Russia-Ukraine live updates: Ukraine agrees to meet with Russian negotiators at Belarus border

(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.

Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Feb 27, 1:07 pm
BP exits stake in Russian oil company

Oil giant BP announced it would exit its 19.75% shareholding stake in Rosneft, the key Russian state oil company, because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

BP’s CEO Helge Lund said in a statement the invasion “represents a fundamental change” and that its involvement with Rosnef “simply cannot continue.”

“The BP board believes these decisions are in the best long-term interests of all our shareholders,” Lund said.

The two BP nominated directors will resign from Rosneft’s board immediately and the company will no longer report reserves, production or profit for Rosneft, according to the company.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 27, 12:52 pm
Zelenskyy says he doubts there will be a diplomatic breakthrough with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy provided an update to the invasion and gave a pessimistic outlook on possible diplomatic solutions with Russia.

In a three-minute televised speech, Zelenskyy said he talked with Belarusian leader Alexandr Lukashenko for the first time in two years.

Lukashenko suggested that Russian and Ukrainian delegations meet at the Belarus-Ukraine border for negotiations– something Ukraine agreed to earlier Sunday but Zelenskyy said he told Lukashenko he does not believe there will be a breakthrough or tangible outcome in talks with Russian representatives.

Zelenskyy said he doesn’t want there to be any doubt whatsoever that as president of Ukraine he didn’t try to stop this war.

Lukashenko made assurances that troops wouldn’t move from Belarus into Ukraine and missiles wouldn’t being launched from his territory, according to Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy said the government will stay and continue to fight for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and will not concede any ground.

He added that Ukraine’s military members will receive a monthly salary of 100,000 Hryvnya, roughly $3,350, until the war is over.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Feb 27, 12:37 pm
Russian momentum slowed by ‘stiff resistance’: US official

The momentum of Russian forces in Ukraine appears to have been slowed by fuel and logistics shortages and by “stiff resistance,” according to a U.S. senior defense official.

The defense official said Russian troops appear to be having fuel and logistics shortages near Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine and with units advancing from the north to Kyiv, the capital city, but also credited the slow down of the Russian invasion to the resistance.

The official said they believe the advance was slowed in part “by resistance by the Ukrainians who have been quite creative in finding ways to attack columns.”

The official said the Russians have still not taken any cities. The main Russian advance forces designated for Kyiv are roughly 19 miles from the city center, according to the official, who added that there is fighting inside the city center due to Russian reconnaissance units there.

“We’re certainly not disputing that there’s fighting going on in Kyiv, but it is at a fairly low level,” the official said.

The officials said there is “no reason to doubt” reports of Russian reconnaissance units wearing Ukrainian uniforms to try to disguise themselves and what they’re doing.

Russia has launched 320 missiles against Ukraine since the invasion began last week, and its troops have adopted alarming “siege tactics” around the northern Ukraine city of Chernihiv.

“They’ve had trouble around Chernihiv, and it appears that they are adopting a siege mentality, which any student of military tactics and strategy in history will tell you when you adopt siege tactics, it increases the likelihood of collateral damage to civilian infrastructure as well as to civilian life because a siege basically becomes an all-out effort to take a city without regard to civilian infrastructure,” the official said. “So that’s worrying and that’s concerning. And we’re seeing the beginnings of that sort of tactical approach by the Russians.”

The official said Russia has committed two-thirds of its combat power designated to the Ukraine invasion.

“They have a third of it that has not been committed,” the official said. “They have a significant amount of combined arms capabilities still at their at their beck and call.”

Feb 27, 12:30 pm
EU announces actions against Russia

The European Union announced major moves against the Russian government and businesses over the country’s invasion.

In a first, the EU will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack, officials said.

The EU will also shut down its airspace for “Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircraft.”

“They won’t be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU,” Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced.

In addition, the EU said it would ban the RT and Sputnik news agencies and would develop “tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe.”

The EU also announced it would be stopping exports of products to Belarus, including mineral fuels, tobacco, wood and timber, cement, iron and steel. It will also sanction Belarusians who are supporting the Russian war effort.

Von der Leyen also said the EU will “welcome with open arms those Ukrainians who have to flee from Putin’s bombs” and is encouraging efforts to support refugees.

“President Zelenskyy’s leadership and his bravery and the resilience of the Ukrainian people are outstanding and impressive,” von der Leyen said. “They are an inspiration to us all.”

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Feb 27, 12:00 pm
3 killed, including child, by cluster munitions at preschool: Report

Three people were killed, including a child, and one child was injured after cluster munitions hit a preschool in northeastern Ukraine Friday, Amnesty International reported.

Civilians were taking shelter inside the Sonechko nursery and kindergarten in Okhtyrka in Sumy Oblast when the munitions were dropped, according to the NGO.

Amnesty International says the attack appears to have been carried out by nearby Russian forces.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Feb 27, 11:57 am
Japan joins other nations in removing Russia from SWIFT

Japan announced it is joining the U.S. and other European countries to disconnect selected Russian banks from the SWIFT system and sanction President Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders.

Japan’s announcement means the entire G-7 supports removing Russia from the crucial messaging system used by large banks around the world.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki released a statement Sunday praising Japanese officials for their decision.

“Prime Minister Kishida and the government of Japan have been leaders in condemning President Putin’s attack on Ukraine and we will continue working closely together to impose further severe costs and make Putin’s war of choice a strategic failure,” she said in a statement.

-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson

Feb 27, 11:22 am
Missiles hit site of a radioactive waste disposal, no damage reported

Russian missiles struck the site of a radioactive waste disposal facility in Kyiv overnight, Ukrianian officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency.

There were no reports of damage or any indications of a radioactive release, according to the IAEA.

The strike came a day after an electrical transformer at a similar disposal facility near the northeastern city of Kharkiv had been damaged. There were no reports of radioactive release at that facility.

“These two incidents highlight the very real risk that facilities with radioactive material will suffer damage during the conflict, with potentially severe consequences for human health and the environment,”  IAEA Director General Mariano Grossi said in a statement.

The disposal facilities typically hold disused radioactive sources and other low-level waste from hospitals and industry, according to the IAEA.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Feb 27, 10:56 am
US official calls Russia heightened alert status ‘escalatory’

In the first response to Russia raising the alert status of its strategic nuclear force, a senior U.S. defense official described the move as an “escalatory one.”

The official pointed out that Russia has never been under threat by NATO or Ukraine and warned that Russia’s heightened alert status is “clearly potentially putting at play forces that could if there’s a miscalculation make things much, much more dangerous.”

“We believe that this is not only an unnecessary step for him (Russian President Vladimir Putin) to take but an escalatory one,” the official said. “Russia has never been under threat by NATO. Ukraine did not threaten Russia.”

The official would not discuss the status of the U.S. nuclear force, saying “we do not talk about … specifics of our strategic deterrent posture.”

“I would just tell you that we remain confident in our ability to defend ourselves and our allies and our partners, and that includes in the strategic deterrent realm,” the official said.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez

Feb 27, 9:16 am
Ukraine agrees to meet with Russian negotiators at Belarus border

Ukraine has agreed to send a delegation to meet with Russian negotiators for talks at the border between Belarus and Ukraine, according to a spokesman for Ukraine’s president’s office.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to the step during a phone call with Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, the spokesman said.

The spokesman said the two sides have agreed to meet at the Pripyat river on the border, north of Chernobyl. That area is currently under Russian military control.

Russia earlier sent a delegation to the city of Gomel in southern Belarus to “be ready” for talks but Ukraine refused to hold them in Belarus since it is actively taking part in the invasion.

The Russian delegation includes officials from Russia’s foreign and defense ministries as well as the presidential administration.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 27, 9:05 am
Putin orders Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on heightened readiness

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to put Russia’s strategic deterrence forces in a state of heightened readiness, saying it is a response to what he called “aggressive statements” from NATO countries.

In a televised meeting, Putin ordered his defense minister and chief of general staff to move Russia’s forces, including the nuclear triad, into a “special regime of combat duty,”

The announcement appears to be intended as rattling Russia’s nuclear saber at Western countries as they send large numbers of weapons to Ukraine and sanction Russia.

“Senior officials of the leading NATO countries allow aggressive statements against our country, therefore I order the minister of Defense and the chief of the General Staff to transfer the deterrence forces of the Russian army to a special combat duty regime,” Putin said during a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Tanya Stukalova

Feb 27, 8:44 am
US to provide $54M in humanitarian aid for Ukrainians

The United States will provide $54 million in humanitarian aid to help Ukrainians, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday.

“This assistance enables humanitarian organizations to support citizens of Ukraine already in need and those newly affected by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack,” he said on Twitter.

With the new funding, the U.S. has provided about $405 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine since 2014, Ned Price, spokesperson for the State Department, said on Twitter.

Feb 27, 6:34 am
Ukraine appeals to The Hague for ‘urgent decision’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday his government had submitted an application to the International Court of Justice, seeking to hold Russia accountable for its invasion.

“Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression,” Zelenskyy said on Twitter. “We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week.”

Feb 27, 6:18 am
UN: 368,000 refugees have fled Ukraine

About 368,000 people have fled Ukraine into neighboring countries, as the number of refugees “continues to rise,” the U.N. Refugee Agency said on Sunday.

The agency said earlier on Sunday that about 200,000 people crossed Ukraine’s borders as refugees. On Saturday, the figure had been about 150,000 people, said Filippo Grandi, U.N. high commissioner for refugees.

Feb 27, 5:25 am
Fighting intensifies in Kharkiv, with Russia claiming Ukrainian surrenders

An intense battle is being waged on Sunday for Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, with Russia overnight pounding the city with rocket barrages and videos on Sunday showing street fighting.

Authorities said some columns of Russian light armored vehicles managed to enter the city and urged residents to stay indoors.

Video published in Ukrainian media and shared by an advisor to Ukraine’s interior minister, showed Ukrainian troops firing assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades, close to what appeared to be a destroyed column of Russian vehicles. Other videos showed the Ukrainian troops, wearing yellow bands on their arms, inspecting the bullet-riddled Russian armored cars.

The mayor of Kharkiv has denied claims he is negotiating with the Russian forces, instead posting a photo of a group of heavily armed police posing with guns and promising to continue fighting.

People on the ground overnight described heavy artillery barrages, including from Russian ‘Grad’ multiple rocket launchers.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Sunday that over 450 Ukrainian service members from an anti-air unit had surrendered in the Kharkiv region. A defense ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, told a briefing the troops from a Buk M-1 missile unit from Ukraine’s 302nd Air Defense Regiment had been taken prisoner.

ABC News was unable to independently verify the claim.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell, Anastasia Bagaeva and Tanya Stukalova

Feb 27, 3:47 am
Zelenskyy says Ukraine won’t negotiate in Belarus, rebuffing Kremlin claim

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied a Kremlin suggestion his government will hold talks with Russia in Belarus.

Zelenskyy in a televised address on Sunday said Ukraine was ready to hold talks to end the fighting but not in Belarus, which is directly involved in assisting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“If from your territory there wasn’t aggressive action, we could talk in Minsk. Now we will talk, but not in Minsk. The platform can be other cities for a meeting,” he said.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had proposed meeting in Warsaw, Budapest, Istanbul and Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital — but it appeared Russia had still insisted on Belarus.

“Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul, Baku — all these we proposed to the Russian side. And yes any other city in a country from where rockets aren’t flying. Only that way can talks be fair. And can really end the war,” he said.

Russia launched its offensive on Kyiv from Belarus, which is ruled by the Kremlin’s client, authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Thousands of Russian troops have moved south over the border there, and aircraft and missiles are taking off from Belarus.

The Kremlin on Sunday said a Russian delegation would go to Belarus and wait in the southern city of Gomel, close to Ukraine’s border, “ready to start negotiations.”

Russia has been demanding in effect that Ukraine come to negotiate its surrender and concede to Moscow’s demands to declare “neutral status.”

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 27, 3:24 am
Kremlin: Russian delegation in Belarus for talks with Ukraine

The Kremlin has said a Russian delegation has travelled to Belarus to hold talks with Ukraine.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday that an agreement had been reached on holding talks and that the Russian delegation would go to the southern city of Gomel, close to Ukraine, where it would “be ready to start” negotiations.

But Ukrainian officials have not confirmed they are ready to join the negotiations.

“In accordance with an agreement that has been reached, a Russian delegation, consisting of representatives of the foreign ministry, ministry of defense and other bodies, including the presidential administration, has arrived in Belarus for negotiations with the Ukrainians. We are ready to start these negotiations in Gomel,” Peskov told reporters.

On Friday, the Kremlin proposed talks in Belarus, saying Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was ready to discuss his country’s “neutral status,” which would potentially mean abandoning its NATO ambitions. Zelenskyy has not confirmed that.

Zelenskyy’s office said yesterday that Ukraine is ready to hold talks at anytime to stop the fighting, but has not spoken of concessions. His office has said it has been discussing a possible place and time to hold talks, stressing that those talks would not be between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 27, 2:12 am
At least 64 civilians killed in Ukraine, UN says  

At least 64 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia began its invasion on Thursday, the United Nations said, warning the “figures could rise in the coming days.”

Another 176 civilians were injured in ground and aerial attacks, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report published Saturday.

More than 150,000 people have fled Ukraine, with about half crossing into Poland, Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said on Twitter on Saturday.

“While the scale and scope of displacement will only likely become apparent in the coming days and weeks, Ukrainian authorities estimate that as many as 5 million people could flee the country, triggering a refugee crisis that will test response capacities in neighbouring countries,” OCHA said in its report.

Displacement within Ukraine is also growing, Grandi said, “but the military situation makes it difficult to estimate numbers and provide aid.”

-ABC News’ Kirit Radia

Feb 26, 8:24 pm
Elon Musk says he’s activated Starlink in Ukraine

In response to a plea on Twitter from a Ukrainian official, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Saturday that his high-speed internet service Starlink is now active in Ukraine.

“More terminals en route,” he tweeted in a reply to Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation.

Earlier Saturday, Fedorov appealed directly to Musk and asked him to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations.

The terminals are small, portable satellite dishes on Earth that connect directly to Starlink satellites in space — providing high-speed internet to rural and hard-to-reach locations. This is especially important for areas that have already lost access and could potentially help them avoid cyberattacks.

-ABC News’ Gio Benitez

Feb 26, 7:21 pm
US, other countries to disconnect some Russian banks from SWIFT

The White House announced further sanctions on Russia Saturday evening.

The U.S., along with the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada, are disconnecting some Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) banking network and are “imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions,” the White House said.

“This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally,” the White House said in a statement.

The White House added, “We commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship — so called golden passports — that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems.”

The U.S. will also launch a trans-Atlantic task force “that will ensure the effective implementation of our financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies that exist within our jurisdictions.”

On a call with reporters Saturday night, a senior administration official said the move to sanction the central bank will show that Russia’s defense of claiming that sanctions don’t hurt their economy “is a myth.”

“The 600 billion-plus war chest of Russia’s foreign reserves is only powerful if Putin can use it,” the official said. “And without being able to buy the ruble from Western financial institutions, for example, Putin and the central bank will lose the ability to offset the impact of our sanctions. The ruble will fall even further, inflation will spike and the central bank will be left defenseless.”

The Biden administration said it’s also upping the fight against disinformation and “other forms of hybrid warfare.”

Feb 26, 5:29 pm
US, other countries to disconnect some Russian banks from SWIFT

The White House announced further sanctions on Russia Saturday evening.

The U.S., along with the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada, are disconnecting some Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) banking network and are “imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions,” the White House said.

“This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally,” the White House said in a statement.

The White House added, “We commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship — so called golden passports — that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems.”

The U.S. will also launch a trans-Atlantic task force “that will ensure the effective implementation of our financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies that exist within our jurisdictions.”

The Biden administration said it’s also upping the fight against disinformation and “other forms of hybrid warfare.”

-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez

Feb 26, 4:47 pm
Kyiv under curfew as it braces for Russians

Kyiv, which was a bustling, relaxed city three days ago, has now transformed to a war-time city as it braces for Russian forces.

Kyiv’s mayor has imposed a 39-hour curfew beginning Saturday night, banning everyone except critical infrastructure workers from the streets. Ukrainian authorities say the curfew is to allow the city to hunt down Russian sabotage groups, get defenses organized and prevent friendly-fire incidents.

Checkpoints manned by tense, heavily armed Ukrainian soldiers are set up throughout Kyiv and authorities are setting up barricades.

The city’s lights have been dimmed, leaving an eerie silence, only punctured by the howls of air raid sirens or blasts of gunfire.

Since Friday morning there has been fighting in Kyiv’s northern neighborhoods. For two nights, missiles have struck targets around Kyiv. Hundreds of people have begun sheltering in the deep subway system, sleeping on the platforms.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 26, 3:26 pm
Russian forces: ‘We don’t know who to shoot, they all look like us’

A senior U.S. official told ABC News they’ve heard a Russian soldier on a radio call saying, “We don’t know who to shoot — they all look like us.”

The official also said some Russian forces are disoriented, realizing the battles against Ukrainians are harder than they thought.

-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz

Feb 26, 3:12 pm
Germany drops opposition to sending lethal aid

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that Germany is dropping its historic position of not providing lethal military aid to conflict zones, saying Russia’s “invasion marks a turning point.”

Germany will provide 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles, he said.

The Netherlands is also announcing new lethal aid, according to its Defense Ministry.

The $350 million military aid package from the U.S. will include “anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, body armor, and related equipment in support of Ukraine’s front-line defenders facing down Russia’s unprovoked attack,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. The U.S. package also includes portable surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS) in the Pentagon’s inventory, a U.S. official told ABC News.

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Feb 26, 2:56 pm
Ukrainians waiting 40 hours to cross border: UN

At a border crossing near Zosin, Poland — due west of Kyiv — Ukrainians are waiting for 40 hours to cross into Poland in a nearly 10-mile backlog, said Chris Meltzer of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Meltzer said one woman with her two children told him it took her 12 hours to get out of Kyiv and then they spent another 38 hours waiting in their car without heat or a bathroom.

He said the biggest needs are blankets, clothes and accommodations.

Meltzer said, once they cross, most Ukrainians are staying in the border region because they want to return home as soon as possible.

-ABC News’ Cindy Smith

Feb 26, 1:08 pm
Biden responds to Trump calling Putin ‘genius’

President Joe Biden responded to former President Donald Trump’s comments this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine are “genius.”

“I put as much stock in Trump saying that Putin’s a genius as I do when he called himself a stable genius,” Biden said in a pre-recorded interview with Brian Tyler Cohen.

In a radio interview this week, Trump said it was “genius” that Putin declared a portion of Ukraine independent.

“Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s strongest peace force … We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen,” Trump said on the conservative talk radio program “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.”

“Here’s a guy who’s very savvy,” Trump said. “I know him very well. Very, very well.”

Biden in the interview defended his sanctions on Russia as “nothing like” what the U.S. has done before and weighed what the other option could have been.

“You have two options: start a third World War, go to war with Russia physically. Or two, make sure that a country that acts so contrary to international law ends up paying the price,” he said.

“There’s no sanction that is immediate. It’s not like you can sanction someone and say, ‘You no longer are going to be able to be president of Russia,'” he continued. “But I think the sanctions — I know — I know the sanctions are the broadest sanctions in history.”

“Russia will pay a serious price for this short term and long term, particularly long term,” Biden said.

Biden held a secure call with his national security team Saturday morning on the latest developments, according to a White House official.

-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez

Feb 26, 12:19 pm
What US will provide Ukraine in new $350M military aid package

The new package of $350 million in assistance to Ukraine will include “anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, body armor, and related equipment in support of Ukraine’s front-line defenders facing down Russia’s unprovoked attack,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

It also includes portable surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS) in the Pentagon’s inventory, a U.S. official told ABC News.

It’s not clear how the equipment will be provided to the Ukrainian military. The U.S. official said they can’t speak to logistics or timing, but said, “Time is clearly of the essence, so we expect deliveries to start very soon.”

This brings total U.S. security assistance approved for Ukraine in the last year to $1 billion.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Conor Finnegan

Feb 26, 11:54 am
Over 150,000 have crossed from Ukraine to neighboring countries

Over 150,000 Ukrainians have crossed into neighboring countries, according to Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Poland’s Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker told reporters 100,000 people have crossed from Ukraine into Poland.

For those still in Ukraine, a stricter curfew has been enacted in Kyiv, instructing residents to stay home from 5 p.m. Saturday until 8 a.m. Monday.

Feb 26, 11:26 am
Russians frustrated by lack of momentum: US official

The Russians have launched more than 250 missiles, mostly short-range ballistic type, a senior defense official told reporters Saturday.

“We continue to see civilian infrastructure and residential areas impacted and damaged by these missile strikes,” the official said.

Though Russian troops are about 30 kilometers north of Kyiv, Russian forces continue to meet more Ukrainian resistance than expected and have failed to take any cities so far, the official said

“We have indications that the Russians are increasingly frustrated by their lack of momentum over the last 24 hours, particularly in the north parts of Ukraine,” the official said. “We continue to see indications of viable Ukrainian resistance.”

“We still believe that Russia has yet to achieve air superiority. Ukrainian air defenses, including aircraft do continue to be operable and continue to engage and deny access to Russian aircraft in places over the country,” the official said.

The official said Russian forces are meeting less resistance in the south and are having more success there than the north.

The official said several thousand Russian troops went ashore in Friday’s amphibious assault from the Sea of Azov to the west of Mariupol, and they’re now heading northeast toward Donbas.

“The Russians are continuing to try to advance on Kherson” in southern Ukraine, the official added.

The mayor of the southern city of Mykolayiv warned on live TV of an immediate fall of the city to Russian forces.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Matt Seyler

Feb 26, 10:09 am
Biden responds to Trump calling Putin ‘genius’

President Joe Biden responded to former President Donald Trump’s comments this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine are “genius.”

“I put as much stock in Trump saying that Putin’s a genius as I do when he called himself a stable genius,” Biden said in a pre-recorded interview with Brian Tyler Cohen.

In a radio interview this week, Trump said it was “genius” that Putin declared a portion of Ukraine independent.

“Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s strongest peace force … We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen,” Trump said on the conservative talk radio program “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.”

“Here’s a guy who’s very savvy,” Trump said. “I know him very well. Very, very well.”

-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez

Feb 26, 8:21 am
Ukraine ‘successfully repelling’ Russia, Zelenskyy says

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday Ukraine is “successfully repelling” Russia’s attacks and that Kyiv and its outskirts are under the control of the Ukrainian military.

In a televised address, Zelenskyy said Russia had hoped to install a puppet government in Kyiv but that “we broke their plans.”

“The fighting goes on in many cities of our state, but we know we are defending our country, our land, and our childrens’ future,” he said.

Zelenskyy said the Russian forces are being “severely repulsed” in every city under attack and that in fighting around Kyiv Russia “didn’t gain any advantage,” despite attacking with missiles, fighter jets, drones, artillery, armored vehicles, saboteurs and paratroopers.

So far Ukrainian troops do appear to have managed to hold the Russian forces at bay in intense fighting near Kyiv and in cities in the north, east and south of the country. Russian forces have advanced close to several cities but except for the southern city of Melitopol do not yet appear to have advanced into them.

Zelensky also said that the international “anti-war coalition is working,” saying Ukraine now has the support of most EU countries to cut Russia off from the SWIFT banking system. He then said he hopes Germany and Hungary will agree, suggesting for now they still have not.

He also again called on ordinary Russians, seeking their help in stopping the war.

“Now I want to be heard in Russia. By absolutely everyone. Thousands of deaths, hundreds of captured, who just can’t grasp what they have been sent to Ukraine for to die and to kill others,” Zelenskyy said. “The faster you tell your authority that the war must be stopped immediately, the more your people will stay alive.”

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 26, 7:09 am
Russian attack on Kyiv slows, blunted by resistance, Ukraine says

Ukrainian military officials on Saturday said Russia’s attempt to encircle Kyiv has been slowed after two days of resistance by Ukrainian forces.

“The units of the Russian occupiers are losing their offensive tempo, they are expecting additional units to join the fight and are forced to stop to replenish supplies,” the statement from the general staff read.

Officials said Russia’s goal is to try to impose “demilitarization” on Ukraine by blockading the capital and forcing Ukraine’s political leadership to “change its political course on Russian terms.”

The statement said seven Russian battalion tactical groups, totalling 4,000 to 7,000 troops, have tried to push into Kyiv from the northwest and north, but have been forced to regroup.

A main force of around 8,000 to 14,000 Russian troops is trying to also push down from the northeast of the city, but have so far been stopped by Ukraine’s forces, officials said. In total, Russia sent in 17 battalion tactical groups from the northeast, totalling up to 17,000 troops, Ukraine said.

The statement said Russia also tried to land paratroopers at an airbase in Vassylkiv, a town about 20 miles south of Kyiv, but that the airborne units had been killed. Ukraine has said it shot down two IL-76 transport planes with paratroopers onboard last night.

In Kyiv on Saturday, fighting was taking place in a northwestern suburb, near the Beresteiska subway station, about 4 miles from the central Maidan square. Occasional booms and the sound of intense gunfire could be heard in some areas.

Ukrainian officials have said the Russian troops in the city are special forces and advance units, with the main force of tanks and artillery still further away. Shelling was reported near the town of Dymer, about 20 miles north of Kyiv.

Ukraine’s general staff says Russia has not had success “in any direction.” meaning they have not yet succeeded in taking any cities across the country.

Russia has claimed to have captured the southern city of Melitopol.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 26, 6:41 am
Russian media watchdog demands 10 local outlets delete ‘false’ news

Russia’s media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, told 10 media outlets to remove content that described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a war.

The notifications were “necessary to restrict access to false information” from the 10 outlets, Roskomnadzor said on Saturday.

The outlets published “false socially important information which is not true about the attacks of Ukrainian cities by the Russian Armed Forces and deaths of civilians in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian army, as well as materials describing the operation as an attack, invasion or a war,” the watchdog said.

-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova

Feb 26, 3:23 am
Residential building in Kyiv hit overnight, official says

A residential building in Kyiv was damaged overnight, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said on Saturday.

“Kyiv, our splendid, peaceful city, survived another night under attacks by Russian ground forces, missiles,” Kuleba said on Twitter. “One of them has hit a residential apartment in Kyiv.”

Kuleba added: “I demand the world: fully isolate Russia, expel ambassadors, oil embargo, ruin its economy. Stop Russian war criminals!”

Feb 26, 2:08 am
Ukrainians will ‘defend our country,’ Zelenskyy says in new video from Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a new video from the capital, Kyiv, on Saturday morning, saying Ukrainians “won’t lay down weapons, we will defend our country.

“Good morning everyone, Ukrainians! There are a lot of fakes circulating that I’m calling upon to lay down weapons and evacuation is under way. Here’s the situation. I’m here,” Zelenskyy said in the video, using his official residence as a background. “We won’t lay down weapons, we will defend our country. Because our weapon is our truth. The truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of it. This is it. This is what I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine!”

Zelenskyy in a separate tweet said he spoke on Saturday to French President Emmanuel Macron, marking a “new day in the diplomatic frontline.”

“Weapons and equipment from our partners are on the way to Ukraine,” he said. “The anti-war coalition is working!”

-ABC News’ Katie den Daas and Julia Drozd

Feb 26, 12:52 am
Biden authorizes $350M in additional security assistance for Ukraine

President Joe Biden authorized up to $350 million in additional security assistance “to provide immediate military assistance to Ukraine,” according to a memo released Friday night.

A White House official said this brings the total security assistance the U.S. has approved for Ukraine to $1 billion in the past year.

-ABC News’ Justin Gomez

Feb 25, 10:32 pm
‘We will not surrender our capital to the enemy’: Ukrainian ambassador to US

Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, thanked President Joe Biden for support and said her country will not surrender to Vladimir Putin in an interview with ABC News Live Friday night.

“Even though for the past 48 hours we have been under brutal attack from the air, from east, from north, from everywhere, by the enemy, by a neighboring country that attacked a sovereign country … we remain committed to defend our home,” Markarova said. “We resist. We will not surrender our capital to the enemy.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier in the evening local time that Russian forces were planning to “storm” the capital of Kyiv overnight. Fighting was already taking place in the northern suburbs of the city late Friday. Zelenskyy called for citizens to arm themselves and fight for the city.

“We actually admire every man and woman that today is defending our homes again,” Markarova said. “Ukraine is a very peaceful country. We never attacked anyone. It was Ukraine that was attacked by Russia in 2014, when they illegally occupied Crimea, when they illegally occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk territory. … We defended our choice to be not only sovereign, not only independent, but also European and democratic.”

Markarova added, of the invasion, “We still didn’t think that, again, in the 21st century, when we have all the cameras and information and transparency that they would actually authorize to start a war on a sovereign country and war in this most brutal way.”

-ABC News’ Penelope Lopez

Feb 25, 9:28 pm
Russia, Ukraine exchange barbs after UN Security Council vote

Following the U.N. Security Council’s vote Friday on the resolution to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the ambassadors for Russia and Ukraine had harsh words for their U.N. counterparts.

In a fiery speech against the resolution, Russian envoy Vasily Nebenzya said countries were purposefully ignoring Ukraine’s alleged crimes against people in its eastern Donbas region, denied Russian troops have bombed Ukrainian cities and accused Western media of using fake videos.

Nebenzya claimed the 11 countries that voted yes on the measure have “made Ukraine a pawn in your geopolitical game with no concern whatsoever about the interest of the Ukrainian people.”

“Your draft resolution is nothing other than yet another brutal inhumane move in this Ukrainian chessboard,” he added.

Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said he would not “dignify the Russian diabolical script that is rather a letter of obligation for an upscale seat in hell.”

That was the first of many personal attacks on Nebenzya, whose words he said “have less value than a hole in a New York pretzel.” He later added it must be “so painful to think what your family thinks about you when you lie every day.”

Kyslytsya asked to hold a moment of silence for those killed so far in the conflict, adding, “I invite the Russian ambassador to pray for salvation.”

When the moment began, the Russian envoy interrupted to add they should also pray for those killed in the Donbas — repeating the baseless claim that the Ukrainian government is responsible for a genocide in the region.

Kyslytsya scolded the three countries that abstained and called on all of Ukraine’s partners to break diplomatic relations with Russia — something no one else has done yet.

Nebenzya then took a moment to dismiss Kyslytsya’s “boorishness” before gaveling out the meeting.

And with that, a week of high-level diplomacy did nothing to change the war on the ground.

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Feb 25, 8:45 pm
White House seeks $6.4B in funding for Ukraine response: Source

The White House is seeking $6.4 billion in new funding to respond to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, a source confirmed to ABC News Friday.

The aid package will likely “evolve,” the source said, but currently includes $3.5 billion for Pentagon costs and $2.9 billion for humanitarian assistance to support Ukraine and Eastern European allies.

The funding will likely be included as part of the omnibus package Congress intends to pass by March 11, the source said.

The resources are in addition to the $650 million in security assistance and $52 million in humanitarian assistance the U.S. has committed to Ukraine over the past year.

“As the President and bipartisan members of Congress have made clear, the United States is committed to supporting the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and democracy,” a White House official said in a statement Friday. “In a recent conversation with lawmakers, the Administration identified the need for additional U.S. humanitarian, security, and economic assistance to Ukraine and Central European partners due to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion.”

-ABC News’ Mariam Khan

Feb 25, 6:13 pm
UN Security Council holds vote to condemn Russia

The U.N. Security Council held a vote Friday evening on the U.S.- and Albania-led resolution to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Eleven countries voted in favor of the measure while three — China, India and the United Arab Emirates — abstained. Russia predictably vetoed it.

In a speech prior to the vote, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield laid out a stark choice for the council’s members: Vote yes to uphold the U.N. charter and defend any country’s rights, or vote no or abstain and “align yourself with aggressive and unprovoked actions of Russia.”

“History will judge us for our actions or lack thereof, and so long as we have a Security Council, I believe we are to strive to ensure it lives up to the highest purposes — to prevent conflict and avert unnecessary war,” she said. “Russia has already subverted that mission. But at a minimum — at the very minimum — the rest of us have an obligation to object and to stand up for the U.N. charter.”

The resolution condemned Russia’s aggression; reaffirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity; and demanded that Russia immediately withdraw its forces.

In brief remarks after the vote, Thomas-Greenfield said that while Russia can veto a resolution, “you cannot veto our voices.”

She confirmed they will bring the resolution to the U.N. General Assembly, where all countries have a vote and there is no veto power — but where resolutions are nonbinding.

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Feb 25, 5:55 pm
Ukraine says it is in ‘initial stage’ of talks with Russia

Ukraine is in the “initial stage of contacts” for possible negotiations with Russia to end the fighting, a spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News.

The two governments are discussing details such as the time and place of the talks, the spokesman, Sergiy Nykyforov, said. The meeting would take place between advisers and aides and not Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, he added.

The Kremlin said earlier Friday it was ready to send a delegation for talks to Belarus’ capital, Minsk, and claimed Zelenskyy was ready to discuss “neutral status” for Ukraine. Russia’s foreign ministry later claimed Zelenskyy’s administration had said to postpone any more discussion of talks until Saturday.

The discussions come as Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians in a televised address that Russia will attempt to storm Kyiv tonight.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Fidel Pavlenko

Feb 25, 5:23 pm
Zelenskyy warns Russia will try to ‘storm’ Kyiv tonight

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in a televised address moments ago that he believes Russian forces will “storm” the capital of Kyiv overnight.

“The night will be more difficult than the day,” he said, as the sound of shelling and loud booms from airstrikes could be heard over Kyiv.

“We cannot lose Kyiv,” he said.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 5:13 pm
Proposed talks of diplomacy come ‘at the barrel of a gun’: State Dept.

The State Department expressed doubts Friday that Moscow-led efforts to set up talks between Kyiv and the Kremlin in Minsk, Belarus, could yield any meaningful results against the backdrop of an ongoing invasion.

“You’ve heard us say before that over the course of several weeks leading up to the events that we’ve seen recently in Ukraine — the assault on Ukraine, its sovereignty, its territorial integrity, and really, its people — that Moscow engaged in a pretense of diplomacy,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing. “Now, we see Moscow suggesting that diplomacy take place at the barrel of a gun, or as Moscow’s rockets, mortars, artillery, target the Ukrainian people. This is not real diplomacy. Those are not the conditions for real diplomacy.”

Price added that if Putin were serious about diplomacy, “He should immediately stop the bombing campaign against civilians, order the withdrawal of his forces from Ukraine, and indicate very clearly — unambiguously to the world — that Moscow is prepared to de-escalate. We have not seen that yet.”

When pressed on if the U.S. would still support Ukraine entering into such talks, or if the State Department had specifically advised Ukraine against engaging with Russia, Price largely demurred, but said that the countries were “operating in pure lockstep.”

-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Zoha Qamar

Feb 25, 4:13 pm
Ukraine Railway Company adds evacuation trains from Kyiv to western cities

The Ukraine Railway Company said it’s adding a number of evacuation trains running from Kyiv to cities in western Ukraine.

The company said the trains can hold about 10,000 people per day.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Feb 25, 3:52 pm
US to sanction Putin, Lavrov

The U.S. will join the European Union in sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and members of the Russian national security team, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.

BREAKING: U.S. will sanction Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, and members of the Russian national security team, White House press sec. Jen Psaki says.

LIVE UPDATES: https://t.co/1c4zPiKUga pic.twitter.com/GRFroAR1Xj

— ABC News (@ABC) February 25, 2022

Sanctions on Putin and Lavrov were announced earlier Friday by the EU and the United Kingdom.

Feb 25, 3:42 pm
Biden ‘commended the brave actions of the Ukrainian people’ during call with Zelensky

President Joe Biden said during his Friday phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he “commended the brave actions of the Ukrainian people” who are defending their country against the Russian military.

On the call Biden said he “also conveyed ongoing economic, humanitarian, and security support being provided by the United States as well as our continued efforts to rally other countries to provide similar assistance.”

Biden, who met with NATO leaders earlier in the day, said in a statement, “Putin has failed in his goal of dividing the West. NATO is as united and resolute as it’s ever been, and NATO will maintain its Open Door to those European states who share our values and who one day may seek to join our Alliance.”

“I have ordered the deployment of additional forces to augment our capabilities in Europe to support our NATO Allies,” Biden said. “And I strongly welcome the decision to activate NATO’s defensive plans and elements of the NATO Response Force to strengthen our collective posture, as well as the commitments by our Allies to deploy additional land and air forces to the eastern flank and maritime forces from the High North to the Mediterranean.”

Feb 25, 3:08 pm
Classified all-member House briefing set for Monday

Administration officials will provide a classified in-person briefing on the Ukraine crisis to all House members on Monday evening following their return from recess, a senior Capitol Hill official confirmed to ABC News.

Members have had unclassified virtual briefings throughout the week.

-ABC News’ Mariam Khan

Feb 25, 3:01 pm
Ukrainian cyber agency reports mass phishing attempts

The Computer Emergency Response Team for Ukraine said it has seen mass phishing emails targeting government websites.

“Mass phishing emails have recently been observed targeting private ‘’ and ‘’ accounts of Ukrainian military personnel and related individuals,” the agency said in a Facebook post Friday. “After the account is compromised, the attackers, by the IMAP protocol, get access to all the messages. Later, the attackers use contact details from the victim’s address book to send the phishing emails.”

They attribute the emails to officers of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus.

-ABC News’ Luke Barr

Feb 25, 2:57 pm
Over 50,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled

More than 50,000 Ukrainians have fled their country in less than 48 hours, mostly to to Poland and Moldova, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted.

The U.S. is coordinating with its European allies and partners who will be on the front lines receiving refugees, a spokesperson for the State Department told ABC News. That includes diplomatic engagements “to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection,” the spokesperson said.

U.N. Relief Chief Martin Griffiths said Friday that over $1 billion will be required for humanitarian efforts over the next three months.

-ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Conor Finnegan

Feb 25, 2:39 pm
EU to sanction Putin, Lavrov: Latvian government

The European Union announced Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be included on its second round of sanctions, according to the Latvian and French governments.

It’s unclear what, if any, financial impact these asset freezes have on either figure.

Hours before the decision was made, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell diplomat said even these EU sanctions on Putin and Lavrov would “certainly” not be enough.

“We are facing a full-fledged invasion of a country by another. It’s not a special forces operations like Russia pretends us to believe — it’s a fully-fledged invasion with bombing, with killing of civilians, with confrontations among two armies,” he told reporters. “This is the worst thing that has happened in Europe, if I may say, since the end of the Cold War, and nobody knows what’s happening afterwards. Nobody knows which are the real intention of Putin.”

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Feb 25, 2:24 pm
Russia restricts Facebook

Russia is restricting its use of Facebook, according to its parent company, Meta.

Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs at Meta, said in a statement Friday, “Yesterday, Russian authorities ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labelling of content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. We refused. As a result, they have announced they will be restricting the use of our services.”

“Ordinary Russians are using our apps to express themselves and organize for action,” he continued. “We want them to continue to make their voices heard.”

Feb 25, 2:19 pm
Czech Republic, Poland ban Russian carriers from airspace

Poland and the Czech Republic said Friday they are banning Russian carriers from their airspace.

The United Kingdom on Thursday suspended the foreign carrier permit held by Russian airline Aeroflot.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Feb 25, 1:40 pm
Zelenskyy says, ‘We are all here’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has posted a selfie-style video showing himself standing outside the president’s office in central Kyiv Friday night along his defense minister, prime minister and parliamentary leader.

Zelenskyy, in combat fatigues, said to the camera that Ukraine’s army is there and will win.

“We are all here. Our military are here, as are our people and whole society. We’re all here defending our independence and our country. And we’ll go on doing that,” he said.

President Joe Biden held a secure call with Zelenskyy on Friday, according to a White House official.

Feb 25, 1:32 pm
NATO allies must stand ready to do more, NATO SG says

Russia is demanding legally binding agreements to remove troops and infrastructure from NATO allies that joined after 1997, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.

In addition to the significant sanctions imposed against Russia, NATO allies must stand ready to do more, Stoltenberg said, even if it means “we have to pay a price — because we are in this for the long haul.”

The U.S., Canada and European allies have deployed thousands of more troops to the eastern part of the alliance, Stolentenberg said. Over 100 jets and more than 120 ships are operating on high alert in more than 30 locations, he said.

Feb 25, 1:16 pm
UK’s Boris Johnson announces Putin, Lavrov sanctions

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson will introduce sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on top of the sanctions package announced Thursday, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

The announcement was made during a Friday call with NATO leaders.

“The Prime Minister told the group that a catastrophe was engulfing Ukraine, and President Putin was engaging in a revanchist mission to over-turn post-Cold War order. He warned the group that the Russian President’s ambitions might not stop there and that this was a Euro-Atlantic crisis with global consequences,” the Downing Street spokesperson said.

“The Prime Minister urged leaders to take immediate action against SWIFT to inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime,” the spokesperson added.

If Russia was cut off from the SWIFT — the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication international banking system — it would significantly hinder Russia’s participation in global markets.

Feb 25, 12:55 pm
Russia deploying disinformation campaign to damage Ukraine’s morale: US official

A U.S. official alleges that Russia is deploying a disinformation campaign to damage Ukrainians’ morale through false reports about Ukrainian troops surrendering or through planned threats to kill the family members of Ukraine’s military troops.

“We commend the Ukrainian people for showing strength and determination in response to an unprovoked attack by a significantly larger military,” the official said. “We are concerned, however, that Russia plans to discourage them and induce surrender through disinformation.”

Earlier Friday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that more than 150 Ukrainian service members “laid down their arms and surrendered,” even providing names and figures for where they say these surrenders took place.

“After the stabilization of the situation in the combat area, all surrendered Ukrainian servicemen will be released home,” the Ministry of Defense said.

Feb 25, 12:41 pm
NATO activates NATO Response Force

NATO has activated its NATO Response Force, marking the first time the alliance has activated the potentially 40,000-person force for “a deterrence and defence” role, according to a NATO spokesperson. This means that the 8,500 American troops put on heightened alert in late January for this mission could soon be ordered to Europe.

The decision follows a meeting of NATO ministers Friday morning in Brussels.

To be activated, the 30 members of NATO must all agree to activate the force, which is under the command of Gen. Told Wolters, the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

Feb 25, 12:19 pm
Over 50,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled

More than 50,000 Ukrainians have fled their country in less than 48 hours, mostly to Poland and Moldova, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted.

The U.S. is coordinating with its European allies and partners who will be on the front lines receiving refugees, a spokesperson for the State Department told ABC News. That includes diplomatic engagements “to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection,” the spokesperson said.

Feb 25, 11:54 am
Russians planning multiple simultaneous entrance points into Kyiv: Official

Officials are seeing more signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t interested in a diplomatic solution, a senior U.S. official said.

Russian troops are now resupplied and are planning multiple entrance points into Kyiv that will likely be carried out at once, the official said.

Feb 25, 11:34 am
Chernobyl seeing slightly higher levels of radiation but no threat

After Russian forces seized the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power station, the facilities continue “to operate safely and securely,” Ukraine’s regulatory agency informed the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. Nuclear watchdog said Friday.

There were slightly higher levels of radiation, but they are still “low and remain within the operational range measured in the Exclusion Zone since it was established, and therefore do not pose any danger to the public,” the IAEA said.

One theory why the levels could have ticked up, according to the IAEA, is “heavy military vehicles stirring up soil still contaminated from the 1986 accident.”

The Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, is located about 60 miles north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The Chernobyl exclusion zone begins almost immediately below Ukraine’s border with Belarus.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said Friday that Russian troops took full control of the Chernobyl plant area on Thursday.

Feb 25, 11:14 am
Russians going ashore in ‘amphibious assault’

A senior defense official confirms that there is a Russian “amphibious assault” underway along the Ukrainian coast from the Sea of Azov. The attack is to the west of Mariupol, which is a coastal city in southeastern Ukraine.

“Indications are right now that they are putting potentially thousands of naval infantry ashore there,” the official said.

The push toward Kyiv is going slower than the Russians expected as they’re meeting more resistance from Ukrainians than they thought, the official said.

“In general the Russians have lost a little bit of their momentum,” the official said.

The official pointed out that no population centers have been taken and the Russians do not have air superiority over Ukraine as Ukrainian air defenses are still working.

The official said more than 200 ballistic and cruise missiles have been fired at targets in Ukraine, adding some have “impacted civilian residential areas.”

The U.S. assesses that “a third of the combat power ” of the 150,000 Russian troops that were amassed on the border are actually dedicated to the fighting in Ukraine, according to the official.

“They have not they have not committed the majority of their forces inside Ukraine,” the official said.

Fighting is also underway at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and dam on the Dnieper River that controls a lot of electrical power to Crimea and southern Ukraine, the official said, adding that there have been cyberattacks against power plants.

Feb 25, 10:31 am
EU moving toward sanctioning Putin, Lavrov: Top diplomat

The European Union is moving toward sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Russia’s war against Ukraine, the EU’s top diplomat confirmed.

But the decision has not been made and requires unanimous approval by the 27 member states, diplomat Josep Borrell told reporters Friday.

“If there is no surprises and nobody objects — because we require unanimity — yes, Putin and Lavrov will be on the list,” Borrell said.

He said even these EU sanctions on Putin and Lavrov would “certainly” not be enough.

“We are facing a full-fledged invasion of a country by another. It’s not a special forces operations like Russia pretends us to believe — it’s a fully-fledged invasion with bombing, with killing of civilians, with confrontations among two armies,” he said. “This is the worst thing that has happened in Europe, if I may say, since the end of the Cold War, and nobody knows what’s happening afterwards. Nobody knows which are the real intention of Putin.”

Feb 25, 8:57 am
Russia may be reinforcing, resupplying before moving in on Kyiv

There was an eerie quietness across Kyiv on Friday afternoon, as Russian forces closed in on the Ukrainian capital.

A senior U.S. official told ABC News that he believes the pause around Kyiv was due to the Russian military reinforcing troops and resupplying ammunition and food, and that Russia still wants a stranglehold on the city over the next 24 to 48 hours.

The official also expressed great concern about civilian causalities if Russian forces do move in. While there appeared to be a renewed effort at diplomacy on Friday, the United States believes any noise Russia makes about negotiations is simply stalling, the official said.

-ABC News’ Martha Raddatz

Feb 25, 8:35 am
Kremlin claims Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality

Russia claimed Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality for his country.

“Zelenskyy stated his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “From the beginning, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about how the goal of the operation to the [separatist regions], including a path to the demilitarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine. But that is actually also an essential component of neutral status.”

Peskov added that Putin is prepared to send a delegation to neighboring Belarus to hold talks with Ukrainian officials in Minsk.

If the Kremlin’s claims are true, it would amount to Zelenskyy surrendering to Russia’s demand that Ukraine pledges to never join NATO.

Earlier Friday, Zelenskyy called on Putin to hold talks “to stop people dying.” But he did not mention neutral status.

The comments came as Russian troops reached the center of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and engaged in fighting with Ukrainian troops.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 8:35 am
Kremlin claims Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality

Russia claimed Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality for his country.

“Zelenskyy stated his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “From the beginning, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about how the goal of the operation to the [separatist regions], including a path to the demilitarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine. But that is actually also an essential component of neutral status.”

Peskov added that Putin is prepared to send a delegation to neighboring Belarus to hold talks with Ukrainian officials in Minsk.

If the Kremlin’s claims are true, it would amount to Zelenskyy surrendering to Russia’s demand that Ukraine pledges to never join NATO.

Earlier Friday, Zelenskyy called on Putin to hold talks “to stop people dying.” But he did not mention neutral status.

The comments came as Russian troops reached the center of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and engaged in fighting with Ukrainian troops.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 8:13 am
Russia claims to have blocked Kyiv from west

Russia claimed on Friday afternoon that its forces have blocked Kyiv from the west, which would begin a partial encirclement of the Ukrainian capital.

According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian forces also have completely blocked the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, about 90 miles north of Kyiv, and now have full control of a key Ukrainian military airport in Hostomel, a town on the edge of the capital. Some 200 Russian helicopters were allegedly used in the attack on the airport.

While ABC News could not independently verify Russia’s claims, the Ukrainian military has acknowledged that it does not have full control of the airport in Hostomel.

The Russian Ministry of Defense alleged that Russian forces are “doing everything possible to prevent civilian casualties” and “will not deliver any strikes on residential areas of Kyiv.” However, fighting is already taking place in residential areas and Ukrainian authorities said homes have been bombed in and around Kyiv.

-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 7:47 am
Zelenskyy warns Russian invasion is start of ‘war against all Europe’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold negotiations and cease the deadly attacks on his country.

“Fighting is ongoing all over Ukraine. Let’s sit at the table for negotiations to stop people dying,” Zelenskyy said in a televised address Friday afternoon.

But he did not order Ukrainian troops to stop defending their country, instead telling them: “Stand tough. You’re everything we have. You’re everything that is defending us.”

Zelenskyy criticized Europe’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it too slow and noting divisions. He also issued a dire warning to the rest of Europe.

“It’s not just Russian invasion in Ukraine, it’s the beginning of the war against all Europe, against its unity, all human rights, against all the rules of coexistence on the continent, against European countries’ refusal to change the borders by force,” he said.

-ABC News’ Julia Drozd and Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 7:15 am
UN refugee agency estimates 100,000 Ukrainians are displaced

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates some 100,000 Ukrainians have already been forced from their homes due to the ongoing Russian invasion, spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told ABC News on Friday.

Mantoo cautioned that the agency has not confirmed any exact numbers.

“But there clearly has been significant displacement inside the country and some movements towards and across the borders,” she said.

The news was first reported by AFP.

The United States is coordinating with its European allies and partners who will be on the front lines receiving refugees, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State told ABC News. That includes diplomatic engagements “to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection,” the spokesperson said.

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

Feb 25, 6:42 am
Russia says negotiations will begin after ‘democratic order’ restored

Russia will begin negotiations again once “democratic order” is restored in Ukraine, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said Friday, amid an ongoing invasion of the neighboring country.

“We are ready for negotiations, at any moment, as soon as the Armed Forces of Ukraine respond to the call of our president to cease resistance and lay down their arms. No one intends to attack them,” Lavrov said during a televised meeting in Moscow with pro-Russian separatist leaders from eastern Ukraine.

Lavrov’s comments come as Russian forces attacked Ukrainian troops in Kyiv on Friday morning, as the fighting drew closer to the capital’s city center.

-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 6:03 am
Russia claims to have disabled 118 Ukrainian military facilities

Russia claimed Friday that its forces have so far disabled 118 elements of Ukraine’s military infrastructure.

“These include 11 military airfields and 13 command and communication posts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

Konashenkov also alleged that more than 150 Ukrainian soldiers have “laid down their arms and surrendered during the fighting.”

-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva

Feb 25, 5:43 am
Gunfire, explosions heard within Kyiv as fighting draws near

ABC News’ team in Kyiv saw a large explosion and heard intense gunfire in the distance early Friday afternoon.

The crackles of gunfire appeared to be several miles north of the center of the Ukrainian capital, but still well within the city limits.

Ukrainian authorities have told residents in the northern suburb of Obolon to take shelter and prepare for imminent military action. The area is a 10-minute drive from Kyiv’s center.

The capital remains on edge as Russian forces draw near. Earlier, Ukrainian troops were seen hurriedly moving with ammunition to set up positions in the city center as air-raid sirens rang out.

Thousands of people have tried to leave Kyiv and head west to the Polish border, with some spending hours stuck in long traffic jams.

The Ukrainian military said it has distributed 18,000 assault rifles to territorial defense volunteers in the capital. It has also begun handing out weapons to civilians who want to fight and has called on healthy men over the age 60 to join the defense force, if they wish.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Feb 25, 5:11 am
Ukrainian military claims to have killed Russian saboteurs in Kyiv

Ukraine’s military claimed Friday to have killed an advance group of Russian saboteurs disguised as Ukrainian soldiers during a gunfight in the capital, Kyiv.

The Ukrainian military released video purportedly showing the bodies of men in Ukrainian uniforms and a destroyed truck. The fighting allegedly happened in an area only 10 minutes north of the city center.

Russian forces that crossed into Ukraine from the north on Thursday have been trying to advance south toward Kyiv. Fighting was taking place near a town 20 miles north of the entrance to the capital on Friday morning, ABC News has learned.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

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