US Navy shoots down Houthi missiles targeting US-flagged commercial ships in Gulf of Aden
U.S.Navy Janae Chambers/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Two U.S. Navy destroyers shot down incoming Houthi missiles and drones that were targeting three U.S.-flagged commercial ships that the destroyers were escorting in the Gulf of Aden, the U.S. military said.
There was no damage to the ships involved, the U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, said in a statement. There were no injuries, the statement said.
The destroyers, the USS Stockade and the USS O’Kane, shot down “a range” of Houthi-launched weapons while traveling through the gulf on Saturday and Sunday, CENTCOM said.
“These actions reflect the ongoing commitment of CENTCOM forces to protect U.S. personnel, regional partners, and international shipping, against attacks by Iran-backed Houthis,” the command said in a statement.
The Houthis began their campaign against shipping in response to Israel’s war in Gaza, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. Houthi leaders have vowed to continue attacks until Israel ends its campaign in Gaza and withdraws from the territory.
The U.S. — along with the U.K. — first launched airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in January 2024, following several months of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. Those strikes continued in November, officials said.
The Houthis launched over the weekend three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three attack drones and an anti-ship cruise missile, all of which were defeated, the Navy said.
CENTCOM in a press release, which was dated Dec. 1, did not identify the civilian vessels that had been targeted.
ABC News’ David Brennan and Matt Seyler contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The United States is preparing to return cybercrime kingpin Alexander Vinnik to Russian custody as part of an exchange for American Marc Fogel, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to identify Vinnik but acknowledged earlier Wednesday that a Russian citizen was freed in exchange for Fogel, who had been held in Russian since his arrest in 2021.
“This citizen of the Russian Federation will also be returned to Russia in the coming days,” Peskov said Wednesday.
Fogel was returned to the United States on Tuesday.
The owner and operator of one of the world’s largest currency exchanges, Vinnik was allegedly instrumental in facilitating the transfer of billions of dollars for criminals across the globe, supporting drug trafficking rings, ransomware attacks and the corruption of public officials.
Last year, Vinnik pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder billions of dollars through cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e. The Department of Justice alleged under Vinnik’s operation, BTC-e facilitated over $9 billion in worldwide transactions, serving as one of the main ways for cyber criminals to launder and move their criminal proceeds.
BTC-e has been implicated in multiple wide-ranging crimes, according to the Department of Justice, which alleges Vinnik himself was responsible for more than $120 million in losses.
As part of the deal, Vinnik is forfeiting $100 million of his criminal proceeds, an official said.
Vinnik was arrested in Greece in July 2017 after he was charged in a 21-count indictment that implicated the Russian cryptocurrency operator in the infamous 2014 hack of Mt. Gox, which at one point handled more than 70% of the world’s bitcoin transaction. The DOJ alleges Vinnik laundered money he received as a result of the hack to conceal his involvement in the subsequent investigation of Mt. Gox’s collapse.
Vinnik and his lawyers have been outspoken about their interest in a potential prisoner swap, making the unusual request in 2023 to be released from a protective order so they could lobby for an exchange.
“Mr. Vinnik’s case is unquestionably one of significant public interest. He has been the subject of political negotiations over a prisoner swap with Russia at the highest levels of the government,” his lawyers wrote in a court filing.
Vinnik’s sentencing in California was scheduled to take place in June, though a federal judge held an abruptly scheduled status conference in the case Tuesday. Ahead of his sentencing, Vinnik was housed at Alameda County Jail in California and was transferred Tuesday, ABC News has learned.
President Donald Trump didn’t disclose on Tuesday the negotiations that led to Fogel’s release or say whether there had been any conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I can only say this: We got a man home whose mother and family wanted him desperately,” Trump said.
Mike Waltz, the White House national security adviser, said in a statement on Tuesday that Washington had “negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine.” His statement did not include details on the exchange.
Trump earlier on Tuesday had been asked if Russia had given the United States anything in return.
“Not much, no,” Trump said. “They were very nice. We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually.”
Peskov on Wednesday declined to say whether additional prisoner exchanges were expected in the future, but said that “contacts between the relevant departments have intensified in the last few days.”
Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in October 2024 that Fogel, an American teacher, had been “wrongfully detained,” the State Department confirmed to ABC News.
The U.S. tried but was unable to include Fogel in the large prisoner swap in August 2024 that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, a State Department spokesperson said last year.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Michelle Stoddart, Nathan Luna and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Izvestia newspaper in an interview published Wednesday that Russia sees “no grounds for negotiations yet” to end Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House has revived speculation as to a possible deal to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, which by the time Trump takes office again will be nearly three years old.
