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

Russian forces around Kyiv have fallen into defensive positions and have stopped offensive ground movements toward the capital city, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday.

"We're still seeing airstrikes, but not nothing from the ground," the official said.

The U.S. official said -- as Russians also noted Friday -- that Russian troops are currently focusing on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, where there's been heavy fighting.

The Russians "are putting their priorities and their effort in the east of Ukraine, and that's where still there remains a lot of heavy fighting," the official said. "And we think they are trying to not only secure some sort of, more substantial gains there as a potential negotiating tactic at the table, but also to cut off Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country.”

Also, the official noted that Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine that's north of Crimea, doesn't seem to be "as solidly in Russian control as it was before."

"That would be significant if the Ukrainians were able to take Kerson back," the official said. "It's a significant port city. It would also put it much greater risk the Russian positions around Mykolaiv [in southern Ukraine], and again if they have ground desires on Odessa [in southern Ukraine], losing Kherson and therefore putting their troops between Ukrainians, you'll be sandwiched between Ukrainian forces in Kherson and those in Mykolaiv. … That would put them smack in the middle and that would make it very, very difficult for them to make any kind of ground movement on Odessa. If in fact, that was their plan."

The U.S. is also seeing indications that the Russians are trying to send in some reinforcements from the breakaway regions of Georgia, the official said.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

In a Friday briefing, Russian military officials tried to reshape the narrative of the war, claiming the "main goal" of the invasion -- what Russia calls a "military operation" -- is to "liberate" Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and not to seize other parts of Ukraine.

General Sergey Rudskoy, the head of the main operational directorate of Russia’s General Staff, said the main objectives of the "first phase" of the operation have been achieved, meaning Ukraine's "combat capabilities have been significantly reduced." Rudskoy said that allows Russia to now focus "on achieving the main goal the liberation of Donbas."

The Donbas region contains the two Russian-controlled separatist statelets, the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics, the defense of which Russia used as a pretext for invading. Rudskoy claimed Russia has "liberated" 93% of the Luhansk region and 54% of Donetsk.

The Ukrainian city of Mariupol is also within the Donbas region. Russian forces have been relentlessly bombarding Mariupol since the invasion began, destroying homes and leaving thousands of residents trapped.

Rudskoy claimed Russia's "military operation" had two courses of action: the first being limiting operations to Donbas, but he said that would have allowed Ukraine to constantly reinforce its troops, so he said Russia took a second course of action, attacking cities across the whole country. Rudskoy claimed the course of the war "confirmed the validity" of that decision.

"These actions are carried out with the aim of causing such damage to military infrastructure, equipment, personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the results of which allow not only to shackle their forces and do not give them the opportunity to strengthen their grouping in the Donbas, but also will not allow them to do so until the Russian army completely liberates the territories of the DPR and LPR,” he said.

Rudskoy claimed Russia has successfully blocked Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Chernihiv, and that the cities of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are under full Russian control.

He claimed Russia "initially" never had any intention of storming those cities, although he said they "did not rule out such a possibility" now.

"Initially, we did not plan to storm them in order to prevent destruction and minimize losses among personnel and civilians. And although we do not rule out such a possibility, however, as individual groups complete their tasks, and they are being solved successfully, our forces and means will concentrate on the main thing -- the complete liberation of Donbas," he said.

Rudskoy also made the dubious claim that Russia has sought to minimize civilian casualties. The U.N. reports that over 1,000 civilians have died since the invasion began.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

President Joe Biden, flanked by Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and Samantha Powers of the U.S. Agency for International Development, spoke at a briefing on humanitarian efforts Friday, again calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal."

"The single-most important thing that we can do on the outset, is keep the democracies united in our opposition, and our effort to curtail the devastation that is occurring at the hands of a man, who quite frankly, I think is a war criminal. And I think we'll meet the legal definition of that, as well," Biden said.

Biden said he's in Poland to see the "humanitarian crisis" "firsthand," but said he's disappointed he "can't see it firsthand like I have in other places."

"They will not let me … cross the border and take a look at what’s going on in Ukraine," Biden said. "But, you know, I’m eager to hear from you, the humanitarian community, about what you see, what you’re doing, and where you think we go from here."

Since the invasion began on Feb. 24, over 3.6 million people have fled Ukraine, with more than 2.2 million of those refugees going to Poland, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

"Whether it’s food, or a blanket, or cash, or the care for medical teams that we send in, or child welfare specialists, they need it now. They need it as rapidly as we can get it there," Biden said.

-ABC News' Armando Tonatiuh Torres-García

President Joe Biden spoke to members of the 82nd Airborne Division in Jasionka, Poland, Friday, telling them, "What you're doing is consequential -- really consequential."

"What’s at stake" is beyond Ukraine, Biden said.

"What are your kids and grandkids gonna look like in terms of their freedom?" Biden said. "The last 10 years there have been fewer democracies that have been formed than we've lost in the world."

"What you’re engaged in is much more than just whether or not you can alleviate the pain and suffering of the people of Ukraine," Biden said.

Biden commended the troops, saying "the rest of the world looks to us, because, you know, we not only lead by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. And your generation combines both. The rest of the world looks at you and sees who you are. They see you are a multiethnic group of Americans that are in fact together and united in one resolve, to defend your country, and to help those who need help."