Russia-Ukraine updates: US sanctions Russian military shipbuilder, diamond miner

The U.S., in coordination with Ukraine and European allies, is pushing to expel Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced Monday.

The U.N. Human Rights Council is a body within the U.N. system where countries are elected for three-year terms. To suspend one of the body's 47 elected members requires a two-thirds majority in the U.N.'s main body -- the U.N. General Assembly.

During a press conference in Romania, Thomas-Greenfield told reporters the U.S. wants to have a vote this week.

"We cannot let a member state that is subverting every principle we hold dear to continue to sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council," she said. "Russia should not have a position of authority in that body, nor should we allow Russia to use their role on the Council as a tool of propaganda to suggest they have a legitimate concern about human rights."

Thomas-Greenfield called Moscow's participation a "farce" and added it "hurts the credibility of the Council and the U.N. writ large -- and it is simply wrong."

It is unclear whether the U.S. and its allies and partners have the votes to take this rare step, but two previous U.N. General Assembly votes condemning Russia's invasion have yielded 141 and 140 votes -- crossing the two-thirds threshold of the U.N.'s 193 member states.

Whether they can secure that same level of support for an expulsion, which some countries may see as an escalation, is an open question.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price indicated they believe they have the votes, saying the U.S. believes the General Assembly will "stand up in clear contravention of what Russia is doing."

"It's something that we'll continue to discuss," Price said. "But, as we've heard, there's been widespread, strong condemnation of this conduct and this would be the next natural step."

The U.N. Security Council will meet Tuesday to discuss Ukraine, with the atrocities reported out of Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs on the agenda.

"We will be prepared to confront them with the actual truth," Thomas-Greenfield said Monday when asked about that meeting. "They of course will, as they always do, try to distract us with their lies, and we're prepared for that."

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan

The United States is supporting a multinational team of independent war crimes investigators, including American experts, that are working with Ukraine's prosecutor-general on a probe of alleged Russian war crimes, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday.

The team is working in Eastern Europe, but not in Ukraine itself, Price said. He said the team is collecting, preserving and analyzing evidence with a view toward prosecutions and other forms of holding Russia accountable, Price said.

The United States is also supporting the effort through funding for non-government organizations that are part of the effort, Price said. He said he could not provide further details, including how many Americans are involved or how much funding is being allocated.

At the start of his briefing on Monday, Price noted the horrific reports from Bucha, Ukraine, and other towns outside of the capital of Kyiv, describing reports of "civilians, many with their hands tied, apparently executed in the streets, others in mass graves."

"We are seeing credible reports of torture, rape and civilians executed alongside their families," Price said. "There are reports and images of a nightmare litany of atrocities, including reports of land mines and booby traps left behind by Putin's forces to injure even more civilians and slow the stabilization and recovery of devastated communities after they failed in their objective and withdrew."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss the reported atrocities with his NATO foreign minister counterparts during the Western military alliance's spring meeting this week, Price said.

President Joe Biden said earlier Monday that he is calling for more sanctions to be imposed on Russia in light of the reports from Bucha.

"We're continuously tightening sanctions and preparing for additional sanctions, jointly with our allies and partners," Price said.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan

More than 1,500 residents fled Mariupol in private vehicles on, according to Ukrainian officials.

The mayor of Mariupol confirmed on Monday that a convoy of seven buses escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross could not make it into his besieged city to evacuate residents. The mayor said residents were still able to flee the city using a single humanitarian corridor meant for private cars.

The mayor also said humanitarian cargo also failed to make it to Mariupol.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said a total of 3,376 civilians evacuated the country on Monday, including 2,405 citizens of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine who made it out via private transport.

France's foreign ministry announced that it decided Monday evening to expel "many" Russian diplomats.

France's decision came hours after the German foreign minister said her country is moving to expel a "significant" number of Russian diplomats following reports that Russian troops killed more than 400 civilians in the Ukraine city of Bucha.

A spokesperson for the French foreign ministry said the action by France is "part of a European approach" and expects other European Union nations to make similar announcements. The spokesperson did not disclose how many Russian diplomats will be expelled.

"France decided this evening to expel many Russian personnel with diplomatic status assigned to France whose activities are contrary to our security interests," the spokesperson said. "Our first responsibility is always to ensure the safety of French people and Europeans."

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou