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

The latest round of in-person peace negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations kicked off in Istanbul on Tuesday morning, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in attendance.

Erdogan addressed both sides with a brief speech before the talks began.

"Establishing a cease-fire and peace as soon as possible will be to everyone's benefit. We think that we've entered a period where we need to achieve concrete results from negotiations," Erdogan said. "As members of the delegations, you've taken on a historic responsibility. The whole world is awaiting the good news that will come from you."

Footage showing the start of the meeting was broadcast by Russian state-backed television channel RT.

Tuesday's negotiations are taking place in Dolmabahce Palace in the Besiktas district of Turkey's capital, according to Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu Agency. It's the first face-to-face talks to take place between Russia and Ukraine in more than two weeks.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his evening address Monday that Irpin was liberated and Russian forces have been "pushed away from Kyiv."

"The occupiers are pushed away from Irpin. Pushed away from Kyiv," he said.

However, he said Russian troops still control the north of Kyiv.

"They are trying to restore the destroyed units. The level of their losses, even at 90%, is not an argument for them to stop. Hundreds and hundreds of units of burned and abandoned enemy equipment do not convince them that this will happen to everyone," he said.

Zelenskyy also said the situation in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv regions, along with Donbas and southern Ukraine, remains tense.

"This is a ruthless war against our nation, against our people, against our children.
As of today, 143 children are known to have died," Zelenskyy said Monday.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

President Joe Biden told reporters Monday that when he said in Poland this weekend that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power," he "was expressing moral outrage that I feel," adding, "I make no apologies for it."

Biden did not dispute when a questioner noted the line had not been in his prepared remarks.

"The last part of the speech was talking to the Russian people, telling them what we thought. I was communicating this to not only the Russian people but the whole world. This is -- this is just stating a simple fact that this kind of behavior is totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. And the way to deal with it is to strengthen and put -- keep NATO completely united and help Ukraine where we can," Biden said.

"I want to make it clear, I wasn't then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change," Biden said.

"The last thing I want to do is engage in a land war or a nuclear war with Russia," he said. "That's not part of it. I was expressing my outrage at the behavior of this man."

Biden said that if Putin "continues on this course that he's on, he is going to become a pariah worldwide."

He said he didn't think his comments complicated diplomatic efforts, but that it is Putin’s actions that are complicating the situation.

"He shouldn't remain in power. Just like, you know, bad people shouldn't continue to do bad things. But it doesn't mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way," Biden said.

The president said "it’s ridiculous" to think his remark was a statement of U.S. policy.

"People like this shouldn't be ruling countries, but they do. The fact they do doesn't mean I can't express my outrage about it," he said.

Biden told ABC News that he’s confident Putin won’t view his remarks as an excuse for escalation.

"The idea that he is going to do something outrageous because I called him for what he was and what he's doing, I think is just not rational," Biden said.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine.

"Since the beginning of the Russian invasion one months ago, the war has led to the senseless loss of thousands of lives, the displacement of 10 million people, mainly women and children, the systematic destruction of essential infrastructure and skyrocketing food and energy prices worldwide. This must stop," Guterres said.

U.N. humanitarian agencies and partners in the last month have reached nearly 900,000 people, mainly in eastern Ukraine, providing food, shelter, blankets, medicine, bottled water and hygiene supplies, he said.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou