Russia's Defense Ministry claimed the forces it backs in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two Ukrainian regions it recognized as independent states, are advancing and gaining territory.

Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed, in a press briefing on Thursday, that Donetsk forces conducted an offensive advancing eight kilometers and taking control of the localities of Novokrasnovka and Krasnovka.

Russia claims its armed forces and Donetsk units also took control of the localities of Blahoveshchenka, Synya Hora, Petrivske, Sladkaya Balka, and others, according to Konashenkov.

Konashenkov also claimed that Luhansk forces backed by Russia took control of the Yarovaya-Krasnyi Lyman-Prilovye road.

-ABC News' Tanya Stukalova

Russia's Foreign Ministry claimed U.S. military intelligence launched a massive campaign to recruit contractors from private military companies to send to Ukraine.

"They recruit primarily those employed by Academi, CUBIC and DynCorp [International]," Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said in a press briefing on Thursday.

Foreign mercenaries who have arrived in Ukraine are performing acts of sabotage and attacking Russian convoys of motor vehicles and aviation, Konashenkov said.

"Foreign mercenaries who earlier arrived in Ukraine are carrying out acts of sabotage and raids on Russian convoys of [military] vehicles and materiel supplies, and on the aviation supporting them," Konashenkov said.

Konashenkov claimed Britain, Denmark, Latvia, Poland and Croatia have legally permitted their citizens to take part in Ukraine hostilities and that the command of the French Foreign Legion plans to send its ethnic Ukrainian troops to aid the Kyiv regime.

Mercenaries from other countries in Ukraine will not receive prisoner-of-war status and will be subject to criminal liability, Konashenkov said.

"I want to officially emphasize that all mercenaries sent by the West to help the Kyiv nationalist regime are not combatants under international humanitarian law. They are not entitled to POW status," Konashenkov said.

Russia said it hopes its current talks with Ukraine on Belarusian soil will soon lead to a peaceful settlement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

"We hope the [talks] will lead to a swift conclusion of this situation, the restoration of peace in Donbas, and the return of all peoples of Ukraine to a peaceful and equitable life," she told a briefing in Moscow on Thursday.

- ABC News' Tanya Stukalova

After a call between France President Emmanuel Macron and Russia President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, an Elysée source said the risk of Russia's war extending beyond Ukraine to neighboring countries exists.

"The worst is yet to come," the source told reporters, saying France takes this under consideration in its exchanges with its partners

The Elysée source told reporters that the reality of Ukrainian power has nothing to do with Nazism and that Macron told Putin how much of a "lie" that is.

The two leaders spoke on the phone for an hour and a half, according to the Elysée.

The French president insisted this war will plunge Russia into isolation and that it will be under sanctions for a long time, according to the Elysée.

According to the Elysée source, Putin wants the neutralization and the demilitarization of Ukraine. He is ready to obtain it through negotiation if the Ukrainians are ready to do so, or continue the war until he achieves these objectives.

The Kremlin echoed this in its statement.

"Putin set out in detail the principled approaches and conditions in the context of the talks with Kyiv's representatives. It was confirmed that [the talks] focused primarily on the demilitarization and neutral status of Ukraine, so that no threat would ever emanate from its territory to the Russian Federation," the Kremlin said in a statement.

The Kremlin said the "objectives of the special military operation will be fulfilled any way, and that the attempts to play for time by dragging out the talks will only lead to our negotiating position presenting Kyiv with further demands."

Regarding the Ukrainian request for a 'no-fly' zone, the Elysée source said that the answer is not necessarily in the sky. These are tanks that deploy on Ukrainian soil. A no fly zone requires considerable resources and is not enough to prevent the risk of ground warfare.

“I know of only one case of a no fly zone that was effectively implemented, it was in Iraq after the first Gulf War to protect the Kurdish populations," said the Elysée source. "But you can see that we are in a different situation”.

- ABC News' Christine Theodorou and Ibtissem Guenfoud

The Chinese Foreign Ministry dismissed reports by the New York Times and South China Morning Post that Chinese officials told Russian officials not to act until after the Winter Olympics were over.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the reports "fake news" in a press conference and went on to blame U.S. and NATO for pushing Russia to act against Ukraine.

Wang called the U.S. and NATO troublemakers and said they should shoulder the responsibility to end the war.

In its , the New York Times quoted a Western intelligence agency report, saying senior Chinese officials had warned senior Russian officials not to "invade" Ukraine during the Beijing Winter Olympics. According to the report, this shows that China has a certain degree of understanding of Russia's military action plan.

- ABC News' Karson Yiu