Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin says 'certain positive movements' in negotiations

A third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine ended without any resolution.

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Julia Jacobo, Nadine El-Bawab, Meredith Deliso, Ivan Pereira, Kevin Shalvey, Bill Hutchinson, and Celia Darrough
Last Updated: March 22, 2022, 10:04 AM EDT

Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation."

Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.

Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.

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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 03, 2022, 7:43 AM EST

1 million refugees have fled Ukraine in a week: UNHCR

More than 1 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Over 50% of the refugees from Ukraine are in neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.

A baby cries as a train prepares to depart from a station in Lviv, western Ukraine, en route to Poland, on March 3, 2022.
Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images

"In just seven days, 1 million people have fled Ukraine, uprooted by this senseless war," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement Thursday. "I have worked in refugee emergencies for almost 40 years and rarely have I seen an exodus as rapid as this one."

"Hour by hour, minute by minute, more people are fleeing the terrifying reality of violence. Countless have been displaced inside the country," he added. "Peace is the only way to halt this tragedy."

-ABC News' Zoe Magee

Mar 03, 2022, 7:05 AM EST

Russia and Ukraine to resume talks Thursday

A second round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will be held at the previously planned venue in neighboring Belarus on Thursday at around 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET), according to Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation and aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation and aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaks to the media ahead of expected talks with the Ukrainian delegation, in the Brest region, Belarus, March 3, 2022.
Maxim Guchek/BelTA/Handout via Reuters

"The talks will take place -- we are now in contact with the Ukrainian side -- at the same venue where they were planned, on the territory of the Brest region of Belarus," Medinsky told reporters Thursday, adding that Russian negotiators are "waiting calmly."

"I think the talks will begin at 3 p.m.," he said.

Ukraine's presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak from the Ukrainian delegation later posted a photo of himself on his official Twitter account on Thursday, saying they were en route via helicopter to the talks in Belarus

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell and Tanya Stukalova

Mar 03, 2022, 6:50 AM EST

Russian foreign minister declines to comment on civilian deaths in Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wouldn't comment on civilian deaths from Russia's invasion of Ukraine when pressed during an interview Thursday with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America."

"I cannot comment," Lavrov said, adding that there are "a great deal" of "conjectures."

George Stephanopoulos presses Sergey Lavrov on the country’s devastating invasion of Ukraine as Russia escalates its attacks on the country.
6:32

Russian foreign minister talks attacks on Ukraine

George Stephanopoulos presses Sergey Lavrov on the country’s devastating invasion of Ukraine as Russia escalates its attacks on the country.
ABCNews.com

Mar 03, 2022, 6:08 AM EST

Ukraine claims to have raised flag over town outside Kyiv

Ukraine claimed Thursday to have raised its flag over the town of Bucha, close to the Ukrainian capital where some of the most intense fighting has been taking place in recent days and where Russia's push south on Kyiv appears to have stalled.

People look at the gutted remains of Russian military vehicles on a road in the town of Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022.
Serhii Nuzhnenko/AP

A video posted on the official Facebook page of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' ground troops purportedly shows soldiers hoisting the national flag outside Bucha's town hall. The town is just a few miles north of the edge of Kyiv and about 15 miles from the center of the capital. Fighting is reported to be ongoing nearby and, in the video, an explosion can be heard in the distance as they raise the blue and yellow flag.

-ABC News' Yulia Drozd

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