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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Strike on Kramatorsk train station 'another war crime,' Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Friday's deadly missile attack on the Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine "another war crime of Russia."
"All the world's leading powers have already condemned Russia's attack on Kramatorsk," Zelenskyy said during his latest national address Friday. "We expect a firm, global response to this war crime."
The president called for the missile strike, which killed at least 50, to be among the charges in a war crimes tribunal against Russia.
"All the efforts of the world will be aimed to establish every minute: who did what, who gave orders. Where did the rocket come from, who was carrying it, who gave the order and how the strike was coordinated," Zelenskyy said. "Responsibility is inevitable."
Claims Russia not involved in train attack 'unconvincing': Pentagon
During his daily press briefing, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby was clear that the U.S. believes that Russia was behind the rocket attack on a train station in eastern Ukraine earlier Friday.
"We find unconvincing Russian claims that they weren't involved, particularly when the ministry actually announced it and then when they saw reports of civilian casualties they decided to unannounce it,” Kirby said during Friday afternoon's briefing. "So our assessment is that this was a Russian strike and they used a short-range ballistic missile to conduct it."
Kirby called it a part of the trend by Russia of "brutality" and "carelessness" in not avoiding civilian casualties as they carry out this war in Ukraine.
At least 50 people, including five children, were killed in the rocket attack in Kramatorsk, Ukrainian authorities said.
A Kremlin spokesman denied involvement in the attack, saying Russia's Armed Forces do not use the type of missile used in the strike and that no combat tasks were planned in the region.
-ABC News' Luis Martinez
EU president witnesses mass grave in Bucha
European Union President Ursula Von der Leyen was seen on camera witnessing a mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine, during a visit to the demolished city with the EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
After touring Bucha, Von der Leyen met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and handed him an envelope with a questionnaire, marking the first step toward membership in the EU. Zelenskyy said he'd have responses in one week.
Global officials have accused Russian troops of committing war crimes after graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha following the withdrawal of Russian forces.
At a press conference Thursday Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "The sickening images and accounts coming out of Bucha and other parts of Ukraine have only strengthened our collective resolve and unity."
Russia has lost 15-20% of combat power, US says
The Pentagon is "not buying" Russia's denial of responsibility for the Ukraine train station attack that killed at least 50, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday.
"They originally claimed a successful strike and then only retracted it when there were reports of civilian casualties," the official said. "It's our full expectation that this was a Russian strike -- we believe they used a short-range ballistic missile, an SS-21."
As Russian troops retreat from some Ukrainian cities, some of the Russian battalion tactical groups (or BTGs, with roughly 800-1,000 troops each) that have withdrawn back across the Belarusian and Russian borders have been essentially "eradicated" from the fighting in Ukraine, according to the senior defense official.
"There's just nothing left of the BTG except a handful of troops and maybe a small number of vehicles," the official said.
In terms of total losses -- counting troops, tanks, aircraft and missile inventory -- Russia has lost between 15-20% of the combat power it originally had arrayed against Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, according to the official.
According to the official, some of the withdrawn Russian forces are now making their way to the Russian cities of Belgorod and Valuyki, to the northwest of Donbas. But there are "no indications" that fresh troops are waiting there to join them, the official said.
For now, degraded Russian BTGs are "exploring the option of" consolidating, banding together remaining troops and supplies to form new units, the official said.
Russia is also aiming to recruit upwards of 60,000 new troops, according to the official.
After Russian BTGs rebuild, "the most likely course of action would be for them to move immediately south right into the Donbas," the official said.
The Pentagon now estimates more than 40 Russian BTGs are positioned in or near the Donbas region. The estimate was "more than 30" on Wednesday, meaning up to 10,000 more troops have arrived in recent days.
-ABC News' Matt Seyler
White House national security adviser hints at more sanctions against Russia
White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan hinted Thursday of more sanctions coming against Russia in the "next week or two" aimed at targeting ways Moscow is evading sanctions already imposed.
“Where our focus will be over the course of the coming days is on evasion,” Sullivan said Thursday at the Economic Club of Washington. “As Russia tries to adjust to the fact that it’s under this massive economic pressure, what steps do they take to try to evade our sanctions and how do we crack down on that? And I think we'll have some announcements in the next week or two that identify targets that are trying to facilitate that evasion both inside Russia and beyond."
When Sullivan was asked whether sanctions will automatically be lifted if a negotiated peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is worked out, he appeared cautious with his words, saying, “a lot of that depends on what the shape and scope” of the agreement is.
“A lot of it depends on what the Ukrainians, in consultation with us and the Europeans come to agree to," Sullivan said. "You know, we're not going to do a deal over the head of the Ukrainians where we give a bunch of sanctions relief to Russia. But if some measure of sanctions relief were built in to some credible diplomatic solution led by the Ukrainians, that's something that we would happily discuss."
But Sullivan said Russian oligarchs shouldn't expect to ever get back their yachts and other assets seized under sanctions that have been imposed, saying the ultimate goal is "not to give them back” once the war is over.
“The president is actively looking at how we can deal with the fact that as we seize these assets, our goal is not to give them back. Our goal is to put them to a better use than that," Sullivan said. "But I'll be careful in what I say today because there's an ongoing kind of policy process around how we end up dealing with that question. But, rest assured, that the goal is not just to sit on them for a while."
-ABC News' Justin Gomez