Russian lieutenant general shot by assailant in Moscow, investigators say
Russian Police officers walk next to the entrance of a residential building on Volokolamsk Highway, where an assassination attempt on General Lieutenant Alexeyev (Alekseev) was made earlier in the morning, on February 6, 2026, in Moscow, . (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, a high-ranking Defense Ministry official, was shot and injured in an ambush-style attack on Friday in a residential area of Moscow, according to the Investigative Committee of Russia and state-affiliated media.
“According to investigators, on Feb. 6, 2026, in a residential building located on Volokolamskoye Highway in Moscow, an as-yet-unidentified individual fired several shots at a man and fled the scene,” Svetlana Petrenko, the committee’s spokesperson, said in Russian on the Telegram messaging app.
The victim was transported to a local hospital, Petrenko said. She did not immediately describe the extent of his injuries.
State-affiliated news outlet TASS identified the victim as Alexeyev, adding that a criminal investigation had been launched.
“Special services are currently doing their job,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. “Of course, this has been reported to the head of state. We wish the general a speedy recovery.”
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, claimed without evidence that Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, may be responsible for the shooting. He suggested that it may be an attempt by Ukraine to disrupt negotiations between Washington, Kyiv and Moscow.
“The regime is ready to do anything to convince its Western sponsors not to lag behind the United States in their desire to derail the process of achieving a just settlement,” Lavrov told reporters at a briefing on Friday.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Dragana Jovanovic and Anna Sergeeva contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Two people were injured in a stabbing incident allegedly targeting “Jewish members of the public” in London, after which at least one suspect was arrested, a charity group and local leaders said on Wednesday.
The incident took place at 11:16 a.m. local time in London on Wednesday morning when officers responded to the Golders Green neighborhood in Northwest London following reports of people stabbed in Highfield Avenue.
“The suspect also attempted to stab police officers, and was tasered before being arrested,” a statement from the Metropolitan Police said. “No officers were injured.”
“One male was seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife and attempting to stab Jewish members of the public,” Shomrim NW London, a charity that operates an emergency response team in the area, said on social media.
Two men — one in his 70s and one in his 30s — were treated at the scene for stab wounds before being taken to hospital where they are both listed in stable condition.
“A 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder,” the Metropolitan Police said. “He was taken into custody, where he remains. We are working to establish his nationality and background.”
Specialist officers from Counter Terrorism Policing are now leading the investigation and working with the Metropolitan Police to establish the full circumstances and any links to terrorism, officials said.
“Whilst I must stress this investigation is at an early stage, we are working quickly to understand exactly what happened,” Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Laurence Taylor said. “Thank you to those who were in the area at the time and supported the response to this terrible incident.”
Mayor Sadiq Khan of London also confirmed the police made an arrest following the “appalling attack on two Jewish Londoners in Golders Green.”
“London’s Jewish community have been the target of a series of shocking antisemitic attacks,” Khan said in a statement. “There must be absolutely no place for antisemitism in society. The Met have stepped up high visibility patrols in the area.”
Sarah Sackman, a member of Parliament who represents the area, said she was aware of the “serious stabbing” in Golders Green, also adding that a suspect had been arrested.
“The attacks on British Jews are an attack on Britain itself,” she said in a statement posted on social media. “It is unconscionable that jews are being targeted in this way.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was addressing questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, said it was “deeply concerning to everyone in this House.” He added that a police investigation was underway.
Wednesday’s alleged stabbing was at least the third violent incident reported in the Golders Green area — which is well-known for its sizable Jewish community — in recent weeks.
In late March, four ambulances belonging to the Jewish community ambulance service, Hatzalah, were firebombed in a suspected antisemitic attack, according to the Met Police.
And on Tuesday, an arson attack was reported on a memorial wall in Golders Green which is dedicated to thousands of protesters killed in an Iranian government crackdown on nationwide protests in January, police said.
The wall is located close to a local Jewish center, although police said the Tuesday alleged attack was “not being treated as a terrorist incident and officers are keeping an open mind about the motive behind the attack.”
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Zoe Magee contributed to this report.
Iranians hold national flags as they gather in Tehran’s Revolution Square after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, on April 8, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — As President Donald Trump pulled back from threats to annihilate “a whole civilization” when the Iranian regime agreed to a ceasefire and open the critical Strait of Hormuz, some people in the Islamic Republic expressed relief after juggling feelings ranging from despair to doom.
Trump had given the Iranian regime a deadline of 8 p.m. ET Tuesday — which would have been Wednesday, April 8, at 3:30 a.m. in Tehran — for the Iranian government to strike a peace deal or risk the destruction of all bridges and power plants in Iran.
