New images emerge of Russian ship Ukraine says it blew up: LIVE UPDATES
Satellite images released Friday are showing the aftermath of a Russian ship at a port in the Black Sea that Ukraine's Navy said was "destroyed" yesterday. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin is accusing the west of trying to "cancel" his country.
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Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar released a statement Friday announcing the release of Tyler Jacob, a Minnesota man who had been detained in Russia.
“I am relieved that Tyler is safely reunited with his wife and daughter," Klobuchar said in the statement. "Over the last two weeks, my team and I have been in close contact with his family, the State Department, and the U.S. embassy in Moscow working towards this outcome, and I am grateful that we were able to help bring him to safety."
Klobuchar added, "While this is good news, my heart remains with all those separated from their loved ones or in danger. As Vladimir Putin continues his senseless war, our commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine is steadfast.”
Jacob was taken by Russian soldiers as he tried to flee Ukraine for his own safety at the approximately two weeks ago. He was detained in Russia for ten days as his family tried to work with the U.S. State Department and U.S. embassy in Moscow to locate him and bring him home.
“I am so ecstatic that Tyler is safe," Tina Hauser, Jacobs' mother, said in the statement. "This has been a harrowing experience, and I am so grateful to the officials in the State Department and embassy who helped us locate Tyler and get him out of Russia. I am especially grateful to Senator Klobuchar for her steadfast support through this whole process. This was a parent’s worst nightmare, but I can rest easy tonight knowing my son has made it to safety."
Rep. Michael McCaul sounds off on the consequences of President Biden's actions beyond the Russia-Ukraine war on 'Special Report.'
Fox News correspondent Mark Meredith has the latest on the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 'Special Report.'
The Institute for the Study of War released a report Friday that Russia is attempting to "adjust the war’s narrative" by claiming that its primary objective was to capture the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk.
"Sergei Rudskoi, first deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, gave a briefing to Russian press summing up the first month of the Russian invasion on March 25," the ISW report reads. "Rudskoi inaccurately claimed Russian forces have completed 'the main tasks of the first stage of the operation,' falsely asserting that Russia has heavily degraded the Ukrainian military, enabling Russia to focus on the 'main goal' of capturing Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts."
The report states the Russians are "adjusting" the narrative because it is "not achieving its objectives and is being forced to abandon large-scale offensive operations because of its own failures and losses as well as continuing skillful Ukrainian resistance."
The report added that Rudskoi's comments were likely aimed at the domestic Russian audience.
"The Kremlin has reiterated this justification for the war frequently as part of efforts to explain the invasion to its people and build or sustain public support for Putin and the war," the report explained. "Rudskoi’s framing of the capture of the rest of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as the 'main goal' of the operation is in line with this ongoing information operation."
Lt. Gen. Richard Newton told ‘Your World with Neil Cavuto’ Ukrainian forces shifted the ‘momentum’ in Kyiv, annoying Putin.
'The Five' panelists react to President Biden's dangerous gaffe telling troops they'll soon be sent off to Ukraine.
Andrii Osadchuk explains what Ukraine and the West should do to fight Putin on 'Your World.'
Fox News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane said Russia committed its ‘better-trained’ forces to the partial land corridor and has not given up its overall objectives to topple Ukraine’s government, despite ‘propaganda.'
Russia is re-evaluating its strategy as it looks to save face in cease-fire negotiations with Ukraine following a month of fighting that has resulted in little ground advancement.
"They are putting their priorities and their efforts in eastern Ukraine. And that's where still there remains a lot of heavy fighting," a senior defense official told reporters Friday. "We think they are trying to not only secure some sort of more substantial gains there as a potential negotiating tactic at the table, but also to cut off Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country."
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The White House on Friday insisted the U.S. military will not be deployed to Ukraine amid Russia’s multifront war on the country after comments President Biden made to troops in Poland seemed to suggest otherwise.
Biden, visiting U.S. service members in Poland, talked about how average Ukrainian citizens are "stepping up."
"You’re going to see when you’re there – some of you have been there – you’re going to see women, young people, standing in the middle, in front of a damn tank, saying, ‘I’m not leaving.'"
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Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev has earned the nickname "Butcher of Mariupol" for masterminding the harrowing attack on the Ukrainian city that has reduced it to rubble.
Ukrainian military officials claim that Mizintsev orchestrated a similar attack in Syria, leaving the city of Aleppo bomb-shattered. The attack in Mariupol included the bombing of a theater that had marked itself as a shelter with children – an attack that killed roughly 300 people seeking refuge at the time.
Mizintsev, 59, serves as the head of the National Centre for Defense Management, which Russia established in 2014 to direct future military operations.
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Turkey has taken center stage in attempts to end Russia’s deadly war in Ukraine, but top government officials in Kyiv said Friday that "no consensus" had been reached.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO nations have repeatedly called on the Kremlin to remove all Russian forces from its southern neighbor.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly laid out a list of six demands he says need to be met in order to broker a deal with Zelenskyy.
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Fox News correspondent Douglas Kennedy reports on how tech companies are fighting back against Russia censoring apps and websites.
Current Russian military activity in Ukraine. (Fox News)
A senior U.S. defense official revealed Friday that Russia is "trying to send in some reinforcements from Georgia" as its military losses continue to rise in the war in Ukraine.
"We have seen the movement of some number of troops from Georgia," the official said. "We don't have an exact number."
Earlier Friday, Russia's defense ministry claimed that the "main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been accomplished."
"The combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been significantly reduced, which allows us, once again, to concentrate our main efforts on achieving the main goal -- the liberation of Donbass," a separatist region in eastern Ukraine, the defense ministry added.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. has "no intention" of using chemical weapons, after President Biden said his administration would respond "in kind" if Russia uses such a weapon in Ukraine.
Sullivan was asked Friday what Biden meant by "in kind."
Sullivan said that meant "we’ll respond accordingly" and that Russia would pay a "severe price."
"We will collect the form and nature of our response based on the nature of the action Russia takes," Sullivan said. "And we'll do so in coordination with our allies."
For more on this story: Sullivan clarifies Biden 'in kind' comment, says US has 'no intention' of using chemical weapons
Europe has seen the worst security crisis since World War II following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deadly invasion into Ukraine last month, but security experts have warned that another threat is looming in the form of cyber warfare.
President Biden said this week that Russia is "exploring options" to target the U.S. and its allies through cyberattacks as tensions with Moscow remain precarious.
"The more Putin’s back is against the wall, the greater the severity of the tactics he may employ," the president said Monday. "One of the tools he’s most likely to use in my view, in our view, is cyberattacks."
But Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said this week that while a Russia-based cyberattack could prompt a NATO-wide reaction, it does not necessarily mean a military response will be activated.
"Any cyberattack that results in death or injury or damage is going to be a pretty important thing to which NATO must respond," former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Michael Ryan told Fox News Digital.
For more on this story: Threat of Russian cyberattack looms, but NATO expert says military escalation unlikely
(Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies)
Satellite images released by Maxar Technologies on Friday are showing the aftermath of a Russian ship at a port in the Black Sea that Ukraine's Navy said was "destroyed" yesterday.
The images taken in the southern city of Berdyansk reveal "a Russian Alligator-class landing ship that is burned and partially submerged near one of the port’s loading/unloading quays," according to Maxar Technologies.
Ukraine's Navy claimed Thursday to have blasted the Russian vessel that morning.
"A large paratroop ship ‘Orsk’ of the black sea fleet of occupiers was destroyed in the occupied Russian port Berdyansk," the country's Navy announced on Facebook. "Glory to Ukraine!"
Fox News' Tyler O'Neil contributed to this report.
President Biden, while visiting Poland Friday, said he is there "to see firsthand the humanitarian crisis and quite frankly, part of my disappointment is that I can't see it firsthand like I have in other places.
"They will not let me understandably, I guess it, cross the border and take a look at what's going on in Ukraine," Biden said.
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk says 19 civilian sailors captured by Russia from the Black Sea's Snake Island -- where soldiers reportedly told a Russian warship to "go f--- yourself" during the early days of the war -- have been freed in a prisoner swap.
"Today, by order of President Zelensky, the first full-fledged exchange of prisoners of war took place. In exchange for 10 captured occupiers, we pulled out 10 of our servicemen," Vereschuk wrote in a Telegram post Thursday.
"Also, today we sent 11 Russian civilian sailors to the Russians, whom we rescued from a sunken ship near Odessa," she added. "As a result of this exchange, 19 Ukrainian civilian sailors are returning home from the rescue ship 'Sapphire', which was captured by the occupiers while trying to take our troops from the island of Snake.
"Under the terms of the exchange, the lifeboat itself will also be returned to Ukraine and sent to a port in Turkey," she also said.
President Biden greets U.S. troops Friday in Poland. (Fox News)
President Joe Biden, who is visiting American troops stationed in Rzeszow, Poland during the war in Ukraine, has told them Friday "you are the finest fighting force in the history of the world -- and that's not hyperbole."
"Thank you for what you do, thank you for all you have done," Biden said to the soldiers.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with young award-winning culture professionals via videoconference in Moscow, Russia, on Friday. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday is accusing western nations of trying to "cancel a whole thousand-year culture -- our people" as governments continue to impose sanctions and isolate Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
"Today they are trying to cancel a whole thousand-year-old country, our people," Putin said. "I am talking about the progressing discrimination of everything connected with Russia, a trend that is unfolding in a number of Western states and with the full connivance, and sometimes with the encouragement of the ruling elites.
"The notorious cancel culture has become a cancellation of culture," he added.
Fox News' Shiyu Xu contributed to this report.
The Russian army said Friday that 1,351 of its soldiers have been killed during the war in Ukraine as reports are emerging that another Russian general has died on the battlefield.
The reported figure emanating from the Russian Defense Ministry is far lower than the seven to 15,000 Russian troop deaths that NATO estimated mid-week.
The defense ministry also claimed Friday that it has completely destroyed Ukraine's navy and air force and that it has full control of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.
"In general, the main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been accomplished. The combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been significantly reduced, which allows us, once again, to concentrate our main efforts on achieving the main goal -- the liberation of Donbass," a separatist region in eastern Ukraine, the defense ministry added.
Ukrainian media, citing the country's military, is also saying on Twitter that Russian Lt. Gen. Yakov Rezantsev -- the commander of the 49th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District -- has been killed.
Fox News' Thomas Ferraro contributed to this report.
President Biden will speak on Saturday about the war in Ukraine in what National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is describing as a "major address".
Biden will highlight the "urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world and why it is so important that the free world sustain unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression," Sullivan said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is seen Friday in Moscow. (AP/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that “a real hybrid war, total war was declared on us," over its military activity in Ukraine, according to the Associated Press.
Lavrov said at a meeting that the goal was “to destroy, break, annihilate, strangle the Russian economy, and Russia on the whole.”
But Lavrov also said “we have many friends, allies, partners in the world, a huge number of associations in which Russia is working with countries of all continents, and we will continue to do so."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Mariupol City Council said Friday that Russia's influential pro-Kremlin political party, United Russia, has opened an office at a shopping center there.
"According to Mariupol residents who remain in the city, the headquarters distributes party newspapers, agitates for Russia, and also issues cards of the Phoenix mobile operator, which has been operating in the occupied territory of Donetsk since 2014," the council said in a Telegram post. "The Russian occupiers call their headquarters humanitarian."
U.S. President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Melsbroek military airport in Brussels on Friday. (AP/Markus Schreiber)
President Joe Biden is currently traveling to Poland Friday to meet with its president, Andrzej Duda.
"The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created," the White House said in a statement earlier this week.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a media conference after an extraordinary NATO summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels, on Thursday. (AP/Markus Schreiber)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are nearing "consensus" on key issues to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war. Turkey has been hosting diplomatic talks between the nations.
"We will continue our talks with both Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky from now on as well," Erdoğan said, according to his presidential office. "All our efforts aim to create an atmosphere of peace by bringing together the two leaders."
"As is known, there is almost a consensus regarding such issues as NATO, disarmament, collective security and using Russian as official language in the technical infrastructure works during the ongoing process in Belarus," the Turkish president added. "However, there is the issue of Crimea and Donbass, which is impossible for Ukraine to consent to."
For more on this story: Erdoğan: Ukraine and Russia nearing 'consensus' on 4 of 6 key issues to ending the war
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov is seen moderating Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual press conference in Moscow on Dec. 23, 2021. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, when asked Friday about President Biden's call for Russia to be removed from the G20 summit in Indonesia this October, said "many countries prefer a more sober approach to what is going on."
"The U.S. continues to push hard enough to isolate Russia," he said. "But the world is a much more diverse place than the U.S. and EU."
"The format of the G20 is important. But since most of the participants are in a state of economic war with us, nothing fatal will happen," Peskov added. "Russia will be ready, if possible, to participate."
Fox News' Amy Kellogg contributed to this report.
The Mariupol theater following the bombing on March 16. (Ukrainian Interior Ministry/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The Mariupol City Council on Friday, citing eyewitnesses, said around 300 people have died in last week's bombing of a theater there.
The council said in a Telegram post that they "want to believe that everyone managed to escape," but "the words of those who were inside the building at the time of this terrorist act say the opposite."
"The Drama Theater in the heart of Mariupol has always been the city's calling card. A place of meetings, dates, a point of reference," the council said. "In its place appeared a new point of pain for the people of Mariupol, the ruins that became the last refuge for hundreds of innocent people."
Mariupol officials also say the Russian military knew what it was doing in carrying out the attack.
"[They] knew what the consequences might be, and yet the bombs fell on a place that had become a refuge for hundreds of Mariupol residents. There can be no explanation for this inhuman cruelty," they said. "There will never be forgiveness for those who brought destruction, pain and suffering to our home."
President Biden and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, announced in Brussels Friday that U.S. and European Commission will be launching a joint task force to help the EU pull away from its reliance on Russian gas.
Biden said that Russian President Vladimir Putin uses energy to "coerce and manipulate his neighbors" and uses the profits from its sale to "drive his war machine.
"He said it's not "only the right thing to do from a moral standpoint" but "it’s going to put us on a stronger strategic footing."
The task force will "work to ensure energy security for Ukraine and the EU in preparation for next winter and the following one while supporting the EU’s goal to end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels," the White House said in a statement.
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Ukraine has accused Russia of forcibly taking hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia and using them as "hostages" to persuade Ukraine to surrender.
Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine’s ombudsperson, said 402,000 people, including 84,000 children, had been taken.
Russia confirmed the Ukrainians had been taken to Russia but said they were from the separatist-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine and they wanted to go to Russia.
FILE - Rescuers work at the site of the National Academy of State Administration building damaged by shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Marienko, File)
About half of the population of the besieged eastern city of Kharkiv has fled as food and other essentials have started to dwindle.
Kharkiv has been under siege by Russian forces since the start of the invasion, with relentless shelling that has forced people to sleep in metro stations and in basements.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ukraine's military has been able to re-occupy towns and defensive positions east of Kyiv through counterattacks and and Russian Forces falling back on overextended supply lines, the U.K. Defense Ministry said in a Friday morning update.
"Ukrainian Forces are likely to continue to attempt to push Russian Forces back along the north-western axis from Kyiv towards Hostomel Airfield," the update said, adding, "In the south of Ukraine Russian Forces are still attempting to circumvent Mykolaiv as they look to drive west towards Odesa with their progress being slowed by logistic issues and Ukrainian resistance."
U.S. Army troops of the 82nd Airborne Division just after arrival at the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport in southeastern Poland, on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. (AP Photo, File)
President Biden is expected to visit the Poland-Ukraine border Friday during his trip to Poland to meet with President Andrzej Duda.
Air Force One will land in Rzeszow, Poland, about 100 miles from Lviv, Ukraine, according to the BBC.
U.S. troops are stationed in Poland along the border and Biden is set to meet with members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.
After the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Oksana Kononets and her mother were determined to arrive in America for a special cause.
Earlier this month, the 29-year-old appeared in an annual fashion show hosted by Runway of Dreams, a nonprofit that supports adaptive clothing for people with disabilities. The model was left paralyzed at age 19 after she injured her spine caused by a fall from the fifth floor. She has used a wheelchair since 2012.
Kononets told Fox News Digital she was due to fly to Los Angeles on Feb. 26 for the show. But two days prior, on Feb. 24, Russia launched a full-scale attack on her home country.
"I remember how Kyiv was bombed," she said. "I remember everything. Mama took our luggage and we headed to the train station. We didn’t know which direction to go. We just found a free space on the train and started to move. It was a huge crowd. But we needed to leave."
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European Council President Charles Michel, left, U.S. President Joe Biden, center, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, arrive for a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, March 24, 2022. As the war in Ukraine grinds into a second month, President Joe Biden and Western allies are gathering to chart a path to ramp up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin while tending to the economic and security fallout that's spreading across Europe and the world. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)
President Biden is expected to announce a plan on Friday to send increased shipments of liquefied natural gas shipments from the U.S. to Europe to help the EU pull away from reliance on Russian gas.
Biden will likely discuss the matter with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission in Brussels before heading to Warsaw on Friday.
Getting more liquefied natural gas to Europe could be difficult, even though the U.S. has been dramatically increasing its exports in recent years. Many export facilities are already operating at capacity, and most new terminals are still only in the planning stages. Most liquefied natural gas from the U.S. already goes to Europe.
On Thursday, Biden pledged new sanctions on Moscow and said Russian President Vladimir Putin should be expelled from the G20. He added that the U.S. plans to provide more humanitarian aid to Ukraine and is willing to accept up to 100,000 refugees.
Senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot has the latest from Lviv, Ukraine, on 'Special Report.'
Lt. Col. Daniel Davis discusses where the red line should be for the U.S. in response to Russia on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’
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