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

(CNN) — At least five people were killed in a Russian drone strike on a civilian train in northeastern Ukraine, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said, describing the attack as an “act of terrorism.”

Emergency workers were confronted with scenes of carnage at the site of the attack in the Kharkiv region on Tuesday, with victims’ body parts strewn among the burnt wreckage, making it impossible to immediately determine the number of casualties.

Nearly 300 people were travelling on the train, which is used by Ukrainians to visit soldiers on the front lines.

“In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be regarded in the same way – purely as an act of terrorism,” Zelensky said in a statement on Telegram, adding that “18 people were in the carriage hit by one of the Russian drones.”

The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said the remains of five people had been found, and that identification would only be possible after DNA testing.

While Russia has previously targeted Ukraine’s railway infrastructure, a direct strike on a passenger train is unusual.

Ukrzaliznytsia, the national railway operator, said on Wednesday that two people were injured and one remains missing. The company said flags at all railway stations across the country would be lowered and a minute of silence observed to honour the victims.

Ukrzaliznytsia said the train was traveling from Chop and Lviv in western Ukraine to Barvinkove, on the edge of the Donetsk region. This is the closest station to the front lines, currently some 70 kilometers (43 miles) away.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said the drones hit the front of the train’s locomotive as well as a passenger carriage.

Video provided by the Ukrainian government showed the train after the attack, with smoke and flames pouring out of the broken windows of a destroyed car.

Another video shows a young woman being rescued from the train with her tiny baby. Visibly distressed and in shock, she is heard sobbing and explaining that she was travelling to “show my son to his father.”

Footage posted on social media showed passengers, including people with small children, evacuating the burning train, walking into the snow-covered woods by the side of the railroad with their bags in hand.

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CNN’s Max Saltman contributed reporting.

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Por Brad Lendon, CNN

Alrededor de 1,2 millones de soldados rusos han muerto, resultado heridos o están desaparecidos desde la invasión de Rusia a Ucrania hace casi cuatro años, una tasa de bajas para una gran potencia militar no vista desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial, según un nuevo informe de un destacado grupo de expertos internacionales.

Y el enorme costo humano ha asegurado ganancias territoriales relativamente pequeñas en el campo de batalla: Rusia aumentó la cantidad de tierra ucraniana bajo su control en solo un 12 % desde 2022, dice el informe del Centro de Estudios Estratégicos e Internacionales (CSIS).

El informe pone en tela de juicio las suposiciones de muchos círculos, incluida la Casa Blanca, de que una victoria rusa en Ucrania es inevitable y próxima.

“Rusia tiene la ventaja”, manifestó el presidente de EE.UU., Donald Trump, en una entrevista con Politico el mes pasado.

“Son mucho más grandes. Son mucho más fuertes… En algún momento, el tamaño triunfará”, afirmó Trump.

Pero el informe del CSIS dice que Ucrania conserva una ventaja significativa como parte defensiva en el campo de batalla.

La estrategia de defensa en profundidad de Kyiv —el uso de trincheras, obstáculos antitanque, minas y otras barreras, junto con drones y artillería— ha obstaculizado los intentos de Rusia de obtener avances significativos, según el informe.

Mientras tanto, las bajas en el campo de batalla favorecen a Ucrania en una proporción de 2,5 o 2 a 1.

Rusia y Ucrania no publican cifras detalladas de sus bajas en combate.

El número de víctimas en Ucrania es de entre 500.000 y 600.000 muertos, heridos y desaparecidos en comparación con los 1,2 millones de Rusia, indica el estudio.

Rusia ha sufrido entre 275.000 y 325.000 muertes en el campo de batalla, en comparación con las 100.000 a 140.000 de Ucrania, de acuerdo con el informe.

“Los datos sugieren que Rusia difícilmente esté ganando”, escriben los autores.

En comparación con los conflictos que han involucrado a grandes potencias desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial, las pérdidas de Moscú son asombrosas.

Estados Unidos perdió alrededor de 57.000 soldados en la Guerra de Corea y 47.000 durante la Guerra de Vietnam.

Las pérdidas de Rusia en Ucrania son cinco veces mayores que las pérdidas totales de todas las guerras rusas y soviéticas desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial juntas, incluyendo la guerra de Afganistán y dos guerras de Chechenia, según el informe.

El Secretario General de la OTAN, Mark Rutte, comentó en el Foro Económico Mundial en Suiza a principios de este mes que Moscú perdió 1.000 efectivos por día en diciembre.

“No están gravemente heridos, están muertos”, afirmó.

“En la década de 1980, en Afganistán, los soviéticos perdieron 20.000 en 10 años. Ahora pierden 30.000 en un mes”, indicó Rutte.

Los analistas extranjeros afirman que cada vez es más difícil encontrar nuevos soldados.

“Las pérdidas militares rusas, de muertos y heridos, ahora exceden las tasas sostenibles de reclutamiento y reemplazo”, manifestó James Ford, embajador adjunto del Reino Unido ante la Organización para la Seguridad y la Cooperación en Europa, en un discurso la semana pasada.

El presidente de Rusia, Vladimir Putin, tiene relativamente poco que mostrar por los cientos de miles de personas que han muerto desde que ordenó la invasión de Ucrania en febrero de 2022.

En los últimos dos años, las ganancias territoriales rusas en algunas áreas se pueden medir en apenas metros por día, mucho menos de la mitad de un campo de fútbol, ​​dice el informe del CSIS.

Los avances dia

By Bryan Mena, CNN

Washington (CNN) — Federal Reserve officials convene this week at a pivotal moment in the US central bank’s 112-year history, with a series of historic events putting a spotlight on their ability to set interest rates without political interference.

Officials are widely expected to announce Wednesday they will keep short-term interest rates unchanged, and possibly hint at holding off on any rate cuts for the next few months. The Fed delivered three consecutive rate cuts late last year, and several policymakers have said in recent public speeches they want to see the effects of those cuts before considering any further adjustments.

The Fed’s independence in making crucial decisions on interest rates, rooted in economic data, remains a hotly debated topic — both publicly and in the judiciary. Last week, the Supreme Court listened to oral arguments in the landmark case of Fed Governor Lisa Cook, who is challenging President Donald Trump’s attempt to remove her from her post on the central bank’s powerful board over unproven allegations of mortgage fraud.

A week earlier, Chair Jerome Powell released a remarkable video pushing back against the Trump administration’s unrelenting pressure campaign, after he revealed that federal prosecutors are investigating part of his congressional testimony last year that touched on an ongoing renovation of the central bank’s Washington, DC, headquarters.

Powell this week oversees his third-to-last meeting as chair, with his term ending on May 15. Trump could name Powell’s successor as soon as this week.

A fight for Fed independence

The conservative Justices on the nation’s highest court seemed skeptical of the administration’s arguments for firing Cook and wanting to keep her out of her post while the litigation plays out.

That included Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s second nominee to the high court. He warned that future presidents could loosely define a “cause” to fire Fed officials they disagree with, if the Trump v. Cook case sets that precedent.

“What goes around comes around,” Kavanaugh told US Solicitor General D. John Sauer, pointing out how a future Democratic president could use “trivial or inconsequential or old allegations that are very difficult to disprove” to push out Trump appointees.

“Once these tools are unleashed,” Kavanaugh said, “they’re used by both sides.”

In support of the Fed’s independence, current and former Fed officials attended the oral arguments, including Fed Governor Michael Barr, former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, and Powell himself.

Powell has always said central bank independence is essential to the stability of any modern economy. But in his video, he struck a more forceful tone — while calling out the threat that he sees from the Trump administration.

“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell said in his statement. “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”

It’s unclear whether Powell will elaborate further on the administration’s efforts to pressure the Fed when he addresses reporters during a post-meeting news conference at 2:30 p.m. ET — or default to his usual playbook of avoiding further escalation by not

By Brian Todd, CNN

(CNN) — As a combat medic with the Army National Guard more than a decade ago, Lauren Feringa says she was exposed to toxins from burning oil fields during the Iraq War.

A few years later, as a civilian contractor in Afghanistan, she says she suffered from concussive blasts, including a vehicle explosion near the gate of a military base where she was working.

When she returned to the US, Feringa believes those injuries and others suffered in military service contributed to complications when trying to start a family. While she carried two children to term, she says she underwent three abortions covered by the Department of Veterans Affairs because doctors determined the fetuses weren’t viable and her health was in danger.

She’s not sure what she would do today. The Department of Veterans Affairs imposed a near-total ban on abortion with a new rule quietly published on New Year’s Eve. The policy rolls back access to abortion in most cases – even in cases of rape and incest and only allowing the procedure in cases where the mother’s life is at risk.

“This is all insane,” says Feringa, who has retired from the Army National Guard and Reserves and has been an outspoken critic of the VA but also says the system helped her through difficult periods. “Women have to be the only authority over what goes on with their bodies.”

“You’re not going to provide care for a woman who’s been raped?” she added. “It seems dystopian.”

Veterans are now one of the latest fronts in the fight over abortion rights. VA medical professionals and reproductive rights advocates have decried the latest rollback in access to abortions in the United States, and Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation that would restore authorization for abortion and abortion counseling in the VA health system.

Opponents to the new policy point out that women veterans who use the VA system for reproductive care are more restricted and have fewer options for abortion services than women who are incarcerated in federal prisons.

They also note the high rate of sexual assault in the military. In 2023, the most recent year for which statistics are available, an estimated 7% of women servicemembers had experienced unwanted sexual contact in the past year, a category that includes sexual assault, according to a Pentagon survey.

“The idea that VA would deny abortion care even in cases of rape – to me that’s disgusting,” said Rachel Fey, interim Co-CEO of the group Power to Decide, a reproductive rights advocacy group. Fey calls the new VA ban “devastating” and “disrespectful” to women who have put their lives on the line for their country.

Asked by CNN why the VA changed the policy, agency spokesman Peter Kasperowicz noted in a statement that “the Department of Justice issued an opinion that states VA is not legally authorized to provide abortions.”

According to the VA’s new rule, the Justice Department opinion says that procedures necessary to save the life of a pregnant veteran are not considered abortions under relevant federal law “and therefore remain permissible.”

Kasperowicz did not elaborate on why the policy was changed with regard to rape and incest.

VA Secretary Doug Collins is set to appear Wednesday on Capitol Hill for a hearing on VA health care, w

CNN

By Eric Bradner, Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar ignored staffers’ pleas to end a town hall early and get a medical check Tuesday after a man rushed the podium and sprayed a substance at the Democratic congresswoman.

Omar, who was not injured in the attack, said after the town hall ended that she has “survived war” and that she is “definitely going to survive intimidation and whatever these people think that they can throw at me because I’m built that way.”

The man accused of attacking Omar has been identified as 55-year-old Anthony J. Kazmierczak, a Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson confirmed to CNN.

Kazmierczak has been charged with third-degree assault and was booked into Hennepin County Jail, according to arrest records. Minnesota court records do not currently list charging or attorney information for Kazmierczak.

It was not immediately clear what the substance was. City forensic scientists responded to process the scene, a police incident report said, according to CNN affiliate KARE.

Kazmierczak has a history of sharing political posts on social media, and in 2021 shared a political cartoon criticizing Omar’s stance on security spending amid calls to defund police.

The US Capitol Police said in a statement the Tuesday incident is “an unacceptable decision that will be met with swift justice” and said it’s working “to see this man faces the most serious charges possible.”

The dramatic moment punctuated a high-profile public appearance for a progressive lawmaker who has been the subject of Republican attacks and scrutiny, as President Donald Trump’s administration focuses its attention on Minneapolis, the city she represents.

Omar condemned federal immigration agents’ “terrorizing” tactics and “reckless and lawless” actions, as she told attendees that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities is antithetical to “the America we love.”

She also called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s abolition and said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign or be impeached. And she praised how Minneapolis has responded to immigration agents’ presence and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“Minnesotans are showing up for one another in ways that people didn’t expect. We are showing the country and the world what real solitary looks like. And we should be goddamn proud of ourselves,” she said.

Trump on Tuesday