He later extended the deadline to two more weeks as Iran agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz and work to forge a peace deal.
Sohreh, a 33-year-old journalist and resident of Tehran, told ABC News she felt an immediate sense of “relief” when she heard that a ceasefire agreement had been brokered.
“My heart was about to stop,” Sohreh said in a written message to ABC News of the hours she and other Iranian citizens spent on Tuesday bracing for the massive U.S. to strike on its power plants, bridges and infrastructure before the attack was called off. “I cried all day for Iran and prayed to a God I don’t believe in: ‘A miracle, please, send a miracle. I can’t live after the destruction of Iran.'”
Leading up to the ceasefire announcement, Iranians who have been in contact with ABC News throughout the conflict, which began with a Feb. 28 U.S.-Israel joint attack, recalled moments of joy as it appeared the Iranian regime was about to be toppled and disappointment that the Islamic Republican Guard Corps (IRGC) had refused to give up the fight.
An internet blackout imposed by the regime has made it challenging to communicate with people inside Iran, so it’s difficult to gauge how people in the country are feeling. Some have managed to get messages to ABC News.
“I am against the regime and I want them gone with every cell of my body. I have participated in the protests against the regime. But by no means I agree with a foreign power destroying what has been built by my people, for my people, and for the future of our children,” Fatemeh, a 40-year-old engineer who lives in Tehran, told ABC News in a written statement on Monday.
Citing security reasons, Iranians like Fatemeh and Sohreh who have communicated with ABC News, spoke on condition that their real names not be used.
Sohreh recalled a rollercoaster of emotions since the conflict began, from hope that the regime would be toppled to despair that it was hanging on and prolonging the pain of regular Iranians.
“I danced so much to the news of Khamenei’s death, so much that my legs hurt and I fell,” Sohreh said in a message to ABC News on Monday, referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, who was assassinated in a strike on the first day of the conflict.
But as the war dragged on, Sohreh said she battled doubts that the U.S.-Israel attacks would bring the regime to its knees. “We ask ourselves what if the war continues?” she said.
“When they hit Asaluyeh, everyone was feeling terrible,” Sohreh said of Monday’s strike by Israel Defense Forces on Iran’s southern petrochemical infrastructure in the Persian Gulf port city of Asaluyeh. “We wonder what to do if they hit the infrastructure. They don’t belong to the Islamic Republic. They are built by our own children. They belong to Iran and the future of Iran.”
On Tuesday morning, Trump posted an ominous message on his social media platform, saying, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote. “However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”
During a news conference on Wednesday morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared “a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield.
“A capital V military victory,” said Hegseth, adding that the U.S. military had “achieved every objective.”
Hegseth said that prior to the ceasefire being announced, the U.S. military was prepared to carry out the threat Trump made on Tuesday morning.
“Had Iran refused our terms, the next target would have been their power plants, their bridges and oil and energy infrastructure, targets they could not defend and could not realistically rebuild. It would have taken them decades. And we were locked and loaded,” Hegseth said.
He added, “President Trump had the power to cripple Iran’s economy in minutes, but he chose mercy. He spared those targets because Iran accepted the ceasefire under overwhelming pressure.”
Trump’s ominous statement on Tuesday came after he told reporters on Monday during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, “The Iranian people, when they don’t hear bombs go off, they’re upset.”
“They want to hear bombs because they want to be free,” Trump said without attributing where he was getting his information from.
He went on to claim that the only reason Iranian civilians have not taken to the streets en masse to demonstrate against the regime is that “they will be shot immediately, and that’s an edict. That’s in writing.”
Leila, a 36-year-old resident of Tehran who works as a manager of a shipping company, said she agreed with Trump, telling ABC News on Monday that when she doesn’t hear bombs, she feels “upset.” Leila, who described herself as anti-regime, said she longs for the day she sees American soldiers in Iran to save them.
In an earlier message Leila sent to ABC News on March 30, she said, “We don’t have fear from the missile attacks, we just get very happy to watch them burning the bases of the IRGC.”
Darius, a 38-year-old anthropologist from Tehran, told ABC News in a message sent on March 25 that he was initially anti-regime, but as the bombing continued, his opinion of the regime had started to change.
“The noise of the bombs and the fact that they are actually killing a lot of civilians pushes us more towards let’s say rallying around the flag,” Darius wrote. “We are fighting this war as a country and even though the Iranian state is not my cup of tea and even though I detest many of the things they do, still, I prefer to stand by their side against a Nazi in the White House.”
At least 3,546 people, including 244 children and 1,616 other civilians, have been killed in Iran due to the U.S.-Israeli strikes since the war began, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News agency reported on Sunday.
A soldier of the Unmanned Systems Forces prepares a ‘Salut’ drone on March 31, 2026 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Nikoletta Stoyanova/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ukraine launched more cross-border attack drones than Russia in a one-month period for the first time since the start of the ongoing war in 2022, according to daily data published by the Ukrainian Air Force and Russian Ministry of Defense, which was analyzed by ABC News.
Russia’s defense ministry reported downing 7,347 Ukrainian drones during March, the highest monthly total ever reported by Moscow and an average of 237 craft each day. The defense ministry only publishes figures of Ukrainian drones it claims were shot down.
Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, said its forces faced 6,462 Russian drones and 138 missiles of various types across the course of the month, of which 5,833 drones and 102 missiles — around 90% of drones and just under 74% of missiles — were intercepted or suppressed.
Ukraine, therefore, faced a daily average of just over 208 drones and four missiles during March, according to the data published by Kyiv.
ABC News cannot independently verify the data released by either Russia or Ukraine. It is possible that both sides may seek to exaggerate the effectiveness of their air defenses, or to amplify the attacks against them as proof that their enemies are not interested in pursuing a peace deal, experts have suggested.
The combined tally of 6,600 Russian drones and missiles reported by Ukraine’s air force across the month marks a new record high for a single month of Russian long-range attacks.
Ukraine’s air force publishes what it says is a daily tally of Russian drone and missile strikes, including information as to how many munitions were intercepted and how many hit targets.
Russia launched the month’s largest overall attack in a 24-hour period by either side. Ukraine’s air force said Moscow launched 948 drones and 34 missiles into the country on March 24.
Long-range drone and missile strikes have been a key element of the conflict as both Kyiv and Moscow seek to degrade the other’s economy and undermine their ability to prosecute and fund the ongoing war. The strikes have continued despite the resumptions of U.S.-brokered peace talks.
Russia has thus far been able to launch more drones and missiles into Ukraine, with Ukrainian leaders citing Moscow’s nightly barrages as a severe threat to the country’s strategic position. But March’s data suggests the balance may be shifting more in Ukraine’s favor, as Kyiv’s long-term efforts to expand its drone and missile capabilities bear fruit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been clear on Kyiv’s plans to expand Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities.
“Our production potential for drones and missiles alone will reach $35 billion next year,” Zelenskyy said in October. “Despite all the difficulties, Ukrainians are creating their national defense product that, in certain parameters, already surpasses many others in the world.”
“Never before in history has Ukrainian defense been so long-range and so felt by Russia,” Zelenskyy added. “We must make the cost of war absolutely unacceptable for the aggressor — and we will.”
To date, the majority of Ukrainian strikes are believed to have been conducted using relatively cheap, Ukrainian-made drones. Increasingly, Ukraine is also using interceptor drones designed and built by Ukrainian companies to intercept incoming Russian strike drones.
Ukraine is now producing its own cruise missiles — most notably the Flamingo, which Kyiv says has a range of more than 1,800 miles — but its drone arsenal still accounts for the vast majority of projectiles reported shot down by the Russian defense ministry, according to daily data published by Moscow.
Over the past year, Ukraine has put a special focus on attacking Russian oil refining and transport facilities, hoping — according to Ukrainian leaders — to cut into a key funding stream for Moscow and its military.
Ukraine’s most high-profile attacks of March came at Russia’s Baltic Sea ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk — key oil export hubs. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the strikes as “terrorist attacks.”
Zelenskyy in February said Russia’s energy sector is “a legitimate target” for attacks by Ukraine, because Russia uses revenue from sales of oil to procure weapons used to attack Ukraine.
“We do not have to choose whether we strike a military target or energy,” Zelenskyy said while addressing students at the National Aviation University in Kyiv. “He sells oil, takes the money, invests it in weapons. And with those weapons, he kills Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy said of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian officials have broadly sought to downplay the Ukrainian attacks, with most reports of damage or casualties attributed to falling debris from intercepted drones, rather than craft that found their mark. When Russian officials do acknowledge damage, they often describe the strikes as “terrorist attacks.”
But plenty of publicly available information — including video footage and photographs of the attacks — indicate that a significant number of Ukrainian drones do penetrate Russian air defenses and impact at sensitive military and industrial sites.
Meanwhile, drone incursions into neighboring countries — among them NATO allies — have raised concerns of the war spilling over into non-combatant nations.
NATO aircraft are regularly scrambled in NATO nations like Poland and Romania in response to Russian drone attacks along Ukraine’s western borders.
Allied officials have reported Russian drone violations in Romania, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Russian drones have also overflown Moldova, which is not a NATO member. Russian officials have denied responsibility for such incursions.
Stray Ukrainian drones have been reported falling in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko contributed to this report.
