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
New US sanctions target Russian naval operations
The United States announced Thursday it is imposing sanctions against 10 Russian entities that support the Kremlin's naval operations.
“In the wake of Russian naval operations against Ukrainian ports, including those that are providing much-needed food and grain to the world, the United States today is imposing sanctions on Russian naval entities,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The State Department said it expects the sanctions will place "severe costs on Russia’s defense establishment."
The sanctions are being imposed against Russian companies linked to both the defense and marine sectors of Russia’s economy, the State Department said.
Among the entities being sanctioned are the Rigel Battery Company, which has provided the Russian Navy with batteries for 15 years; Elektropribor, which produces navigation systems for Russian combat ships; and Avorora, which supplies automated control systems for Russian military surface ships and submarines.
"The United States remains determined to use all appropriate measures to deter Russia's attacks on Ukraine -- whether those attacks be from the air, land, or sea," Blinken said. "These accountability measures underscore a simple message: the Kremlin must end its brutal campaign against Ukraine."
The State Department and the U.S. Treasury Department also imposed sanctions against a company owned by Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin.
A close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin and one of the richest people in Russia, Potanin owns Interros, a company that carries out business "across nearly all sectors of Russia’s economy," the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The State Department said it has identified Potanin's super yacht "Nirvana" -- which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars -- as blocked property.
Additional sanctions were levied against five members of the state-owned Russian Railways’ board of directors and nearly 30 heads of regions and governors the State Department said “oversee and enforce the conscription of citizens in response to Russia’s recent mobilization order.”
-ABC News' Shannon Crawford