Russia still occupies around 20% of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four entire regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — though it only partially occupies the areas it claims.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top officials have repeatedly said that Kyiv and its Western partners must accept the “new territorial realities” of Russian occupation, including of Crimea which was annexed in 2014.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have raised the prospect of renewed peace talks in recent weeks, though the two sides still appear far apart on key issues. Among them are the fate of the partially- or fully-occupied Ukrainian regions and Kyiv’s ambition to join NATO.
Peskov told Izvestia that “many countries have declared the readiness to host” possible peace talks, among them Qatar.
“Indeed, the emirate has been a very active mediator in various areas, it has been quite effective,” he added. “Besides, our bilateral relations with Qatar have been developing perfectly. We are grateful to all states, among them Qatar, for their goodwill.”
Russian and Ukrainian leaders are spending the last months of President Joe Biden’s time in office trying to gain leverage on the military and diplomatic fronts.
Former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson announced on Wednesday that he had returned to Russia to interview Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Carlson interviewed Putin in February and has been a fierce critic of the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has spent the last week receiving high-level allied visits in Kyiv. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Council President Antonio Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas all travelled to the Ukrainian capital, with Scholz pledging $680 million in new military aid.
The U.S. also announced this week its latest tranche of military support worth some $750 million. Zelenskyy said such support is “exactly what we need.”
Ukrainian forces need “significant reinforcement, particularly through weapons from our partners,” the president said on Tuesday, amid difficult battlefield conditions.
Russian forces continue to advance in the east of Ukraine, while pressing their efforts to eject Ukrainian troops from Russia’s western Kursk region where Kyiv’s forces took up positions in a surprise August offensive.
Meanwhile, both sides continue long-range drone and missile attacks. Russia’s strikes are focused on Ukraine’s energy network, while Kyiv continues to target military sites and oil infrastructure facilities.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s air force reported 28 Russia drones launched into the country overnight, of which 22 were shot down and three went off course. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 35 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Peace talk speculation looks set to continue through to Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Oleksandr Merezhko — a member of parliament representing Zelenskyy’s party and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee — told ABC News it is possible that Russia may soften its inflexible negotiating position in 2025.
“Putin is afraid of Trump and considers him to be unpredictable and stronger than Biden,” said Merezhko, who last month nominated the president-elect for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
“At the moment, Putin is in a hurry to grab as much territory as he can and to get the Kursk region back,” Merezhko said. “He is trying to improve his position before Trump coming to power and before the possible negotiations.”
(LONDON) — Two Russian airports were put under flight restrictions early Saturday after authorities alleged an attack by Ukrainian drones, according to state-run news agencies.
The state-owned RIA Novosti agency reported that Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency announced a temporary block on landing and takeoff at Kazan International Airport and restrictions at Gagarin Airport in the city of Saratov — both in the southwest of the country.
Kazan is more than 600 miles from the closest Ukrainian-controlled territory. Saratov is more than 350 miles from Ukrainian-held territory.
The press service of the head of the Tatarstan region — of which Kazan is the largest city — said authorities recorded eight drones attacking the city, with no reported casualties, according to the state-run Tass news agency.
“One was at an industrial enterprise, one was over a river and six were at a residential area,” the press service said, as quoted by Tass.
Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin said that fires were reported in houses in three districts of the city and announced selective evacuation of schools where it was deemed necessary, Tass reported.
Tatarstan head Rustam Minnikhanov wrote on Telegram that the region was subjected to “a massive UAV attack.”
“All forces have been deployed,” Minnikhanov added. “The most important thing is not to panic. We have instructed the government to inform the population about evacuation sites in a timely manner.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed six Ukrainian drones over the city, which it said were “flying in three waves from different directions.” Three were shot down and three defeated using electronic warfare measures, the ministry said.
In total, the ministry said it shot down 19 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.
Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 113 drones into Ukraine overnight, of which air defense teams shot down 57.
Another 56 went missing due to “active countermeasures” by Ukrainian defenders, the air force added.
Air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine on Saturday morning with the air force warning of a “threat of the use of ballistic weapons throughout the territory of Ukraine.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that the latest destroyed an oncology center in the southern city of Kherson and damaged apartment buildings in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Kyiv was targeted by ballistic missiles, while Sumy, Kryvyi Rih, the Dnipropetrovsk region and the Donetsk regions all reported shelling.
Seven people were reported injured in Zaporizhzhia and six in Kharkiv, officials said.
“This is the Russian terror we are countering,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “I am grateful to our partners who continue to stand with Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia. Together, through our collective strength, we will secure a lasting peace.”
Saturday’s attacks followed a combined missile and drone strike on Kyiv early on Friday, which the Kyiv City Military Administration said caused significant damage to buildings in the city center and killed at least one person.
The strike also damaged several foreign embassies, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tkhiyi told journalists on Friday. Tkhiyi described the attack as “barbaric.”
ABC News’ Natalya Kushnir, Anastasia Bagaeva and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.