American citizen killed in Ukraine, State Department says: LIVE UPDATES

Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that an American citizen was killed in Ukraine on Thursday.

“We offer our sincerest to the family on their loss,” a State Department spokesperson said. “Out of respect to the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment.”

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Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said Thursday that the U.S. has observed some cases of poor Russian morale as the invasion of Ukraine drags out.

“Now, I want to be careful here,” Kirby said. “We don’t have insight into every unit in every location, but we certainly have picked up anecdotal indications.”

“Some of that is, we believe, a function of of poor leadership, lack of information that the troops are getting about about the their mission and objectives,” he added. “And and I think disillusionment from from being resisted as fiercely as they have been. But again, I want to stress these are anecdotal accounts.”

The State Department said Thursday that an American citizen has been killed in Ukraine.

“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” a spokesperson reportedly said.

Earlier, police in the Chernihiv region said “the occupiers once again carried out a heavy artillery attack on unarmed civilian residents in the city” and that “there are dead and wounded people,” according to a Facebook post.

“Among the dead — a U.S. citizen,” the post added.

The deputy chief of Russian’s National Guard was reportedly detained Thursday amid news that Russian President Vladimir Putin is cracking down on disloyalty within his ranks following the invasion of Ukraine. 

Russian Gen. Roman Gavrilov, of Rosgvardia, the internal military force of the Russian Federation that reports directly to the president of the Russian Federation, was detained by the Russian security and counterintelligence agency, Federal Security Service (FSB), according to Christo Grozev, CEO of the Netherlands-based investigative journalism group Bellingcat. 

The reason for Gavrilov’s detention wasn’t immediately clear. Grozev said one of his sources told him that Gavrilov was detained by the FSB’s military counter-intelligence department over “leaks of military info that led to loss of life,” while two other sources said the reason was for “wasteful squandering of fuel.”

Rosgvardia is a unit of the Russian Federation’s internal army that reportedly suffered heavy losses in Ukraine during the three weeks since the invasion began on Feb. 24. 

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Survivors have begun to emerge from the basement shelter of a Ukraine theater targeted by Russian airstrikes in the besieged city of Mariupol, as casualties throughout the country mount. 

The airstrikes from Wednesday night had left a large section of the grand, 3-three story theater building in the center of Mariupol collapsed in a smoking ruin, according to photos released by the city council. Inside, hundreds of men, women and children — up to 1,000 according to some officials — had taken shelter in the basement, seeking safety amid Russia’s strangulating 3-week siege of the strategic southern port city.

Rescuers worked to clear the rubble that had blocked the entrance to the basement, despite new strikes reported elsewhere in the city Thursday. Miraculously, the shelter stood firm, officials said. 

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday stopped short of characterizing Russia’s attacks against civilians as war crimes, saying the matter is under review, but called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to “cease these horrible actions.”

Austin, during a press conference with Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad in Slovakia on Thursday, was asked whether Russia’s actions in Ukraine – specifically against civilians – are considered war crimes.

“Well, certainly we’ve all been shocked by the brutality that we continue to witness day in and day out,” Austin said. “These attacks that we’ve seen most recently appear to be focused directly on civilians.”

Biden went further than Austin on Wednesday when he said that Putin was a “war criminal.”

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The assault on Mariupol has revealed the full extent of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s determination to take Ukraine as he claims that his country will undergo a natural and necessary “self-purification” of “traitors.”  

“The Russian people will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and simply spit them out like a fly that accidentally flew into their mouths,” Putin said Wednesday. “I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country, our solidarity, cohesion and readiness to respond to any challenges.”

Putin compared the West to Nazi Germany and accused Russians who opposed the war of having a “slave-like” mentality, The New York Times reported. He labeled the conflict “a struggle for our sovereignty, for the future of our country and our children.” 

But a fresh crackdown on anti-war sentiment – including a criminal case against a popular lifestyle blogger – pales in comparison to the horrors in Mariupol where the Russian military has appeared to overcome any hesitation about pulling its punches. 

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WNBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner will continue to be held in Russia for at least two more months as an investigation into drug allegations continues, according to a report. 

Russian news agency TASS reported Thursday that the court in Moscow has ruled that Griner will continue to be held in Russian custody until May 19 pending an investigation into the circumstances that led to her arrest back in February. 

The WNBA star was arrested last month after officials said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis. Griner could face up to a decade in prison if she’s convicted.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking to Germany’s parliament Thursday, accused the country of putting its economy ahead of Ukraine’s security in the lead up to the Russian invasion. 

“When we asked for preventative measures, we noticed that you would delay things, that you wanted to continue doing economics or business,” Zelenskyy said, referencing ties between Berlin and Moscow. 

“And now the commercial routes between you and the aggressor country are a key element in the wall that separates Europe currently,” he continued. 

The Ukrainian president called on Germany not to let a new wall divide Europe, urging support for his country’s membership of NATO and the European Union. 

“German nation, you are like behind the wall, a stronger one than Berlin Wall — the wall between freedom and loss of freedom,” Zelenskyy said. “This wall is getting stronger with every next bomb falling on the Ukrainian soil, with each important decision that is not taken.” 

Zelenskyy also noted Germany’s hesitancy when it came to imposing some of the toughest sanctions on Russia for fear it could hurt the German economy. 

“I want to say now to Chancellor Scholz destroy this wall, give Germany the leadership that your descendants will be proud of,” Zelenskyy said while concluding his speech. “Support us, support each Ukrainian, stop the war, help us stop it.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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A former Russian foreign minister told Fox News Digital that Russia needs to return to “international norms” before meaningful talks and relations can occur. 

Andrei Kozyrev, who served as Russia’s foreign minister from 1990 to 1996, said that the West and Russia will remain at odds until “Russian rulers start to behave within the international norms.” 

“I think when Russia comes back to honoring the international norms, and Ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity is part of those norms … until they prove they are able to observe those norms, both inside – I mean minimum of human rights, respect for freedom of press – and in their foreign policy… until that, there is no understanding, and the sanctions should stand,” he said.

Kozyrev cautioned that Russia’s aims include the whole of Eastern Europe, with intent to “attack, to pressure, to intimidate other countries, including members of NATO.” 

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Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said Thursday that his country wants the war in Ukraine to end through diplomatic means and that it would not recognize rebel-held areas in Ukraine’s east that are backed by Russia, according to Reuters.

“First, Uzbekistan is seriously concerned by the situation around Ukraine,” he reportedly said. “Second, we are the proponents of finding a peaceful solution to this situation and resolving the conflict through political and diplomatic means. But in order to do that, first of all, hostilities and violence must stop immediately.”

Adviser to the Ukrainian defense minister, Markiyan Lubkivskyi, joined ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss negotiations between Ukraine and Russia as millions flee for safety.

Three sources have told the investigative news website Bellingcat Thursday that Gen. Roman Gavrilov, the deputy chief of Russia’s Rosgvardia
, has been detained by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

One source said Gavrilov was detained over “leaks of military info that led to loss of life,” while the two others say it was for “wasteful squandering of fuel,” according to the website.

President Biden will talk by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday.

The pair will address the Russia-Ukraine war, competition between China and the U.S. and other topics, the White House said.

Viacheslav Chaus, the regional governor of the Chernihiv region, said Thursday that the northern Ukrainian city has suffered “colossal losses and destruction” as a result of the Russian military’s bombardment.

Speaking to Ukrainian television, Chaus said 53 bodies of those “killed by the Russian aggressor from the ground or from the air” have been delivered to morgues in Chernihiv over the past 24 hours, according to the Associated Press.

Chernihiv — which has a population of around 280,000 — was the site Wednesday where the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said “Russian forces shot and killed 10 people standing in line for bread.”

“The city has never known such nightmarish, colossal losses and destruction,” Chaus reportedly said Thursday. 

Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko said Thursday there are reports of injuries following a Russian attack on a theater in Mariupol, but not deaths.

Vayslenko, an opposition lawmaker who is part of a delegation visiting the British Parliament, said local officials report that 80-90% of all structures in Mariupol have been damaged in the relentless Russian assault.

Vasylenko said between 1,000 and 1,500 people were sheltering at the theater when it was hit by an airstrike and called the attack the deliberate “destruction of a refuge.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Thursday that he country is hoping to evacuate civilians through nine “humanitarian corridors” — including some leading out of Mariupol.

The development comes as the United Nations says nearly 3.2 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion.

Fox News’ Jonathan Hunt reports on the rescue efforts after a Mariupol theater
used as shelter for civilians was bombed and destroyed.

This is what is at stake in Ukraine, according to a woman helping lead the fight for the freedom of her own country, Belarus. It was bad enough for those who felt their election was stolen in 2020 and who saw their uprisings crushed. Now many Belarusians worry their country may be dragged directly into Russia’s war with Ukraine. 

Russian troops may be using her country as a staging ground for attacking Ukraine, but opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya says she is working behind the scenes to make sure Belarusian troops don’t join the battle.

“Right after the war started, we launched a huge program to show the truth about the situation in Ukraine, because on state TV, propaganda TV, they don’t show anything about the war.  We started to explain to our soldiers, our military officers, that people are dying there,” Tsikhanouskaya tells Fox News. “We are also communicating with the mothers of soldiers, explaining to them the situation.” 

Tsikhanovskaya said many men of recruitment age have simply fled Belarus to avoid possible deployment to Ukraine.

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Lithuania on Thursday has become the third NATO member country to call for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine
, with its parliament unanimously adopting a resolution demanding the measure.

The resolution, according to the Associated Press, said a no-fly zone would allow United Nations peacekeepers to ensure the security of humanitarian corridors and the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and nuclear waste storage facilities.

Prime Minister Janez Jansa of Slovenia also has publicly called for a no-fly zone and Estonia’s Parliament has urged its 29 NATO partners to consider the same.

However, critics of the idea have been warning that enacting such a measure would likely escalate Russia’s war with Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wendesday “this can become even worse if NATO (takes) actions that actually turned this into a full-fledged war between NATO and Russia.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Russia’s armed forces have lost more than 7,000 soldiers so far during its invasion of Ukraine
, the New York Times is reporting, citing American intelligence estimates.

The figure is much higher than Russia’s latest official total of 498, the newspaper added.

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence said Thursday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is slowing down as “Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses.”

“Ukrainian resistance remains staunch and well-coordinated,” it posted on Twitter. “The vast majority of Ukrainian territory, including all major cities, remains in Ukrainian hands.”

Ukraine’s presidential office also reported artillery and air strikes around the country overnight, including in the Kalynivka and Brovary suburbs of the capital, Kyiv. 

It said fighting continues as Russian forces try to enter the Ukraine-held city of Mykolaiv in the south and that there was an artillery barrage through the night in the eastern town of Avdiivka.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ukraine Parliament member Sergiy Taruta said Thursday that “people are coming out alive” after a theater in the besieged eastern city of Mariupol was severely damaged Wednesday by a Russian military airstrike.

“After an awful night of not knowing, we finally have good news from Mariupol on the morning of the 22nd day of the war. The bomb shelter [of the theater] was able to hold. The rubble is beginning to be cleared,” Taruta wrote on his Facebook page.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office says Russia has carried out further airstrikes on Mariupol this morning. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

“People are escaping from Mariupol by themselves using their own transport,” Zelenskyy’s office said, adding the “risk of death remains high” because of Russian forces previously firing on civilians.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

About 400 used bulletproof vests that were collected for donation to people in Ukraine have been stolen in New York City, according to reports.

The vests were removed from a building in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan sometime overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, the New York Post reported.

“It is despicable that someone would break into a building to steal supplies and materials intended to aid those affected by this humanitarian crisis,” Vicki DiStefano, a spokeswoman for the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, which made a large donation of vests last week, told WABC-TV of New York City.

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Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said during a plenary session of the Senate that his country does not recognize breakaway Ukraine republics, according to Kun.uz, a Uzbekistan outlet.

“Uzbekistan is committed to finding a peaceful solution to the situation and resolving the conflict through diplomatic means. To do this, first of all, hostilities and violence must be immediately stopped,” Kamilov said.

“Based on national interests, Uzbekistan will continue mutually beneficial cooperation with both countries,” he added, per the report.

“We do not recognize Donetsk and Luhansk as separate republics,” Kamilov concluded.

Click here for Fox News’ earlier coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials in the besieged city of Mariupol claimed that Russian forces bombed a theater in which thousands had taken refuge, even though satellite footage shows that the word for “children” in Russian was written on the ground near the theater.  

“Another horrendous war crime in Mariupol,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister, posted on Twitter Wednesday. “Massive Russian attack on the Drama Theater where hundreds of innocent civilians were hiding. The building is now fully ruined. Russians could not have not known this was a civilian shelter. Save Mariupol! Stop Russian war criminals!”

Mariupol’s deputy mayor, Sergei Orlov, told the BBC that between 1,000 and 1,200 people had sought refuge in the building.

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At age 17, Yelizaveta “Lizzy” Lysova is on her own in Switzerland after fleeing war surrounding her family’s home in Kyiv, Ukraine. 

When Russia first invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Lysova, like many Gen Zers, took to TikTok. But she didn’t expect to garner more than 16 million views on a video of herself dancing around in a bathrobe in her kitchen trying to make light of the fact that “Russia attacked us,” forcing her to leave in a few hours. 

“When you woke up at 5 a.m. to the sounds of explosions and everything trembling and realize that Russia declared war on u so u r packing you sh1t and dipping,” she wrote.

“Love Russia,” she quipped, ending that the second TikTok was viewed more than 1.1 million times. 

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In a video address, President Zelenskyy made his negotion priorities clear.

“And I want all our citizens, the citizens of Ukraine, to hear me now. Negotiations are ongoing. Negotiations for the sake of Ukraine. My priorities in the negotiations are absolutely clear: the end of the war, security guarantees, sovereignty, restoration of territorial integrity, real guarantees for our country, real protection for our country,” Zelenskyy explained.

Translation: “A fire broke out in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv after the remains of a downed missile struck a high-rise building. According to preliminary information, 30 people were evacuated, three of which were injured. One person has died.”

Despite fears that China may help Russia avoid economic sanctions and may even provide military support to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, China’s ambassador to Ukraine told officials in the western city of Lviv this week that his country will support Ukraine both economically and politically. 

“We will always respect your state, we will develop relations on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. We will respect the path chosen by Ukrainians, because this is the sovereign right of every nation,” Fan Xiangong, who relocated with the Chinese embassy from Kyiv to Lviv after Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, told Lviv officials on Monday, according to the Lviv regional government.

“In this situation, which you have now, we will act responsibly. We have seen how great the unity of the Ukrainian people is, and that means its strength,” Fan added. 

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced
that Ukraine joined the European Union’s Energy Union on Wednesday, saying that Ukraine’s electricity flows into the EU and vice versa.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could be the start of World War III.

“Nobody knows whether it may have already started. And what is the possibility of this war if Ukraine will fall, in case Ukraine will? It’s very hard to say,” Zelenskyy said during an interview with NBC News Wednesday. “And we’ve seen this 80 years ago, when the Second World War had started … nobody would be able to predict when the full-scale war would start.”

The Ukrainian leader’s comments come as he has urged the U.S. and other NATO countries to provide more assistance to Ukraine, with some being reluctant to do so in fear that it could spark an escalation with Russia that could lead to world war.

Zelenskyy has called for a no fly-zone over Ukraine, invoking Martin Luther King Jr. to make the case during his address to Congress.

“I have a dream. … I can say, I have a need, a need to protect our sky,” he said. “I need your decision, your help, which means exactly the same, the same you feel when you hear the words ‘I have a dream.'”

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