the incident,” Humberside Detective Chief Superintendent Craig Nicholson said in a statement.

Police did not release any additional details on the suspect, including his name or connection to the incident.

Fires burning on board the two vessels appeared in aerial footage to have been largely put out a day after the collision, although a shipping official said it would be “premature” to say the fire on the tanker had been extinguished.

“There will be an investigation,” Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby, said Tuesday. “With all the technology that these vessels have, there’s no way it should have happened.”

The Stena Immaculate was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel at the time, with at least one cargo tank rupturing in the collision and resulting in multiple explosions onboard, according to Crowley, the ship’s manager.

Both ships sustained significant damage and were abandoned by their crews.

The British coast guard said in a statement on Tuesday that the two ships had been separated and that an “exclusion zone” had been put in place within a kilometer of the ships.

“Safety vessels and other vessels with firefighting capabilities are still on scene with more arriving today,” the coast guard said.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch is investigating the cause of the collision.

Kane told the House Commons on Tuesday that officials with the agency are on-site to survey the two vessels and will report back to him with official findings.

No pollution had been reported yet, Kane said.

“As it currently stands, no sign of pollution from vessels is observed at this time,” he said. “But monitoring is in place and should that change, assets in place will be provided as needed.”

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

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Mark Osborne contributed to this report.

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(RAFAH GOVERNORATE, Gaza) — Israel announced Saturday that its military has completed the establishment of a new security corridor in the Gaza Strip, effectively taking full control over the southern city of Rafah — which Israel had ordered evacuated — and cutting it off from the rest of the Palestinian territory.

“The IDF has now completed the takeover of the Morag axis that crosses Gaza between Rafah and Khan Yunis and makes the entire area between the Philadelphi axis and Morag part of the Israeli security zone,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. “IDF activity will soon expand strongly to additional locations throughout most of Gaza and you will have to evacuate the fighting zones.”

Over 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel ended the ceasefire on March 18. In total, nearly 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.

Earlier this month, the Israel Defense Forces issued evacuation orders for large swaths of war-torn Gaza, including parts of Khan Yunis and almost all of Rafah.

The IDF has been expanding its operations in Gaza since it ended the ceasefire in March, earlier this month saying it will capture extensive territories. On April 2, Katz said they will “seize large areas that will be annexed to the security zones of the State of Israel.”

Earlier this month, the Israel Defense Forces issued evacuation orders for large swaths of war-torn Gaza, including parts of Khan Yunis and almost all of Rafah.

This came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the establishment of the so-called Morag Corridor, describing it as “a second Philadelphi Corridor” that would further divide Gaza and increase pressure on Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages.

The so-called Philadelphi Corridor refers to a narrow strip of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt that has been under Israeli control since May 2024.

The IDF said Israeli troops were operating in some areas between Rafah and Khan Yunis where they had never operated previously and that the strategy behind establishing the new security corridor was to separate Hamas fighters in Rafah from Khan Yunis, spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said at a press briefing last week.

The IDF said on Saturday that it had “eliminated dozens of terrorists, dismantled underground tunnel routes and Hamas terror infrastructure, and completed the encirclement of Rafah,” in the last week and a half.

In an address to Palestinians in Gaza following the completion of the Morag axis, Katz said the IDF is already continuing to expand its territory in Gaza.

“This is the last moment to remove Hamas and release all the hostages and bring about an end to the war – IDF activity will soon expand vigorously to additional locations throughout most of Gaza,” he said.

“In northern Gaza, residents are also evacuating in Beit Hanoun and other neighborhoods and the area is being taken, expanding the security zone and in the Netzarim Corridor. IDF activity will soon expand strongly to additional locations throughout most of Gaza and you will have to evacuate the fighting zones,” Katz said.

Last week, the IDF said at a press briefing that the only thing that can halt the IDF’s advance in Gaza is the release of hostages.

Katz reiterated support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to forcibly expel Palestinians in Gaza and said they are working toward making it possible for Palestinians in Gaza to “voluntarily move to various countries around the world.”

In February, Trump departed from decades of U.S. foreign policy, announcing that the U.S. would “clean out” the Gaza Strip and rebuild it, saying Palestinians living there should leave — a statement that the United Nations and allies, including France and Germany, have called a violation of international law and said it amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Trump at one point threatened to withdraw aid to Egypt and Jordan if they didn’t agree to take in Palestinians, though less than 24 hours later, he said, “I don’t have to threaten that, I don’t think. I think we’re above that.”

Egypt and Jordan have both firmly opposed taking in forcibly displaced Palestinians.

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