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

Russian forces have "failed to achieve a lot of their objectives on the ground" due to heavy Ukrainian resistance, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

"When you look at what they've managed to do in 26 days, it's not that impressive," Kirby said during a press briefing. "I think what we're seeing here is the Russians have been flummoxed, they've been frustrated, they have failed to achieve a lot of their objectives on the ground."

Kirby declined to say whether Russia’s operations had entered a "new phase" as they shift to launching artillery and missile attacks on Ukraine’s cities but said that they are stepping up their long-range bombardment "because they are essentially still stalled."

"They're lobbing an awful lot of hardware into the cities to try to force their surrender, and it’s increased over the last few days," he said, adding that the tactic has led to more civilian casualties and damage to civilian areas.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

A Moscow court has ruled that the use of Instagram and Facebook are to be banned effective immediately under Russia's anti-extremist legislation, Russian state-run news agency TASS reported on Monday.

The court banned the operations of Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, “on the grounds of realizing extremist activity,” Judge Olga Solopova announced Monday in a Moscow court.

The ban does not apply to WhatsApp, the messenger app also owned by Meta, “as it has no option to publicly spread information,” Solopova said.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

The U.S. Department of State has not yet confirmed reports that Russia is forcibly moving Ukrainian civilians to Russia but is investigating the claims, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday.

"We are in close consultation with our Ukrainian partners, with others who may be able to provide firsthand accounts of what is taking place on the ground," Price told reporters at a briefing. "Of course, these reports are deeply concerning, and if true, they would be -- amount to additional evidence of what would appear -- to be the mistreatment of civilians."

Beyond that, Price said the U.S. is seeing "evidence everyday pointing to acts, actions, activities that may constitute war crimes."

"We continue to call on the Russian government to allow genuine safe passage so that civilians can depart cities and towns in Ukraine that are besieged by Russian forces and allow deliveries of humanitarian goods," Price said. "The reality continues to be that while humanitarian goods are gathered and en route to the areas most in need, the convoys typically are not able to reach people in besieged cities."

On Monday, Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, claimed that about 347,000 Ukrainians have evacuated "from dangerous areas of Ukraine and the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics" into Russia.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan

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.