Russia-Ukraine updates: US to ban Russian carriers from its airspace

Biden will announce the news in his State of the Union address, a source said.

ByMorgan Winsor, Libby Cathey, Meredith Deliso, Nadine El-Bawab, Emily Shapiro, Julia Jacobo, Ivan Pereira, Mark Osborne, Celia Darrough, Kevin Shalvey, and Bill Hutchinson
Last Updated: March 22, 2022, 4:04 AM EDT

Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymr Zelenskyy, are putting up "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24 as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation."

Russians moving from Belarus towards Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, don't appear to have advanced closer towards the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.

Russia has been met by sanctions from the U.S., Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting Russia's economy and Putin himself.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 15, 2022, 5:25 AM EST

Russia says some troops will return to base

Some Russian troops positioned near the border with Ukraine will begin returning to their bases Tuesday after completing "exercises," according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The units set to return are from Russia's Southern and Western Military Districts, the defense ministry said Tuesday. But there are troops from other military districts massed on the border. Still, if some troops do pull back, it would potentially be a key signal that the crisis with Ukraine will not escalate.

Russian state media then released video purportedly showing tank troops loading up in neighboring Belarus to return home as well as tanks in southwestern Russia moving back. A spokesperson for Russia's Southern Military District told state media Tuesday that some personnel have begun leaving Crimea for their permanent bases following the completion of drills. In 2014, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and established two federal subjects there, the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. But the international community still recognizes the territories as being part of Ukraine.

In this photo provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Feb. 14, 2022, Russian tanks roll on a field during military drills in Russia's Leningrad region.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File

Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that the military exercises would end "in the near future." There are still drills being conducted in neighboring Belarus as well as the Black Sea that are due to end Feb. 20.

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a post on her official Facebook page on Tuesday that Feb. 15 "will go down in history as the day the Western propoganda war failed."

"Disgraced and destroyed without a single shot fired," Zakharova added. 

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

Feb 15, 2022, 4:29 AM EST

White House warns invasion could start 'at any time'

While the United States believes a path of diplomacy remains "open" to Russia, a White House official warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine "could begin at any time."

Answering a question from ABC News' Cecilia Vega during a press briefing Monday, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. government is so far seeing "more and more" Russian troops arrive on the border with Ukraine.

"In the past 10 days or so, when you look at what is happening at the border of Ukraine, there, we are seeing more than 100,000 troops there and it's just been an every day more and more troops," Jean-Pierre said.

PHOTO: White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre conducts a daily press briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 14, 2022.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre conducts a daily press briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 14, 2022. Jean-Pierre held the briefing to discuss various topics including a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

"So we are certainly open to having conversations and seeing a de-escalation," she added. "That door is open for diplomacy and this is up to President Putin. He has to make that decision. It is his decision to make on which direction he wants to take this."

Jean-Pierre noted that "it remains unclear which path Russia will choose to take."

When asked about the imminency of the situation, she said: "We are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time."

"I'm not going to comment on the intelligence information," she added, "except to say that it could begin this week."

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson

Related Topics