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

Andrey Turchak, the secretary general of United Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party, has suggested Russia will permanently occupy the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol as its forces move closer to capturing the city.

Though Russia is responsible for Mariupol's destruction, Turchak said the party has opened a “humanitarian center” in Mariupol and pledged Russia would rebuild houses and businesses destroyed in the fighting.

"Russia will definitely rebuild all of this," Tuchak said, adding, “No one should have any doubts -- Russia is here forever."

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed Thursday that Ukraine violated regulations when placing sea mines in its territorial waters and that appropriate maps were not prepared.

Russia claimed these violations prevent foreign ships from being able "to safely leave the ports of Mykolaiv, Chernomorsk, Ochakiv, Odesa and Yuzhne and set out to open sea," Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia's National Defense Control Center, claimed at a press briefing.

Mizintsev claimed 76 foreign ships from 15 countries remain blocked in Ukrainian ports.

Russia says in order for foreign vessels stuck at Ukrainian ports to depart safely, it has created a humanitarian corridor beginning Friday.

"The corridor will be operating daily between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. (Moscow time) beginning from March 25, 2022," Mizintsev said. The corridor will be 80 nautical miles long toward the southwest with a navigation strip width of 3 miles.

Russia also said it evacuated 4,453 people from Mariupol without Kyiv's participation on Thursday.

In total, 86,718 people have already been evacuated from the city, Mizintsev claimed.

President Joe Biden said Thursday that G-7 leaders discussed the impact the war in Ukraine has had on food supply in European countries and the U.S., noting that both Ukraine and Russia “have been the breadbasket” of Europe and some of the largest producers of wheat.

“The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia, it’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well,” he said.

The president said he urged European leaders to end trade limitations on sending food abroad in order to alleviate the food shortage, highlighting that the U.S. and Canada are also large producers of wheat.

“We are in the process of working out with our European friends what it would be -- what it would take to help alleviate the concerns relative to food shortages. We also talked about a significant major U.S. investment among others, in terms of providing for the need for humanitarian assistance, including food, as we move forward,” Biden said.

-ABC News' Armando Garcia

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Ukrainian minister of defense, Oleksii Reznikov, on Thursday that security assistance from the U.S. is now flowing into the region.

This includes aid from the $1 billion in security assistance recently announced by President Joe Biden, according to Pentagon press secretary John Kirby.

-ABC News' Matthew Seyler