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.

For previous coverage, please click here.

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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Civilians evacuated from plant have arrived safely in Zaporizhzhia: UN

Civilians, including women, children and the elderly, trapped for weeks inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant in Mariupol have arrived safely in Zaporizhzhia, according to the United Nations.

A woman evacuated from the plant told ABC News in Russian, "They bombed us every day ... at night, in the morning."

"It was horrible. It is just the complete elimination of all people," she said.

"I'm relieved to confirm that the safe passage operation from Mariupol has been successful," tweeted Osnat Lubrani, the U.N.'s resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine. "The people I travelled with told me heartbreaking stories of the hell they went through. I'm thinking about the people who remain trapped. We will do all we can to assist them."

Lubrani said 101 civilians were brought out of the plant and another 58 civilians from the Mariupol area joined the evacuation. The youngest was 6 months old, she said.

"It was moving and horrifying to sort of witness people that have been locked in darkness, living under incessant shelling, coming and seeing the sky for the first time in two months," Lubrani said at a Tuesday briefing.

Lubrani said some were too frightened to come out. She said they were in contact with about 30 civilians who chose not to leave, because they couldn't leave without going back into the city to find out the fate of their loved ones.

For others, Lubrani said, it was physically challenging to leave.

They had also lacked proper access to water, food and sanitation, she noted.

Many more people remain trapped at the plant. The sprawling industrial site is the last holdout for the Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol, as Russian forces accelerate their efforts to fully capture city. The Mariupol City Council has previously said there are at least 1,000 people, including Ukrainian troops, on the grounds of the Azovstal plant.

-ABC News' Zoe Magee and Christine Theodorou


Power outages in Lviv following missile strikes

Parts of Lviv are without power following missile strikes on Tuesday, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.

Two power substations were damaged as a result of the strikes on the western Ukrainian city, near the Polish border.

It's not clear if there are any casualties.


'He’s the main war criminal of the 21st century': Ukrainian prosecutor on Putin

Ukraine's lead prosecutor, Iryna Venediktova, said Russian President Vladimir Putin should "absolutely" be prosecuted for the war crimes she says occurred in the town of Irpin and surrounding communities.

"He’s the main war criminal of the 21st century," she said.

"We all know who started this war. And this person is Vladimir Putin," she said.

Venediktova said the first phase of the war crimes investigation in Irpin has ended. She said investigators found evidence of rape, torture and the use of banned weapons of war in the city.

-ABC News' Marcus Moore


Russia's military 'now significantly weaker,' UK says

Russia's military is "now significantly weaker, both materially and conceptually," than it had been prior to its invasion of Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.

"Recovery from this will be exacerbated by sanctions," the ministry said in an intelligence update. "This will have a lasting impact on Russia's ability to deploy conventional military force."


State Dept. reacts to train station attack

Jalina Porter, the State Department's deputy spokesperson, is responding to the Russian attack at a Ukraine train station that killed at least 50, saying, "We can no longer be surprised by the Kremlin's repugnant disregard for human life."

Five children were among those killed when Russian rockets struck the station in Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast on Friday morning, according to Ukraine's state-owned railway company. At least 100 people were injured, according to Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Russia has denied involvement in the attack, which occurred as "thousands" of civilians fleeing the Russian invasion were at the train station waiting to be taken to "safer regions of Ukraine," according to Kyrylenko.

"Civilians are killed when they stay in their homes, and they're killed when they try to leave," Porter said. "Actions like these demonstrate why Russia did not belong on the U.N. Human Rights Council, and they also reinforce the U.S. assessment that members of Russian forces are committing war crimes in Ukraine."

Porter declined to say if the department considers the train station attack a war crime, saying, "Assessing individual criminal liability in specific cases is the responsibility of courts, as well as other investigatory bodies. But as the secretary, Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken, has said, 'Those responsible for war crimes and other atrocities committed in Ukraine will be held to account.'"

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan