Feb 24, 2022, 10:19 AM EST
Biden expected to announce new sanctions at 12:30
President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak at 12:30 p.m. ET, when he's expected to announce new sanctions against Russia, the White House said.
-ABC News' Mary Bruce
Russia-Ukraine updates: US to ban Russian carriers from its airspace
Biden will announce the news in his State of the Union address, a source said.
ByMorgan Winsor, Libby Cathey, Meredith Deliso, Nadine El-Bawab, Emily Shapiro, Julia Jacobo, Ivan Pereira, Mark Osborne, Celia Darrough, Kevin Shalvey, and Bill Hutchinson
Last Updated: March 22, 2022, 4:04 AM EDT
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.
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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 24, 2022, 10:09 AM EST
Russian forces enter Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukrainian official says
Ukraine's deputy interior minister, Anton Gerashchenko, warned on Thursday afternoon that Russian and Belarusian troops have entered the deserted exclusion zone around the Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, located about 60 miles north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
In a statement posted on his official Facebook page, Gerashchenko said Ukrainian forces are putting up an intense resistance. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone begins almost immediately below Ukraine's border with Belarus.
Gleb Garanich/Reuters
Gerashchenko expressed concerns that artillery could hit the reactor if fighting were to approach it, causing radioactive nuclear dust to spread over the region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces "are trying to seize" the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
"Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated," Zelenskyy said in a post on his official Twitter account Thursday. "This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe."
-ABC News' Patrick Reevell
Feb 24, 2022, 10:04 AM EST
Russia claims it's destroyed 74 Ukrainian military facilities
Russian airstrikes have destroyed 74 ground targets belonging to the Ukrainian military thus far, including 11 airfields, three command centers and a naval base, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said Thursday.
Some 18 radio-locating stations for anti-aircraft missile systems were also destroyed, according to Konashenkov.
Reuters Tv/Reuters
However, Konashenkov noted that the strikes are not being carried out against social facilities at Ukrainian military garrisons, such as homes, residential buildings and barracks, in order to avoid casualties among servicemen and their families.
Meanwhile, he said a Russian assault aircraft crashed due to a "pilot error" in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region.
Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images
"The pilot safely ejected and is at his military garrison now," Konashenkov added.
Pro-Russian separatist militias in Donbas continue a counteroffensive on the Ukrainian Armed Forces with fire support from the Russian army, according to Konashenkov.
-ABC News' Tanya Stukalova
Feb 24, 2022, 9:08 AM EST
Biden convenes National Security Council
U.S. President Joe Biden met with the National Security Council on Thursday morning in the Situation Room to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine, according to a White House official.
Biden was already scheduled this week to participate in a virtual meeting of the G-7 leaders to discuss the ongoing situation as well as priorities of the German G-7 presidency year.
The White House
In the early afternoon Thursday, Biden will address the nation directly on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and announce "further consequences" that the United States and its allies will impose on Russia "for its unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine," according to the White House.
