Russia-Ukraine updates: 2 US veterans who joined Ukrainian forces missing

The Americans, Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh and Alexander Drueke, are both from Alabama.

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Meredith Deliso, Nadine El-Bawab, Ivan Pereira, Bill Hutchinson, and Kevin Shalvey
Last Updated: July 4, 2022, 10:37 AM EDT

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine's disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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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.

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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
May 01, 2022, 4:24 AM EDT

Pelosi vows US support 'till this fight is over'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this weekend told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that additional U.S. support "is on the way."

"We are here to say to you that we are with you till this fight is over," Pelosi said during their meeting in Kyiv, according to a video released by her office on Sunday.

Pelosi, who traveled with a congressional delegation, is the highest-level U.S. official to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. Her delegation’s trip was previously unannounced.

"Our delegation traveled to Kyiv to send an unmistakable and resounding message to the entire world: America stands firmly with Ukraine,” Pelosi said in a statement after the meeting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomes U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 30, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters

“When we return to the United States, we will do so further informed, deeply inspired and ready to do what is needed to help the Ukrainian people as they defend democracy for their nation and for the world,” Pelosi said.

May 01, 2022, 2:26 AM EDT

Pelosi meets Zelenskyy in Kyiv

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of representatives to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in war-torn Kyiv.

“We believe that we are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom,” Pelosi said in a video posted by Zelenskyy on social media early Sunday morning.

Apr 30, 2022, 3:02 PM EDT

Angelina Jolie visits refugees in Ukraine

Actress Angelina Jolie visited Lviv, Ukraine, on Saturday, meeting with officials and posing for photos with children at a railway station.

Jolie is a special envoy for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. More than 12 million people have fled their homes in Ukraine and more than 5 million have fled to neighboring countries, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday.

The Lviv Regional State Administration shared photos of Jolie being informed about the situation in the area as did several residents of the city, including those at a bakery, Lviv Croissants, where the actress stopped.

PHOTO: In this image provided by the Lviv city hall Angelina Jolie, Hollywood movie star and UNHCR goodwill ambassador, poses for photo with kids in Lviv, Ukraine, Saturday, Apr. 30, 2022.
In this image provided by the Lviv city hall Angelina Jolie, Hollywood movie star and UNHCR goodwill ambassador, poses for photo with kids in Lviv, Ukraine, Saturday, Apr. 30, 2022. Jolie was in Ukraine to meet the children affected by the war and visited hospitals and NGOs helping the injured and displaced.
Maksym Kozutsky/Lviv City Hall via AP
U.S. actor and UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie gets a selfie taken with a volunteer as she visits Lviv's main railway station, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, April 30, 2022, in this handout image.
Ukrzaliznytsia/Handout via Reuters
Angelina Jolie, Hollywood movie star and UNHCR goodwill ambassador, poses for photo with her fans in Lviv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022.
Eduard Tomilchenko/AP
U.S. actor and UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie poses with Andriy Galickiy, founder of Lviv Croissants, during her visit to Lviv, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, April 30, 2022, in this handout image.
Andriy Galickiy/Handout via Reuters

Apr 30, 2022, 8:26 AM EDT

7,000 disappearances reported since the war began, Ukraine says

In just two months, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have received over 7,000 reports of disappearances. About half of them were found, according to Mary Akopyan, Ukraine's deputy minister of internal affairs.

The number of people in Ukraine who have disappeared due to the war is unprecedented in modern world history, Hakobyan claimed in a meeting with a delegation of the International Commission on Missing Persons, an intergovernmental organization that addresses the issue of missing persons as a result of armed conflict, human rights violations and natural disasters.

The government received 2,000 unrecognizable bodies, 1,282 of which were later identified, according to the ministry.

An ICMP group of specialists will be arriving in Kyiv in a few weeks to provide help in identifying victims, according to the ministry.

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian

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