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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
May 11, 2022, 4:40 PM EDT

State Dept. maintains Putin still has 'straightforward' path to peace

Despite President Joe Biden saying Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't have a "way out," State Department spokesperson Ned Price insisted the U.S. is providing the Kremlin with a "very simple" and "straightforward" exit strategy through genuine diplomacy.

"The State Department, this administration, provided an off ramp well before President Putin decided to launch this war against Ukraine … it has not closed," Price said.

Debris flies from an explosion at a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine May 11, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

The problem, Price said, was that Russia continues to show no interest in that route.

Price repeated that one area where the U.S. was not willing to give over any ground was the potential expansion of the NATO alliance.

"NATO's open door means an open door. That is important to us and it is nonnegotiable," he insisted.

-ABC News' Shannon Crawford

May 11, 2022, 4:36 PM EDT

Biden: 'American agriculture imports will make up for the gap in Ukrainian supplies'

President Joe Biden said the war in Ukraine is an opportunity for American farmers to step in to address shortages caused by the invasion.

"We can make sure the American agriculture imports will make up for the gap in Ukrainian supplies," Biden told a group at a farm in Illinois on Wednesday.

Biden said to the farmers, "With Putin's war in Ukraine, you're like the backbone of freedom."

Internally displaced people who were evacuated from the east of the country line up to receive food donations at the Catholic Church of Saint Joseph in Dnipro, Ukraine, May 3, 2022.
Jorge Silva/Reuters

Ukrainians wait at a food distribution event organised by the Red Cross in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Monday, April 18, 2022.
Emilio Morenatti/AP

The president pointed the finger at Russia for preventing Ukraine from shipping wheat to the rest of the world.

Biden noted: “Ukraine was the world's largest producer of wheat and corn and cooking oil -- but wheat, the largest. … Ukraine says they have 20 million tons of grain in their silos right now ... because of what the Russians are doing in the Black Sea, Putin has warships, battleships preventing access to the Ukrainian ports to get this grain out, to get this wheat out."

“The brutal war launched on Ukrainian soil has prevented Ukrainian farmers from planting next year's crop and next year's harvest,” he added.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson

May 11, 2022, 4:08 PM EDT

1 dead, 6 hurt in bombardments in Russia's Belgorod region

One person has been killed and six others are injured from shelling in the Solokhi village in Belgorod, Russia, according to Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. A 14-year-old boy is among the injured, the governor said.

This area is less than 7 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border.

Gladkov said the shelling originated from Ukraine's side of the border and that this was the most serious incident since Ukrainian forces began firing on the region. Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed that Ukrainian forces are firing on Russia's side of the border.

May 11, 2022, 3:04 PM EDT

UK signs new security pacts with Sweden, Finland

As Sweden and Finland consider NATO memberships, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed new security pacts with the leaders of both nations on Wednesday, ensuring the U.K. could give military support even if the countries are not NATO members.

Johnson said the invasion of Ukraine "sadly" opened a new chapter.

"Our armed forces will train, operate and exercise together -- marrying our defense and security capabilities and formalizing a pledge that we will always come to one another’s aid," he said at a news conference.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

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