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, 6:03 PM EDT

Pro-Kremlin newspaper unwittingly publishes Russian troops death toll

Pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that nearly 10,000 Russian troops have died as a result of the invasion into Ukraine.

The newspaper published an article Monday that included a paragraph stating that Russia’s defense ministry said its losses in Ukraine are 9,862 dead and 16,153 injured.

"Russia’s Ministry of Defense denies the information of the Ukrainian General Staff about alleged large-scale casualties among the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine," the article stated. "According to the data of the Russian ministry of defense, in the course of the special operation in Ukraine, Russia’s armed forces have lost 9,861 dead, 16,153 have received wounds."

Not long after journalists online spotted the number, the article vanished and then was reposted without any mention of Russian casualties, indicating that the newspaper likely published the figure unwittingly.

If a journalist deliberately posted the death toll, they could be severely prosecuted under a new Russian law.

Komsomolskaya Pravda later claimed in a statement that it was hacked and that a "fake" was added to one of its articles.

"On March 21, website admin interface was hacked and a fake was added to a publication about the situation around the special operation in Ukraine," the statement read.

Russia has not published an official death toll for its forces since March 3, when it said just 498 of its troops had been killed.

The U.S. has estimated that between 2,000 and 10,000 Russians have been killed in the conflict.

Mar 21, 2022, 3:48 PM EDT

Russian defense minister claims nearly 350,000 Ukrainians evacuated to Russia

Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, claimed that about 347,000 Ukrainians have evacuated to Russia.

The evacuations occurred "without the participation of the Kyiv authorities," Mizintsev alleged during a press conference Monday, claiming that officials in Kyiv "again have not approved any of the four humanitarian corridors in Russia's direction proposed by the Russian side."

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

Mizintsev also alleged that Kyiv refuses to conduct humanitarian operations in the besieged city of Mariupol by withdrawing Ukrainian forces from the city.

"At 2 a.m. on March 21, 2022, we received an unsubstantiated refusal to rescue people, and a surrender and laying down arms are out of the question," Mizintsev said, adding that more than 130,000 people remain blockaded in the city.

Mizintsev claimed that in the past 24 hours alone, 16,054 people, including 4,631 children, were evacuated "from dangerous areas of Ukraine and the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics" into Russia.

Moscow had had offered safe passage out of Mariupol in return for the city's surrender before 4 a.m. Monday, but Ukraine rejected the offer well before the deadline.

Mar 21, 2022, 1:46 PM EDT

US officials says Russian missiles are 'failing to launch'

A senior U.S. defense official said at a Monday press briefing that Russian missiles are "failing to launch" as they are fired into Ukraine.

Russia has fired more than 1,100 missiles since the invasion last month, according to U.S. assessments, but there are indications they have been facing problems with the reliability of precision-guided munitions.

An unexploded Russian rocket is seen in the ground after shelling on the northern outskirts of Kharkiv, March 21, 2022.
Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images

Some Russian missiles are "failing to launch, or they're failing to hit the target, or they're failing to explode on contact," the official said.

Additionally, Russian forces are no closer to Kyiv than they were more than a week ago.

"They haven't achieved anything in terms of what we assessed to be their objectives, which was population centers so that they could occupy and take over Ukraine," the official said.

A volunteer takes position at a checkpoint in a district in Kyiv, March 20, 2022.
Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images

"They are looking for a chance to gain some momentum – not even regain momentum ... because they never really had it. And that's what's so frustrating for them," the official continued.

The official said most credit for the stalled Russian efforts goes to the Ukrainian forces and citizens, and the leadership of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

-ABC News’ Matthew Seyler

Mar 21, 2022, 2:09 PM EDT

Nazi concentration camp survivor killed in Kharkiv bombardment

A man who survived multiple Nazi concentration camps was killed in the Russian bombardment of Kharkiv, a city in northeastern Ukraine, on Friday, the country’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Kuleba announced the news on Twitter Monday, saying 96-year-old Boris Romantchenko died after a “Russian bomb” hit his home.

“Survived Hitler, murdered by Putin,” Kuleba wrote.

Boris Romantschenko, second from R, speaks at Buchenwald's Oath in Russian on the former roll call area of the former concentration camp in Weimar, Germany.
Courtesy Buchenwald Memorial Institute

Romantchenko survived four Nazi concentration camps: Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Mittelbau-Dora and Peenemünde.

The Buchenwald Memorial Institute issued a statement saying it is “appalled at the news of Boris Romantschenko’s violent death in the war in Ukraine.”

The institute confirmed a projectile hit the multistory building where Romantchenko lived and ignited his flat.

-ABC News’ Luisa Rollenhagen and Christine Theodorou

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