Russia claimed Thursday that its forces have seized the eastern Ukrainian city of Balakliya.

Russian troops worked together with Russia-backed separatist forces on the "successful offensive," according to Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

"The city of Balakliya has been freed from nationalist battalions," Konashenkov said at a press briefing Thursday.

Balakliya is about 55 miles southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, where heavy shelling continued Thursday.

-ABC News' Tanya Stukalova

The U.S. State Department is condemning Moscow's attack on the media, saying the Kremlin "is engaged in a full assault on media freedom and the truth, and Moscow’s efforts to mislead and suppress the truth of the brutal invasion are intensifying."

"The people of Russia did not choose this war. Putin did," Ned Price, State Department spokesman, said in a statement. "They have a right to know about the death, suffering and destruction being inflicted by their government on the people of Ukraine. The people of Russia also have a right to know about the human costs of this senseless war to their own soldiers."

The statement comes 24 hours after the Russian government blocked the country's only two major independent news broadcasters, Dozhd TV and Radio Ekho Moskvy, accusing them of spreading "false information" about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

"Ekho Moskvy has been respected for its even-handed treatment of breaking news since its founding 32 years ago, and, until yesterday, its broadcasts reached some 1.8 million daily listeners throughout Russia and beyond," the State Department said in a statement Wednesday night. "Dozhd, which has been operating for more than a decade, is similarly known for high-quality reporting."

Russian state channels, such as RT and Sputnik, are banned from using the word "war" or "invasion" in relation to Russia's assault on Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin instead has referred to it as a "special military operation."

The State Department said the Russian Parliament will consider a bill Friday to make "unofficial" reporting on the invasion punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan and Patrick Reevell

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan resolution Wednesday that expresses support for the people of Ukraine.

“The camera of history is rolling on all of us today,” Rep. Gregory Meeks, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a House floor debate.

The resolution, which does not carry the force of the law and is largely symbolic, states that the House "stands steadfastly, staunchly, proudly, and fervently behind the Ukrainian people in their fight against the authoritarian Putin regime."

It also calls for the U.S. and its allies "to deliver additional and immediate defensive security assistance" to Ukraine, and that America "will never recognize or support any illegitimate Russian-controlled leader or government installed through the use of force."

The vote was nearly unanimous, 426-3. Three House Republicans voted against the resolution: Reps. Thomas Massie, Matt Rosendale and Paul Gosar.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger called his Republican colleagues out on Twitter, saying their no vote was "unreal."

Gosar replied: "Talk to me when our border is secure."

Massie explained his vote on Twitter, saying that he thought the resolution was overly broad and that targeting Russia's economy could backfire and cause and further economic stress for low-income Americans.

Rosendale has previously argued that the U.S. has no moral obligation to help either side in the conflict.

-ABC News' Mariam Khan

The U.S.'s latest sanctions will likely not have much of an immediate effect but will impact Russia's economy in the long-term, experts told ABC News.

With new sanctions on additional entities linked to the Russian defense sector -- and by focusing on the long-term capability of Russia’s oil and gas sector -- the U.S. is “continuing to keep tightening the ratchet” on Russia, Emily Kilcrease, a former U.S. trade official, told ABC News.

Extending the strict export controls that the U.S. imposed on Russia to Belarus -- meaning Belarus also won’t be able to import technology like semiconductors with any U.S-developed components -- sends "a very clear signal that any country that supports Russia is going to be subject to really harsh responses,” Kilcrease, a senior fellow with the Center for a New American Security, said.

Going after oligarchs -- whose assets the Justice Department created a task force to seize -- will have a “psychological” effect on the Russian elite, creating a “feeling of being closed out of the developed world,” Eliot Cohen, a former senior State and Defense Department official who is now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told ABC News.

The U.S. and Europe have yet to block all imports of Russian oil and gas. Energy expert Ben Cahill said Russia’s energy sector is already feeling "de facto sanctions," with companies reluctant to do business there "because of the fear factor."

Fully sanctioning Russia’s oil and gas exports would "be a much, much bigger scale, the price impact would be dramatic, and it would lead to a scramble around the world for alternative supplies," said Cahill, who is also with CSIS.

The world just doesn’t have enough oil and gas to make up the difference, he said.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson