Former President Jimmy Carter enters hospice care, Alex Murdaugh testifies in court, and more of the week's top stories

When Morrill High School coach April Ott broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, she promised her that even if she couldn’t compete at the state tournament, they could still enjoy the whole experience.

They’d get fun coffee drinks, watch the more than 2,700 girls and 225 teams compete in the three-day cheer and dance competition in Grand Island and just have a good time.

But Kohel, the lone senior on what had been a squad of four, had other ideas. After talking it over with her mom, Della, she decided she had nothing to lose.

“I want to go to state, and I will cheer by myself,” she told her coach.

And that’s what she did.

One-and-a-half weeks before state, after three freshmen quit for personal reasons, Ott and Kohel reworked the Lions’ routine into a one-girl show.

Then Kohel stood in the Heartland Event Center all by herself on Feb. 17 and performed solo in the Game Day Class D competition.

That’s when something remarkable happened.

Kohel had expected to have a few fans in her section during her routine — her grandparents represented the family while everyone else traveled to Omaha to watch her twin, Daniel, compete in the state wrestling tournament.

Instead, her section was full of competitors and fans from other teams. In fact, the whole arena became part of Team Kohel.

“I probably had the loudest crowd involvement there,” Kohel said. “Everybody was cheering with me, and it was an amazing feeling.”

Darin Boysen, executive director of the Nebraska Coaches Association, said it was the first time that a cheerleader had competed by herself at state. The rest of the 115 teams in the cheer competition varied in size from four to 20 or more girls.

Judges weren’t able to give her the same scoring opportunities as a complete team would have had, but he said they wanted to give her the chance she so desperately wanted.

“I’m glad she was able to finish her season,” he said. “What was very encouraging — as the word spread — was a lot of teams got behind her and supported her from the sidelines. So I think that was really special.”

Kohel said she’d been getting texts before state from other teams in western Nebraska, telling her how cool they thought her decision was to compete alone. But when she got to Grand Island, she found the whole solo experience nerve-racking.

Her mind went blank as she started competing, she said, and she had to rely on muscle memory to carry her through her routine. Somehow, the cheers of the crowd helped calm her down.

“They are going to support me and cheer me on,” she remembers thinking. “Even if I mess this whole thing up, I will be OK. I’m doing this by myself and no matter what, it’s going to be OK.”

Kohel ended up eighth out of the 12 squads in her division. It was the highest the Lions had placed in the past three years.

Ott said it was an amazing and wonderful experience. Kohel, usually more a follower than a leader, had stepped up this year and taught the newcomers the ropes. She was a good teammate and a positive role model.

“She’s in there 100 percent,” Ott said. “You never hear any complaints or excuses.”

Track and field is next for Kohel, who competes in the high jump and 400 meters. She also played volleyball and basketball. Next year, she’ll go to the University of Nebraska at Kearney to study nursing. She then plans to join the U.S. Air Force.

Instead of a disappointing ending to her lifelong cheerleading dreams, Kohel said she has a memory she’ll cherish forever.

“I feel really proud of myself for knowing I can do it and not giving up,” she said. “Just getting it done.”

Today in sports history: Feb. 23

1938: Joe Louis knocks out Nathan Mann in third round to defend his world heavyweight title

1960: Carol Heiss captures first gold medal for US in the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics.

1968: Wilt Chamberlain becomes first player to score 25,000 points in NBA

1980: Eric Heiden wins his fifth gold medal, shatters world record by six seconds

1985: Indiana coach Bob Knight ejected after throwing chair across court

2006: Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa stuns favorites to win figure skating gold

2007: Tiger Woods' PGA Tour winning streak comes to shocking end

2010: Dutch skater Sven Kramer loses gold medal when his coach sends him wrong way on changeover

2012: National League MVP Ryan Braun’s 50-game suspension is overturned

2013: Ronda Rousey wins the UFC’s first women’s bout

2014: Jason Collins becomes first openly gay athlete in United States' four major pro leagues

ATLANTA — Former President Jimmy Carter, who at 98 years old is the longest-lived American president, has entered home hospice care in Plains, Georgia, a statement from The Carter Center confirmed Saturday.

After a series of short hospital stays, the statement said, Carter “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”

Read more here: 

Photos: Former President Jimmy Carter through the years

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Randy Vaughan wouldn’t miss his grandson’s birthday.

“Never. He’d always at least call,” said Doug Vaughan, Randy’s younger brother.

But when that phone call never came, family members began to worry. Anyone would.

So Heather Jefferson, Randy Vaughan’s daughter, drove to his house and didn’t see his truck in the driveway. She spoke to her brother and she phoned authorities in Davidson County where he had a weekend place on High Rock Lake.

“(Deputies) called to say they saw his truck,” said Jamie Vaughan, Randy’s son. “We gave them the lockbox code since (the house) was for sale.”

Once inside, authorities found Randy Vaughan unresponsive. After local doctors determined that he’d suffered a stroke, he was airlifted to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital.

That was Tuesday, Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.

As traumatic as that was, what the family learned in the days afterward made a horrible situation worse: A Realtor had visited the house the previous day for a showing, saw Randy Vaughan on the floor and left.

The agent apparently heard him groan, closed the door and left without calling 911.

“She did document it on a (real-estate) feedback form,” Doug Vaughan said. “To take the time to write that up instead of calling 911 … it’s about basic decency, caring for your fellow human beings and being a professional.”

Still in shock

It’s an understatement to say that the Vaughan family is upset.

Obviously they had to cope with the sudden news about his health: Doctors had determined he’d suffered multiple strokes and developed pneumonia.

Difficult conversations followed. Family members decided Monday to move him to hospice care. He died Wednesday afternoon.

“He had just retired,” Doug Vaughan said. “He worked all his life, had a heating and air business. We’re all just in shock.”

While they were working through difficult decisions about hospice, they began to piece together how Randy Vaughan had spent his last few hours at home.

“I went by there Thursday (Feb. 16) to get his truck,” Jamie Vaughan said. “I found his phone still plugged in by the bed.”

He found a text about a showing that had been scheduled for noon that Monday, the day after the Super Bowl, and learned that a Realtor named Ellen-Nora Deese had been at his dad’s place.

A Realtor who had been working with Randy Vaughan found the feedback form and read part out loud.

“He said ‘Oh my God, I wish I had seen this,” Jamie Vaughan said.

A screenshot of the entire message spelled out what happened.

“Gentleman was passed out naked in the floor between the bed and the wall!,” a screenshot of the feedback form reads. “All I could see at first was two feet sticking out from behind the bed! One foot with a sock hanging on to his toes.

“I was concerned that he was dead! I asked are you okay no response so I moved in closer and saw he was naked so I moved back but asked again and he moved and grunted but we ran out of the house! I didn’t want him waking up to me standing over him!

“I hope he is okay but maybe had too much to drink Superbowl Sunday.”

The note indicates that someone thought that a man might be dead, decided perhaps he’d consumed enough alcohol the night before so as to be incoherent — which can kill, too — and thought only to fill out a feedback form.

“I’m mortified. Disgusted to be honest, that someone would do that,” Jamie Vaughan said.

As they watched a loved one fighting for his life, the more they thought about it. And the angrier they became.

“We really believe this could have been prevented if she had called somebody,” Jefferson said. “It’s not fair. It’s just not.”

‘No liability here’

After asking his niece and nephew Jamie Vaughan if they wanted him to handle the fallout from the feedback form — they had enough to worry about — Doug Vaughan started making calls.

He learned that Deese worked for JPAR, an agency based in Winston-Salem.

“I called the agency and got … the head agent,” Vaughan said. “That was Saturday night. She said she’d gone to bed and to get her in the morning.”

He also texted her but didn’t mention what it was regarding. He wanted to hear the immediate reaction.

The next day, Doug Vaughan said, he read the feedback form during a brief conversation. And then mentioned the state’s Good Samaritan law, which was enacted partly in response to the opioid epidemic.

The law says that anyone who renders first aid cannot be held liable in a civil lawsuit for any actions or omissions unless there was “intentional wrongdoing.”

“She said if there’s any litigation I’m going to have to refer you to my lawyer,” Doug Vaughan said. “I said nobody said anything about litigation. I just need you to be aware.”

That conversation, he said, took place Feb. 19. He hasn’t heard from the agency since.

Reached via cell phone, Deese cited legal concerns before declining further comment.

“I have an attorney involved. I have no liability there,” she said. “Without talking to the broker-in-charge first, I’ll allow her to comment.”

Neither the broker-in-charge nor an attorney have returned voice or emails.

Doug Vaughan also contacted the N.C. Real Estate Commission.

“I know she assumed he was drunk. That was a terribly wrong assumption — my brother doesn’t drink,” he wrote. “Simply, as a professional and as a human in this life, assumptions are wrong and can be deadly. No one in their right mind would leave a 69-year-old individual on the floor who is non-responsive without reporting it.”

Commission officials responded immediately with a letter saying that a formal inquiry had been opened. An investigator has been in touch with Randy Vaughan’s family and scheduling interviews.

For the time being, that’s of little consolation. Planning a memorial service takes precedence.

“The reality is, it could have been a different story. With a stroke it’s critical to get care in the first few hours,” Jamie Vaughan said. “This is the world we live in today?”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — How do people raised with a sense of right and wrong end up involved in terrible acts of violence against others?

That's the human mystery at the heart of 2,000 intercepted phone calls from Russian soldiers in Ukraine. These calls obtained by The Associated Press offer an intimate new perspective on Russian President Vladimir Putin's year-old war, seen through the eyes of Russian soldiers themselves.

The AP identified calls made in March 2022 by soldiers in a military division that Ukrainian prosecutors say committed war crimes in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv that became an early symbol of Russian atrocities.

They show how deeply unprepared young soldiers — and their country — were for the war to come. Many joined the military because they needed money and were informed of their deployment at the last minute. They were told they'd be welcomed as heroes for liberating Ukraine from its Nazi oppressors and their Western backers, and that Kyiv would fall without bloodshed within a week.

The intercepts show that as soldiers realized how much they'd been misled, they grew more and more afraid. Violence that once would have been unthinkable became normal. Looting and drinking offered moments of rare reprieve. Some said they were following orders to kill civilians or prisoners of war.

They tell their mothers what this war actually looks like: About the teenage Ukrainian boy who got his ears cut off. How the scariest sound is not the whistle of a rocket flying past, but the silence that means it's coming directly for you. How modern weapons can obliterate the human body so there's nothing left to bring home.

We listen as their mothers struggle to reconcile their pride and their horror, and as their wives and fathers beg them not to drink too much and to please, please call home.

These are the stories of three of those men — Ivan, Leonid and Maxim. The AP isn't using their full names to protect their families in Russia. The AP established that they were in areas when atrocities were committed, but has no evidence of their individual actions beyond what they confess.

The AP spoke with the mothers of Ivan and Leonid, but couldn't reach Maxim or his family. The AP verified these calls with the help of the Dossier Center, an investigative group in London funded by Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The conversations have been edited for length and clarity.

Warning: The conversations contain vulgar language and graphic details.

In a joint production on Saturday, Feb. 25, The Associated Press and Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting will broadcast never-before-heard audio of Russian soldiers as they confront — and perpetrate — the brutality of Russia's war in Ukraine.

***

LEONID

Leonid became a soldier because he needed money. He was in debt and didn't want to depend on his parents.

"I just wasn't prepared emotionally for my child to go to war at the age of 19," his mother told the AP in January. "None of us had experienced anything like this, that your child would live in a time when he has to go and fight."

Leonid's mother said Russia needs to protect itself from its enemies. But, like many others, she expected Russia to take parts of eastern Ukraine quickly. Instead, Leonid's unit got stuck around Bucha.

"No one thought it would be so terrible," his mother said. "My son just said one thing: 'My conscience is clear. They opened fire first.' That's all."

Timeline: A look at key moments in a year of war between Russia and Ukraine

A month-by-month timeline of the war in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine that began a year ago has killed thousands, forced millions to flee their homes, reduced entire cities to rubble and has fueled fears the confrontation could slide into an open conflict between Russia and NATO.

A look at some of the main events in the conflict.

Feb. 24, 2022: Russia invades Ukraine

March 2, 2022: Russia takes Kherson, gets stuck near Kyiv

March 29, 2022: Russia withdraws from Kyiv, shifts focus east

April 2022: Mass graves discovered in Bucha

April 9, 2022: Russia strikes train station, killing 52 civilians

April 13, 2022: Ukraine sinks Russian missile cruiser

May 16, 2022: Ukraine defenders surrender key steel mill

May 18, 2022: Finland, Sweden apply for NATO membership

June 2022: Western weapons flow into Ukraine

June 30, 2022: Russian troops pull back from Snake Island

July 22, 2022: Deal struck on grain exports

July 29, 2022: 53 killed in missile strike on prison

Aug. 9, 2022: Ukraine strikes air base in Crimea

Aug. 20, 2022: Daughter of Russian ideologist killed in car bombing

Sept. 6, 2022: Ukraine counteroffensive retakes parts of Kharkiv region

Sept. 21, 2022: Putin orders mobilization of reservists, stages illegal "referendums"

Sept. 30, 2022: Putin claims annexation of 4 regions

October 2022: Bridge linking Crimea and Russia attacked

November 2022: Russia retreats from Kherson

Dec. 5, 2022: Ukraine uses drones to hit Russian targets

Dec. 21, 2022: Zelenskyy visits US

Jan. 1, 2023: Ukraine kills scores of freshly mobilized Russian soldiers

Jan. 12, 2023: Russia claims capture of Soledar

Jan. 14, 2023: Russian strike kills 45 in apartment building

Feb. 20, 2023: Biden makes surprise visit to Kyiv

In the calls, there is an obvious moral dissonance between the way Leonid's mother raised him and what he is seeing and doing in Ukraine. Still, she defended her son, insisting he never even came into contact with civilians in Ukraine.

She said everything was calm, civil. There was no trouble at the checkpoints. Nothing bad happened. The war didn't change her son.

She declined to listen to any of the intercepts: "This is absurd," she said. "Just don't try to make it look like my child killed innocent people."

***

ONE: Kill if you don't want to be killed.

Leonid's introduction to war came on Feb. 24, as his unit crossed into Ukraine from Belarus and decimated a detachment of Ukrainians at the border. After his first fight, Leonid seems to have compassion for the young Ukrainian soldiers they'd just killed.

Mother: "When did you get scared?"

Leonid: "When our commander warned us we would be shot, 100%. He warned us that although we'd be bombed and shot at, our aim was to get through."

Mother: "Did they shoot you?"

Leonid: "Of course. We defeated them."

Mother: "Mhm. Did you shoot from your tanks?"

Leonid: "Yeah, we did. We shot from the tanks, machine guns and rifles. We had no losses. We destroyed their four tanks. There were dead bodies lying around and burning. So, we won."

Mother: "Oh what a nightmare! Lyonka, you wanted to live at that moment, right honey?"

Leonid: "More than ever!"

Mother: "More than ever, right honey?"

Leonid: "Of course."

Mother: "It's totally horrible."

Leonid: "They were lying there, just 18 or 19 years old. Am I different from them? No, I'm not."

***

TWO: The rules of normal life no longer apply.

Leonid tells his mother their plan was to seize Kyiv within a week, without firing a single bullet. Instead, his unit started taking fire near Chernobyl. They had no maps and the Ukrainians had taken down all the road signs.

"It was so confusing," he says. "They were well prepared."

Not expecting a prolonged attack, Russian soldiers ran short on basic supplies. One way for them to get what they needed — or wanted — was to steal.

Many soldiers, including Leonid, talk about money with the wary precision that comes from not having enough. Some take orders from friends and family for certain-sized shoes and parts for specific cars, proud to go home with something to give.

When Leonid tells his mother casually about looting, at first she can't believe he's stealing. But it's become normal for him.

As he speaks, he watches a town burn on the horizon.

"Such a beauty," he says.

Leonid: "Look, mom, I'm looking at tons of houses — I don't know, dozens, hundreds — and they're all empty. Everyone ran away."

Mother: "So all the people left, right? You guys aren't looting them, are you? You're not going into other people's houses?"

Leonid: "Of course we are, mom. Are you crazy?"

Mother: "Oh, you are. What do you take from there?"

Leonid: "We take food, bed linen, pillows. Blankets, forks, spoons, pans."

Mother: (laughing) "You gotta be kidding me."

Leonid: "Whoever doesn't have any — socks, clean underwear, T-shirts, sweaters."

***

THREE: The enemy is everybody.

Leonid tells his mother about the terror of going on patrol and not knowing what or who they will encounter. He describes using lethal force at the slightest provocation against just about anyone.

At first, she seems not to believe that Russian soldiers could be killing civilians.

Leonid tells her that civilians were told to flee or shelter in basements, so anyone who was outside must not be a real civilian. Russian soldiers had been told, by Putin and others, that they'd be greeted as liberators and anyone who resisted was a fascist, an insurgent — not a real civilian.

This was a whole-of-society war. Mercy was for suckers.

Mother: "Oh Lyonka, you've seen so much stuff there!"

Leonid: "Well ... civilians are lying around right on the street with their brains coming out."

Mother: "Oh God, you mean the locals?"

Leonid: "Yep. Well, like, yeah."

Mother: "Are they the ones you guys shot or the ones ... "

Leonid: "The ones killed by our army."

Mother: "Lyonya, they might just be peaceful people."

Leonid: "Mom, there was a battle. And a guy would just pop up, you know? Maybe he would pull out a grenade launcher ... Or we had a case, a young guy was stopped, they took his cellphone. He had all this information about us in his Telegram messages — where to bomb, how many we were, how many tanks we have. And that's it."

Mother: "So they knew everything?"

Leonid: "He was shot right there on the spot."

Mother: "Mhm."

Leonid: "He was 17 years old. And that's it, right there."

Mother: "Mhm."

Leonid: "There was a prisoner. It was an 18-year-old guy. First, he was shot in his leg. Then his ears were cut off. After that, he admitted everything, and they killed him."

Mother: "Did he admit it?"

Leonid: "We don't imprison them. I mean, we kill them all."

Mother: "Mhm."

***

FOUR: What it takes to get home alive.

Leonid tells his mother he was nearly killed five times. Things are so disorganized, he says, that it's not uncommon for Russians to fire on their own troops — it even happened to him. Some soldiers shoot themselves just to get medical leave, he says.

In another call, he tells his girlfriend he's envious of his buddies who got shot in the feet and could go home. "A bullet in your foot is like four months at home with crutches," he says. "It would be awesome."

Then he hangs up because of incoming fire.

Mother: "Hello, Lyonechka."

Leonid: "I just wanted to call you again. I am able to speak."

Mother: "Oh, that's good."

Leonid: "There are people out here who shoot themselves."

Mother: "Mhm."

Leonid: "They do it for the insurance money. You know where they shoot themselves?"

Mother: "That's silly, Lyonya."

Leonid: "The bottom part of the left thigh."

Mother: "It's bull——, Lyonya. They're crazy, you know that, right?"

Leonid: "Some people are so scared that they are ready to harm themselves just to leave."

Mother: "Yeah, it is fear, what can you say here, it's human fear. Everybody wants to live. I don't argue with that, but please don't do that. We all pray for you. You should cross yourself any chance you get, just turn away from everyone and do it. We all pray for you. We're all worried."

Leonid: "I'm standing here, and you know what the situation is? I am now 30 meters (100 feet) away from a huge cemetery." (giggling)

Mother: "Oh, that's horrible ... may it be over soon."

Leonid says he had to learn to empty his mind.

"Imagine, it's nighttime. You're sitting in the dark and it's quiet out there. Alone with your thoughts. And day after day, you sit there alone with those thoughts," he tells his girlfriend. "I already learned to think of nothing while sitting outside."

He promises to bring home a collection of bullets for the kids. "Trophies from Ukraine," he calls them.

His mother says she's waiting for him.

"Of course I'll come, why wouldn't I?" Leonid says.

"Of course, you'll come," his mother says. "No doubts. You're my beloved. Of course, you'll come. You are my happiness."

Leonid returned to Russia in May, badly wounded, but alive. He told his mother Russia would win this war.

***

IVAN

Ivan dreamed of being a paratrooper from the time he was a boy, growing up in a village at the edge of Siberia. He used to dress up in fatigues and play paintball with friends in the woods. A photo shows him at 12 years old, smiling with a big Airsoft rifle and a slimy splotch of green near his heart — a sign of certain death in paintball.

Ivan's dream came true. He entered an elite unit of Russian paratroopers, which crossed into Ukraine the very first day of Putin's Feb. 24 invasion, one year ago.

***

ONE: Ivan's road to war.

Ivan was in Belarus on training when they got a Telegram message: "Tomorrow you are leaving for Ukraine. There is a genocide of the Russian population. And we have to stop it."

When his mother found out he was in Ukraine, she said she stopped speaking for days and took sedatives. Her hair went gray. Still, she was proud of him.

Ivan ended up in Bucha.

Ivan: "Mom, hi."

Mother: "Hi, son! How …"

Ivan: "How are you?"

Mother: "Vanya, I understand they might be listening so I'm afraid …"

Ivan: "Doesn't matter."

Mother: "… to ask where you are, what's happening. Where are you?"

Ivan: "In Bucha."

Mother: "In Bucha?"

Ivan: "In Bucha."

Mother: "Son, be as careful as you can, OK? Don't go charging around! Always keep a cool head."

Ivan: "Oh, come on, I'm not charging around."

Mother: "Yeah, right! And yesterday you told me how you're gonna f——— kill everyone out there." (laughs)

Ivan: "We will kill if we have to."

Mother: "Huh?"

Ivan: "If we have to — we have to."

Mother: "I understand you. I'm so proud of you, my son! I don't even know how to put it. I love you so much. And I bless you for everything, everything! I wish you success in everything. And I'll wait for you no matter what."

***

TWO: Love and fear.

Russian soldiers had been told by Putin and others that they'd be welcomed by their brothers and sisters in Ukraine as liberators. Instead, Ivan finds that most Ukrainians want him dead or gone. His mood darkens.

He calls his girlfriend, Olya, and tells her he had a dream about her.

Ivan: "F—-, you know, it's driving me crazy here. It's just that ... You were just … I felt you, touched you with my hand. I don't understand how it's possible, why, where … But I really felt you. I don't know, I felt something warm, something dear. It's like something was on fire in my hands, so warm … And that's it. I don't know. I was sleeping and then I woke up with all these thoughts. War … You know, when you're sleeping — and then you're like … War … Where, where is it? It was just dark in the house, so dark. And I went outside, walked around the streets, and thought: damn, f—- it. And that's it. I really want to come see you."

Olya: "I am waiting for you."

