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Three Marines with intelligence jobs charged in Jan. 6 Capitol breach

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Three active duty members of the Marine Corps assigned to intelligence-related jobs, including one at the National Security Agency headquarters in Maryland, have been charged with participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, according to court filings unsealed Thursday and military service records.

Cpl. Micah Coomer, Sgt. Joshua Abate and Sgt. Dodge Dale Hellonen were arrested Tuesday and Wednesday near Camp Pendleton, Calif., Fort Meade, Md., and Camp Lejeune, N.C., respectively, and appeared in local federal courts.

The FBI said Abate admitted to entering the Capitol “with two ‘buddies’” during a June 2022 interview that was part of his security clearance process while assigned to the Marine Corps’s Cryptologic Support Battalion, which is partnered and headquartered with the NSA at Fort Meade. According to charging papers, Abate said they “walked around and tried not to get hit with tear gas,” and “admitted he heard how the event was being portrayed negatively and decided that he should not tell anybody about going into the U.S. Capitol Building.”

Each faces counts including trespassing, disorderly conduct and illegal parading or picketing in a restricted Capitol building or grounds, in connection with the riots that injured scores of police officers, left offices ransacked and forced lawmakers to evacuate the premises amid Congress’s meeting to confirm the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The sergeants’ occupations as special communications signals analysts and the corporal’s job as an intelligence surveillance reconnaissance system engineer were first reported by Military.com and were confirmed in their service records.

A Marine Corps spokesperson said, “We are aware of an investigation and the allegations. The Marine Corps is fully cooperating with appropriate authorities in support of the investigation.”

Abate’s attorney David Dischley declined to comment. Federal defenders for the other two men did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The men are the first active-duty military members to be charged in the Capitol attack since Maj. Christopher Warnagiris of the Marine Corps was arrested in May 2021. He is awaiting trial on felony counts including assaulting or impeding police and obstructing an official proceeding. About 120 of the roughly 940 people arrested in the Capitol breach served in the military, reserves or National Guard.

According to charging papers filed Tuesday and unsealed Thursday, Coomer posted photographs on Instagram taken from inside the Capitol during the breach captioned, “Glad to be apart of history.” Data provided by Facebook in connection with an August 2021 federal search warrant showed that in Jan. 31 direct message on Instagram, Coomer allegedly “stated his belief ‘that everything in this country is corrupt. We honestly need a fresh restart. I’m waiting for the boogaloo.’”

Coomer described the term as “Civil war 2,” according to an FBI arrest affidavit. U.S. prosecutors have described “boogaloo” as a term taken up by fringe groups referring to a racially or ethnically motivated civil war.

Capitol surveillance video recorded the three Marines entering the Capitol through the Senate Wing Door less than 10 minutes after it was first breached, according to the FBI. The trio was moving together and spent 52 minutes in the building, with Hellonen carrying a yellow Gadsden flag with a “Don’t Tread on Me” logo, according to the FBI. That included time in the Rotunda, where “they placed a red MAGA hat on one of the statues to take photos with it,” an FBI arrest affidavit said.

All three men had previously been awarded a Good Conduct Medal, which is given for every three years of discipline-free service, according to service records.

Separately, another Washington-area military reservist assigned to the U.S. intelligence community and facing a charge in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was convicted Wednesday on unrelated felony weapons offenses.

Hatchet M. Speed, a Navy Reserve petty officer first class assigned to the Naval Warfare Space Field Activity at the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Va., was found guilty of possessing three unregistered firearms silencers by a jury in Alexandria federal court.

Speed has pleaded not guilty to federal misdemeanor charges in Washington after being described by U.S. prosecutors as a heavily armed Nazi sympathizer with top-level U.S. government security clearance who breached the Capitol with members of the Proud Boys extremist group. A new indictment this month added a felony count of obstructing an official proceeding of Congress against Speed, who until recently worked with a U.S. defense and intelligence cyberoperations contractor based in nearby Vienna, Va.

Speed is not accused of violence, has no criminal history and retained a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance at time of his arrest. But prosecutors cited Speed’s alleged statements to an undercover FBI employee about using violence to further “anti-government and anti-Semitic ideologies,” including many “enemies” who live near Washington as the seat of the government, and his $50,000-worth of “panic” buying of firearms after the Capitol attack that included a dozen pistols, revolvers, shotguns and rifles.

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Big Court Win For Sikh Recruits In US Marines

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Aekash Singh, Jaskirat Singh, and Milaap Chahal had sought an exemption from a Marines grooming rule.

Washington:

A US court has ruled that Marine Corps cannot deny entry to Sikhs sporting a beard and wearing a turban, in a major victory for three recruits from the community who can now join the elite unit’s basic training without having to forfeit their religious beliefs.

The trio of recruits – Aekash Singh, Jaskirat Singh, and Milaap Singh Chahal – had sought an exemption from a Marines grooming rule requiring them to shave their beards, with the men arguing it was their expression of commitment to their religious faith.

The Marine Corps told three Sikh men that they could serve only if they shaved before going through basic training.

They appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in September after a lower-court judge denied their request for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed them to enter basic training with their articles of faith.

“They are now suffering and will continue to suffer grave, immediate, and ongoing injuries to the exercise of their faith,” the three-judge bench of the US Court of Appeals here ruled on Friday.

“A federal court has just ruled that Sikhs can maintain their religious beards while serving their country in the U.S. Marine Corps. Now, three Sikh recruits, who had previously been denied religious accommodations, can enter basic training,” lawyer Eric Baxter, who represented the three men, tweeted.

“This is a major ruling for religious freedom—for years, the Marine Corps has barred Sikh recruits with religious beards from entry into basic training. Today’s ruling strikes down that rule as a “violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA),” he said.

“No one should have to choose between serving God and country,” he added in a series of tweets.

The Marines’ ban on facial hair applies in basic training and “combat zones,” a designation the plaintiffs said in court covers over three dozen countries where hazard pay is given, the Washington Post newspaper reported.

The Marines claimed that beards will impact “troop uniformity” and appearance among recruits, ultimately threatening national security.

Writing for the Court, Judge Millett stated that the Sikh recruits “not only have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits—it is difficult to imagine them losing.” “She noted that the Marine Corps has never explained why the Corps cannot apply the same or similar [religious] accommodations that the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and Coast Guard provide,” Baxter said.

The US Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard all accommodate the religious requirements of Sikhism.

In the Sikh religion, it is mandatory for the male adherents to not trim their hair and beard along with keeping kanga (wooden comb), kirpan (small sword), kara (steel bracelet), and a white cotton undergarment (kachera).

“Sikhs have a long tradition of serving in militaries around the globe, motivated by their religious teaching to defend the defenseless. We are grateful that these Sikh recruits can continue that tradition—the ruling was made right in time for them to enter boot camp,” Baxter tweeted.

“They believe, as part of their religious duty, in defending the rights of others,” Baxter told National Public Radio (NPR).

“This was also a win for our national security. At a time of historic recruiting shortfalls, the Marines now have access to a new community of Americans who have a history of bravely serving in the military,” he tweeted.

The Marine Corps allows medically required beards and diverse hairstyles for women, and has relaxed its rules around tattoos.

In 2021, NPR reported that the Marines planned to address its lack of diversity and retention problems. Approximately 75% of Marines leave at the end of their four-year term, the highest turnover rate among the military services, according to the article.

The ruling means that the three men are allowed to go ahead with training, while the Marine Corps considers a possible appeal.

“They should really just recognize it’s time to make this change and let all Americans serve without having to abandon their religious – their core religious belief,” Baxter said.

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Six bodies recovered during search for missing marines from sunken Thai warship | Thailand

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Thailand’s navy has discovered the bodies of six marines after a small warship sank in the Gulf of Thailand. One marine was rescued alive on Monday as the military mobilised helicopters, warships and unmanned drones off its central coast.

Twenty-three people remained unaccounted for after the HTMS Sukhothai was knocked over by four-metre waves and strong winds late on Sunday. Some were without life vests.

“The latest person was found 41 hours from when the ship sank and he was alive. So we believe that there are those still alive out there … we will continue to search,” said Admiral Chonlathis Navanugraha, the navy’s chief of staff.

Helicopters, two unmanned surveillance aircraft, four warships and a C130 transport plane were sent to find the marines as the weather improved.

The vessel had suffered an engine malfunction as it took on water and went down about 20 nautical miles off the Bang Saphan district. The US-made corvette had been in use since 1987 and was carrying 105 military personnel.

Map of the Gulf of Thailand

Most on board were rescued before the boat sank but dozens had to abandon ship in rafts and lifejackets.

Lieutenant Colonel Pichitchai Tuannadee, captain of the sunken ship, said he was in the sea for two hours before he scrambled on to a raft and was found by search teams on Monday.

“To see something as small as a life ring or a person’s head above the surface of the water, it’s very hard to see with the big waves,” he said, adding that the missing sailors were likely to be fatigued by now from having to tread water and make sure those without vests stayed afloat.

One of the marines was found late on Monday clinging to a buoy.

“He was floating in the water for 10 hours. He was still conscious, so we could take him out of the water safely,” said the commander of one of the search vessels.

Relatives of the missing gathered at rescue centres awaiting news of loved ones.

Malinee Pudphong, aunt of missing marine Saharat Esa, said she spoke to her nephew by phone before the boat went down and was shocked to hear he did not get a lifejacket.

“It’s a body of a 21-year-old,” she said. “He’s not strong enough.”

Navy chief Admiral Choengchai Chomchoengpaet said the sinking would be investigated, including reports that there were not enough lifejackets on board.

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Marines at Biden speech prompt debate about politicizing the military

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The White House’s decision to flank President Biden with U.S. Marines as he delivered a speech raising alarm about the authoritarian impulses of former president Donald Trump and his supporters has sparked debate about what is an appropriate use of the military.

Biden, speaking at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Thursday night, said that democracy and equality are under assault, and that he wanted to “speak as plainly as I can to the nation” about threats to them. Trump and his allies represent a form of extremism that “threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden said, adding that while “mainstream” Republicans respect the rule of law, the former president does not.

Biden delivered his speech in front of the building where the U.S. Constitution was written, as two Marines in dress blues stood in the background. Red light bathed the building and the Marines.

Biden warns U.S. faces powerful threat from anti-democratic forces

Presidents have long used U.S. troops and military hardware as they address the American people. But military officials often have sought to narrow how people in uniform are pulled into the political spotlight, adhering to the belief that the military is an institution that protects all Americans regardless of political affiliation.

A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, acknowledged that the administration made a conscious decision to include the Marines for symbolism.

“The President gave an important speech last night about our democracy and our values, values that our men and women in uniform fight every day to protect,” the official said in a statement. “The presence of Marines at the speech was intended to demonstrate the deep and abiding respect the President has for their service to these ideals and the unique role our independent military plays in defending our democracy, no matter which party is in power.”

For some scholars who study civil-military affairs, the use of the Marines as backdrop to the speech was unwise.

Peter Feaver, a professor at Duke University, said that while presidents are political actors, they “need to be careful about not bringing the military into the frame when they are engaging in partisan, political acts.”

“In this case, the choice to literally keep the Marines guards in the frame was an unfortunate one,” said Feaver, who raised concerns about how Trump politicized the military on numerous occasions. “It may even have the effect of distracting from the message as people debate the optics rather than the substance of the president’s speech.”

Lindsay Cohn, who studies civil-military affairs at the Naval War College, said that Biden being framed by Marines during the speech was “not a crisis, but it could and should have been avoided.”

Cohn said she can see an argument that Biden was making a necessary and nonpartisan speech in which he noted explicitly that not all Republicans are a threat. But she added that the Biden administration needs to be “oversensitive and cautious about optics to try to strengthen some of the norms” that the Trump administration weakened.

Addressing U.S. troops at the Pentagon in February 2020 at the beginning of his administration, Biden said that he would never disrespect them and “never politicize the work you do.”

Biden’s critics — including many who remained silent during Trump’s battles with the Pentagon — pounced on the use of the Marines.

“The only thing worse than Biden’s speech trashing his fellow citizens is wrapping himself in our flag and Marines to do it,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.) tweeted.

James Hutton, a Veterans Affairs official during the Trump administration, tweeted that Biden “used Marines as props for his divisive and clearly political speech.”

Biden’s supporters responded by pointing out the many ways that Trump undermined the nonpartisan nature of the military.

In June 2020, he sought for days to use active-duty U.S. troops to quell protests prompted by the police killing of George Floyd, alarming senior Pentagon officials who saw his plans as an abuse of power. At the height of the crisis, federal forces cleared protesters from Lafayette Square outside of the White House before Trump led other senior U.S. officials to a nearby church for a photo opportunity. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, later apologized for appearing with the president briefly outside the White House, saying that his presence in that moment “created the perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”

At the outset of his administration, Trump traveled to the Pentagon and signed executive actions that included an order meant to severely curb immigration from several Muslim-majority countries. He did so in the Pentagon’s “Hall of Heroes,” a room dedicated to the military’s Medal of Honor recipients.



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Democrats melt down after CNN hosts criticize Biden speech

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Democrats had an online meltdown after hosts from their leftist network CNN dared question President Biden’s use of the military during his fiery primetime attack on his Republican rivals.

Hosts Brianna Keilar and Jeff Zeleny were just a few of the people upset at the commander-in-chief using Marines to back him during his speech — sparking demands for their axing and an outright boycott of the left-wing network.

“You are clearly a shill for the RNC,” one person whose Twitter bio includes a #BidenHarris2020 hashtag tweeted Zeleny just for saying that using the Marine Band was “a break with White House traditions.”

“Your sheets are showing.”

“New Day” host Keiler was first to spark the meltdown, writing, “Whatever you think of this speech the military is supposed to be apolitical.

“Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it.”

CNN’s Brianna Keilar merely said that a president’s use of the military during a political speech is “wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it.”
Twitter/Brianna Keilar

A minute later, the network’s chief national affairs correspondent was even more measured, stressing that “there’s nothing unusual or wrong with a president delivering a political speech — it’s inherent in the job description.”

However, Zeleny claimed, “doing it against a backdrop of two Marines standing at attention and the Marine Band is a break with White House traditions.”

CNN’s Jeff Zeleny was attacked just for suggesting that using the Marine Band was “a break with White House traditions.”
Bloomberg via Getty Images

Both were soon flooded by people saying they had unfollowed them as well as calls to boycott CNN over the simple statements.

“Brianna Keilar has sold her soul,” one person told their more than 90,000 followers, while others said the tweet proved she is now “straight up MAGA.”

“You know CNNs transformation into Baby Fox News is officially complete when Brianna Keilar goes MAGA,” one “vote blue” supporter said.

“Uncovering The Truth” podcaster Dash Dobrofsky also told his 109,000 followers that Keilar’s criticism proved that “CNN stands against Biden and supports Fascism.”

Others suggested that because Keilar and Zeleny had shared the same thought, it must be proof that they were under the control of right-wing forces supposedly now in charge at the network.

Former MSNBC host Keith Olberman told his 1 million followers that CNN staff “are living in dread of being Steltered” — referring to the recent axing of host Brian Stelter — “by the new right wing management.”

“Having said that,” he wrote, Keilar and Zeleny “should be fired tonight. Sorry.”

Olberman also added Poppy Harlow to the list while sharing a message condemning CNN’s “embarrassing coverage” of Biden’s speech.

Rodney Grim told his 7,000 followers that “Brianna Keilar is quiet quitting” in anger that “CNN is turning into Fox News.”

“Complaining that the president has military behind him is like complaining that he’s wearing a suit and tie,” he claimed

Random House vice president Benjamin Dreyer had such a meltdown, he made a glaring mistake despite being a best-selling copy-editing guru.

He accused Keilar of making an “embarrassing” mistake and “cheating” by copying Zeleny’s tweet — even though the timestamps of the messages he shared clearly showed that Keilar’s tweet was posted first.

Keilar later said that “it’s possible to agree with everything Biden said and still disagree with using Marines as backdrops for a political speech.”
Joshua Blanchard

Keilar soon addressed the backlash, tweeting, “It’s possible to agree with everything Biden said and still disagree with using Marines as backdrops for a political speech.”



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Military plane crash: 4 Marines killed after aircraft crashes in Southern California desert

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A U.S. Marine transport aircraft carrying five Marines went down Wednesday afternoon in a remote part of Southern California.

A federal source tells CBS News four of the five were killed. There was no word on the fate of the fifth.

The MV-22 Osprey, belonging to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, went down in a desert area near Glamis, California, Maj. Mason Englehart confirmed to CBS News. The crash occurred at around 12:25 p.m. local time.

The aircraft was carrying five Marines, Englehart said, but he could not immediately confirm the total number of people aboard, including the crew, or whether there were fatalities or injuries.

The U.S. Marine Corp tweeted Wednesday night that it was “awaiting confirmation” on the “status” of the five Marines.

“We ask for the public’s patience as we work diligently with first responders and the unit involved to identify what occurred this afternoon,” it wrote. 

Installation Federal Fire and Imperial County Fire Department responded to the crash, Naval Air Facility El Centro said, adding that “contrary to initial reports, there was no nuclear material on board the aircraft.”  

Glamis is located in rural Imperial County, about 50 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing is based out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, while the Osprey itself was based out of Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, Englehart said. Both are in neighboring San Diego County. 

The cause of the crash was not clear.

The Osprey is a tiltrotor aircraft used to move troops and supplies, according to the Marines. It can take off and land like a helicopter, but can also fly like a plane. 

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Osprey military aircraft carrying five Marines crashes in California

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An Osprey aircraft carrying five Marines crashed near Glamis, Calif., located just north of the Mexican border, at about 12:25 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, the California-based unit that was responsible for the MV-22B Osprey, declined to comment on potential fatalities. Military and civilian first responders are at the crash site, he said.

“We ask for the public’s patience as we work diligently with first responders and the unit to identify what occurred this afternoon,” the Marines said in an emailed statement.

The Marines denied posts circulating on social media asserting that the aircraft may have been carrying nuclear material. “There was no nuclear material on board the aircraft,” the Marines said.

Officials in Imperial County, where Glamis is located, could not immediately be reached for comment, but county officials wrote on social media that they were aware of a downed aircraft and were providing assistance. Glamis, east of San Diego, is a desert area known for its sand dunes.

Osprey aircraft, used by the U.S. and Japanese militaries, take off and land vertically like helicopters but fly like airplanes. The MV-22B — which combines the flexibility of a chopper that can operate in diverse environments with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft — is primarily used to transport troops and equipment in support of amphibious assaults.

Marines launch a ‘kamikaze’ drone from an Osprey aircraft

But the aircraft’s safety record has come under scrutiny. More than 40 people have died while flying on Ospreys since 1991.

In March, an Osprey crashed during NATO exercises in Norway, killing four American service members. In 2017, a Marine Osprey crashed in Syria, injuring two. That year, a crash in Australia also left three Marines dead. In 2014, an Osprey briefly lost power while flying over the Persian Gulf, resulting in one Marine fatality. One of the deadliest crashes came in April 2000, when all 19 Marines aboard a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft were killed.

A spokesman for Bell, which manufactures the Osprey in partnership with Boeing, said the company was awaiting details of the incident but was ready to assist the Marine Corps.

The Osprey was also involved in five “Class B” mishaps in the last fiscal year, according to the Naval Safety Center, which it defines as incidents causing between $600,000 and $2.5 million worth of property damage and leading to permanent partial disability or three hospitalizations.

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Ex-Marine Willy Joseph Cancel’s wife has seen her life completely fall apart since his death

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The wife of the former US Marine who was killed fighting against invading Russians in Ukraine has seen her life “completely fallen apart” since her husband’s death, according to the slain soldier’s father.

New York native Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, left behind his 22-year-old wife Brittany — who is also a Marine veteran — and their seven-month-old son, Anthony, in March after he took a paid job with a private military contracting company “in order to protect the innocent” in Ukraine, his father wrote on a GoFundMe page.

On Tuesday, Cancel’s wife received “the worst call of her life,” when she was informed that her husband was killed in battle, the father said.

“‘Your husband fought bravely but unfortunately he did not make it,’” she was told in a phone call.

“Since that April 26th phone call, her life has completely fallen apart and now she has to figure out how to build it back together, to figure out how to raise her son without his father or financial support,” the father wrote on the fundraising site, which has raised over $36,000 as of early Saturday morning.

Willy Joseph Cancel left behind his seven-month-old son and 22-year-old wife Brittany after he took a paid job with a private military contracting company.
Brittany Cancel/Facebook; Willy

“As a family, we are trying to support them as much as possible and be there for each other, but Brittany and Anthony will need more than what we can provide.”

The fundraiser hopes to raise enough money to support Cancel’s wife and son.

“He will grow up without a father, a father who was brave and selfless and whose life was senselessly lost,” Cancel’s father wrote about his grandson.

The wife has had her life completely fall apart and now has to figure out how to build it back together, Willy Joseph Cancels father wrote on the GoFundMe page.
GoFundMe
The GoFundMe fundraiser hopes to raise enough money to support Cancel’s wife and son.
Brittany Cancel/Facebook; Willy

“While he will grow knowing that his father died a hero, we know this will not be easy. No parent should ever have to bury their child, and no child should have to grow up without a parent.”

Cancel, who is originally from Orange County and served as a volunteer firefighter in Walden, flew to Poland on March 12 and arrived in Ukraine the next day to fight alongside men from “all different countries,” his mother Rebecca Cabrera told CNN on Friday.

The circumstances of Cancel’s death were unclear and his body was not immediately recovered, Cabrera said.

Willy Joseph Cancel flew to Poland on March 12 and arrived in Ukraine the next day to fight alongside men from all different countries, his mother said.
Brittany Cancel/Facebook; Willy

Cancel previously served as a rifleman in the Marines and was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, the Marine Corps said Friday.

He had no war-zone deployments and was given a bad-conduct discharge after violating a lawful general order, Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Jim Stenger said.

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More than 1,000 Ukraine marines surrender in key port of Mariupol, says Russia

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  • Hundreds of Ukrainian marines surrender in Mariupol, Russia says
  • Fall of industrial district would give Russians control of port
  • Thousands believed killed under near-seven week siege
  • Leaders of Poland, Baltic states, in Kyiv for talks

LVIV, Ukraine, April 13 (Reuters) – More than 1,000 Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the besieged port of Mariupol, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday of Moscow’s main target in the eastern Donbas region which it has yet to bring under its control.

If the Russians take the Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, they would be in full control of Mariupol, Ukraine’s main Sea of Azov port, which would allow Russia to reinforce a land corridor between separatist-held eastern areas and the Crimea region that it seized and annexed in 2014. read more

Surrounded by Russian troops for weeks and the focus of some of the fiercest fighting of the war, Mariupol would be the first major city to fall since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The battle for the industrial heartland of Donbas is likely to define the course of the war. read more

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Russia’s defence ministry said that 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade surrendered, including 162 officers.

Ukraine’s general staff said Russian forces were proceeding with attacks on Azovstal and the port, but a defence ministry spokesman said he had no information about any surrender. read more

Reuters journalists accompanying Russian-backed separatists saw flames billowing from the Azovstal district on Tuesday.

On Monday, the 36th Marine Brigade said it was preparing for a final battle in Mariupol that would end in death or capture as its troops had run out of ammunition.

Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in Mariupol and Russia has been massing thousands of troops in the area for a new assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

Ukraine says tens of thousands of civilians have been trapped inside the city with no way to bring in food or water, and accuses Russia of blocking aid convoys.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS WARNING

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ardent supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, urged remaining Ukrainians holed up in Azovstal to surrender.

“Within Azovstal at the moment there are about 200 wounded who cannot receive any medical assistance,” Kadyrov said in a Telegram post. “For them and all the rest it would be better to end this pointless resistance and go home to their families.”

Russian television showed pictures of what it said were marines giving themselves up at Illich Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol on Tuesday, many of them wounded.

It showed what it said were Ukrainian soldiers being marched down a road with their hands in the air. One of the soldiers was shown holding a Ukrainian passport.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar has said there was a high risk of Russia using chemical weapons, echoing earlier warnings by Zelenskiy, who on Wednesday told the Estonian parliament by videolink Russia was using phosphorus bombs to terrorise civilians. read more

He did not provide evidence and Reuters has not been able to independently verify his assertion.

Service members of pro-Russian troops ride an armoured vehicle during fighting in Ukraine-Russia conflict near a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works company in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 12, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

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Chemical weapons production, use and stockpiling is banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. White phosphorous, although condemned by human rights groups, is not banned. read more

Russia denies using chemical weapons, saying it had destroyed its last chemical stockpiles in 2017.

Moscow’s incursion into Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has seen more than 4.6 million people flee abroad, killed or wounded thousands and left Russia increasingly isolated on the world stage.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said 191 children had been killed and 349 wounded since the start of the invasion.

The Kremlin says it launched a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for an unprovoked attack.

FOUR PRESIDENTS IN KYIV

The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday to meet Zelenskiy, the Polish leader’s office said. Estonia’s President Alar Karis had earlier tweeted that they were offering political support and military aid. read more

The four join a growing number of European politicians to visit the Ukrainian capital since Russian forces were driven away from the country’s north earlier this month.

U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine amounted to genocide, as Putin said Russia would “rhythmically and calmly” continue its operation and achieve its goals.

Russia has denied targeting civilians and has said Ukrainian and Western allegations of war crimes are fabricated.

Many towns Russia has retreated from in northern Ukraine were littered with the bodies of civilians killed in what Kyiv says was a campaign of murder, torture and rape.

Interfax Ukraine news agency on Wednesday quoted the Kyiv district police chief saying 720 bodies had been found in the region around the capital, with more than 200 people missing.

The General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russian forces were maintaining attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv region in the northeast and the Zaporizhzhia region in central Ukraine.

At least seven people were killed and 22 wounded in Kharkiv over the past 24 hours, Governor Oleh Synegubov said. A 2-year-old boy was among those killed in the 53 artillery or rocket strikes Russian forces had carried out in the region, he said in an online post.

Reuters could not independently verify the information.

Russia denies targeting civilians. Putin on Tuesday used his first public comments on the conflict in more than a week to express confidence his goals would be achieved.

Zelenskiy mocked Putin in an early morning address: “How could a plan that provides for the death of tens of thousands of their own soldiers in a little more than a month of war come about?”

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Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Michael Perry and Nick Macfie; Editing by Stephen Coates, Simon Cameron-Moore and Alex Richardson

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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US identifies four Marines killed in Norway training flight

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Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Capt. Ross A. Reynolds of Leominster, Massachusetts, Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy of Cambridge, Ohio, and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore of Catlettsburg, Kentucky, were killed in the crash south of Bodo, Norway, a news release from the Marines said.

The deceased Marines have been removed from the crash site and are in the process of being returned to the US. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

“The pilots and crew were committed to accomplishing their mission and serving a cause greater than themselves,” Maj. Gen. Michael Cederholm, the commanding general of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, said in a letter to the Marines and their families, according to the release.

The aircraft — a MV-22B Osprey — was spotted from a rescue helicopter, and appeared to have crashed in the municipality of Beiarn, Nordland Police chief of staff, Bent Arne Eilertsen, told public broadcaster NRK on Saturday. The craft appeared to have “major damage,” Eilertsen said.

The aircraft was reported missing at 6:26 p.m. local time Friday while heading toward the town of Bodø, located north of the Arctic Circle, the Norwegian Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) said in a statement. The aircraft’s last known position was by Saltfjellet, a mountainous area of Nordland county, the statement added.

The Marines said Sunday evening that the aircraft was participating in Exercise Cold Response 2022. According to NATO’s website, Cold Response 2022 is “a long-planned exercise bringing together thousands of troops from NATO Allies and partners, testing their ability to work together in cold weather conditions across Norway — on land, in the air and at sea.”

“This year’s exercise was announced over eight months ago,” the NATO site said. “It is not linked to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, which NATO is responding to with preventive, proportionate and non-escalatory measures.”

This story has been updated with additional information Sunday.

CNN’s Jonny Hallam contributed to this report.

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