Trent Williams' wife, Sondra, says their son was stillborn

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Trent Williams' wife, Sondra, says their son was stillborn

2024-12-03 07:12 Last Updated At：07:20

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers were hit by another family tragedy with the announcement that star left tackle Trent Williams' wife gave birth to a stillborn son late last week.

Sondra Williams announced on Instagram on Sunday that she gave birth to Trenton O’Brien Williams Jr. on Nov. 24. Williams also wrote that she was initially pregnant with twins and lost the other child earlier in the pregnancy.

“I can’t even begin to describe how I felt leaving the hospital without you,” she wrote. “Nor how it feels being home celebrating Thanksgiving without my baby in my arms. My heart is broken and my arms are empty. But I know you’ll always be near watching over me and your sisters. And for that, my heart smiles with gratitude. Thank God for allowing us to bond for 35 weeks and for me to birth you so I could hold you in my arms. I’m at peace knowing you will never have to suffer.”

Williams wrote that her son was diagnosed with Trisomy 13, a genetic condition also known as Patau syndrome that affects how the face, brain and heart develop, along with several other internal organs.

Trent Williams spent time last week at the hospital and grieving with his family, including the couple's three young daughters.

“He was there at the hospital with her and got to meet him and say bye,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday. "Then he had to cremate him on Friday. So he’s been dealing with that and he’s working through it. But we’re all just trying to be here for him through it all.”

This is the second tragedy to hit the Niners in recent weeks. Cornerback Charvarius Ward's 1-year-old daughter, Amani Joy, died on Oct. 28. She had born prematurely with Down syndrome and had open-heart surgery in April 2023.

Ward spent a few weeks away from the team and returned to the field for the first time on Sunday.

Williams has missed the last two games with an ankle injury but Shanahan said he is hoping to be able to the return as soon as he's healthy.

“It’s hard as a coach. It’s hard as a friend. It’s hard as a family member. It’s hard for everybody," Shanahan said. ”But we spend a lot of time with each other. That’s what’s cool about a football team. Whatever you go through, the good or the bad, we go through it together. I do like that they have a group of guys they can go to, a group of guys that can see them every day. You can never escape that full grief and stuff. But I do think it’s nice for those guys to have another avenue to get out on the football field, to get around teammates and things like that."

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NATO's chief avoids talk of Ukraine's membership. He says the priority is helping Kyiv defend itself

2024-12-03 22:15 Last Updated At：22:20

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Tuesday sidestepped questions about Ukraine’s possible membership in the military alliance, saying that the priority now must be to strengthen the country’s hand in any future peace talks with Russia by sending it more weapons.

Rutte’s remarks, ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that extending alliance membership to territory now under Kyiv’s control could end “the hot stage" of the almost 3-year war in Ukraine, where Russian forces are pressing deeper into their western neighbor.

“The front is not moving eastwards. It is slowly moving westwards,” Rutte said. “So we have to make sure that Ukraine gets into a position of strength, and then it should be for the Ukrainian government to decide on the next steps, in terms of opening peace talks and how to conduct them.”

At their summit in Washington in July, leaders of the 32 NATO member countries insisted that Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to membership. But some, led by the United States, have balked at moving forward while the war rages and before the country’s borders are clearly demarcated. All 32 countries must agree unanimously for Ukraine to join.

NATO was founded on the principle that an attack on any ally should be considered an attack on them all, and the alliance has consistently tried to avoid being dragged into a wider war with nuclear-armed Russia.

Zelenskyy argued that once open conflict ends, any proposal to join NATO could be extended to all parts of the country that fall under internationally recognized borders.

Pressed on this by reporters, Rutte said: “I would argue, let’s not have all these discussions step by step on what a peace process might look like.”

The first step, he said, must be to “make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to get to a position of strength when those peace talks start.”

Ukrainian officials made it clear Tuesday they won’t countenance any half measures or stopgap solutions on NATO membership.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement saying Ukraine “will not settle for any alternatives, surrogates or substitutes for Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” citing its “bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum.”

Under the international agreement signed in the Hungarian capital 30 years ago, Ukraine agreed to give up its Soviet-era atomic weapons, which amounted to the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, in return for security guarantees from Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Foreign Ministry statement called the Budapest agreement a “monument to short-sightedness in making strategic security decisions.”

“We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent for further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” it said.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha showed reporters a copy of the Budapest document.

“This document, this paper, failed to secure Ukrainian security and transatlantic security. So we must avoid to repeat such mistakes,” he said in English.

Reflecting on his recent meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Rutte said he had underlined that China, North Korea and Iran were weighing in on Russia's side, putting the United States and the Asia-Pacific region at risk.

“Whenever we get to a deal on Ukraine it has to be a good deal, because what we can never have is high-fiving Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping and whoever else," Rutte said, saying this would only encourage the leaders of North Korea and China to endorse the use of force elsewhere.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Ukraine’s allies must “do what it takes to support their self-defense for as long as it takes,” but acknowledged that the war will end in negotiations and potential compromise.

Starmer said in a speech late Monday that allies must “put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence — and right to choose their own future.”

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Jill Lawless in London contributed.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine