Por Ivana Kottasová, Svitlana Vlasova, Daria Tarasova-Markina y Victoria Butenko, CNN

Es de conocimiento común entre los soldados ucranianos que cualquiera que se una a las fuerzas militares, tarde o temprano, se convertirá en amante de los gatos.

Los felinos se encuentran en los lugares más insospechados de las líneas del frente. En trincheras, en puestos de control, en casas destruidas y en puntos de estabilización médica, siempre están buscando algo de calor y un poco de comida a cambio de mimos y subidas de moral.

Pero incluso los animales más curtidos del frente a veces se encuentran en peligro. Así fue como, a principios de este mes, la 14.ª Brigada Mecanizada Independiente de Ucrania terminó utilizando un dron para evacuar a un gato y a un perro desde el medio del campo de batalla.

Barsik, el gato, y Zagybluk, el perro, aparecían con regularidad en zonas controladas por la brigada antes de que, de alguna manera, llegaran a una de sus posiciones de primera línea.

Como era demasiado peligroso que un humano fuera a recoger a los visitantes de cuatro patas del refugio excavado, Barsik y Zagybluk salieron en un dron. “Los chicos los metieron en bolsas especiales transpirables, los ataron cuidadosamente a un dron y los evacuaron”, dijo a CNN por teléfono Nadiya Zamryga, la responsable de prensa de la brigada.

Dijo que la operación requirió habilidades especiales por parte del piloto del dron, que tuvo que volar con los animales durante unos 10 kilómetros (6,2 millas) antes de aterrizar de una manera “suave”.

Zamryga dijo que la evacuación tuvo un final feliz, ya que Barsik terminó siendo reconocido por su “papá gato”, un soldado que había resultado herido y ahora se está recuperando. Está previsto que se reencuentren pronto, añadió.

Zagybluk, mientras tanto, se está quedando con las tropas en su posición de retaguardia, lejos de la línea del frente, donde, según Zamryga, está prosperando. “El estrés del vuelo en dron pasó muy rápido. Estos animales han estado con los chicos durante dos años y no están dispuestos a renunciar a su compañero”, dijo.

La determinación de muchos ucranianos de cuidar a los animales en tiempos de guerra —incluso en medio del caos y la brutalidad de los primeros días de la invasión a gran escala de Rusia, en febrero de 2022— ha conmovido muchos corazones en todo el mundo. A medida que la guerra de desgaste se prolonga hasta su quinto año, no muestra señales de remitir.

Inga Sakada es la directora de Operaciones de UA Animals, uno de los mayores grupos de derechos de los animales de Ucrania. Ha participado en evacuaciones, tratamiento y cuidado de miles de animales en zonas de primera línea.

“Dos veces al mes, nuestro equipo de veterinarios viaja a la zona del frente y trabaja sin parar, a veces desde las 7 a.m. hasta las 10 p.m., tratando, vacunando y esterilizando a todos los animales que nos traen”, dijo, y añadió que entre 500 y 600 animales pueden ser atendidos durante una sola misión veterinaria.

Muchas personas que se ven obligadas a separarse de sus animales durante las evacuaciones saben que quizá no puedan recuperarlos pronto, dijo Sakada.

“Hemos tenido personas que estaban evacuando y no podían llevarse su vaca. Nos entregaron una carta manuscrita de la dueña, en la que describía el carácter de la vaca, cómo le gusta pasar el tiempo, qué le gusta comer, lo dócil que es, que hay que hablarle, que le encanta eso”, dijo.

La vaca, llamada Lypka, ahora vive en un refugio donde ya se ha ganado muchos admiradores, añadió Sakada.

El grupo lucha constantemente por mantenerse al día con la demanda, dijo. No hay suficientes voluntarios, no hay suficientes plazas en los refugios, no hay suficientes personas que quieran adoptar mascotas perdidas y abandonadas. Tampoco hay suficiente dinero.

“La enorme cantidad de animales abandonados en los territorios de pri

By Ivana Kottasová, Svitlana Vlasova, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Victoria Butenko, CNN

(CNN) — It is common knowledge among Ukrainian soldiers that anyone joining the military will, sooner or later, become a cat person.

Felines are found in the most unlikely places on the front lines. In trenches, at checkpoints, in destroyed homes and at medical stabilization points, they are always looking for some warmth and a bit of food in exchange for cuddles and morale boosts.

But even the most hardened of frontline animals sometimes find themselves in peril. That’s how, earlier this month, the Ukrainian 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade ended up using a drone to evacuate a cat and dog from the middle of the battlefield.

Barsik the cat and Zagybluk the dog made regular appearances in areas held by the brigade before somehow making their way to one of its frontline positions.

Since it was too dangerous for a human to come to collect the four-legged visitors from the dugout, Barsik and Zagybluk got a ride out on a drone. “The guys put them in special breathable pouches, carefully tied them to a drone, and evacuated them,” Nadiya Zamryga, the brigade’s press officer, told CNN over the phone.

She said the operation required special skills from the drone pilot, who had to fly the animals for about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) before landing in a “gentle” way.

Zamryga said the evacuation had a happy ending, as Barsik ended up being recognized by his “cat dad,” a soldier who had been wounded and is now recovering. They are set for a reunification soon, she added.

Zagybluk, meanwhile, is staying with the troops at their rear position, away from the front line, where, Zamryga said, he is thriving. “The stress from the drone flight passed very quickly. These animals have been with the guys for two years and they’re not willing to give up their comrade,” she said.

The determination of many Ukrainians to take care of animals in wartime – even amid the chaos and brutality of the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 – has touched many hearts across the world. As the grinding war stretches into its fifth year, it shows no signs of easing.

Inga Sakada is the director of operations at UA Animals, one of Ukraine’s biggest animal rights groups. It has been involved in evacuations, treatment, and the care of thousands of animals in frontline areas.

“Twice a month, our team of vets travels to the frontline zone and works non-stop, sometimes from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., treating, vaccinating and neutering all the animals brought to us,” she said, adding that as many as 500 to 600 animals can be treated during a single veterinary mission.

Many people who are forced to part with their animals during evacuations know they may not be able to get them back any time soon, Sakada said.

“We had people who were evacuating and couldn’t take their cow with them. We were given a handwritten letter from the owner, in which she described the cow’s character, how she likes to spend time, what she likes to eat, how gentle she is, that you need to talk to her, that she really loves that,” she said.

The cow, called Lypka, is now living in a shelter where she has already won many fans, Sakada added.

The group is constantly struggling to keep up with demand, she said. There are not enough volunteers, not enough places in shelters, not enough people wanting to adopt lost and abandoned pets. Nor is there enough money.

“The sheer number of animals left behind in the frontline territories… in peak periods, we can receive around a hundred requests a day and unfortunately, we cannot cope with them all,” she said.

Not all animals can be saved. The Ukrainian Equestrian Federation said in September that a Russian drone strike had hit a stable and killed several top-ranking racehorses. In October, a strike

By Uriel Blanco, CNN

(CNN) — With just under two months to go before the 2026 World Cup, one of the tournament’s host cities in Mexico is experiencing a worrying trend.

In Guadalajara, a city in Jalisco state plagued by drug violence and thousands of cases of disappeared people, residents are feeling increasingly unsafe.

Nine in 10 residents, or 90.2%, view the situation in the area as insecure, according to a national public safety survey published Friday by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

That’s up from 79.2% of those surveyed in December 2025, according to Inegi, which described the increase as a “statistically significant difference.”

Security in Mexico, one of three countries in North America hosting the World Cup, has been a major concern in the lead-up to the tournament. In the Guadalajara metropolitan area, these concerns have grown since February, when federal forces carried out an operation in Jalisco to arrest Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

The group is considered one of the “most powerful and ruthless criminal organizations” in Mexico, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration. It was designated a terrorist organization by the US just a few weeks into the second term of President Donald Trump.

“El Mencho” was seriously wounded in the operation and died en route to the hospital. His death unleashed chaos and a wave of violence in various parts of Jalisco, including Guadalajara, Zapopan and Puerto Vallarta.

In Zapopan, a city in the Guadalajara metro area that’s home to the stadium hosting World Cup matches, the perception of insecurity has also increased.

In the latest survey in the city, respondents for which were interviewed starting on February 23, just one day after the death of “El Mencho,” 70% of them said they felt unsafe.

That figure is more than 16 percentage points higher than in December, when over 54% reported feeling unsafe. In the first quarter of 2025, the figure was 44.6%.

Meanwhile, in Puerto Vallarta, the view of insecurity is below the national average of 61.5%, but it still saw a significant increase in Friday’s survey.

In fact, the popular resort city showed the largest increase nationwide – almost 28 percentage points – rising from 32% in December of last year to 59.9%. This means the number of people who now feel less safe has practically doubled.

With a 90.2% perception of insecurity, Guadalajara ranks as the second city in the entire country where people feel most unsafe. It trails only Irapuato (92.1%) in Guanajuato, another state plagued by organized crime. So far in 2026, Guanajuato leads the national registry of violent deaths with 413 victims of intentional homicides and five of femicide.

What about the other Mexican host cities?

In Mexico City, the perception of insecurity has remained relatively stable in the two municipalities closest to Banorte Stadium, which will host the World Cup for the third time.

More than 44% of those interviewed said they felt unsafe in the borough of Coyoacán, a decrease from 47.2% in December. The Tlalpan borough registered a slight increase, rising from 55.7% in December to 57.9% in the survey published Friday.

The third World Cup venue in Mexico is Monterrey, the capital of the state of Nuevo León. In this city, 59.7% of those interviewed said they felt

By Aleena Fayaz, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge on Friday questioned the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department over the leak of his tax returns, ordering a hearing to determine whether the president can sue federal agencies that he oversees.

Florida District Judge Kathleen M. Williams said it is unclear whether Trump and the agencies are “sufficiently adverse to each other” and ordered both sides to provide more information on the relationship.

“Although President Trump avers that he is bringing this lawsuit in his personal capacity, he is the sitting president and his named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction,” Williams, an Obama appointee, said in the order.

The judge noted the ways that Trump has sought to expand presidential power, pointing to an executive order barring executive branch employees from advancing legal interpretations that contradict the president’s “opinion on a matter of a law.”

“One such employee of the executive branch, the Attorney General, has a statutory obligation to defend the IRS when it is hailed into court, but then is ostensibly required by executive mandate to adhere to the President’s opinion on a matter of law in such a case,” Williams wrote. “This raises questions over whether the Parties here are truly antagonistic to each other.”

Williams’ questions come as Trump’s lawyers are engaged in talks with the IRS and Treasury to resolve the lawsuit, with the president’s attorneys requesting a 90-day extension while those discussions continue. If those talks resolve with any monetary settlement, it would be Trump’s own administration paying him and his family.

The judge also cited Trump’s comments acknowledging “the unique dynamic of this litigation,” pointing to a January trip aboard Air Force One, where the president told reporters that “it’s very interesting” to be on both sides of a lawsuit.

Trump shared at the time that he was thinking of donating money he might win from lawsuits against the government to charity. “We could make it a substantial amount,” he said, “nobody would care because it’s going to go to numerous very good charities.”

CNN has reached out to Trump’s lawyers, the Justice Department and Treasury for comment. The IRS deferred a request for comment to the Justice Department, which it said is handling this matter.

CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig said Williams is calling out the “obvious irregularity of having essentially the same person in interest” on both sides of the lawsuit.

“If this was not the President of the United States, it would be a perfectly valid claim. Clearly, Trump’s tax returns should not have been disclosed, but they were, that’s somebody’s fault,” Honig, a former federal prosecutor, said. “However, what makes this so bizarre and potentially inappropriate is Trump is essentially suing the executive branch that he now leads and so the conflicts of interest here jump off the page.”

The president, along with his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, filed suit in January, alleging that the government failed to protect his and the Trump Organization’s confidential tax information, which was leaked to the press by Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor.

Littlejohn, who worked as a government contractor at Booz Allen Hamilton, illegally obtained and disclosed Trump’s tax returns to publications like the New York Times and ProPublica, the suit alleged.

In 2024, Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison for disclosing thousands of tax returns without

Por Ashley Strickland, CNN

El rover Curiosity descubrió el conjunto más diverso de moléculas orgánicas jamás encontrado en Marte, incluidas siete que no se habían detectado en el planeta rojo.

Estos compuestos que contienen carbono son los mismos componentes básicos que permitieron que la vida surgiera en la Tierra.

Los resultados, publicados el martes en la revista Nature Communications, provienen de un experimento sin precedentes en Marte: el rover recogió una muestra de roca y la disolvió en una solución química para develar los secretos de su composición.

El equipo de investigación cree que las moléculas orgánicas identificadas en la roca se han conservado en Marte durante 3.500 millones de años, afirmó la Dra. Amy Williams, autora principal del estudio, profesora asociada de ciencias geológicas en la Universidad de Florida y científica de la misión Curiosity.

“Estos hallazgos son importantes porque confirman que la materia orgánica compleja de mayor tamaño se conserva en Marte durante periodos geológicos, a pesar del entorno de radiación extrema”, declaró Williams. “Esto respalda la búsqueda de entornos habitables en Marte, lo cual se define como un lugar donde la vida habría querido vivir si hubiera estado presente”.

El resultado complementa las detecciones previas de compuestos orgánicos realizadas por Curiosity y refuerza la idea de que Marte probablemente fue un planeta habitable hace miles de millones de años, en contraposición al desierto helado que es hoy.

“Para mí, la revelación de la misión no ha sido solo que Marte fuera habitable”, dijo Ashwin Vasavada, coautor del estudio y científico del proyecto Curiosity en el Laboratorio de Propulsión a Chorro de la NASA en Pasadena, California. “Es lo increíblemente habitable que era”.

El trascendental experimento de química húmeda no fue diseñado para determinar si las moléculas actúan como indicios de vida antigua en Marte, si fueron transportadas al planeta rojo por impactos de meteoritos o si el material orgánico fue simplemente el resultado de procesos geológicos.

No obstante, los hallazgos resaltan un punto de encuentro para muchos científicos planetarios. Para determinar definitivamente si alguna vez existió vida en Marte, es necesario devolver a la Tierra muestras de rocas.

La Mastcam de Curiosity capta este mosaico en 2019 de una región en el monte Sharp con muchas rocas que contienen arcilla.

El rover Curiosity aterrizó en el cráter Gale en Marte en 2012 con el objetivo de determinar si el planeta alguna vez fue habitable. Durante años, el rover ascendió una formación llamada monte Sharp dentro del cráter, con el objetivo de alcanzar capas ricas en arcilla que los orbitadores que rodeaban el planeta habían detectado.

Las capas de arcilla, que pueden preservar moléculas orgánicas, sugerían que el agua no solo estuvo presente en Marte en el pasado distante, sino que desapareció y reapareció en el lugar con el tiempo.

Curiosity tardó seis o siete años después del aterrizaje en alcanzar la capa de arcilla en la región de Glen Torridon del monte Sharp, pero la espera valió la pena, según Vasavada. El rover encontró evidencias de lutitas de lodo de antiguos lagos, así como arenisca donde el agua en movimiento alguna vez se filtró hacia los lagos.

Los miembros del amplio equipo del rover se reunieron para decidir el mejor lugar posible para que Curiosity perforara una muestra y la probara en busca de material orgánico. El rover solo tiene dos recipientes para análisis de química húmeda, por lo que los miembros del equipo querían que el experimento valiera la pena. Eligieron un sitio al que llamaron Mary Anning, en honor a la paleontóloga británica pionera del siglo XIX.