Days after the U.S. designated Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich as wrongfully detained in Russia, Russian officials referred to pressure from the U.S. to release him as futile.

"Any attempts to put pressure on the Russian authorities and the court, insisting on a 'special treatment' for U.S. citizens who have violated Russian law, are senseless and futile," the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

-ABC News' Natalia Shumskaia

After some missed calls, President Joe Biden finally connected with the parents of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Tuesday.

"He felt it was really important to connect with Evan's family," she told reporters on Air Force One as the president travels to Ireland.

Meanwhile, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Gershkovich's detention is "pretty fresh" and officials are still trying to get consular access to Gershkovich, which they have not been able to do.

He would not get into any specific conversations the U.S. is having with Russians about releasing Gershkovich or if a prisoner swap is a possibility.

"I just want to make a couple of things clear that is, the determination of wrongful detention, it doesn't start the clock necessarily on communicating with the Russians about getting him released," Kirby said. "We're very early in this process here and I certainly, I think you can understand why I wouldn't talk about any discussions we might be having with the Russians about his release or Paul [Whelan]'s release. We certainly wouldn't do that."

Kirby said the administration is "certainly having discussions about what we can do to get him released."

"I don't want to go into details about these internal deliberations, having things out in the public sphere viscerally might actually make it harder to get Evan and Paul home, and that's what we're focused on," Kirby said.

-ABC News' Justin Gomez

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has determined that Wall Street Journalist reporter Evan Gershkovich is being wrongfully detained by Russia, according to a statement released Monday afternoon.

Two Americans are now considered to be wrongfully detained by Russia -- Gershkovich and Paul Whelan.

Gershkovich’s case will now be transferred to the Office of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, the U.S. government’s top hostage negotiator.

Gershkovich, a 31-year-old New Jersey native who has lived and worked in Moscow as an accredited journalist for the last six years, was in a restaurant in Yekaterinburg on March 29 when Russia's Federal Security Service arrested him on espionage charges that the Wall Street Journal, his colleagues and the U.S. government have said are absurd.

-ABC News' Shannon K. Crawford

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that the tanks Poland agreed to give Ukraine are already in the country, including the Leopards.

"Poland has fulfilled everything it declared about tanks," Zelenskyy said during his nightly address, adding that there is also an agreement on 200 Rosomak armored personnel carriers and "self-propelled mortars, additional missiles, MiGs."

-ABC News' Edward Szekeres

The U.S. estimates that Russia has suffered over 100,000 casualties, including over 20,000 killed in action, since it stepped up its winter offensive in December, a White House National Security Council told ABC News.

Half of the 20,000 killed in action were members of the Russian-backed private military Wagner Group, according to White House spokesman John Kirby. The majority of Wagner fighters killed were allegedly ex-convicts, according to Kirby.

Kirby said that the data came from "some downgraded intelligence" that the U.S. has been able to collect. He was unable to provide data on deaths of Ukrainian fighters.

Kirby had earlier told reporters that the Russian casualties took place from battles in Bakhmut since December, however, the National Security Council member said the data encompasses all winter battles.

Many, but not all, of these Russians were injured or killed in the Bakhmut fighting, according to the official.

Kirby emphasized that the U.S. thinks Bakhmut holds "very little strategic value for Russia" and if captured by Russia, it "would absolutely not alter the course of the war in Russia’s favor."

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson