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

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country had a "simple" agenda for Thursday's NATO meeting.

"It has only three items on it. It's weapons, weapons and weapons," Kuleba told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.

NATO foreign ministers are meeting this week to discuss the situation in Ukraine, including whether to implement new sanctions and supply additional weapons, said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who spoke alongside Kuleba.

"So we are providing support, but, at the same time, working hard to prevent the escalation of the conflict," Stoltenberg said.

Kuleba called on "all allies to put aside their hesitations" in aiding Ukraine.

"We are confident that the best way to help Ukraine now is to provide it with all necessary to contain [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, and to defeat Russian army in Ukraine, in the territory of Ukraine, so that the war does not spill over further," Kuleba said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to meet with Kuleba on Thursday, according to his office.

"The G7 is committed to holding President Putin to account for his unprovoked war of choice and ensuring he endures a strategic defeat in Ukraine," Blinken said on Twitter on Thursday.

Former President Barack Obama weighed in on the Ukraine-Russia conflict Wednesday during his appearance at the Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy conference and called the war a "tragedy of historic proportions.”

“It is a bracing reminder for democracies that have gotten flabby, and confused and feckless around the stakes of things that we tended to take for granted: rule of law, freedom of press and conscience … that you have to fight for that information,” he said.

Obama said Russian President Vladimir Putin was "always ruthless."

“For him to bet the farm in this way, I would have not necessarily predicted by him five years ago," he said.

Obama added he sees some hope given the response of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the country's residents.

"He has the potential of preventing a maximalist victory for Putin and over the long term may allow for an independent Ukraine," Obama said.

-ABC News' Brittany Shepherd

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his daily address Russia's leadership is now afraid after photos and videos of their army's atrocities in Bucha, and are trying to cover up their actions.

But the president vowed that the country won't succeed in hiding their violence.

"If the world has started a debate about whether it is permissible to call what the Russian military did on the territory of Ukraine genocide, the search for truth can no longer be stopped. You can't roll it back in any way," he said.

Zelenskyy praised the new U.S. sanctions that suspend Russia's ability to use U.S. bank accounts and related assets to pay its debt.

"This package has a spectacular look, but this is not enough," he said.

Zelenskyy added, "we will continue to insist on a complete blockade of the Russian banking system from international finance."

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told ABC News Wednesday that the administration is focused on mitigating the war's cost for the American people, including by releasing restricted petroleum reserves.

She said the administration will "take steps to reduce the impact on the American people over time."

Psaki was also asked by ABC News if the rate of financial assistance the U.S. has provided to Ukraine is sustainable for a long-term war.

Psaki acknowledged that with Putin consolidating his troops, "We’re entering a new phase of the conflict that could last for some time."

"It doesn't mean it will look exactly the same or the needs or the resources will be exactly the same, and that is something we will continue to assess in our conversations with the Ukrainians, as well as with our allies and partners around the world," she added.

Psaki noted that the administration’s current goal is to continue to amp up military and humanitarian aid.

"There will be different needs that will come about over the course of time," she said. "And that's something we are of course committed to continuing to support their recovery from this their continued fight from this, but I can’t make an assessment about sustaining because obviously this war, and the needs, will change over the course of time"

-ABC News' Armando Tonatiuh Torres-García, Mary Bruce