By ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump spoke heatedly in the presidential debate about wanting Russia’s war in Ukraine to be over — but twice refused to directly answer a question about whether he wanted U.S. ally Ukraine to win.

Trump also falsely claimed Tuesday that the war had killed “millions” since Russia invaded Ukraine 2 1/2 years ago, while the United Nations says 11,700 civilian deaths have been verified. Trump also claimed without evidence that Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, had bungled a diplomatic mission just days before Russia launched the invasion.

Trump’s comments are likely to heighten concern among Ukraine and its supporters that his return to the White House could push Ukraine into a losing peace deal with its stronger neighbor, Russia. Western-allied Ukraine depends on U.S. military and financial aid to keep up its fight against Russian forces, and it would have grave difficulty withstanding their attacks if the United States were to pull that support.

It’s “a very simple question. Do you want Ukraine to win this war?” moderator David Muir of ABC News asked Trump, in the first of two times Trump was pressed for a direct answer.

“I want the war to stop,” Trump responded. “I want to save lives,” he added, going on to claim falsely that “millions” were dying in the conflict.

Muir then asked again, questioning whether Trump believed “it’s in the U.S. best interest for Ukraine to win this war.”

The Republican nominee responded, “I think it’s the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done.”

Trump has said repeatedly he would have a peace deal done between Ukraine and Russia within a day if he is elected, although he does not say how. The fear of Ukraine’s supporters is that the kind of deal Trump is talking about would amount to the country’s democratic government capitulating significant territory and sovereignty to Russia’s harsh demands.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year insisted Ukraine must give up vast amounts of territory and avoid joining NATO simply as a condition to start negotiations.

“The reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up,” Harris said during the debate. She accused Trump of being in “what you think is a friendship with … a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”

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Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Wednesday that “the name Putin is used, let’s say, as one of the tools in the domestic political struggle of the United States.” He added: “We really, really don’t like this and we still hope they will leave our president alone.” Peskov suggested that both Harris and Trump have a “negative” and “unfriendly” attitude toward Russia.

Trump, however, has a long history of admiring comments about Putin, including calling his tactics in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine “genius” and “very savvy.” Trump expresses no such warmth for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him a “salesman” for his appeals to allies for weapons.

The Biden administration says a victory in Ukraine would embolden Putin to move against other Western-allied democracies in Europe. President Joe Biden and his top officials were key players in rallying international support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia since even before Russian forces rolled into Ukraine. The U.S. spurred allies into action by pointing to declassified intelligence showing Russian preparations for the invasion.

Just days before the invasion in late February 2022, Biden sent Harris to the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany, a high-profile mission to consolidate support for Ukraine among European and NATO leaders. Harris met on the sidelines with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Trump during the debate linked the timing of Harris’ trip to Europe to Putin’s sending troops into Ukraine days later.

“They sent her in to negotiate with Zelenskyy and Putin. And she did. And the war started three days later,” he said.

But the U.S. government said the Russian troops massing on Ukraine’s border and intelligence assessments already pointed to an imminent invasion. And Putin was not at the security conference in Germany, and Harris didn’t meet with him.

By AMANDA SEITZ and LAURA UNGAR Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden gave bumbling remarks about abortion on the debate stage this summer, it was widely viewed as a missed opportunity — a failure, even — on a powerful and motivating issue for Democrats at the ballot box.

The difference was stark, then, on Tuesday night, when Vice President Kamala Harris gave a forceful defense of abortion rights during her presidential debate with Republican Donald Trump.

Harris conveyed the dire medical situations women have found themselves in since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the national right to abortion in 2022. Harris quickly placed blamed directly on Trump, who recalibrated the Supreme Court to the conservative majority that issued the landmark ruling during his term.

Women, Harris told the national audience, have been denied care as a result.

“You want to talk about this is what people wanted? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because health care providers are afraid they might go to jail and she’s bleeding out in a car in the parking lot?” Harris said.

The moment was a reminder that Harris is uniquely positioned to talk about the hot-button, national topic in a way that Biden, an 81-year-old Catholic who had long opposed abortion, never felt comfortable doing.

Harris has been the White House’s public face for efforts to improve maternal health and ensure some abortion access, despite the Supreme Court ruling. Earlier this year, she became the highest-ranking U.S. official to make a public visit to an abortion clinic.

