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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12-year-old boy among 4 civilians killed by Russian shelling in Kharkiv region

Russian shelling in eastern Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast over the past 24 hours left four civilians dead, the regional governor said Wednesday.

A woman was killed in the village of Zolochev, while a 12-year-old boy died in the village of Ivanivka, northwest of Kharkiv city. Two more people were killed in the village of Shestakove, northeast of Kharkiv city. Seven other civilians were injured in the region, according to Kharkiv Oblast Gov. Oleg Synegubov.

"The enemy is acting insidiously, striking at civilians and civilian infrastructure," Synegubov said in a statement via Telegram. "But he will answer for all his crimes! Ukraine will win!"


Russia now occupies over half of key city in Ukraine's east

Over half of Sieverodonetsk is now likely occupied by Russian forces, including Chechen fighters, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Wednesday in an intelligence update.

The ministry said fighting intensified in the streets of the key eastern Ukrainian city on Monday and Tuesday, "with Russian forces pushing closer to the town centre." Sieverodonetsk is located in the war-torn Luhansk Oblast of eastern Ukraine's disputed Donbas region.

"Russian ground operations remain tightly focused, with the weight of fire power concentrated within a small sector of Luhansk Oblast," the ministry said.

"Beyond the Donbas, Russia continues to conduct long-range missile strikes against infrastructure across Ukraine," the ministry added. "The strategically important bridge links Ukraine with Romania and with Ukraine's ports on the Danube, which have become critical to Ukrainian exports after the blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports by Russia."


US sending Ukraine 'more advanced' rocket systems, Biden says in op-ed

The U.S. will provide Ukraine with "more advanced rocket systems and munitions," President Joe Biden confirmed in a New York Times op-ed published Tuesday.

The systems "will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine," he wrote.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned last week that providing more advanced rockets would be a new "unacceptable escalation" because they could hypothetically be used to strike within Russian territory.

But Biden told reporters Monday that the U.S. will not "send to Ukraine rocket systems that can strike into Russia," and he and the administration are making efforts to emphasize that these new rocket systems will be used by the Ukrainians on the battlefield in their own country.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan


5.2 million kids need humanitarian help

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has left 5.2 million kids in need of humanitarian help, according to UNICEF.

At least 262 children have been killed and another 415 have been hurt since Feb. 24, UNICEF said.

Nearly two-thirds have been displaced, UNICEF said.


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