Russia-Ukraine updates: US sanctions Russian military shipbuilder, diamond miner

Russia's largest military shipbuilding and diamond mining firms were targeted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation” into Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with troops crossing the border from Belarus and Russia. Moscow's forces have since been met with “stiff resistance” from Ukrainians, according to U.S. officials.

Russian forces retreated last week from the Kyiv suburbs, leaving behind a trail of destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, U.S. and European officials accused Russian troops of committing war crimes.

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Two Men at War

A look at the two leaders at the center of the war in Ukraine and how they both rose to power, the difference in their leadership and what led to this moment in history.

Mar 21, 2022, 5:21 AM EDT

No surrender in besieged Mariupol, Ukraine says

Ukrainian officials rejected Russia’s demand that they surrender the southern port city of Mariupol on Monday morning.

“There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms," Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said, according to The Associated Press.

Officials instead called on Russia to allow residents to evacuate safely from the city.

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of a tank during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 20, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an early morning video address said his government was preparing to send buses to Mariupol on Monday to continue the evacuation.

“In besieged Mariupol, Russian aircraft dropped a bomb on an art school. People were hiding there. Hiding from shelling, from bombing,” Zelenskyy said, according to an official translation from his office. “There were no military positions. There were about four hundred civilians. Mostly women and children, the elderly. They are under the debris. We do not know how many are alive at the moment.”

Some who’ve left Mariupol have described dire circumstances, with constant shelling and little access to essentials, including food, water, and medicine, according to a report published Monday by Human Rights Watch.

People dig a grave for victims killed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 20, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

“Mariupol residents have described a freezing hellscape riddled with dead bodies and destroyed buildings,” Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “And these are the lucky ones who were able to escape, leaving behind thousands who are cut off from the world in the besieged city.”

Mar 20, 2022, 10:17 PM EDT

Biden traveling to Poland Friday to discuss efforts to support Ukraine, humanitarian crisis

In addition to his trip to Brussels, President Joe Biden will also travel to Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda.

"The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Sunday.

Psaki's statement did not specify if Biden will do anything else during his trip to Poland, which has taken in more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees since the start of the conflict with Russia.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

Mar 20, 2022, 5:36 PM EDT

Russia gives Ukrainian forces in Mariupol until morning to surrender: Reports

Russia has given Ukrainian forces in the besieged city of Mariupol until Monday at 4 a.m. local time to surrender, according to reports.

Gen. Col. Mikhail Mizintsev, a senior Russian commander, warned the city’s local authorities, including the mayor, that if they do not surrender they will face a “military tribunal,” according to Russian state media.

He called on the official authorities in Kyiv to “see reason” and to cancel orders given earlier that he said oblige Ukrainian fighters “to sacrifice themselves and to become the ’martyrs of Mariupol.’”

Evacuees sit in their cars as they try to leave the besieged port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 17, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

Russian forces have been trying to push deep into Mariupol, engaging in street-to-street fighting while indiscriminately bombarding the city. Ukrainian troops defending the city are believed to be under severe pressure right now.

Mizintsev said Russia has proposed opening humanitarian corridors beginning at 9 a.m. Monday to allow Ukrainian troops and civilians to leave Mariupol.

He claims Russia’s goals in the city are “purely humanitarian” and repeated Russia’s false claims that it was Ukrainian “nationalist” forces that have destroyed several major civilian buildings, which in reality have been struck directly by Russian air and missile strikes.

“We call on the units of the Ukrainian armed forces, the battalions of the Territorial Defense, foreign mercenaries, to cease military action, lay down their arms and to leave for the territories controlled by Kyiv via the humanitarian corridors agreed with the Ukrainian side,” Mizintsev reportedly said. “Moreover, the safe exit of all those laying down their arms is guaranteed and the sparing of their lives.”

Mar 20, 2022, 4:27 PM EDT

Zelenskyy criticizes Israel for not providing arms to Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed members of the Knesset, the legislature of Israel, on Sunday, criticizing the country for not doing more to help Ukraine.

During the address, Zelenskyy drew parallels between Ukraine and Israel's challenges with their neighbors and questioned why Israel has not sent arms to Ukraine or imposed sanctions on Russia.

"Everyone in Israel knows that your missile defense is the best," Zelenskyy said. "It is powerful. Everyone knows that your weapon is strong. Everyone knows you're doing great. You know how to defend your state interests, the interests of your people. And you can definitely help us protect our lives, the lives of Ukrainians, the lives of Ukrainian Jews. One can keep asking why we can't get weapons from you. Or why Israel has not imposed strong sanctions against Russia."

Zelenskyy described the Russian invasion as "a large-scale and treacherous war aimed at destroying our people," quoting former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, who was born in Kyiv.

"We intend to remain alive. Our neighbors want to see us dead," Zelenskyy said. "This is not a question that leaves much room for compromise."

During Zelensky's speech, the Knesset's cyber unit and the National Cyber Directorate fought off a number of cyberattacks aimed at interrupting the live-streamed speech, the Jerusalem Post reported, citing the Knesset.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

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