Russia-Ukraine updates: 2 US veterans who joined Ukrainian forces missing

The Americans, Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh and Alexander Drueke, are both from Alabama.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine's disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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Two Men at War
Two Men at War
A look at the two leaders at the center of the war in Ukraine and how they both rose to power, the difference in their leadership and what led to this moment in history.
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Slow Russian progress in Donbas, more training for Ukrainians on US weapons

There are now 92 operational Russian battalion tactical groups -- each made up of about 700 to 1,000 troops -- inside Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.

Russia continues to suffer logistical problems, as it has since early in the invasion. This, on top of the Ukrainian defense, is slowing their progress.

"They're only able to sustain several kilometers or so progress on any given day just because they don't want to run out too far ahead of their logistics and sustainment lines," the official said.

The official added, "We would assess that Russian forces are making slow and uneven, and frankly, we would describe it as incremental progress, in the Donbas."

More than 54 of the 90 howitzers the U.S. is sending Ukraine have arrived in the country, the official said.

The first batch of 50 Ukrainians taken out of the country for training on U.S. artillery systems is back in Ukraine, where they can teach others what they've learned, the official said. A second group of 50 Ukrainians has begun its six days of training, the official said.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler


Biden asking Congress for $33 billion in supplemental aid for Ukraine over the next 5 months

President Joe Biden is asking Congress for a total of $33 billion in supplemental aid for Ukraine over the next five months, administration officials previewed in a Thursday morning call ahead of the president's remarks.

Over $20 billion of the $33 billion will be for military and other security systems.

"The cost of this fight is not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly," Biden said in remarks later in the morning.

Biden stressed, "We're not attacking Russia -- we're helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression."

The administration is also asking for an additional $8.5 billion in economic assistance to help provide basic services to the Ukrainian people.

Part of the package also includes targeted funding to address economic disruptions in the U.S. as a result of the war in Ukraine, like helping increase U.S. production of wheat and soybeans, "and funding to allow the use of the Defense Production Act to expand domestic production of critical reserves - of reserves of critical minerals and materials that have been disrupted by Putin’s war and are necessary to make everything from defense systems to cars," a senior administration official said.

Biden insisted that, despite Russia's claims, the U.S. is not fighting a proxy war.

"It shows the desperation that Russia is feeling about their abject failure in being able to do what they set out to do in the first instance," Biden said.

-ABC News' Justin Gomez and Armando Tonatiuh Torres-García


Russia retains ability to strike Ukrainian coastal targets, UK says

The Russian Navy still has the ability to strike coastal targets in Ukraine, even after the "embarrassing losses" of two warships, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

In an intelligence update posted Thursday, the ministry said approximately 20 Russian naval vessels, including submarines, are currently in the "Black Sea operational zone." But the ministry said Russia isn't able to replace the missile cruiser Moskva because the Bosphorus strait remains closed to all non-Turkish warships.

The Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, sunk in the Black Sea earlier this month while being towed to port after a fire onboard, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Ukrainian officials, however, claimed that ship was struck by Ukrainian missiles, which the Russian defense ministry has denied.

Russia also lost the landing ship Saratov, which was destroyed by explosions and fire on March 24.


Separatist forces arrest over 100 captured Ukrainian troops in Donetsk

Russia-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast claimed Thursday that they have arrested more than 100 captured Ukrainian troops suspected of being involved in "crimes."

"Facts of involvement in crimes have been brought to light following investigators' works. There are already more than 100 people who have been arrested by investigators," Yury Sirovatko, justice minister of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, told Russian state-owned television channel Rossiya 24 on Thursday. "They have already been transported to a remand center, where they will await a decision on their fate and a court ruling."

Sirovatko did not elaborate on what types of crimes were allegedly committed. Ukraine did not immediately respond to the claims.

On Wednesday, Sirovatko told Channel One, a Russian state-controlled TV channel, that there are about 2,600 captured Ukrainian servicemen in the region.


Journalist killed by Russian bombardment in Kyiv

At least one person -- a journalist -- was killed in a rocket attack on a residential building in Kyiv on Thursday evening, ABC News has learned.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Kilitschko said Friday that rescuers had found the body of a victim amid the rubble.

Radio Liberty, a service of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, reported that one of its employees, Vira Gyrych, was killed when a Russian missile hit her apartment in the Ukrainian capital on Thursday. Her body was found beneath the wreckage Friday morning, according to the report.

Gyrych had worked as a journalist and producer for Radio Liberty's Kyiv bureau since 2018. Prior to that, she worked for leading Ukrainian television channels, according to Radio Liberty.

"The editorial staff of Radio Liberty expresses its condolences to the family of Vira Gyrych and will remember her as a bright and kind person, a true professional," Radio Liberty said in its report.

Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky also confirmed Gyrych's death in a Twitter post, saying she was a former employee of the Israeli embassy in Kyiv.

Thursday's rocket attack came as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Kyiv. Five Russian missiles flew into the city, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. At least 10 people were injured, including four who were hospitalized, according to the Kyiv City Council.