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, 8:34 AM GMT

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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 24, 2022, 11:44 AM GMT

Russia claims to have seized city of Izyum in eastern Ukraine

Russia claimed Thursday that its troops have seized Izyum, a city in eastern Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that units of the Russian Armed Forces had taken control of the city by Thursday morning.

Rubble is seen at a psychiatric hospital, which the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said was hit by an enemy shell, in the village of Oskil, Izyum district, Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine, on March 11, 2022, amid Russia's invasion.
State Emergency Service Of Ukrai/via Reuters

Izyum is about 75 miles southeast of the oblast capital, Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, which has faced relentless bombardment by Russian forces since the start of the invasion a month ago.

Ukraine did not immediately comment on the claim.

Mar 24, 2022, 11:22 AM GMT

Ukraine claims to have sunk large Russian ship at occupied port

The Ukrainian Naval Forces said Thursday that it has sunk the Russian ship Orsk in the Sea of Asov near the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Berdyansk.

Smoke rises after shelling near a Russian-occupied seaport in Berdyansk, Ukraine, on March 24, 2022.
AP

The Ukrainian Naval Forces released a video, verified by ABC News, showing a large ship burning in the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk, with flames and thick smoke billowing into the sky. The Orsk, a Russian Navy amphibious landing ship that was used to ferry Russian troops to Ukraine, was docked in the port.

Russia did not immediately comment on the claim.

-ABC News' Fergal Gallagher

Mar 24, 2022, 10:50 AM GMT

Over 3.67 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR

More than 3.67 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations refugee agency.

People fleeing their homes due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine shelter at Bronx FitnessHub club, in Lviv, Ukraine, March 23, 2022.
Pavlo Palamarchuk/Reuters

The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 8.3% of Ukraine's population -- which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 -- on the move across borders in 29 days.

More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.

-ABC News' Zoe Magee

Mar 24, 2022, 9:48 AM GMT

NATO leaders pose for photo ahead of emergency summit

NATO leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, posed for a photo at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on Thursday ahead of an emergency summit, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine grants into a second month.

Biden stood in the front row in between NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

NATO leaders pose for a photo ahead of an emergency summit at NATO heaadquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2022.
Brendan Smialowski/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Biden and Stoltenberg were the last of the leaders to arrive for the photo-op. As they walked in the room, Biden ignored a question from a reporter about what his message is to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Instead, Biden went to shake hands with Johnson and then greeted French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi

-ABC News' Justin Gomez

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