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.
Mar 01, 2022, 10:56 AM EST

677,000 people have fled Ukraine

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said the number of Ukrainians who've fled their country has climbed to 677,000.

A man carries a baby as people struggle on stairways after a last minute change of the departure platform for a Lviv bound train in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 28, 2022.
Vadim Ghirda/AP

Hundreds of beds are placed inside a sports hall to accommodate Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russian invasion at the border crossing town of Medyka, Poland, March 1, 2022.
Visar Kryeziu/AP

Mar 01, 2022, 10:16 AM EST

Western officials walk out during Lavrov remarks

Diplomats from Western countries were seen on video walking out in protest as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addressed the U.N. Human Rights Council and Conference on Disarmament.

The meeting was held Tuesday in Geneva and Lavrov gave his address via video.

The Human Rights Council has faced criticism for years for including human rights abusers, including Russia. In a prerecorded video to the council, Secretary of State Antony Blinken questioned whether Russia should be allowed to keep its seat.

"One can reasonably ask whether a U.N. member state that tries to take over another U.N. member state -- while committing horrific human rights abuses and causing massive humanitarian suffering -- should be allowed to remain on this council," he said.

Ambassadors and diplomats leave the room while Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov addresses with a pre-recorded video message the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, March 1, 2022.
Salvatore Di Nolfi/AP

Ambassadors and diplomats leave the room while Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov addresses with a pre-recorded video message the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, March 1, 2022.
Fabrice Coffrini/AP

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov addresses an empty room at Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, after diplomats staged a walkout, March 1, 2022.
Fabrice Coffrini/AP

Blinken accused Russia of hitting civilian targets like schools, hospitals, residential buildings, critical infrastructure, and cars, buses, and ambulances -- including the "monstrous rocket strikes" on an apartment complex in Kharkiv.

"Reports of Russia's human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law mount by the hour," he said.

"These are the human rights abuses this council was created to stop. If we cannot come together now, when will we come together?" he asked.

-ABC News' Fergal Gallagher, Conor Finnegan

Mar 01, 2022, 9:43 AM EST

'Growing number' of unaccompanied and separated refugee children

Filippo Grandi, U.N. high commissioner for refugees, told the Security Council Monday there's “a growing number of unaccompanied and separated children" in the unending lines of refugees fleeing Ukraine. 

Anna Semyuk,33,hugs her children at the Beregsurany border crossing in Hungary, Feb. 26, 2022.The children were handed to Nataliya Ableyeva, 58,a stranger,with their passports on the Ukrainian side of the border by the father,who was not allowed to cross.
Anna Semyuk, 33, hugs her children at the Beregsurany border crossing in Hungary, Feb. 26, 2022. The children were handed over to Nataliya Ableyeva, 58, a stranger, along with their passports on the Ukrainian side of the border by the father, who was not allowed to cross. Ableyeva took the children across the border and kept them safe until their mother, traveling from another country, could get them.
Bernadett Szabo/Reuters

 

A woman fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine hugs a child at a temporary camp in Przemysl, Poland, Feb. 28, 2022.
Yara Nardi/Reuters

 

UNICEF said there are "anecdotal reports of heartbreaking stories of fathers -- or families -- arriving at the border with their children and relinquishing them to the border guards, then remaining in Ukraine.” 

UNICEF said it doesn't have numbers yet on unaccompanied or separated children. 

-ABC News' Zoe Magee

Mar 01, 2022, 9:23 AM EST

6 killed in attack on Kharkiv civilian building

A rocket attack on an administrative building in Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine has killed at least six people and injured another seven, Ukrainian officials said.

Rescuers remove debris in the regional administration building, which city officials said was hit by a missile attack, in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 1.
Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Reuters

Debris is scattered around the damaged local city hall of Kharkiv, March 1, 2022, destroyed as a result of Russian troop shelling.
Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images

An Indian student was among those killed, according to the Indian government.

A senior administration official told ABC News the U.S. has learned that Russia continues to plan for a “devastating” attack on Ukraine, warning that "the Russians … will crush Ukraine."

-ABC News' Martha Raddatz

Related Topics