Russia-Ukraine updates: US to ban Russian carriers from its airspace

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, as their countries continue to hold massive joint military exercises that Western countries fear could be used to cover up preparations for a possible invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

While Russia and Belarus have said that Russian troops will leave after the drills conclude Sunday, the United States remains concerned they may stay.

Earlier this week, Lukashenko indicated that he and Putin would decide at their meeting Friday how long Russian troops would stay in Belarus. Video released by Belarusian state media showed the authoritarian leader arriving at Moscow's airport Friday morning.

Russia has moved an unprecedented number of troops into Belarus as part of its wider military build-up near Ukraine. There is an estimated 30,000 Russian troops in Belarus, which is only a few hours drive north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Concerns have been heightened because Russia has moved most of the troops from its Eastern Military District in Russia's Far East, some 6,000 miles away. Among them are many units required for an offensive, including long range artillery, fighter bombers, attack helicopters and airborne troops.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

President Joe Biden will host a closed-door meeting on Ukraine Friday with several U.S. allies, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office.

The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the UK, the EU and NATO will participate in the meeting, Trudeau's office said while sharing the prime minister's Friday iterinary.

A White House official confirmed to ABC News that Biden will have a phone call Friday afternoon with transatlantic leaders "about Russia's buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine and our continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy.”

Also on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and hold a meeting with the leaders of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as she travels to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, the White House said.

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution Thursday affirming its support for Ukraine.

The resolution denounced Russian troop buildups on the border and urged President Joe Biden to act if Russia were to invade Ukraine. "[The] United States Government should use the tools at its disposal to impose significant costs on the Russian Federation to restore peace in Europe," it stated.

The non-binding "sense of the Senate" resolution conveys the sentiment of senators, but it does not mandate any action. 

The resolution, which passed by voice vote with bipartisan support, follows a bipartisan statement from Senate leaders Tuesday that said "Russia must be made to pay a severe price" in the event of invasion. 

The Senate departed for a weeklong recess Thursday night without approving a Russian sanctions package, which was the initial aim of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez and Ranking Member Jim Risch. 

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Tensions around the Russian-controlled separatist areas in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region remained high on Thursday night, with reports of more shelling.

Sporadic firing from the separatist side continued to hit the Ukrainian government-controlled village of Stanytsia Luhanska, setting two homes on fire, local police told ABC News. Earlier Thursday, separatist shelling struck a kindergarten in the village, injuring two teachers.

The escalation comes amid concerns from Western officials that Russia and its separatist proxies may be laying the groundwork for a pretext for a possible Russian intervention by accusing Ukraine of preparing to launch an offensive.

Valery Zaluzhny, the head of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, warned in a statement Thursday night that the military has information the separatist forces are planning to evacuate several villages near the front line, possibly ahead of a planned escalation in firing.

Zaluzhny also accused the Russian-backed forces of firing deliberately onto civilian infrastructure and accused Russia and the separatists of using propaganda and disinformation to claim Ukraine is shelling civilians.

He said Ukraine is not planning any offensive operations and is observing a ceasefire.

There was dramatically more shelling Thursday than usual, according to monitoring by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Ukraine accused the separatists of violating the ceasefire 47 times, including mainly using large-caliber weapons banned from the front line. 

Russian officials continued to claim Thursday that some Russian forces are returning to their home bases and accused the U.S., along with the U.K., Canada and the Baltic nations, of using claims of Russian aggression as a pretext to arm Ukraine.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell and Fidel Pavlenko