Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin suspends key US-Russia nuclear treaty in speech denouncing West
President Vladimir Putin said he'd sought an "open dialogue" with the West.
Almost a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout the east and south.
Putin's forces pulled out of key positions in November, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting the southern port city. Russian drones have continued bombarding civilian targets throughout Ukraine, knocking out critical power infrastructure as winter sets in.
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Latest headlines:
China pushes back against US claims it may supply weapons to Russia
The United States' claims that they have intelligence showing China plans to provide weapons to Russia to assist in the ongoing war in Ukraine will impede the "political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis" and "will also further damage" China-US relations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a press conference Thursday.
Wenbin called US claims of intelligence "nothing more than catching up on the wind, slandering and discrediting China."
"Since the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine, China has been steadfast in dialogue. While standing on peace, it has persuaded and introduced peace in its own way and played a constructive role in resolving the crisis in line with the situation," Wenbin said.
-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman and Karson Yiu
Eiffel Tower lit up in blue and yellow
The Eiffel Tower in Paris has been lit up in blue and yellow in honor of the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
-ABC News' Alexandra Faul
13 million people have been displaced due to the war in Ukraine
A year into the war in Ukraine, 13 million people have been displaced, including nearly 8 million refugees across Europe and more than 5 million internally displaced in Ukraine, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement Thursday.
"The vast majority of refugees and internally displaced Ukrainians – some 77% and 79%, respectively – want to return home one day, however, only 12% of both refugees and [internally displaced people] plan to do so in the next three months," the UNHCR said in a press release.
-ABC News' Zoe Magee
Air raid sirens go off across Ukraine; 4 airstrikes in Kharkiv injure 2
Air raid sirens went off across Ukraine on Wednesday due to jets taking off in Belarus.
There were four strikes from Russian S-300 missiles on industrial infrastructure facilities in central Kharkiv, the head of Kharkiv's Regional Military Administration Oleh Synegubov said.
Two men, ages 46 and 57, were injured from the attacks. They have both been hospitalized.
In Izyum, a city in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, a 55-year-old civilian stepped on a "petal" mine. He was hospitalized with an explosive wound, Synehubov said.
One person was killed and another person was injured from fighting in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Tuesday, the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
-ABC News' Natalia Kushnir
IAEA calls for immediate establishment of 'nuclear safety and security protection zone' around Zaporizhzhia plant
The nuclear watchdog of the United Nations is calling for the immediate establishment of a "nuclear safety and security protection zone" around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine.
The recommendation, among several others, was made in a second report released Tuesday by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which deployed an expert mission to the besieged plant last week.
"The IAEA recommends that shelling on site and in its vicinity should be stopped immediately to avoid any further damages to the plant and associated facilities, for the safety of the operating staff and to maintain the physical integrity to support safe and secure operation," the agency wrote in the report. "This requires agreement by all relevant parties to the establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the ZNPP."
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest in Ukraine and all of Europe. Invading Russian forces overran the site and the surrounding town of Enerhodar in early March. The Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn country, but the site is now on the front line between Russian-occupied and Ukrainian-controlled territory. Moscow and Kyiv have traded blame for shelling at or near the plant in recent days and weeks, fueling fears that the conflict could spark a radiation disaster.
The IAEA said it aims to maintain a "continued presence" at the plant to "help further improve and deepen the understanding of the situation."
"While the ongoing shelling has not yet triggered a nuclear emergency, it continues to represent a constant threat to nuclear safety and security with potential impact on critical safety functions that may lead to radiological consequences with great safety significance," the agency wrote in the latest report.
