Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymr Zelenskyy, are putting up "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24 as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation."
Russians moving from Belarus towards Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, don't appear to have advanced closer towards the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the U.S., Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting Russia's economy and Putin himself.
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 17, 2022, 7:34 AM EST
Lukashenko: Russian troops will stay in Belarus 'as long as necessary'
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russian troops will be in his country for "as long as necessary."
"As long as necessary, the Russian Armed Forces will be here. This is our land, our territory," Lukashenko told Belarusian state media. "We are working here, studying and will continue to study."
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends the "Allied Resolve" military exercises held by the armed forces of Russia and Belarus at the Osipovichsky training ground in the Mogilev region, Belarus, on Feb. 17, 2022.
Sergei Sheleg/BelTA/Handout via Reuters
Further joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus will be discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, according to Lukashenko.
The Belarusian leader has said that any decision on recognizing the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics in a breakaway region of southeastern Ukraine known as Donbas will be made jointly with Russia. He added that this decision will be mutually beneficial.
This handout video grab taken and released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Feb. 16, 2022, shows Su-30SM fighter jets during joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus at a firing range near Brest, southwest Belarus.
Russian Ministry of Defense/AFP via Getty Images
Lukashenko has also noted that, in his view, if neighboring Ukraine had wanted to end the conflict with the Russian-backed separatists in Donbas, it would have already done so.
-ABC News' Tanya Stukalova
Feb 17, 2022, 6:25 AM EST
Russia to respond to US on NATO security guarantees
Russia will soon formally respond to the written answers that the United States sent earlier to Moscow's demands for security guarantees that NATO not enlarge, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday
The U.S. government, at Russia's insistence, sent written responses to two draft treaties the Kremlin published demanding guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the military alliance pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. Washington rejected those guarantees as non-starters but offered to discuss some confidence-building measures.
Lavrov was quoted by Russian state media on Thursday as saying that Moscow is planning to send its formal response "today" and that it will be published "several hours after."
However, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters Moscow was "still working on" its response and that the reply would not be sent Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his government will continue to insist on discussing its key demands alongside any of the other issues.
-ABC News' Patrick Reevell and Tanya Stukalova
Feb 17, 2022, 5:50 AM EST
Ukraine accuses Russia-backed separatists of shelling kindergarten
Ukraine accused Russia-backed separatist forces of shelling a village controlled by Ukrainian government troops and hitting a school there early Thursday.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine said separatists fired upon the southeastern village of Stanytsia Luhanska. The head of the community's local administration confirmed to ABC News that they were under heavy fire on Thursday morning.
The firing has since ceased, the official told ABC News.
This handout photo released by the Press Service of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation on Feb. 17, 2022, shows the interior view of a kindergarten, which the Ukrainian military said was damaged by shelling, in Stanytsia Luhanska, Luhansk region.
Press Service of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation/Handout via Reuters
Footage released by Ukrainian media shows a hole blown in the wall of a kindergarten. Meanwhile, pro-Russian accounts on social media posted the footage without context, suggesting it was in a separatist-held area and calling it fake.
Russia-backed separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine have accused the Ukrainian military of a major escalation and of preparing for a full-scale offensive. The reports are headline news in most Russian media.
-ABC News' Yuliya Drozd and Patrick Reevell
Feb 17, 2022, 5:35 AM EST
Russia-backed separatists claim 'large-scale' shelling in Ukraine
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine claimed a significant deterioration along the front line with Ukrainian government forces on Thursday, accusing Ukraine of launching "large-scale" shelling of civilian areas in the breakaway regions.
Fears that Russia might use such claims as a pretext to launch an invasion remain high, with Thursday's allegations out of the ordinary. The Ukrainian government has denied any intention to launch an offensive on the separatist-held areas.
A serviceman of the Ukrainian military walks along a trench on his position on the front line with Russia-backed separatists not far from Novolugansk, Donetsk region, on Feb. 16, 2022.
Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images
Local authorities in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, in an area of southeastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, accused Ukrainian government forces of shelling nine population centers, using large caliber mortars that are banned by a ceasefire.
The separatists' military forces issued "emergency statements" Thursday alleging that "the situation along the line of contact has substantially worsened" in recent days. Rodion Leshchenko, a political advisor to the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, accused Ukraine of launching a "massive provocation," allegedly firing 200 times into Donbas.
A serviceman of the Ukrainian military looks through a spyglass on his position on the front line with Russia-backed separatists not far from Novolugansk, Donetsk region, on February 16, 2022.
Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the claims Thursday, telling reporters "it's absolutely clear that the situation is escalating."
"We hear over the course of the last several days reports that, in short, Russia is maintaining huge offensive potential on the border. But we're talking about our own territory," Peskov said. "But no one, not one Western representative is talking about the huge offensive potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the contact line."
For the past few weeks, Russian propaganda and the separatists in Donbas have been laying the groundwork to accuse Ukraine of launching an offensive, claiming that the Ukrainian government has been massing its forces and also alleging to have found evidence of atrocities. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that he believes "genocide" has occurred in Ukraine.
