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

A senior defense official confirms that there is a Russian "amphibious assault" underway along the Ukrainian coast from the Sea of Azov. The attack is to the west of Mariupol, which is a coastal city in southeastern Ukraine.

"Indications are right now that they are putting potentially thousands of naval infantry ashore there," the official said. 

The push toward Kyiv is going slower than the Russians expected as they're meeting more resistance from Ukrainians than they thought, the official said.

“In general the Russians have lost a little bit of their momentum," the official said.

The official pointed out that no population centers have been taken and the Russians do not have air superiority over Ukraine as Ukrainian air defenses are still working.

The official said more than 200 ballistic and cruise missiles have been fired at targets in Ukraine, adding some have "impacted civilian residential areas."

The U.S. assesses that "a third of the combat power " of the 150,000 Russian troops that were amassed on border are actually dedicated to the fighting in Ukraine, according to the official. “They have not they have not committed the majority of their forces inside Ukraine," the official said.

Fighting is also underway at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and dam on the Dnieper River that controls a lot of electrical power to Crimea and southern Ukraine, the official said, adding that there have been cyberattacks against power plants.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler, Luis Martinez

There was an eerie quietness across Kyiv on Friday afternoon, as Russian forces closed in on the Ukrainian capital.

A senior U.S. official told ABC News that he believes the pause around Kyiv was due to the Russian military reinforcing troops and resupplying ammunition and food, and that Russia still wants a stranglehold on the city over the next 24 to 48 hours.

The official also expressed great concern about civilian causalities if Russian forces do move in. While there appeared to be a renewed effort at diplomacy on Friday, the United States believes any noise Russia makes about negotiations is simply stalling, the official said.

-ABC News' Martha Raddatz

Russia claimed Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to discuss neutrality for his country.

"Zelenskyy stated his readiness to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily call. "From the beginning, Russia's President Vladimir Putin spoke about how the goal of the operation to the [separatist regions], including a path to the demilitarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine. But that is actually also an essential component of neutral status."

Peskov added that Putin is prepared to send a delegation to neighboring Belarus to hold talks with Ukrainian officials in Minsk.

If the Kremlin's claims are true, it would amount to Zelenskyy surrendering to Russia's demand that Ukraine pledges to never join NATO.

Earlier Friday, Zelenskyy called on Putin to hold talks "to stop people dying." But he did not mention neutral status.

The comments came as Russian troops reached the center of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and engaged in fighting with Ukrainian troops.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

Russia claimed on Friday afternoon that its forces have blocked Kyiv from the west, which would begin a partial encirclement of the Ukrainian capital.

According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian forces also have completely blocked the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, about 90 miles north of Kyiv, and now have full control of a key Ukrainian military airport in Hostomel, a town on the edge of the capital. Some 200 Russian helicopters were allegedly used in the attack on the airport.

While ABC News could not independently verify Russia's claims, the Ukrainian military has acknowledged that it does not have full control of the airport in Hostomel.

The Russian Ministry of Defense alleged that Russian forces are "doing everything possible to prevent civilian casualties" and "will not deliver any strikes on residential areas of Kyiv." However, fighting is already taking place in residential areas and Ukrainian authorities said homes have been bombed in and around Kyiv.

-ABC News' Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell