WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris plans to close out her term with an around-the-world trip making stops in Singapore, Bahrain and Germany, her office said.
The trip, which is scheduled to last from Jan. 13 to Jan. 17, will be a final opportunity for Harris to address U.S. foreign policy challenges before Donald Trump takes office. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is expected to join the vice president.
Although she has not disclosed her next steps after losing the presidential election, the expansive travel suggests that Harris might want to continue playing a role on the global stage. There's also speculation that Harris could run for governor of her home state of California.
Dean Lieberman, Harris' deputy national security adviser, said in a written statement that "the vice president felt it important to spend some of her final days in office thanking and engaging directly with U.S. servicemembers deployed overseas, which as she has said, has been one of her greatest privileges as vice president.”
There are U.S. troops based at all three of Harris' stops.
Harris plans to visit Changi Naval Base in Singapore and meet with leaders of the city-state. Singapore's location in the Indo-Pacific region makes it a key partner for addressing issues involving China, including freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
The next stop is Bahrain, where Harris will visit the headquarters of the U.S. 5th Fleet, which operates in the Persian Gulf. The fleet has been engaged in efforts to protect Israel from Iranian attacks and regional shipping activity from the Houthis in Yemen.
Harris' final stop will be Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, home to a deployment of U.S. Air Force fighter jets. She plans to talk about the importance of NATO in deterring Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.
Harris has previously visited Germany and Singapore. Bahrain will be the 22nd country she's visited during her term.
“The vice president continues to believe in a strong U.S. global leadership role because it benefits the security and prosperity of the American people, and she will reaffirm this throughout her trip,” Lieberman said.
Vice President Kamala Harris walks to speak with reporters after presiding over a joint session of congress to confirm the Electoral College votes at the Capitol, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A daytime Russian missile attack on the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 13 civilians and injured about 30 others Wednesday, officials said.
Footage posted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel showed civilians lying in a city street littered with debris. They were being treated by emergency services and taken away on gurneys.
Russian has frequently launched aerial attacks on civilian areas during the almost three-year war. Thousands of civilians have been killed in Europe's biggest conflict since World War II.
Zelenskyy and regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said Wednesday's attack killed at least 13 civilians. Minutes before the attack, Fedorov had warned of a threat of high-speed missiles and devastating glide bombs being fired at the Zaporizhzhia region.
Russian troops started launching the glide bombs at Zaporizhzhia in the middle of the afternoon, and at least two bombs struck residential buildings in the city, Fedorov said.
He announced that Thursday would be a day of mourning in the region.
“There is nothing more brutal than aerial bombing of a city, knowing that ordinary civilians will suffer," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
Zelenskyy said earlier Wednesday that countries wanting to end the war should offer Ukraine assurances about its future defense. Kyiv officials fear that any ceasefire or peace deal will just give the Kremlin time to rearm and invade again unless it is deterred by military force.
“To be honest, I believe that we have a right to demand serious security guarantees from … the countries that aim for the peace in the world,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy was responding at a news conference in Kyiv to comments the previous day by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that he understood Russia’s opposition to neighboring Ukraine joining NATO.
The United States, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia have stood in the way of Ukraine immediately joining the 32-nation alliance, Zelenskyy noted. The alliance has said only that the country is on an “irreversible path” to membership.
Earlier, the Ukrainian military said it struck a fuel storage depot deep inside Russia, causing a huge blaze at the facility that supplies an important Russian air base.
Russian officials acknowledged a major drone attack in the area, and said that authorities had set up an emergency command center to fight the fire.
Ukraine’s General Staff said that the assault hit the storage facility near Engels, in Russia’s Saratov region, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) east of the Ukrainian border. The depot supplied a nearby airfield used by aircraft that launch missiles across the border into Ukraine, a statement on Facebook said.
Ukraine has been developing its arsenal of domestically produced long-range missiles and drones capable of reaching deep behind the front line as it faces restrictions on the range that its military can fire its Western-supplied missiles into Russia.
The attacks have disrupted Russian logistics in the war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, and embarrassed the Kremlin.
Zelenskyy said last year that his country has developed a weapon that could hit a target 700 kilometers (400 miles) away. Some Ukrainian drone attacks have hit targets more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away.
The governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, said that an unspecified industrial plant in Engels sustained damage from the falling drone debris that sparked a fire, but nobody was hurt.
Engels, which has a population of more than 220,000, is located on the left bank of the Volga River, and is home to multiple industrial plants. Saratov, a major industrial city of about 900,000, faces Engels across the river.
“The damage to the oil base creates serious logistical problems for the strategic aviation of the Russian occupiers and significantly reduces their ability to strike peaceful Ukrainian cities and civilian objects. To be continued,” the statement from Ukraine’s General Staff said.
Russian authorities restricted flights early Wednesday at the airports of Saratov, Ulyanovsk, Kazan and Nizhnekamsk, in an apparent response to the Ukrainian attack.
The main base of Russia’s nuclear-capable strategic bombers is located just outside Engels. It has come under Ukrainian drone attacks since the early stages of the war, forcing the Russian military to relocate most of the bombers to other areas.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during his meeting with Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
In this photo released by Governor of the Saratov region Roman Busargin telegram channel on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, Governor of the Saratov region Roman Busargin, right, speaks to firefighters and rescuers at the industrial side damaged after Ukrainian drones' attack in Saratov, Russia. (Governor of the Saratov region Roman Busargin telegram channel via AP)
In this photo released by Governor of the Saratov region Roman Busargin telegram channel on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, Governor of the Saratov region Roman Busargin, second right, speaks to firefighters and rescuers at the industrial side damaged after Ukrainian drones' attack in Saratov, Russia. (Governor of the Saratov region Roman Busargin telegram channel via AP)
In this photo released by Governor of the Saratov region Roman Busargin telegram channel on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, Firefighters and rescuers work at the industrial side damaged after Ukrainian drones' attack in Saratov, Russia. (Governor of the Saratov region Roman Busargin telegram channel via AP)
