Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin says war was ‘unleashed’ on Russia

The Russian president delivered his annual Victory Day speech.

More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's forces are readying a spring counteroffensive, but Putin appears to be preparing for a long and bloody war.

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Finland set to join NATO in 'coming days,' Stoltenberg says

Finland will formally join NATO in the "coming days," after the country was able to clear its final hurdle, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

"Their membership will make Finland safer and NATO stronger. Finland has highly capable forces, advanced capabilities and strong democratic institutions. So Finland will bring a lot to our alliance," Stoltenberg said in a statement Friday.

Turkey was the last of the 30 NATO allies to approve Finland's bid to join the alliance.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky


6 missiles fired at Kharkiv

Russia just struck Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine with multiple missiles, Ukrainian officials said Thursday night.

Local officials in Kharkiv said Russia fired six Soviet-era S-300 surface-to-air missiles.

ABC News reporters heard explosions outside the city center and saw Ukrainian air defense active just before and during the attacks.

There are currently no reports of casualties or damage to infrastructure as a result of the strikes in Ukraine's second-largest city.

There are also reports of Russian strikes in the Dnipro region.

-ABC News' Tom Soufi Burridge


Russia to enlist 147,000 soldiers in April

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday ordering a spring conscription. Russia will call up 147,000 people to join the Russian Armed Forces from April 1 to April 15.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky


Russia preparing to start another soldier recruitment, UK says

Russian media reporting suggests authorities are preparing to start a major military recruitment aiming to sign up an additional 400,000 troops, the United Kingdom's Defense Ministry assessed.

Russia is presenting the campaign as a drive for volunteer, professional personnel, rather than a new, mandatory mobilization. There is a realistic possibility that in practice this distinction will be blurred, and that regional authorities will try to meet their allocated recruitment targets by coercing men to join up, UK officials said.

Russian authorities have likely selected a supposedly ‘volunteer model’ to meet their personnel shortfall in order to minimize domestic dissent. It is highly unlikely that the campaign will attract 400,000 genuine volunteers, according to UK officials.

However, rebuilding Russia’s combat power in Ukraine will require more than just personnel; Russia needs more munitions and military equipment supplies than it currently has available, UK officials said.


225 Russians killed in last 24 hours in Bakhmut

Ukrainian forces have killed 225 Russian fighters and injured another 306 in the past 24 hours in the Bakhmut area, according to Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesman for the Eastern Group of Forces of the Ukraine army.

Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a brutal battle for the city in eastern Ukraine for months, with both sides seeing high rates of casualties.

Cherevaty said that in the last day, the occupiers in the area of Bakhmut and nearby villages -- including Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Bohdanivka and Ivanivskoho -- tried to attack Ukrainian positions 42 times. There were 24 combat clashes in the Bakhmut area alone.

In total, in the Bakhmut direction, the occupiers shelled Ukrainian positions 256 times with various types of artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, Cherevaty said. Of them, 53 shellings were in the area of Bakhmut itself.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky