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

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

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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Ukrainian air force claims Russia carried out false flag airstrike in Belarus

Ukraine's air force claimed Friday that Russia carried out an alleged false flag airstrike in a Belarusian village near the border with Ukraine.

In a post on Facebook, Ukraine's air force claimed Russian jets took off from a base in Belarus and entered Ukraine's airspace, then a fire started in the village of Kopani.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksy Reznikov earlier claimed in a Facebook post that Russian forces would launch a strike against Kopani to "pull the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus into the war with Ukraine."

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell


Ukraine claims Russia planning false flag airstrikes on Belarus to push it into the war

Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksy Reznikov on Friday accused Russia of preparing to carry out airstrikes against Belarusian villages close to the border with Ukraine in order to create a pretext for Belarus entering the war more directly.

Until now, Belarus has largely only acted as a base for Russia’s invasion forces and for missile and air strikes to be launched from its territory.

Ukraine claims it has information that Russia is planning to launch a series of false flag airstrikes against Belarusian villages to try to change that and create a push for war within Belarus, Reznikov said in a post online.

"I appeal to the Belarusian people. Friends. According to information in which we are completely sure and which we have confirmed, at the present moment the command of the Russian occupation troops is preparing a series of bloody provocations," he said.

Reznikov added, "According to their criminal conspiracy, Russian aviation is preparing to launch a strike on a range of population centers on the territory of Belarus, located close to the Ukrainian-Belarusian border."

He named the village of Kopani in the Brest region.

He denied Ukraine would ever launch strikes and said, "the goal of the provocation is to push the acting leadership of Belarus towards war against Ukraine. Moscow is trying to bind you with blood."

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell


US Restricts the export of luxury goods to Russia, Belarus

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Friday that it will restrict the export of U.S. luxury goods to Russia and Belarus, as well as "certain Russian and Belarusian oligarchs and malign actors located worldwide," as a result of their actions in Ukraine.

The Department of Commerce said it will impose restrictions on the export, reexport and transfer of luxury items including certain spirits, tobacco products, clothing items, jewelry, vehicles and antique goods.

"Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine continues to take a devastating toll on innocent civilians in Ukraine, fueling one of the worst humanitarian crises Europe has seen in decades," Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement.

Raimondo added, "Putin and the oligarchs who fund him have gotten rich off of Putin’s rampant corruption and the exploitation of the Russian people. We will not allow Putin and his cronies to continue living in opulence while causing tremendous suffering throughout Eastern Europe. Today’s action takes away another source of comfort and reminds them that Russia is increasingly isolated."

-ABC News' Luke Barr



WHO advised Ukraine to destroy pathogens to prevent 'accidental spill'

The World Health Organization said Friday that it is urging Ukraine to now destroy its pathogen samples because Russia's war in the country risks an "accidental spill," according to WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević.

"This is part of us providing a public health advice to every country to try to ensure there is a minimized risk of any harm to population because of any possible accidental leak of pathogens," Jašarević said Friday from Lviv.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan


Putin's fiercest critic Navalny calls for daily anti-war protests

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is urging people in Russia and around the world to stage daily protests against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We -- Russia -- want to be a nation of peace. Alas, few people would call us that now," Navalny said Wednesday in a series of posts on Twitter via his spokesperson. "But let's at least not become a nation of frightened silent people. Of cowards who pretend not to notice the aggressive war against Ukraine unleashed by our obviously insane czar."

"They say that someone who cannot attend a rally and does not risk being arrested for it cannot call for it. I'm already in prison, so I think I can," he tweeted. "We cannot wait any longer. Wherever you are, in Russia, Belarus or on the other side of the planet, go to the main square of your city every weekday and at 2 pm on weekends and holidays."

"Yes, maybe only a few people will take to the streets on the first day. And in the second -- even less," he added. "But we must, gritting our teeth and overcoming fear, come out and demand an end to the war. Each arrested person must be replaced by two newcomers."

Navalny called on people to not just "be against the war" but to "fight against the war."

"If in order to stop the war we have to fill prisons and paddy wagons with ourselves, we will fill prisons and paddy wagons with ourselves," he tweeted. "Everything has a price, and now, in the spring of 2022, we must pay this price. There's no one to do it for us."

Navalny, the most prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, was imprisoned last year when he returned to Russia from Germany after recovering from an attempted assassination with nerve agent poisoning in Siberia. Russia has denied carrying out such an attack.