U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin convened the second monthly meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group Monday morning, during which more than 40 nations participated virtually.

"This gathering is virtual, but our efforts together are making a very concrete difference on the battlefield," Austin told the group as he faced two large monitors showing the virtual participants. "We're all here today because of the extraordinary valor and resilience of Ukraine soldiers and citizens."

The group was formed last month to help coordinate international efforts to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invaders.

"For three months, Ukraine has been fighting with grit and tactical ingenuity against an entirely unprovoked invasion by its far larger neighbor," Austin said. "And we're here to help Ukraine for the long haul."

Defense leaders from 44 countries and representatives of NATO and the European Union participated in the meeting. Several new nations joined the group since its first meeting, including Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Ireland and Kosovo.

Ukrainian officials, including Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov, also logged on to the virtual meeting.

"My friends, we've got your back -- all of us," Austin told the Ukrainian representatives. "President Zelenskyy and Ukraine's leaders have made history, and your forces have inspired the free world with their courage and skill."

-ABC News' Matt Seyler

Starbucks announced on Monday its decision to exit the market in Russia.

"We continue to watch the tragic events unfold and, today, we have decided to suspend all business activity in Russia, including shipment of all Starbucks products," Starbuck CEO Kevin Johnson said in a statement. "Our licensed partner has agreed to immediately pause store operations and will provide support to the nearly 2,000 partners in Russia who depend on Starbucks for their livelihood."

The announcement comes after the company suspended all business activity in Russia on March 8. Going forward, Starbucks said it will continue to pay its employees in Russia for six months.

Starbucks is one of multiple major U.S. and international companies that have put operations on hold in Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine. Other companies that have suspended operations there include Pfizer, Apple, FedEx, McDonald's and Amazon.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

A Ukrainian court in Kyiv sentenced a 21-year-old Russian soldier to life in prison in the first war crimes trial since Russia’s invasion began in February.

Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin pleaded guilty and confessed in court last week to killing a 62-year-old Ukrainian man a few days into the Russian invasion.

During the trial, the widow of the man Shishimarin killed testified that her husband meant everything to her and said she believes the Russian soldier deserves life in prison.

However, the widow said she would support exchanging Shishimarin for any of the Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner this month by Russia at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine.

"I feel very sorry for him," the widow testified. "But for a crime like that I can't forgive him."

-ABC News' Guy Davies

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke Monday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, calling on the West to recognize as a mistake the refusal to impose preventive sanctions on Russia and take decisive steps in that direction.

"We must not react, but act preventively," Zelenskyy told the forum in a virtual address. "And not only adapt what we have to the new realities, but create new tools. ... Do not wait for fatal shots. Do not wait for Russia to use chemical, biological or, heaven forbid, nuclear weapons. Do not give the aggressor the impression that the world allegedly will not offer sufficient resistance. Protect immediately to the maximum freedom and a normal, useful world order."

Zelenskyy said there are still no such sanctions against the Russian Federation, and listed them:

- Complete embargo on Russian oil.
- Complete blocking of all Russian banks.
- Complete rejection of the Russian IT sector.
- And complete cessation of trade with the aggressor.

Zelenskyy also called for freezing and confiscating Russian assets around the world and sending them to a special fund to pay compensation and restore Ukraine.

"There should be a precedent for punishing the aggressor. ... Russian assets scattered across different jurisdictions should be found, arrested or frozen, and then confiscated and sent to a special fund, from which all victims should receive compensation," Zelenskyy said.

He warned it will not be easy, but added that various aggressors will definitely not be motivated to do what Russia has done and continues to do in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said he believes the world is at a turning point and that the future of not only Ukraine, but the whole world, depends on the resistance to brutal force.

“This year, the words 'turning point' are not just a rhetorical figure of the speech," Zelenskyy said. "Now is really such a moment when it is decided whether brutal force will dominate the world. If it dominates, then our thoughts are not interesting to it, and we can no longer gather in Davos. For what? Brutal force is looking for nothing but subjugation of those whom it wants to subdue, and it does not debate, but kills immediately, as Russia is doing in Ukraine right now -- at this time when we are talking to you."

-ABC News' Guy Davies

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