Tag Archives: officials say – CNN

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Human remains found in receding Lake Mead identified as man who reportedly drowned two decades ago, officials say

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Erndt’s remains, found in the lake’s Callville Bay area on May 7, were identified through investigative information, DNA analysis and reports of the original incident, according to a news release from the Clark County Office of Communications & Strategy.

The 42-year-old from Las Vegas reportedly drowned August 2, 2002, authorities said, though the official cause and manner of death were undetermined Wednesday.

Erndt’s remains are one of at least three sets of human remains discovered since May at the lake, where water levels have been plummeting to unprecedented lows as the drought crisis persists in the West.

The other remains found include a body in a corroding barrel with a gunshot wound, officials said previously. That case is being investigated as a homicide. Those remains, dubbed Hemenway Harbor Doe by the coroner’s office, belonged to someone who died in the mid-’70s to early ’80s, according to police.

Most recently, authorities recovered partial human remains at Lake Mead’s Boulder Swim Beach in mid-August. It was the third time officials have found remains in that area, though it’s unclear whether the three discoveries at Boulder Swim Beach are all from one person or separate individuals. The Clark County coroner has been working to determine if the first two discoveries in that area, which were both partial remains, are from the same person, a county spokesperson previously told CNN.

The process to identify human remains found at the lake has been challenging due to advance stages of decomposition, which makes it difficult to extract DNA for identification. The Clark County coroner’s office uses X-rays, fingerprinting, forensic dentistry and analysis by forensic anthropologists in order to learn about a body, police and Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse previously told CNN.

Lake Mead is the nation’s largest reservoir straddling the Nevada-Arizona border and serves about 25 million people in Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico. Recently, the lake’s levels have plunged to record lows amid a megadrought fueled by the impacts of human-caused climate change. At its height in 1983, Lake Mead was 1,225 feet above sea level. But as of this summer, the level has been around 1,040 feet, about 27% of its full capacity.
The dropping water level has revealed other things in the lake, including a sunken World War II-era vessel and the reservoir’s original 1971 intake valve.

Elsewhere, dwindling water levels have led to the revelation of dinosaur tracks from about 113 millions years ago in a Texas park after parts of a riverbed completely dried out as the state faced extreme drought conditions and heat waves this summer.

CNN’s Elizabeth Wolfe, Kaylene Chassie, Rachel Ramirez and Jenn Selva contributed to this report.

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Standoff with an armed suspect who tried to enter the FBI’s Cincinnati office has ended, officials say

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Officials gave no additional details on how the standoff ended or details on the suspect’s condition. The standoff followed a chase with the suspect.

An armed man tried to enter the FBI office in Cincinnati Thursday morning around 9:15 a.m. ET, Lt. Nathan Dennis, a spokesperson for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said in a news conference. The suspect was unsuccessful, however, and fled the area.

An Ohio state trooper spotted the suspect’s vehicle at a northbound rest stop along Interstate 71 about 20 minutes after the attempted breach, Dennis said, and tried to initiate a traffic stop before the suspect fled.

“The suspect vehicle did fire shots during that pursuit,” Dennis said. The suspect then exited onto State Route 73 and traveled east to Smith Road, where he headed north before eventually coming to a stop.

“Gunfire was exchanged between officers on scene and the suspect,” Dennis said, adding the situation remains contained to a specific area and there is no risk to the public outside the immediate area.

At the time of the news conference, no officers had been injured, Dennis said. He declined to answer questions about whether the suspect had been positively identified or injured in the standoff with authorities.

A law enforcement source later told CNN authorities have identified the suspect.

The FBI confirmed the incident in a statement, saying it had “an armed subject attempt to breach” the facility’s Visitor Screening Facility.

“Upon the activation of an alarm and a response by armed FBI special agents, the subject fled northbound onto Interstate 71,” the statement said. “The FBI, Ohio State Highway Patrol, and local law enforcement partners are on scene near Wilmington, OH trying to resolve this critical incident.”

A federal law enforcement source told CNN thse suspect was believed to be armed with a nail gun and AR-15. Another federal law enforcement source with knowledge of the incident told CNN FBI facilities around the country are reviewing their security posture in the wake of the incident.

The incident follows violent rhetoric posted online after the FBI went to former President Donald Trump’s Florida home to serve a search warrant.

In a message reviewed by CNN on Thursday, FBI Director Chris Wray told the bureau’s employees their “safety and security” was his “primary concern right now.”

“There has been a lot of commentary about the FBI this week questioning our work and motives,” Wray said. “Much of it is from critics and pundits on the outside who don’t know what we know and don’t see what we see. What I know — and what I see — is an organization made up of men and women who are committed to doing their jobs professionally and by the book every day; this week is no exception.”

In remarks Thursday announcing the US Justice Department has filed a motion to unseal the search warrant served to Trump’s Florida home, Attorney General Merrick Garland said he could not “stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants.”

CNN’s Evan Perez, Caroll Alvarado and Brynn Gingras contributed to this report.

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Sudan’s military leaders launch ‘manhunt’ for sources in CNN investigation, officials say

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Relatives were also threatened in a bid to silence suspected leakers. One source said authorities were “harassing us, harassing the people we love, desperately hunting for leaders. It’s a clear message. Authorities are scared and they’re responding in the only way they know how: with violence.”

Thousands of protesters rallied in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday calling for an end to military rule following the CNN investigation, accusing Sudan’s military leadership of being “thieving soldiers.”

The investigation, based on multiple interviews with high-level Sudanese and US officials and troves of documents reviewed by CNN, painted a picture of an elaborate yearslong Russian scheme to plunder Sudan’s riches in a bid to fortify Russia against increasingly robust Western sanctions and buttress Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.

The evidence uncovered by CNN also suggests that Russia has colluded with Sudan’s military leadership, enabling billions of dollars in gold to bypass the Sudanese state and depriving the poverty-stricken nation of hundreds of millions in state revenue.

Clashes erupted Sunday after hundreds of demonstrators attempted to head to the Republican Palace — Sudan’s presidential offices — but were met by police, who responded by firing tear gas at the protesters.

Video shows demonstrators chanting slogans against the military, which overthrew a transitional civilian government in 2021, delivering a devastating blow to the Sudanese pro-democracy movement that toppled President Omar al-Bashir two years earlier.

Authorities closed off the main Mek Nimr bridge, which connects downtown Khartoum and Khartoum North.

On Friday, Sudanese pro-democracy groups, including the influential “Revolutionary Committees,” had called for a “million man march” to take place the following day.

Evidence seen by CNN also suggests that Russia colluded with Sudan’s beleaguered military leadership, enabling billions of dollars in gold to bypass the Sudanese state and to deprive the poverty-stricken country of hundreds of millions in state revenue.

The investigation was shared widely in Sudan and caused public outcry. Hours after the report was broadcast, posts began circulating on WhatsApp and other social media platforms used by pro-democracy activists.

“The investigation conducted by CNN is hugely important to us. It looked into the crucial issue of the conflict over resources, especially important in a poor country like Sudan,” Mohamed Al-Faki Suleiman, a leading Sudanese pro-democracy figure and former acting head of the civilian anti-corruption committee, told CNN.

“This is a result of the civil authority’s lack of control over the security services, especially the police and security agencies, and therefore we were not able to impose our control over the smuggling process,” Suleiman said.

On Saturday, the head of Sudan’s national mining corporation Mubarak Ardol criticized the investigation on Twitter, calling it “weak and imprecise” and its numbers “exaggerated and imaginary.”

CNN has reached out to Sudan’s military rulers but has not received a response.

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Russian strike on residential building kills 15 in eastern Ukraine, officials say

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The residential building in the town of Chasiv Yar was hit on Saturday evening as Russia once again ramped up its assault on cities and towns in eastern Ukraine in an attempt to take control over the entire Donbas area.

The State Emergency Service said that the bodies of 15 people had been found in the rubble so far and that the search and rescue works continued.

As of 1 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET), emergency workers rescued five people and established contact with three others who were still buried under the rubble, the service said in a statement.

The emergency service added that 24 people, including one child, “may still be under the rubble.”

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional military administration, told Ukrainian television that the area was struck by two or three Russian rockets and that the incident was “yet another confirmation of the crimes of the Russian Federation, confirmation that they are shelling residential areas.”

Chasiv Yar and other towns in Donetsk have been under heavy fire in recent days as Russian forces try to grind down Ukrainian resistance in the area and move further west towards Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Saturday that its troops destroyed a hangar with US supplied M777 howitzers, long-range weapons, and dozens of Ukrainian “militants” near Chasiv Yar.

CNN cannot independently verify the Russian claims. Ukrainian officials said the strike hit a railway station in Chasiv Yar and that several people were injured in the attack.

Donetsk and Luhansk are the two regions that together form the Donbas, the eastern part of Ukraine where the conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists started in 2014. The area has become the key centerpiece of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military ambition in Ukraine after his troops failed to take over Kyiv earlier this year.

Russian troops have already taken over almost all of the Luhansk region, the head of Luhansk’s region military administration Serhiy Hayday said in a telegram post on Saturday, adding that some 300,000 people from the area have been forced to flee their homes.

Lysychansk, the last city that was still under Ukrainian control in Luhansk, fell to Russia last week.

Russian troops have since focused on the Donetsk region, shelling wide areas along the front line and pushing from the Luhansk region into the Donetsk region, according to Hayday.

The Ukrainians have been defending this area against Russian attacks for more than a month.

“We are trying to contain the armed formations of the Russians along the entire front line,” Hayday said, adding that “the occupying forces achieved minor successes and continue their offensive to the west of Lysychansk.”

CNN’s Manveena Suri, Yulia Kesaieva and Josh Pennington contributed reporting.

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5,000 pounds of meth seized in San Diego County when truck is followed after crossing border, officials say

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Four men from Tijuana, Mexico, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute the highly addictive drug in what officials described as one of the largest meth busts in San Diego County.

“This monumental seizure represents another win against drug cartels that fuel addiction in the United States,” said Shelly S. Howe, a Special Agent in Charge at the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

The 20-foot commercial truck, which was carrying 148 meth bundles, crossed the border Thursday through the Otay Mesa Commercial Port of Entry in San Diego, the US Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Law enforcement followed the vehicle to National City, California, where agents saw the accused men unloading dozens of cardboard boxes from the truck into a Dodge van. The bundles found in the boxes tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the statement.

In April, US Customs and Border Protection officers in California seized more than 400 pounds of meth, cocaine and heroin concealed in toolboxes that were being transported to the country. That seizure carried an estimated street value of $2.56 million, CBP said.
Meth is a highly addictive stimulant that usually takes the form of a powder. In 2020, more than 23,000 Americans died from overdoses involving psychostimulants, primarily meth, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Tear gas used to disperse protestors outside Arizona Capitol building, officials say

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“Troopers deployed tear gas after a crowd of protesters repeatedly pounded on the glass doors of the State Senate Building,” Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bart Graves told CNN.

“The crowd moved across the street to the Wesley Bolin Plaza where tear gas was deployed after a monument was vandalized,” he said.

“While working inside we were interrupted by the sound of bangs and smell of tear gas, Arizona State Rep. Sarah Liguori, a Democrat, tweeted from inside the building. She added: “Protestors cleared from the Capitol.”

The security breach comes after several Arizona abortion providers said they preemptively paused abortion services due to lack of legal clarity on the matter, according to posts on their websites.

[Original story, published at 10:25 p.m. ET]

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, holding that there is no longer a federal constitutional right to an abortion, protesters and supporters of the ruling gathered at the high court’s building in Washington, DC, and in other cities nationwide.

Similar demonstrations are planned in at least 70 locations across the country on Friday and the weekend, according to CNN’s research. Organizations like Planned Parenthood, Bans Off Our Bodies and Women’s March are among the groups organizing the events.

In the nation’s capital on Friday, one person led protesters in front of the Supreme Court in a chant of “Hands off! Hands off!” and a call-and-response of “My body! My choice!”

One woman told CNN affiliate WJLA the decision was an outrage.

“It’s illegitimate. Abortion bans are illegitimate,” the woman said. “Forced motherhood is illegitimate.”

Protesters asked those in attendance to donate to abortion advocates and purchase abortion pills to distribute to others.

LIVE UPDATES ON THE SUPREME COURT RULING AND REACTION

Abortion rights opponents were also present in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC. After the decision came down, a man — standing amid placards including the messages “Roe is dead” and “I am the post-Roe generation” — sprayed champagne in the air above others who were celebrating. There were several dozen abortion rights opponents at the site during the afternoon, but it appeared they had filtered out of the crowd by evening.

The demonstration has been peaceful and there have been no arrests or any reason for Capitol Police to intervene. Law enforcement is on hand because authorities are still concerned about domestic violent extremists who may see the large crowds as an opportunity for violence.

In New York’s Greenwich Village, thousands of people were marching and chanting in the streets in a peaceful demonstration. One of the chants directed the f-word at Justice Brett Kavanaugh. There were some anti-abortion activists at the march, but they were keeping a low profile and there were no confrontations seen by the CNN crew walking with the protesters.

Demonstrators in Los Angeles clogged the 110 freeway as it passed through downtown, blocking traffic. While abortion will remain legal in California, the protesters said they were showing their concern and support for women in other states.

In Atlanta, several hundred people in two different demonstrations merged and gathered in front of the Capitol. Almost all the people were protesting the decision. A CNN crew saw one counterprotester where one group began its march a few miles away.

In Texas, a large crowd gathered in front of a federal courthouse in downtown Austin. People took to a microphone to tell stories, many of fear and frustration. Some carried signs, including one that said “Pro-life is a lie, they don’t care if we die.”

In Washington, DC, an abortion rights activist climbed to the top of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, which was subsequently shut down. Guido Reichstadter posted videos and photos of himself on social media from the top of the bridge, where he unfurled a large green banner. Green is recognized as a symbol of abortion rights.

Reichstadter also planted a flag on the bridge that read “Don’t tread on my uterus.”

He told CNN while many people in the US oppose the Supreme Court’s decision, their support is largely passive, which he says is not enough to ensure women have access to abortions across the country.

CNN’s Camila Bernal, Gary Tuchman, Whitney Wild, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Sharif Paget, Sara Smart and Nick Valencia contributed to this report.

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Philadelphia shooting: 1 arrested, 1 sought for attempted murder in shooting that left 3 people dead, officials say

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One of the suspected gunmen is among the three people killed, Philadelphia police said Monday. One suspect has been charged with multiple offenses, including two counts of aggravated assault, according to Philadelphia District Attorney’s Chief of Homicide Joanne Pescatore.

A warrant has been issued for another suspect who will face charges of attempted murder, assault and tampering with evidence, among others, Pescatore said at a news briefing Monday. That suspect stayed at the scene to render aid to one of the men who later died, and while there provided “all his information to police,” Pescatore said.

Neither are facing murder charges at this time.

Hundreds were “just enjoying South Street, as they do every single weekend, when this shooting broke out,” Philadelphia Police Inspector D.F. Pace said.

Police are urging witnesses to come forward, offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Gun violence also marred the weekend in Chattanooga, Tennessee — where a shooting and its aftermath left three dead and 14 injured — and in attacks in Summerton, South Carolina, and Phoenix that each left one dead and at least seven wounded. Those incidents followed other mass shootings that have stunned the nation, including at a supermarket in New York; an elementary school in Texas; and a hospital in Oklahoma.
At least 246 mass shootings have been recorded in America this year, according to Gun Violence Archive, which like CNN defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter. In that deadly wake, the US Senate gears up again this week to debate how to address the problem.

Here’s what we know about the shooting that erupted in Philadelphia’s popular entertainment district:

How the shooting unfolded

The shooting started after an argument on the street, according to video surveillance, Pescatore said. A fight ensued, and one of the men involved, Gregory Jackson, was killed after exchanging gunfire with another man, she said. Both had licenses to carry a gun.

One of the men allegedly fired toward the group, then turned toward police who were now on scene, Pescatore said.

Police returned fire, striking the suspect in the hand. He then fled to another location where police were responding to an earlier shooting, approaching police and yelling, “‘He shot my hand off, he shot my hand off,'” Pescatore said.

He was taken to a hospital by police, she said.

Uniformed officers patrolling the area known for bars, restaurants and shops heard gunfire just after 11:30 p.m. and saw “several active shooters shooting into the crowd,” Pace said.

The officers “observed several civilians suffering from gunshot wounds, lying on the sidewalk and in the street,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Sunday at a news conference.

Five guns were fired in the melee, police said, and two handguns were recovered at the scene. One of the guns police found had an extended magazine, Pace said.

According to prosecutors, three were 9 mm guns and one was a .40 caliber.

State and federal authorities are helping Philadelphia police with the investigation, Outlaw said.

Who was struck by bullets

The 14 people struck by gunfire range in age from 17 to 69.

Police identified those who died as Gregory Jackson, 34; Alexis Quinn, 27; and Kristopher Minners, an educator who was celebrating his 22nd birthday with family and friends.

Minners worked with 2nd and 6th grade students at Girard College, a boarding school which educates students from families with limited financial resources, according to its website.

“He was doing an amazing job for us” and was named resident adviser of the month in March, the school said in a statement. “Kris was a vital member of our community, and his loss will be felt deeply.”

One of the 11 people injured was in critical condition Sunday evening, the police department said in a news release.

How officials are responding

The shooting marked “a dark day for Philadelphia,” the police commissioner said. “While many of us were out enjoying the beautiful day in the city, a horrendous and unthinkable act happened in a very popular local and tourist hangout.”

There was an increased presence of uniformed officers Saturday on the streets of Philadelphia, Outlaw said, due to several scheduled events. There were even more officers deployed Sunday evening, officials said.

“People should not be afraid,” Outlaw said Sunday. “What happened last night was an atrocity. But it’s not something that we see all the time. And again, I don’t want us to normalize this. This is not something that’s normal in the city of Philadelphia, and I don’t want anyone to begin to think that it is.”

A curfew was implemented in part of downtown Philadelphia from 8 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday, the mayor’s office said, citing “patterns of recent violence in the area and ongoing safety concerns.” The order barred all pedestrian and vehicular traffic with exceptions only for residents, local property owners and employees, licensed medical personnel, members of the media and law enforcement.

“Once again, we see lives senselessly lost and those injured in yet another horrendous, brazen and despicable act of gun violence,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Sunday, noting it left him “not just heartbroken, but angry.”

“I will continue to fight to protect our communities and urge others to advocate for stronger laws that keep guns out of the hands of violent individuals,” he said.

Legislators accepting money from the gun lobby should not be in office, DA Krasner said.

“I don’t care whether they are Republican or Democrat. They belong out. They may have sold their souls to make this the most heavily-armed society in the world, but that does not entitle them to remain in office,” Krasner said.

CNN’s Rob Frehse, Melanie Schuman, Aya Elamroussi, Andy Rose, Holly Yan, Samantha Beech, Caroll Alvarado and Theresa Waldrop contributed to this report.



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Andover, Kansas tornado: 50-100 structures damaged in the Wichita area, officials say

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Worst hit appeared to be the town of Andover, which is about 14 miles east of Wichita.

“We’re currently rescuing people from their homes because they’re unable to navigate the debris,” Wichita Fire Chief Tammy Snow told CNN in a phone interview.

Snow added that 12 people suffered minor injuries.

An estimated 50 to 100 structures were damaged in the Wichita area, Jim Jonas, the city’s director of communications, told CNN in a phone interview.

One such structure was the YMCA community center in Andover, city administrator Jennifer McCausland said. In addition, “several homes and cars were damaged,” she told CNN in a phone interview. “The biggest struggle right now is to get the roads clear.”

Employees and customers at Braum’s Ice Cream & Dairy Store hid in the bathroom as the tornado passed nearby, which cut their power.

“We could see it right across from our business,” said Sierra Dobbie, a store manager. “It was pretty scary. I work with a bunch of kids, and I needed to get them to a safe spot.”

Law enforcement were doing door-to-door check-ins on Andover residents, according to Chad Crittenden, a spokesperson for the Kansas Highway Patrol.

“We are uncertain about the extent of the damage, emergency crews are responding,” the police department said on Facebook.

The National Weather Service in Wichita said it will send out teams Saturday to conduct damage surveys.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to those impacted by tornadoes this evening,” the local NWS said in a tweet.

The twister was one of multiple tornadoes to touch down in Kansas, according to Gov. Laura Kelly, who declared a state of disaster emergency.

“We have learned from past experience that we can’t wait for the storm to hit before we respond,” Kelly said. “By taking these steps early we are able to more quickly react when the counties ask for assistance.”

As of 1:25 a.m. ET Saturday, there were more than 20,000 homes and businesses without power in Kansas, according to PowerOutage.us.

In all, 15 tornadoes — 14 of which were across Kansas or Nebraska — were reported Friday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center. The other tornado was in Florida, the center said.

Additionally, there have been more than 70 reports of wind damage and over 50 reports of hail.

In Enterprise, Kansas, there was hail up to four inches in diameter.

Drought woes in the West

Meanwhile, the West is in the grips of one of the worst droughts in decades, and the fire season has not only started early, but has been setting records.

Since January, over a million acres have burned, well above the year-to-date average of around 632,000 acres. New Mexico has been especially hit hard with 5 large fires currently burning, and the forecast for the next couple of days offers no chance of a break.

New Mexico has already reached its annual rate of fire activity and it’s only April.

“Our season started earlier than in the past,” says Andrew Church, a National Weather Service meteorologist with the Albuquerque office.

“Because of climate change and the mega-drought across the western US, there’s just no moisture in the soil anymore,” he goes on to say.

CNN’s Chad Myers, Monica Garrett, Haley Brink, Paradise Afshar, Michelle Watson, Caroline Kucera, Leslie Perrot and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.



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Kramatorsk train station: Russian strike kills at least 30 in Ukraine, officials say

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Tetiana Ihnatchenko, a spokeswoman for the region of Donetsk where the attack took place, said that first responders had confirmed the initial casualty figures and warned the numbers were likely to rise. At least 100 injuries have been reported so far.

Local police said in a statement that the rockets struck a temporary waiting room, where “hundreds of people were waiting for the evacuation train.”

“This is another proof that Russia is brutally, barbarically killing the civilian Ukrainians, with one goal only — to kill,” the mayor of Kramatorsk said in a statement.

The mayor said that some 8,000 people per day were going to the station to evacuate during the last two weeks. As many as 4,000 people were there when the missile struck.

The Kremlin has not yet commented on the allegations.

The eastern city of Kramatorsk was one of the first places to be targeted by the Russian military when the invasion of Ukraine was launched on February 24. Ihnatchenko said Ukrainians had been using the train station since late February to evacuate the region.

“The Russians knew that thousands of people are there (at the train station) every day,” she said.

Two missiles struck the station, according to the head of Ukraine’s national rail system, Oleksandr Kamyshin. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional military administration, said the Russian military used Iskander short-range ballistic missiles.

CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour said the attack was reminiscent of one on a marketplace in Sarajevo during the war in Bosnia, where “ordinary civilians were massacred as they just went about their business.”

Amanpour said such attacks on civilians tend to harden Western resolve and could push the European Union to enact even more sanctions on Russia. Brussels has already approved five rounds of sanctions against Russia since it invaded Ukraine.

The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, condemned the “indiscriminate attack,” while EU President Charles Michel called it “horrifying.”

“This is yet another attempt to close escape routes for those fleeing this unjustified war and cause human suffering,” Borrell said.

Borrell and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week in Kyiv.

The attack comes as Russian forces are preparing for a massive operation in eastern Ukraine to take the contested region of Donbas, Ukrainian authorities say.

Donbas is home to the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, two separatist enclaves that Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine.

For almost eight years, the two regions have been the site of a low-intensity war between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. More than 14,000 people died in the fighting, and now Kyiv is bracing for more casualties.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the “battle for Donbas” is already underway. He said that the fighting there will be reminiscent of the destructive battles during World War II, as Moscow’s offensive could involve “thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, planes, artillery.”

British intelligence assesses that Russian troops have “fully withdrawn” from northern Ukraine to Belarus and Russia, and many could be transferred to eastern Ukraine to fight in Donbas. Ukrainian military officials also say they have observed a buildup of Russian forces to the east.

CNN’s Joshua Berlinger, Ivan Watson and Khrystyna Bondarenko contributed to this report



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Atlanta airport scare: Departing planes halted after ‘accidental discharge’ at Atlanta airport, officials say

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The discharge occurred around 1:30 p.m. at the airport’s security screening area, airport officials said on Twitter.

“There is no danger to passengers or employees,” the statement said, adding the investigation remains ongoing.

An Atlanta police spokesperson confirmed no injuries had been reported as a result of the incident.

“There was an accidental discharge of a firearm near the main security checkpoint,” Atlanta police Sgt. Jarius Daugherty said. “Officers are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.”

A ground stop was called for the airport for all departing flights, per the Federal Aviation Administration, but was soon lifted.

Details about the weapon or circumstances surrounding the accidental discharge have not been made available.

Witnesses recount chaos after scare

Witnesses described confusion and disarray as panic erupted in the airport’s domestic terminal. Erika Zeidler, who was traveling from Atlanta to Anchorage, Alaska, said she was sitting in Concourse T when people began running down the hallway.

“We assumed they were late for a flight,” she told CNN. “Then all of a sudden more people started running down the terminal and were screaming there was a shooter.”

Zeidler and others took shelter in a TGI Fridays restaurant, she said. Photos she shared on Twitter showed a crowd of people standing on the tarmac beneath a jetway as the incident unfolded.

Greg Romero had just gotten off a flight from Salt Lake City when he heard there was an emergency. Airport personnel “shut off all the escalators and cut off all passengers and turned off the tram,” said Romero, the father-in-law of CNN correspondent Nadia Romero.

“Right now airport personnel is doing a really good job keeping everybody calm,” he added.

A few travelers were “a little bit panicked but more frustrated,” Romero said. “They’re trying to catch flights, to get out of the airport. For the most part, people are just lined up against the walls.”

The shooting scare comes as the Thanksgiving travel period is getting underway. On Friday, the Transportation Security Administration screened more than 2.2 million airport travelers across the country — the highest checkpoint volume for a single day since the pandemic began, according to a TSA spokesperson.

CNN’s Melissa Alonso, Nadia Romero and Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.

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