Dr. Daniel Grossman, a University of California, San Francisco OB-GYN, said he was glad to see Harris highlight the challenges people face in states with abortion bans. “People who have been unable to get abortion care where they live, who have to travel, people who have suffered obstetric complications and are unable to get the care they need because of the abortion bans,” Grossman said.

Harris still hedged, however, on providing details about what type of restrictions – if any – she supports around abortion. Instead, she pivoted: saying that she wants to “reinstate the protections of Roe,” which prohibited states from banning abortions before fetal viability, generally considered around 20 weeks.

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Trump, meanwhile, danced around questions about his intentions to further restrict abortion. He would not say whether he would sign a national abortion ban as president.

Anti-abortion advocates say they don’t believe Trump would sign a ban if it landed on his desk.

Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, said her group hasn’t been focusing on a national ban “because it’s not going to happen. The votes aren’t there in Congress. You know, President Trump said he wouldn’t sign it. We know Kamala Harris won’t.”

Trump also falsely claimed that some Democrats want to “execute the baby” after birth in the ninth month of pregnancy.

Ungar reported from Louisville, Kentucky.

Adrian Heath often used an English idiom when someone or something met expectations: “It’s what it says on the tin.”

Eric Ramsay, Heath’s replacement as Minnesota United head coach, said a similar thing Tuesday about Joaquin Pereyra. It says “attacking midfielder with ability to create goals” on the product’s packaging; and that’s what Ramsay has seen inside the container after a week of training with Pereyra.

“In a good way, (he’s) come as expected,” Ramsay said. “Very technical. In that (intrasquad scrimmage on Sept. 5, he) showed, in particular, he has a real eye for a moment in a game. He’s someone that I think is a real un-locker of a defense. He’s got a real eye for a forward pass. Very precise. Is pretty relentless in that sense. That is what I expected, from what I’ve seen so far.”

Pereyra, 25, signed a three and 1/2-year contract with MNUFC through the 2027 season, with a club option for 2028. Coming from Atletico Tucuman in Argentina’s top flight, Pereyra is one of the Loons’ three high-level Designated Players. The MNUFC transfer fee for Pereyra is approximately $3 million.

“I’m here to grow,” Pereyra said in a translation from club employee Marleine Calderon. “I am here to contribute to the team with everything I know, and then with time, we’ll see if I’m that level of (DP) player, but for now I’m happy. I just arrived and the only thing I want is to be able to play an MLS match, to compete, and I hope that will help us qualify for (MLS Cup) Playoffs.”

Roles to play

As advertised, Pereyra considers himself an offensive-minded player and that’s where he set up in a six-on-six drill during Tuesday’s training session. On a condensed field, he was paired as if a left winger with center forward Kelvin Yeboah on one team; top central defenders Micky Tapias and Jefferson Diaz opposed them on the other side. But later Pereyra was dropping deeper into a midfield role next to Wil Trapp.

This could be the versatility Pereyra will show in matches, too.

“More attacking than defensive,” Pereyra said in describing himself as a player. “But I can adapt really well in the defensive aspect. My characteristics and qualities are more technical than physical. But the team is finding a balance to have more or less some equilibrium in all the lines where we can make up for some tactical things and be more aggressive.”

Ramsay said Pereyra will need to adapt to many things, including the defensive demands within the Loons’ system.

“I’m probably not speaking out of turn relative to the conversations I’ve had with him about his previous side and the demands that were placed on him: I think this will be a level up,” Ramsay said. “I think the league will be a level up in that sense in terms of structure and tactical demand and information, so I think that will be a big battle between now and the end of the season. Can he adapt and can we help him adapt there?”

Trapp acknowledged transitions to new teams and new leagues can be a challenge, but “you can see his game understanding, his IQ that he has for playing and combining.”

Pereyra played in nine league games with Tucuman through Aug. 4, but had a three-week spell of training on his own as the MLS transfer was completed and time was needed for him to obtain his work visa in Argentina. He will have had two weeks to work with MNUFC before Saturday’s game at St. Louis City.

“I feel really great to be able to compete,” Pereyra said Tuesday.

Adjustment to U.S.

Pereyra’s career has primarily been in Argentina, but he did spend the 2020-21 season in Portugal with Famalcoa. He said it’s “always difficult” to adjust to a new country’s customs and that league’s style of play.

Pereyra’s wife and dog will join him in Minnesota. “They are the two I basically need in my life to be well,” he said. “(My wife) has been with me for quite a while. It’s just the three of us. A little family.”

The dog, a beagle named Teo, is 19 months old and still in the puppy phase.

“He’s terrible,” Pereyra joked. “It’s the first time I have a dog. … For my wife and I, he’s everything. He’s basically our child and we take care of him as such and enjoy being with him.”

Argentine influence

Argentine is again home to more MLS players than any other country outside of the U.S. and Canada this season. In June, that number was 35, including Loons winger Franco Fragapane.

During the Loons’ courtship of Pereyra, Fragapane tried to help out his fellow countryman. Fragapane has settled in since joining MNUFC early in the 2021 season.

“He was a huge helping hand,” Pereyra said of Fragapane. “Now that I’m here, I can see that the city is very nice and organized. The club is very organized and structured..”

Pereyra was asked if there are any Argentine players he models his game after.

“Not sure if there is someone like me, but I know that (Emanuel) Reynoso played here,” Pereyra said of the former Argentine midfielder who was transferred to Tijuana in May after he was skirted responsibilities with MNUFC over multiple years. “(Reynoso is) a great player aside from everything else going on. He did very well here. He was very good technically. But one tries to aim for the greatest whenever possible and I don’t want to compare myself to anyone.”

And the last part of Pereyra’s answer is why he didn’t mention Lionel Messi of Inter Miami.

“Messi is incomparable,” Pereyra explained. “I was going to mention him (initially), but it’s better that I don’t. We’re basically talking about a different sport, a different type of player. … Messi is the greatest. He’s the best in history, but he’s so far from everyone else to be able to compare myself to him.”

While shelter staff are the primary schedulers of appointments at the city’s Asylum Application Help Center, a network of community-based organizations and legal providers can refer cases too. Yet city guidelines obtained by City Limits stipulate the groups can only refer migrants who are “within 4 weeks of their one-year filing deadline” for asylum.

On a crisp morning in late August, migrants arrived at the city’s Asylum Application Help Center (AAHC) at the American Red Cross Greater New York headquarters, gathered at the side of the staircase, and waited to be called.

The staff would peek out the door and ask the next person who came in why they were there. The reasons for their visits varied: some sought to address simple queries, such as changing their address with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), or finding out when school would start.

For others, there was more at stake: they had appointments to apply for asylum, clutching folders of crucial documents under their arms.

Opened in 2023, the AAHC in Midtown Manhattan assists new immigrant New Yorkers in completing and filing applications for asylum, temporary protected status, and work authorization. It has helped file more than 67,000 such applications, Adams administration officials said last week, and earned a public service award from the American Bar Association in July. 

“New York City has done more than any other locality across the country to manage the asylum seeker crisis, and a key part of that work is helping our newcomers take their next steps towards independence by helping them submit vital and complicated work authorization, TPS, and asylum applications,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement at the time. 

But qualifying for an appointment with the AAHC is not so simple. Migrants must be in the shelter system or have recently left it, and must be eligible for work authorization, TPS, or asylum, City Hall explained.

While New York City shelter staff are the primary schedulers of asylum appointments at the help center, a network of community-based organizations (CBOs) and legal service providers that the city contracts with through various programs can also refer cases to the site.  

“The City recognizes that community service providers may encounter eligible shelter/respite residents who’ve been unable to make appointments through their shelter case manager,” reads a set of guidelines from the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), which oversees the help center. “To address this, the City will accept appointment referrals from nonprofit organizations contracted with the City.”

Yet those guidelines stipulate that these groups can only refer migrants who are “within 4 weeks of their one-year filing deadline,” reads a document outlining the rules, obtained by City Limits.

Under federal law, immigrants seeking asylum must file their application within one year of their most recent arrival in the United States. Submitting the form after the one-year mark could render them ineligible, according to USCIS, except under certain circumstances.

“DO NOT refer individuals who are more than 4 weeks from their Asylum One-Year Filing Deadline (OYFD),” reiterates instructions further down in the document.

However, for CBOs that do not have a legal arm to assist the migrants they work with directly, this restriction has prevented them from making referrals for new arrivals, delaying all the economic advantages that come with filing for asylum: being able to apply for a work permit after 150 days, becoming self-sufficient more quickly, and qualifying for certain public programs.

“Many experience heightened stress and anxiety due to the uncertainty about their future and the constant fear of detention or deportation,” said Sophie Bah Kouyate, member and services manager at African Communities Together, one of several CBOs in the Asylum Seeker Legal Assistance Network, or ASLAN, a group of city-contracted providers assisting new immigrants with legal help.

“The inability to work legally forces some into low-paying, unstable jobs, which can lead to financial hardship and make it difficult to support themselves and their families. This situation also affects their mental health, leading to feelings of hopelessness and depression,” Bah Kouyate added.

In addition, applying for asylum can impact a migrant’s ability to access shelter in New York City. 

Following a legal settlement reached this spring, the city has made it harder for adult migrants without children to extend their shelter stays past an initial 30 or 60 days, citing lack of space and resources. More than 64,000 migrants are in the city’s shelter system after more than 210,000 arrived in the city in the last two years.

Having applied for asylum is one of the criteria that can earn someone another shelter stint, and as City Limits revealed last month, it can also mean getting a longer stay in a shelter—another 60 days instead of 30.

MOIA explained that the time-restricted referrals guideline applies to providers that are part of ASLAN, as well as the following initiatives: ActionNYC (a city-funded immigration legal support hotline), the Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Centers (a network of CBOs serving across the five boroughs), the Haitian Response Initiative (a group of eight CBOs serving Haitian New Yorkers), NYC Small Business Services sites, and the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development’s sites for runaway and homeless youth.

“MOIA works with approved community-based partners—contracted under the city programs listed in the document—to ensure they are equipped to identify and refer eligible individuals to AAHC, when an individual has been unable to make an appointment through their shelter case manager,” MOIA Spokesperson Shaina Coronel said in a statement.

When asked why CBOs could only make referrals of individuals who were close to their first-year filing deadline, MOIA referred questions to City Hall, which in turn said that the CBO referral pathway is only one of many. 

But CBOs who spoke with City Limits said the criteria leaves them with few options for clients seeking assistance if their filing deadline is more than four weeks in the future.

ASLAN members like the New York Legal Group, which provides legal services, said that when these newly arrived immigrants knock on their doors, they instead refer them to “pro se” workshops—less individualized help than one might get at the AAHC, but where applicants can fill out the paperwork themselves while supervised by organization staff.

In contrast, CBOs that don’t offer legal services and cannot make a referral to the AAHC must navigate the person’s need by telling them to return to the shelter they’re staying at, if they’re in one, and request an appointment there.

“The inability to secure an asylum appointment has profound consequences on the lives of migrants,” Bah Kouyate said. “Without access to these appointments, migrants are often left in a state of limbo, unable to obtain legal status or access essential services.”

City Hall did not provide data on how many referrals of cases within the four-week deadline have been made by the pool of organizations that contract with the city.

According to data shared by the supervisor of the ActionNYC hotline, Elizabeta Markuci, between June 2023 and June 2024, the program received over 50,000 calls on all types of immigration cases. It made 244 referrals to the AAHC during that time.

It referred another 2,900 callers to programs other than the AAHC, such as the immigrant court help desk of Catholic Charities, which provides immigration consultations and legal representation to migrants in New York City immigration court.

Markuci, director of hotline services, training and policy development in the immigrant and refugee services division of Catholic Charities Community Services, cautioned that the data does not give a clear picture of the city’s newly arrived population, or of how many migrants may have called who were not approaching their one year arrival deadline.

Outside AAHC that August morning, City Limits spoke with several migrants who managed to get appointments, and their stories varied. Some, like Colombian Andrea, who asked that her full name not be used for fear of jeopardizing her case, said it had not been easy and had taken several months.

“I spoke many times with the shelter’s staff,” she said in Spanish, referring to the large tent shelter for migrant adults at Randall’s Island where she’d been staying. “There are no people available, they told me, come another day.”

For Venezuelan Jesus Escalante, 38, receiving an appointment had taken less than a month. “As soon as I arrived, the people at the shelter in Queens helped me,” Escalante said.

Meanwhile, migrants who have been out of the shelter system for longer periods are not eligible for the services of the AAHC. They must either pay for an attorney themselves or seek out organizations that provide pro se services.

This was a point of contention for homeless advocates last month, after learning of the city’s plan to clear an encampment of migrants sleeping outside on Randall’s Island, including some whose shelter time limits had expired. 

“Many clients have been forced to live outside because the shelter system has not offered them the help they need,” The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a joint statement ahead of the city’s planned encampment sweep.

“While they could reenter shelter after completing an asylum application, the City has not offered them a means to access appointments at the Asylum Application Help Center, so clients are left with no safe shelter options,” the groups said.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Daniel@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

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