Ivan: "Waiting? OK. I'm waiting, too. Waiting for the time I can come see you ... Let's make a deal. When we see each other, let's spend the entire day together. Laying around, sitting together, eating, looking at each other — just us, together."

Olya: (Laughs) "Agreed."

Ivan: "Together all the time. Hugging, cuddling, kissing … Together all the time, not letting each other go."

Olya: "Well, yeah!"

Ivan: "You can go f——— crazy here. It's so f—- up, the s—- that's happening. I really thought it would be easy here, to tell you the truth. That it's just gonna be easy to talk, think about it. But it turned out to be hard, you need to think with your head all the time. So that's that."

Ivan: "We are really at the front line. As far out as you could be. Kyiv is 15 kilometers (about 10 miles) from us. It is scary, Olya. It really is scary."

Olya: "Hello?"

Ivan: "Do you hear me?"

The line drops.

***

THREE: The end.

As things get worse for Ivan in Ukraine, his mother's patriotism deepens and her rage grows. The family has relatives in Kyiv, but seems to believe this is a righteous war against Nazi oppression in Ukraine — and the dark hand of the United States they see behind Kyiv's tough resistance. She says she'll go to Ukraine herself to fight.

Mother: "Do you have any predictions about the end ...?"

Ivan: "We are here for the time being. We'll probably stay until they clean up the whole of Ukraine. Maybe they'll pull us out. Maybe not. We're going for Kyiv."

Mother: "What are they going to do?"

Ivan: "We're not going anywhere until they clean up all of these pests."

Mother: "Are those bastards getting cleaned up?"

Ivan: "Yes, they are. But they've been waiting for us and preparing, you understand? Preparing properly. American motherf——— have been helping them out."

Mother: "F——— f———. F——— kill them all. You have my blessing."

Death came for Ivan a decade after that boyhood paintball game.

In July, a local paper published a notice of his funeral with a photo of him, again in fatigues holding a large rifle. Ivan died heroically in Russia's "special military operation," the announcement said. We will never forget you. All of Russia shares this grief.

Reached by the AP in January, Ivan's mother at first denied she'd ever talked with her son from the front. But she agreed to listen to some of the intercepted audio and confirmed it was her speaking with Ivan.

"He wasn't involved in murders, let alone in looting," she told the AP before hanging up the phone.

Ivan was her only son.

***

MAXIM

Maxim is drunk in some of the calls, slurring his words, because life at the front line is more than he can take sober.

It's not clear what military unit Maxim is in, but he makes calls from the same phone as Ivan, on the same days.

He says they're alone out there and exposed. Communications are so bad they're taking more fire from their own troops than from the Ukrainians.

He has a bad toothache and his feet are freezing. The hunt for locals — men, women and children —who might be informing on them to the Ukrainian military is constant.

Maxim's mood flips between boredom and horror — not just at what he has seen, but also what he has done.

***

ONE: Gold!

The only reason Maxim is able to speak with his family back in Russia is because they've been stealing phones from locals. He says they're even shaking down kids.

"We take everything from them," he explains to his wife. "Because they can also be f——— spotters."

Stuck just outside Kyiv, bored and unsure why they're in Ukraine in the first place, Maxim and a half-dozen other guys shot up a shopping mall and made off with all the gold they could carry.

Back home Maxim has money troubles, but here his hands are heavy with treasure. He gleefully calculates and recalculates what his pile of gold might be worth.He says he offered a wad of money the size of his fist to Ukrainian women and children.

"I wanted to give it to normal families with kids, but the people out there were drunks," he tells his wife.

In the end, he handed the cash off to a random, cleanshaven man he thought looked decent. "I told him: 'Look here, take it, give it to families with kids and take something for yourself. You'll figure it out, make it fair.'"

On calls home, the high sweet voice of Maxim's own young child bubbles in the background as he talks with his wife.

Maxim: "Do you know how much a gram of gold costs here?"

Wife: "No."

Maxim: "Roughly? About two or three thousand rubles, right?"

Wife: "Well, yeah …"

Maxim: "Well, I have 1½ kilograms (more than three pounds). With labels even."

Wife: "Holy f—-, are we looters?!"

Maxim: "With labels, yeah. It's just that we f——- up this … We were shooting at this shopping mall from a tank. Then we go in, and there's a f——— jewelry store. Everything was taken. But there was a safe there. We cracked it open, and inside … f—- me! So the seven of us loaded up."

Wife: "I see."

Maxim: "They had these f——— necklaces, you know. In our money, they're like 30-40,000 a piece, 60,000 a piece."

Wife: "Holy crap."

Maxim: "I scored about a kilo and a half of necklaces, charms, bracelets ... these … earrings ... earrings with rings …"

Wife: "That's enough, don't tell me."

Maxim: "Anyway, I counted and if it's 3,000 rubles a gram, then I have about 3.5 million. If you offload it."

Wife: "Got it. How's the situation there?"

Maxim: "It's f——— OK."

Wife: "OK? Got it."

Maxim: "We don't have a f——— thing to do, so we go around and loot the f——— shopping mall."

Wife: "Just be careful, in the name of Christ."

***

TWO: Propaganda.

Maxim and his mother discuss the opposing stories about the war being told on Ukrainian and Russian television. They blame the United States and recite conspiracy theories pushed by Russian state media.

But Maxim and his mother believe it's the Ukrainians who are deluded by fake news and propaganda, not them. The best way to end the war, his mother says, is to kill the presidents of Ukraine and the United States.

Later, Maxim tells his mother that thousands of Russian troops died in the first weeks of war — so many that there's no time to do anything except haul away the bodies. That's not what they're saying on Russian TV, his mother says.

Maxim: "Here, it's all American. All the weapons."

Mother: "It's the Americans driving this, of course! Look at their laboratories. They are developing biological weapons. Coronavirus literally started there."

Maxim: "Yeah, I also saw somewhere that they used bats."

Mother: "All of it. Bats, migrating birds, and even coronavirus might be their biological weapon."

Mother: "They even found all these papers with signatures from the U.S. all over Ukraine. Biden's son is the mastermind behind all of this."

Mother: "When will it end? When they stop supplying weapons."

Maxim: "Mhm."

Mother: "Until they catch (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy and execute him, nothing will end. He's a fool, a fool! He's a puppet for the U.S. and they really don't need him, the fool. You watch TV and you feel bad for the people, the civilians, some travelling with young kids."

Mother: "If I was given a gun, I'd go and shoot Biden." (Laughs)

Maxim: (Laughs)

***

THREE: War and peace.

The Ukrainian government has been intercepting Russian calls when their phones ping Ukrainian cell towers, providing important real-time intelligence for the military. Now, the calls are also potential evidence for war crimes.

But phones have been dangerous for the soldiers in another, more personal sense. The phone acts as a real-time bridge between two incompatible realities — the war in Ukraine and home.

In Maxim's calls with his wife, war and peace collide. Even as she teaches their daughter the rules of society — scolding the child for throwing things, for example — Maxim talks about what he's been stealing. His wife's world is filled with school crafts and the sounds of children playing outside. In his, volleys of gunfire crack the air.

One night last March, Maxim was having trouble keeping it together on a call with his wife. He'd been drinking, as he did every night.

He told her he'd killed civilians — so many he thinks he's going crazy. He said he might not make it home alive. He was just sitting there, drunk in the dark, waiting for the Ukrainian artillery strikes to start.

Wife: "Why? Why are you drinking?"

Maxim: "Everyone is like that here. It's impossible without it here."

Wife: "How the f—- will you protect yourself if you are tipsy?"

Maxim: "Totally normal. On the contrary, it's easier to shoot ... civilians. Let's not talk about this. I'll come back and tell you how it is here and why we drink!"

Wife: "Please, just be careful!"

Maxim: "Everything will be fine. Honestly, I'm scared s—-less myself. I never saw such hell as here. I am f——— shocked."

Wife: "Why the f—- did you go there?"

Minutes later, he's on the phone with his child.

"You're coming back?" the child asks.

"Of course," Maxim says.

***

FOUR: The end?

In their last intercepted call, Maxim's wife seems to have a premonition.

Wife: "Is everything all right?"

Maxim: "Yeah. Why?"

Wife: "Be honest with me, is everything all right?"

Maxim: "Huh? Why do you ask?"

Wife: "It's nothing, I just can't sleep at night."

Maxim is a little breathless. He and his unit are getting ready to go. His wife asks him where they're going.

"Forward," he tells her. "I won't be able to call for a while."

***

Photos: In Ukraine, searing images capture a year of war

LONDON (AP) — War has been a catastrophe for Ukraine and a crisis for the globe. The world is a more unstable and fearful place since Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022.

One year on, thousands of Ukrainian civilians are dead, and countless buildings have been destroyed. Tens of thousands of troops have been killed or seriously wounded on each side. Beyond Ukraine’s borders, the invasion shattered European security, redrew nations’ relations with one another and frayed a tightly woven global economy.

5 ways war in Ukraine has changed the world

1. The return of European war

2. Alliances tested and toughened

3. A new Iron Curtain

4. A battered and reshaped economy

5. A new age of uncertainty

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Timeline: A look at key moments in a year of war between Russia and Ukraine

A month-by-month timeline of the war in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine that began a year ago has killed thousands, forced millions to flee their homes, reduced entire cities to rubble and has fueled fears the confrontation could slide into an open conflict between Russia and NATO.

A look at some of the main events in the conflict.

Feb. 24, 2022: Russia invades Ukraine

March 2, 2022: Russia takes Kherson, gets stuck near Kyiv

March 29, 2022: Russia withdraws from Kyiv, shifts focus east

April 2022: Mass graves discovered in Bucha

April 9, 2022: Russia strikes train station, killing 52 civilians

April 13, 2022: Ukraine sinks Russian missile cruiser

May 16, 2022: Ukraine defenders surrender key steel mill

May 18, 2022: Finland, Sweden apply for NATO membership

June 2022: Western weapons flow into Ukraine

June 30, 2022: Russian troops pull back from Snake Island

July 22, 2022: Deal struck on grain exports

July 29, 2022: 53 killed in missile strike on prison

Aug. 9, 2022: Ukraine strikes air base in Crimea

Aug. 20, 2022: Daughter of Russian ideologist killed in car bombing

Sept. 6, 2022: Ukraine counteroffensive retakes parts of Kharkiv region

Sept. 21, 2022: Putin orders mobilization of reservists, stages illegal "referendums"

Sept. 30, 2022: Putin claims annexation of 4 regions

October 2022: Bridge linking Crimea and Russia attacked

November 2022: Russia retreats from Kherson

Dec. 5, 2022: Ukraine uses drones to hit Russian targets

Dec. 21, 2022: Zelenskyy visits US

Jan. 1, 2023: Ukraine kills scores of freshly mobilized Russian soldiers

Jan. 12, 2023: Russia claims capture of Soledar

Jan. 14, 2023: Russian strike kills 45 in apartment building

Feb. 20, 2023: Biden makes surprise visit to Kyiv

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Republican Nikki Haley joined the 2024 race for president this week, becoming the first major rival to former President Donald Trump in a field that is expected to grow in coming months.

Here are some things to know about the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations:

'I WAS DIFFERENT'

Haley, 51, grew up in the small rural community of Bamberg, South Carolina, the daughter of Indian immigrants. Raised in the Sikh faith by a father who wore a turban and a mother who wore a sari, she has described enduring racist taunts and feeling like she didn't fit in, an experience she says had an impact on on her personal and political life.

In a video announcing her presidential bid, Haley referenced that past, saying she grew up "not Black, not white — I was different." She also insisted — as she has in past speeches — that America is not a racist country. "Nothing could be further from the truth," she said in her formal announcement Wednesday.

NOTABLE FIRSTS

Before becoming South Carolina governor, Haley was an accountant and served in the state House of Representatives. In her first campaign in 2004, she defeated the state's longest-serving House member. Three terms later, she made a longshot bid for governor and defeated a field of more veteran politicians to become the first woman and first Indian American to lead South Carolina. At 38, she also was the nation's youngest governor. Haley is the first woman to be a major candidate for president in 2024, and just the fifth Republican woman this century.

'DIVISIVE SYMBOL'

Haley's biggest moment on the national stage as governor came during her second term, when a self-avowed white supremacist who had been pictured holding Confederate flags murdered nine Black parishioners as they gathered for Bible study in a Charleston church. For years before the 2015 killings, Haley had resisted calls to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, even casting a rival's push for its removal as a desperate stunt. But after the massacre and with the support of other leading Republicans, Haley advocated for legislation to remove the flag. It came down less than a month after the murders.

Haley later faced criticism for telling conservative host Glen Beck in a 2019 interview that the Charleston shooter "hijacked" the ideals many connected to the flag, including the "service, and sacrifice and heritage" it meant to some. After many responded saying that the flag represented treason and racial hatred, Haley said in a statement on Twitter that she stood by her call to remove it. In a 2020 speech to the Republican National Convention that followed weeks of protests alleging racial injustice by police, Haley called the flag a "divisive symbol" that was removed peacefully.

HISTORY WITH TRUMP

Haley has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Trump, going from harsh critic to ardent supporter and now a 2024 rival.

During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Haley supported Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. She later backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. She described Trump as "everything a governor doesn't want in a president." But Haley ultimately said she would back the GOP nominee, and shortly after Trump won the presidency, she agreed to serve as the new administration's ambassador to the United Nations. She was a whole-hearted supporter of his 2020 reelection bid. Her most recent reversal: Her decision to seek the presidency after initially saying she wouldn't challenge Trump if he ran again.

Here are 20 Republicans considering 2024 presidential runs

In: Donald Trump

In: Nikki Haley

In: Tim Scott

Ron DeSantis

Mike Pence

Ted Cruz

Glenn Youngkin

Chris Sununu

Kristi Noem

Greg Abbott

Out: Larry Hogan

In: Asa Hutchinson

Chris Christie

Out: Mike Pompeo

Liz Cheney

Will Hurd

Keep an eye on: Brian Kemp

Keep an eye on: Rick Scott

Keep an eye on: Josh Hawley

Keep an eye on: John Bolton

Photos: Nikki Haley through the years

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped the possibility of a sentence enhancement that could have carried a mandatory five-year sentence against Alec Baldwin in a fatal film-set shooting, according to new court filings made public Monday.

The actor-producer's attorneys had earlier objected to the enhancement, saying it was unconstitutional because it was added after the October 2021 shooting.

“The prosecutors committed a basic legal error by charging Mr. Baldwin under a version of the firearm-enhancement statue that did not exist on the date of the accident,” Baldwin's attorneys said in an earlier court filing.

Baldwin's attorney declined to comment.

Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the weapons supervisor on the set of the film “Rust,” were charged last month with felony involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died shortly who died shortly after being wounded during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe.

Authorities said Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.

Hutchins’ parents and sister have filed a lawsuit over the shooting after a similar suit filed by her husband and son was settled.

Production is expected to resume this spring on “Rust” after it was halted following the shooting. Rust Movie Productions said Hutchins’ widower, Matthew Hutchins, will be the film’s new executive producer with Blanca Cline as the new cinematographer.

Read more about it here:

Photos: Alec Baldwin through the years

Today is Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023. 

Get caught up on today's top stories, as well as celebrity birthdays and a look back at this date in history.

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MORNING LISTEN

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IMAGE OF THE DAY

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TODAY IN HISTORY

Today in history: Feb. 18

1885: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

1970: Chicago Seven

1988: Anthony M. Kennedy

1994: Dan Jansen

2001: Dale Earnhardt

2003: South Korea

2012: Whitney Houston

2016: Pope Francis

2017: Norma McCorvey

2017: Omar Abdel-Rahman

2020: Gov. Rod Blagojevich

2021: Naomi Osaka

2021: Ted Cruz

Today in sports history: Feb. 18

1928, 1932: Sonja Henie wins figure skating titles

1944: 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall signs with the Cincinnati Reds

1973: Richard Petty wins his fourth Daytona 500

1990: Derrick Cope wins Daytona 500 after Dale Earnhardt blows tire on last lap

1994: American speedskater Dan Jansen breaks his jinx by winning gold in the Lillehammer Games

2006: Shani Davis becomes first Black athlete to win individual gold in Winter Olympic history

2010: Evan Lysacek becomes first U.S. male figure skater to win Olympic gold medal since 1988

2011: Dale Earnhardt killed in crash on last turn of Daytona 500

2012: St. John's hands UConn first home loss to unranked team in 19 years

2013: Baylor's Brittney Griner scores 3,000th point of career, rallying Bears past UConn

2017: Mikaela Shiffrin wins a third straight slalom title at the ski world championships

2018: LeBron James scores go-ahead layup, wins his third All-Star Game MVP

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TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS

Celebrity birthdays: Feb. 18

Cybill Shepherd

Dennis DeYoung

Dr. Dre

Ike Barinholtz

Irma Thomas

Isabel Leonard

Jess Walton

John Travolta

Kristoffer Polaha

Matt Dillon

Molly Ringwald

Regina Spektor

Sarah Sutherland

Sean Watkins

Trevor Rosen

Vanna White

Yoko Ono

Zac Cockrell

ATLANTA (AP) — They were led down a staircase into a garage beneath a downtown Atlanta courthouse, where officers with big guns were waiting. From there, they were ushered into vans with heavily tinted windows and driven to their cars under police escort.

For Emily Kohrs, these were the moments last May when she realized she wasn't participating in just any grand jury.

"That was the first indication that this was a big freaking deal," Kohrs told The Associated Press.

The 30-year-old Fulton County resident who was between jobs suddenly found herself at the center of one of the nation's most significant legal proceedings. She would become foreperson of the special grand jury selected to investigate whether then-President Donald Trump and his Republican associates illegally meddled in Georgia's 2020 presidential election. The case has emerged as one of Trump's most glaring legal vulnerabilities as he mounts a third presidential campaign, in part because he was recorded asking state election officials to "find 11,780 votes" for him.

For the next eight months, Kohrs and her fellow jurors would hear testimony from 75 witnesses, ranging from some of Trump's most prominent allies to local election workers. Portions of the panel's final report released last Thursday said jurors believed that "one or more witnesses" committed perjury and urged local prosecutors to bring charges. The report's recommendations for charges on other issues, including potential attempts to influence the election, remain secret for now.

Read portions of the Georgia special grand jury report here

The AP identified Kohrs after her name was included on subpoenas obtained through open records requests. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney advised Kohrs and other jurors on what they could and could not share publicly, including in interviews with the news media.

During a lengthy recent interview, Kohrs complied with the judge's instructions not to discuss details related to the jury's deliberations. She also declined to talk about unpublished portions of the panel's final report.

But her general characterizations provided unusual insight into a process that is typically cloaked in secrecy.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was on the receiving end of Trump's pressure campaign, was "a really geeky kind of funny," she said. State House Speaker David Ralston, who died in November, was hilarious and had the room in stitches. And Gov. Brian Kemp, who succeeded in delaying his appearance until after his reelection in November, seemed unhappy to be there.

Kohrs was fascinated by an explainer on Georgia's voting machines offered by a former Dominion Voting Systems executive. She also enjoyed learning about the inner workings of the White House from Cassidy Hutchinson, who Kohrs said was much more forthcoming than her old boss, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Kohrs sketched witnesses in her notebook as they spoke and was tickled when Bobby Christine, the former U.S. attorney for Georgia's Southern District, complimented her "remarkable talent." When the jurors' notes were taken for shredding after their work was done, she managed to salvage two sketches — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Marc Short, who served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence — because there were no notes on those pages.

After Graham tried so hard to avoid testifying — taking his fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — Kohrs was surprised when he politely answered questions and even joked with jurors.

Former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was funny and invoked privilege to avoid answering many questions but "genuinely seemed to consider" whether it was merited before declining to answer, she said.

When witnesses refused to answer almost every question, the lawyers would engage in what Kohrs came to think of as "show and tell." The lawyers would show video of the person appearing on television or testifying before the U.S. House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, periodically asking the witness to confirm certain things. Then the scratching of pens on paper could be heard as jurors tallied how many times the person invoked the Fifth Amendment.

At least one person who resisted answering questions became much more cooperative when prosecutors offered him immunity in front of the jurors, Kohrs said. Other witnesses came in with immunity deals already in place.

Trump's attorneys have said he was never asked to testify. Kohrs said the grand jury wanted to hear from the former president but didn't have any real expectation that he would offer meaningful testimony.

"Trump was not a battle we picked to fight," she said.

Kohrs didn't vote in 2020 and was only vaguely aware of controversy swirling in the wake of the election. She didn't know the specifics of Trump's allegations of widespread election fraud or his efforts to reverse his loss. When prosecutors played the then-president's phone call with Raffensperger on the first day the jurors met to consider evidence, it was the first time Kohrs had heard it.

"I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have," Trump said on the call.

Though Kohrs said she tends to agree more with Democrats, Kohrs said she doesn't identify with any political party and prefers to listen to all opinions.

"If I chose a political party, it would be the not-crazy party," she said.

Kohrs called herself a "geek about the justice system" and noted the challenges some jurors faced balancing their responsibilities on the panel with outside duties. When she eagerly volunteered to be foreperson, she met no resistance from her fellow jurors, who were less enthusiastic about the time-consuming obligation stretching before them, she said.

One of her first duties as foreperson was to sign a big stack of subpoenas.

As the proceedings played out, one of her fellow jurors brought the newspaper every day and pointed out stories about the investigation. Prosecutors, Kohrs said, told jurors they could consume news coverage related to the case but urged them to keep an open mind.

Kohrs said she mostly avoided stories related to the proceedings to avoid forming an opinion.

"I didn't want to characterize anyone before they walked in the room," she said. "I felt they all deserved an impartial listener."

Of the 26 people on the panel — 23 jurors and three alternates — 16 had to be present for a quorum. There was a core group of between 12 and 16 who showed up almost every day they were in session, Kohrs said, and she could recall only one day when they couldn't proceed because not enough seats were filled. The most they ever had in the room was 22 — on the day Giuliani testified.

As the months passed, the grand jurors grew more comfortable with each other and with the four lawyers on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' team who led the proceedings. But they're not all best friends now that it's over.

"We are not meeting up now. We don't have a group chat," Kohrs said.

While the jurors asked to hear from certain witnesses, most witnesses were decided upon by the district attorney's office. But Kohrs said she didn't feel as though prosecutors were trying to influence the jurors' final report.

"I fully stand by our report as our decision and our conclusion," she said.

* * *

11 searing moments of Jan. 6: From 'an attempted coup' to chaos

'An attempted coup'

'Carnage' at the Capitol

'Detached from reality'

A tense conversation

40 feet away

'I will not break my oath'

Lives upended

Justice Department resists the scheme

'They're not here to hurt me'

'Unhinged' White House meeting

187 minutes