Franco Ordoñez
Franco Ordoñez is a White House Correspondent for NPR's Washington Desk. Before he came to NPR in 2019, Ordoñez covered the White House for McClatchy. He has also written about diplomatic affairs, foreign policy and immigration, and has been a correspondent in Cuba, Colombia, Mexico and Haiti.
Ordoñez has received several state and national awards for his work, including the Casey Medal, the Gerald Loeb Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Journalism. He is a two-time reporting fellow with the International Center for Journalists, and is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and the University of Georgia.
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The White House plans to make it easier for families to visit relatives in Cuba and increase visa processing on the island, reversing some of former President Trump's policies. -
Ukraine is one of the world's biggest producers of wheat, corn and sunflower oil. Officials say 30% of farmland is now occupied or unsafe. "My fields were destroyed by the shelling," one farmer says.
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Ukrainian and international experts believe it will take years, if not decades, to build cases and prosecute people. Ukraine's prosecutor general's office has opened more than 9,000 investigations.
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Ukraine's prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, is determined to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for what she says are war crimes. Reviewing the evidence has taken a toll on her.
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Residents in the small Ukrainian town of Trostyanets — the first to be liberated — detail some of the hardships they endured during the Russian invasion.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Sunday. The State Department declined to comment to NPR.
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Russian forces pulling out of the area surrounding Kyiv left behind evidence of atrocities committed against civilians. The effort is now to try to build a war crimes case against the perpetrators.
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Missiles struck cities all across Ukraine overnight, including in the western city of Lviv, where at least 7 people were killed. The town had been relatively peaceful for weeks.
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Russian forces continue their assault on Ukraine, especially in the beleaguered port city of Mariupol.
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These young politicians have few memories of life under Soviet rule — and they say the war has accelerated their efforts to push for a more Europe-focused future.
