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

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

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Nadine El-Bawab, Ivan Pereira, Julia Jacobo, Meredith Deliso, Bill Hutchinson, Kevin Shalvey, Celia Darrough, Mary Kekatos, and Samara Lynn
Last Updated: April 8, 2022, 4:34 AM EDT

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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Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 23, 2022, 10:27 AM EDT

US military aid begins to arrive in Ukraine

The first deliveries from the $800 million military assistance that U.S. President Joe Biden authorized for Ukraine a week ago have started to arrive, a White House official told ABC News on Wednesday.

The military aid package includes Stinger anti-aircraft systems, Javelin anti-armor weapons, light anti-armor weapons, AT-4 anti-armor systems and tactical unmanned aerial systems.

A Ukrainian serviceman stands on the front line in the east Kyiv region, Ukraine March 20, 2022.
Gleb Garanich/Reuters

CNN was first to report the deliveries.

-ABC News' Justin Gomez

Mar 23, 2022, 11:13 AM EDT

Bridge linking Chernihiv Oblast to Kyiv destroyed, governor says

The governor of Ukraine's Chernihiv Oblast, Viacheslav Chaus, claimed Wednesday that Russian forces have destroyed the bridge linking the region to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

In a video posted on Telegram, Chaus shows the destroyed bridge over the Desna river, which he said effectively means that the road from Chernihiv to Kyiv is now severed.

-ABC News' Fergal Gallagher

Mar 23, 2022, 9:39 AM EDT

Russia, Ukraine agree on 9 humanitarian corridors for March 23

Russia and Ukraine have agreed on nine humanitarian corridors to try to evacuate civilians trapped in embattled Ukrainian towns and cities on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Children rest at a collecting point in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22, 2022, after fleeing from Mariupol amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Reuters

But the agreement does not include a safe passage from the heart of Mariupol, Vereshchuk said in an address Wednesday, adding that she hopes people wishing to leave the besieged southeastern port city can make it to nearby Berdyansk, where humanitarian aid awaits them. She said 24 buses are on standby to transport people.

People wait inside an evacuee bus in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22, 2022, after fleeing from Mariupol amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Stringer/Reuters

Some of the previous attempts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol have failed after Russian forces continued to shell the city, despite agreeing to temporary cease-fires.

Mar 23, 2022, 10:53 AM EDT

Sending NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine would be 'very reckless', Russia warns

Russia warned Wednesday that sending NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine would be "a very reckless and extremely dangerous decision."

Last week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that Poland will formally submit a proposal at the NATO summit on Thursday for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine amid Russia's invasion.

People hold banners and flags during a protest organized by the Ukrainian diaspora asking for NATO intervention on Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the UNESCO main square in Krakow, Poland, on March 22, 2022.
Omar Marques/Getty Images

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Poland's plans while speaking to reporters Wednesday.

"It would be a very reckless and extremely dangerous decision," Peskov said. "A special military operation is going on, and any possible contact by our troops with NATO troops can lead to quite clear consequences that would be hard to repair."

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