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

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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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Apr 08, 2022, 3:23 PM EDT

EU president witnesses mass grave in Bucha

European Union President Ursula Von der Leyen was seen on camera witnessing a mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine, during a visit to the demolished city with the EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell (behind) and Denys Shmyhal (green cap), Prime Minister of Ukraine, stand next to body bags from a mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine, April 8, 2022.
Michael Fischer/Picture-Alliance via AP

After touring Bucha, Von der Leyen met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and handed him an envelope with a questionnaire, marking the first step toward membership in the EU. Zelenskyy said he'd have responses in one week.

Global officials have accused Russian troops of committing war crimes after graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha following the withdrawal of Russian forces.

At a press conference Thursday Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "The sickening images and accounts coming out of Bucha and other parts of Ukraine have only strengthened our collective resolve and unity."

Apr 08, 2022, 3:12 PM EDT

Russia has lost 15-20% of combat power, US says

The Pentagon is "not buying" Russia's denial of responsibility for the Ukraine train station attack that killed at least 50, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday.

"They originally claimed a successful strike and then only retracted it when there were reports of civilian casualties," the official said. "It's our full expectation that this was a Russian strike -- we believe they used a short-range ballistic missile, an SS-21."

As Russian troops retreat from some Ukrainian cities, some of the Russian battalion tactical groups (or BTGs, with roughly 800-1,000 troops each) that have withdrawn back across the Belarusian and Russian borders have been essentially "eradicated" from the fighting in Ukraine, according to the senior defense official.

A woman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 3, 2022.
Rodrigo Abd/AP

"There's just nothing left of the BTG except a handful of troops and maybe a small number of vehicles," the official said.

In terms of total losses -- counting troops, tanks, aircraft and missile inventory -- Russia has lost between 15-20% of the combat power it originally had arrayed against Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, according to the official.

PHOTO: People walk by an apartment building destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Borodyanka, Ukraine, April 5, 2022.
People walk by an apartment building destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Borodyanka, Ukraine, April 5, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops of gruesome atrocities in Ukraine and told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that those responsible should immediately be brought up on war crimes charges in front of a tribunal like the one set up at Nuremberg after World War II.
Vadim Ghirda/AP

According to the official, some of the withdrawn Russian forces are now making their way to the Russian cities of Belgorod and Valuyki, to the northwest of Donbas. But there are "no indications" that fresh troops are waiting there to join them, the official said.

For now, degraded Russian BTGs are "exploring the option of" consolidating, banding together remaining troops and supplies to form new units, the official said.

Russia is also aiming to recruit upwards of 60,000 new troops, according to the official.

After Russian BTGs rebuild, "the most likely course of action would be for them to move immediately south right into the Donbas," the official said.

The Pentagon now estimates more than 40 Russian BTGs are positioned in or near the Donbas region. The estimate was "more than 30" on Wednesday, meaning up to 10,000 more troops have arrived in recent days.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler

Apr 08, 2022, 2:57 PM EDT

State Dept. reacts to train station attack

Jalina Porter, the State Department's deputy spokesperson, is responding to the Russian attack at a Ukraine train station that killed at least 50, saying, "We can no longer be surprised by the Kremlin's repugnant disregard for human life."

Five children were among those killed when Russian rockets struck the station in Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast on Friday morning, according to Ukraine's state-owned railway company. At least 100 people were injured, according to Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko.

A photo published on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Telegram channel, shows blood stains among bags and a baby carriage at the railway station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, April 8, 2022.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's Telegram via AP

Russia has denied involvement in the attack, which occurred as "thousands" of civilians fleeing the Russian invasion were at the train station waiting to be taken to "safer regions of Ukraine," according to Kyrylenko.

"Civilians are killed when they stay in their homes, and they're killed when they try to leave," Porter said. "Actions like these demonstrate why Russia did not belong on the U.N. Human Rights Council, and they also reinforce the U.S. assessment that members of Russian forces are committing war crimes in Ukraine."

Porter declined to say if the department considers the train station attack a war crime, saying, "Assessing individual criminal liability in specific cases is the responsibility of courts, as well as other investigatory bodies. But as the secretary, Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken, has said, 'Those responsible for war crimes and other atrocities committed in Ukraine will be held to account.'"

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan

Apr 08, 2022, 10:43 AM EDT

Death toll rises to 50 after attack on Ukrainian train station

At least 50 people, including five children, were killed in a rocket attack on a railway station in eastern Ukraine on Friday, authorities said.

Two Russian rockets struck the train station in the city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast on Friday morning, according to Ukraine's state-owned railway company, which in a statement via Facebook called the attack "a purposeful strike on the passenger infrastructure of the railway and the residents of the city of Kramatorsk."

Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said 38 of the 50 killed died at the scene while 12 died in hospitals. At least 100 were injured, according to the governor.

PHOTO: Police inspect the remains of a large rocket with the words "for our children" in Russian next to the train station, being used for civilian evacuations, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, which was hit by a rocket attack killing many people on April 8, 2022.
Police inspect the remains of a large rocket with the words "for our children" in Russian next to the main building of a train station, being used for civilian evacuations, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, which was hit by a rocket attack killing many people on April 8, 2022.
Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images

The attack occurred as "thousands" of civilians fleeing the Russian invasion were at the train station waiting to be taken to "safer regions of Ukraine," according to Kyrylenko, who accused Russian forces of "deliberately trying to disrupt the evacuation of civilians."

"The evacuation will continue," the governor added. "Anyone who wants to leave the region will be able to do so."

Graphic images provided by Ukrainian officials showed the aftermath of the attack -- bodies lying on the ground next to scattered luggage and debris, with charred vehicles parked nearby. The remains of a large rocket with the words "for our children" in Russian painted on the side was also seen on the ground next to the main building of the station. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement via Facebook that a Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile was used in Friday's attack.

Large crowds of people wait on a platform to board trains at Kramatorsk central station as they flee the eastern city of Kramatorsk, in the Donbass region on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. The station was hit by a Russian strike on Friday, April 8.
Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images

Earlier this week, large crowds of people were seen waiting on the platform to board trains at the Kramatorsk railway station as they fled the city in Ukraine's disputed Donbas region.

Since 2014, Russia-backed separatist forces have controlled two breakaway republics of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the Donbas. The separatists have been fighting alongside Russian troops to seize more territory there, after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Now, the Russian military is said to be refocusing its offensive in the Donbas as its troops withdraw from northern Ukraine.

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