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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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."


Biden to deliver remarks on security assistance while at Javelin missile facility

President Joe Biden will head to Troy, Alabama, on Tuesday to visit a Lockheed Martin facility that manufactures weapons systems such as Javelin anti-tank missiles, which have been key in Ukraine’s defense against Russia.

Javelin missiles "are lightweight, portable, shoulder fired, anti-tank weapons system that can hit targets up to 2.5 miles away," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday. "They're highly lethal, and we've sent over 5,500 Javelin anti-armor systems to Ukraine to support the Ukrainian people's fight for freedom.”

This facility can manufacture up to 2,100 Javelins per year, Psaki said.

She said Biden will also "deliver remarks about the security assistance we are providing, highlighting the urgency of the request to Congress to pass funding quickly to help Ukraine continue to succeed against Russian aggression and to make sure that the United States and our allies can replenish our own stocks of weapons to replace what we have sent to Ukraine."

Asked if there is any concern about depleting stockpiles if the U.S. keeps up this pace of giving Javelin missiles to Ukraine, Psaki said the Department of Defense ensures that the U.S. maintains enough to defend itself.

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez


Russians leaving Mariupol, progress in Donbas 'minimal at best': US

Russia's progress in Ukraine's Donbas region remains "minimal at best," with troops slowed by morale problems, supply issues and risk aversion in combat, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday.

"They are not making the progress that they had scheduled to make, that progress is uneven and incremental," the official said.

The official added, "That's not just because of Russian planning or lack of logistics -- a lot of it is because the Ukrainians have really been resisting quite well."

And Russia's gains, particularly east of Izium and in the city of Popasna in eastern Ukraine, have been fleeting, the official said.

"What we saw there in Popasna is not unlike what we've seen in other hamlets in the Donbas -- they'll move in and then declare victory, and then withdraw their troops only to let the Ukrainians take it back. So there was a lot of back and forth over the last couple of days," the official said.

Russian troops have also been leaving the Mariupol area to push north and northwest in recent days, according to the official.

"Largely the efforts around Mariupol for the Russians are now in the realm of airstrikes," the official said.

Russia is likely pushing these troops north as part of its plan to encircle and trap Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region, according to the official.

More Ukrainian troops are completing training on the U.S.-made M777 howitzer system at multiple sites outside of Ukraine, according to the official. Ukrainians have also completed training on the Phoenix Ghost drone system.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler


Top Russian general visited Donbas last week: US

Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, spent several days in Ukraine's Donbas region last week, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Monday.

The U.S. believes Gerasimov is now back in Russia, the official said.

The official couldn't confirm whether the general was targeted by Ukrainian forces during his visit and said the purpose of his trip is not clear to U.S. officials.

"It's certainly possible that his trip was a manner of oversight and trying to gauge for himself what was going on in the Donbas. But what he came away with, what he learned, what he transmitted to his commanders, if anything, we just don't know," the official said.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler


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