‘Vladimir, STOP!’ Trump says to Putin after deadliest Russian strike on Kyiv in months
(Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — At least nine people were killed and dozens more were injured in an overnight Russian attack on several districts and residential areas in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday, prompting President Donald Trump to issue a directive to Russian President Vladimir Putin: “Vladimir, STOP!”
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing,” Trump said on social media on Thursday. “Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, who is traveling in South Africa, said Thursday he would cancel part of his planned visit and return to Ukraine earlier than expected.
“It is extremely important that everyone around the world sees and understands what is really happening,” he said. “Nearly 70 missiles, including ballistic ones. And about 150 attack drones.”
The Russian attack came amid intensifying negotiations to end the war, with White House officials pressuring Zelenskyy and Ukraine to accept a potential peace plan that may include ceding land to Russia, according to a senior Ukrainian official. Trump on Wednesday accused Zelenskyy of prolonging “the ‘killing field.'”
At least 70 people were injured overnight, including 42 who were hospitalized, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. Zelenskyy a few hours later said more than 80 people had been injured.
Six children were among the injured, the emergency service said.
“Overnight, Russia held a massive attack on Ukraine,”the Ministry of Defense said. “Cruise missiles, drones, ballistic weapons — yet another strike on peaceful cities and Ukrainian homes.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed the strike, saying the Russian “military continues to fulfill its tasks, which are set by the supreme commander-in-chief.” He added that military orders from Moscow include striking “military and near-military targets.”
Rescue operations were continuing early on Thursday in the capital, where first responders were digging through the rubble of residential buildings for survivors, defense officials said.
“These attacks are yet another confirmation — Russia is not seeking peace. It continues to kill Ukrainians,” the ministry said on social media.
Outside of Kyiv, Russia also targeted the Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions overnight into Thursday, the ministry said.
“While claiming to seek peace, Russia launched a deadly airstrike on Kyiv,” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s high representative for Foreign Affairs, said on social media. “This isn’t a pursuit of peace, it’s a mockery of it. The real obstacle is not Ukraine but Russia, whose war aims have not changed.”
(LONDON) — Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, has conducted a “large-scale hit against child sexual exploitation” whose members are part of a criminal group engaging in the distribution of images of minors fully generated by artificial intelligence, authorities said.
With support from 19 countries in Europe, a total of 25 arrests were made worldwide in the operation — named Operation Cumberland — that was led by Danish law enforcement and carried out simultaneously on Wednesday, according to Europol.
In total, 273 suspects were identified, 25 arrests were made and 33 house searches were conducted, Europol said.
“The main suspect, a Danish national who was arrested in November 2024, ran an online platform where he distributed the AI-generated material he produced,” officials said. “Following a symbolic online payment, users from around the world were able to obtain a password to access the platform and watch children being abused.”
Operation Cumberland has been “one of the first cases involving AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), making it exceptionally challenging for investigators, especially due to the lack of national legislation addressing these crimes,” Europol said. “In this regard, EU Member States are currently discussing a common regulation proposed by the European Commission to tackle this new situation and protect children from being sexually abused and exploited.”
More arrests are expected in the coming weeks in the ongoing operation.
“These artificially generated images are so easily created that they can be produced by individuals with criminal intent, even without substantial technical knowledge,” said Catherine De Bolle, Europol’s executive director. “This contributes to the growing prevalence of child sexual abuse material, and as the volume increases, it becomes progressively more challenging for investigators to identify offenders or victims. Law enforcement will need to develop new investigative methods and tools to address these emerging challenges.”
Online child sexual exploitation remains one of the most threatening manifestations of cybercrime in the European Union and continues to be one of the top priorities for law enforcement agencies, which are dealing with an ever-growing volume of illegal content, Europol said.
“Self-generated child sexual material constitutes a significant share of the CSAM that is detected. AI models able to generate or alter images are being abused by offenders to produce CSAM and for sexual extorsion. Such models are widely available and have developed quickly, with output that now increasingly resembles genuine material, making it harder to identify as artificially generated,” Europol said.
“This poses significant challenges to authorities in identifying the real victims. Even in cases when the content is fully artificial and there is no real victim depicted, such as Operation Cumberland, AI-generated CSAM still contributes to the objectification and sexualisation of children,” officials continued.
Europol said that it, along with its partners, will be launching an online campaign in the coming days highlighting the consequences of using AI for illegal purposes and targeting potential offenders where they are most active: online. The campaign will use online messages to reach buyers of illegal content, as well as other methods such as knock-and-talks, social media messages and warning letters.
“Operation Cumberland demonstrates an ongoing coordinated effort by law enforcement to tackle this threat comprehensively, from arresting criminals to preventing future crimes through education, deterrence and providing support to those who want to seek support or help,” Europol said.
(TORONTO) — The right main landing gear collapsed on impact when a Delta flight landed at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport last month, with the wing hitting the runway and fuel spray causing a massive fire, according to a preliminary report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
There was no final cause of the crash in the report released Thursday, but the investigation found that the right main landing gear broke and collapsed on impact as the plane landed at a high descent rate.
The first officer, who was in her fifth straight day of flying, was at the controls of the plane, according to the report. She had 1,422 hours of flying total, which is below the Federal Aviation Administration minimum to be a commercial pilot.
She was able to fly commercially with a special exception from the FAA because she had a specific aviation degree and received a waiver, the report said.
All 80 people on board survived though 21 passengers were injured — two seriously, the report said.
Delta said in a statement, “For everyone at Endeavor Air and Delta, nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and our people. That’s why we remain fully engaged as participants in the investigation led by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. Out of respect for the integrity of this work that will continue through their final report, Endeavor Air and Delta will refrain from comment.”
What happened right before the plane landed?
About 13 seconds before landing, the plane’s airspeed increased to 154 knots, “consistent with a performance-increasing wind gust,” according to the report. The first officer, who was flying the plane, pulled back the thrust levers to decrease engine thrust.
Then, 2.6 seconds before touchdown, the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System alert “sink rate” went off, indicating a high rate of descent, according to the report.
Less than one second before touchdown, the aircraft’s indicated airspeed was 134 knots and its groundspeed was 11 knots, per the report. The bank angle was 7.1 degrees to the right, and the pitch attitude was 1 degree nose up. The rate of descent was recorded as 1,110 feet per minute, according to the report.
What happened during touchdown?
The side stay attached to the aircraft’s right main landing gear fractured on landing, according to the report, while the landing gear retracted.
The wing root fractured between landing gear and fuselage, causing the right wing to release a “cloud of jet fuel” when it detached from the fuselage, according to the report, which then caught fire when the aircraft was sliding on the runway.
The report also revealed the cockpit door was jammed shut and the flight crew exited the plane through the emergency hatch on the ceiling of the cockpit.
After all 80 people on board evacuated, emergency personnel entered the fuselage and an explosion occurred outside the aircraft at the left wing root, according to the report, though the cause has not yet been determined for the explosion.
No obvious preexisting malfunctions were found on the components of the flight control, the report said.
Preliminary information from the flight data recorder did not have any “caution or warning messages” about the flight controls.
While the first officer had flown for five straight days, including the same day on a flight from Cleveland at 8:19 a.m., the captain had not flown for seven days. The captain has worked for Endeavor since October 2007. He has 3,570 hours total flight time and 765 hours on the CRJ-900.
International students pursuing degrees at Michigan public universities sought relief from detention and deportation during a federal court hearing on Tuesday, after their student immigration status was terminated this month, jeopardizing their legal status in the U.S.
The students — two citizens of China, one of Nepal and another from India — filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and immigration officials, claiming that their student immigration status in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) was illegally terminated “without sufficient notice and explanation.”
SEVIS is a database that tracks information about nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors in the U.S.
“According to the government, they no longer have legal status in the U.S., and they have to leave the country immediately,” Ramis Wadood, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan who is representing the students, told ABC News.
He noted that the students didn’t get any kind of grace period.
“You no longer have status, and have to leave the country right away,” Wadood said.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court by the ACLU of Michigan on behalf of the students — Xiangyun Bu, Qiuyi Yang, Yogesh Joshi and Chinmay Deore. According to the complaint, in addition to their student immigration status being terminated, Yang and Joshi were told that their F-1 student visas, which allowed them to enter the country, were also revoked.
“None of them has been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime in the United States,” the complaint said. “None has violated any immigration law. Nor have they been active in on-campus protests regarding any political issue.”
The students’ attorneys argued during a Tuesday morning hearing in a Detroit federal court for a temporary restraining order that would restore their legal status and protect them from arrest or deportation as the case moves forward.
According to Wadood, the judge indicated that he “recognized the urgency of the situation and said he would rule soon.”
Wadood told ABC News on Monday that his clients are at risk of being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and are “scared” and have stopped showing up to classes in person.
“Our clients have been allowed to continue their studies to the extent that their professors and their programs will accommodate,” Wadood said, adding that they are trying to resume their studies remotely since “they’re at risk of arrest and detention at any point.”
The lawsuit names DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and ICE Detroit Field Office Director Robert Lynch. ABC News reached out to the officials but requests for comment were not immediately returned.
“DHS did not provide the students or their schools any meaningful explanation for terminating their F-1 student status,” the complaint said. “At most, what seems to connect students targeted by this newfound and unlawful policy is that the students had some encounter with some American law enforcement official at some point in the past, no matter how innocuous — including receiving a speeding or parking ticket (or even a warning) or lawfully withdrawing an application to enter the United States.”
Court records show four separate letters that each of the students received from their prospective universities informing them that their student immigration status has been terminated. The reason cited by DHS in all cases is “individual identified in criminal records check,” and for Yang and Joshi it also says “and/or revoked visa.”
The Trump administration filed a response on Monday evening to the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order, urging the judge to “deny this request because it is procedurally and substantively improper.”
“An emergency motion for a temporary restraining order may only be used to maintain the status quo; it cannot be used to obtain the ultimate relief plaintiffs seek in this case, which is the alteration of their SEVIS record,” it said.
The government also alleged in Monday’s filing that the students have criminal records, but did not provide additional details.
“DHS searched criminal records for each of the plaintiffs and criminal history matches were returned for each of the plaintiffs,” its response said.
Wadood denied that any of his clients have ever been charged with or convicted of a crime. He said that in explaining their reference to “criminal records,” the government cited three of his clients who were detained for alleged domestic disputes.
They were subsequently released and not charged with any crimes, while one plaintiff “doesn’t have as much as a simple speeding ticket or parking ticket” on their record, according to Wadood
“Our plaintiffs’ criminal history is clean. They have no convictions, no charges,” he said.
The federal lawsuit comes as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown strikes higher education, prompting a slew of lawsuits against White House officials. Similar lawsuits have been filed across the country in states like New Hampshire, Indiana and California.
According to Inside Higher Ed — a publication that tracks news in higher education — as of Tuesday over 180 colleges and universities have identified nearly 1,200 international students and recent graduates who have had their legal status changed by the State Department.
“If the courts don’t put an end to this arbitrary government action, then generations of future international students are going to see what’s happening today and decide, ‘You know what, it’s probably not safe for me to go to the U.S to study'” Wadood said. “And our academic institutions, our academic communities, are going to be so much worse off because of it.”
The Trump administration appears to be targeting some international students with student visas and green card holders for their participation in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses or for alleged criminal records.
“A visa is a gift. It’s a voluntary thing. We decide to give you a visa,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a March 28 press conference. “We deny visas all over the world every day for a variety of reasons, and that means we can also revoke those visas. No one is entitled to a visa.”
