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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Latest headlines:
- Ukrainian air force claims Russia carried out false flag airstrike in Belarus
- UN has credible reports of Russian cluster bomb use, attacks on health care
- Putin claims 'certain positive movements' in Ukraine negotiations
- Russian general prosecutor wants Meta declared 'extremist organization'
- Putin orders Russian military to help volunteer fighters from Middle East travel to Ukraine
Russia claims to have captured Ukrainian port city
Russia claimed Wednesday to have captured Ukraine's southern port city of Kherson, the largest Ukrainian city to fall to Russian forces since the start of the invasion.
"Russian forces have taken full control of the Kherson regional center," Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a press briefing Wednesday.
Russia-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine have also seized several cities and towns, advancing nearly 100 miles since launching the offensive, according to Konashenkov.
"Ukrainian servicemen will go home as soon as they make a written pledge not to take part in the hostilities," he said.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have "disabled" the instrument room of the the main television tower in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, "putting an end to information attacks on Russia," according to Konashenkov, who noted that "no damage was done to residential buildings in the course of the strike."
Konashenkov also claimed that Russian aircraft had delivered a "massive strike" on Ukraine's military infrastructure on Wednesday.
"Sixty-seven sites have been hit," he added. "In all, 1,502 elements of Ukrainian military infrastructure have been disabled in the course of the operation. These include 51 command and communications centers belonging to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, 38 S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa air defense missile systems and 51 radar stations."
-ABC News' Anastasia Bagaeva
Boeing suspends all plane maintenance support for Russian airlines
The Boeing Company has suspended all parts, maintenance and technical support for Russian airlines as the conflict continues, the company announced Tuesday.
This is expected to have a significant impact on Russian carriers, as planes need constant maintenance.
"We have suspended major operations in Moscow and temporarily closed our office in Kyiv," Boeing said in a statement. "We are also suspending parts, maintenance and technical support services for Russian airlines. As the conflict continues, our teams are focused on ensuring the safety of our teammates in the region."
-ABC News' Sam Sweeney
GOP points at Biden for Russian invasion in State of the Union response
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds implied Russia's attack on Ukraine is connected to a lack of leadership from President Joe Biden in the Republican response to the State of the Union address, saying Biden has "sent us back in time" to the 1970s and '80s, when the "Soviet army was trying to redraw the world map."
Reynolds said Biden has failed on his promise to make America respected around the world once more and criticized Biden for the lead-up to the invasion, including waving sanctions against Russia and "focusing on political correctness."
"Weakness on the world stage has a cost," Reynolds said. "... We can’t project strength abroad if we’re weak home."
'Free world is holding Putin accountable,' Biden says in SOTU address
In his first State of the Union address, President Joe Biden began by discussing the war in Eastern Europe and condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden invoked the strength of the Ukrainian people amid the attack, lauding the civilians who took up arms to defend their country and highlighting the work Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova has done on behalf of her people.
"She’s bright. She’s strong, and she’s resolved," Biden said as first lady Jill Biden hugged Markarova.
Many lawmakers in attendance showed their support for Ukraine by wearing color-coordinated outfits and lapel pins in blue and yellow.
Biden described the invasion as "premeditated and totally unprovoked," vowing, alongside NATO allies, to hold Putin accountable with sanctions on the Russian economy and Putin and the oligarchs themselves.
"When dictators do not pay a price for their aggressions, they cause more chaos," Biden said. “They keep moving.”
Biden announced that American airspace would be closed to all Russian flights and pledged $1 billion in direct assistance to help "ease suffering" in Ukraine.
The president also "made clear" that while American forces would not go fight in Ukraine, he has mobilized the military to protect NATO countries.
"The United States and our Allies will defend every inch of territory that is NATO territory with the full force of our collective power," he said.
-ABC News' Julia Jacobo and Ben Gittleson
Russians running out of food, gas: US official
The Russian forces charging toward Kyiv haven't made progress in the last day as they face Ukrainian resistance and low food and gas supply, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Tuesday.
However, it could be a deliberate pause, the official said. "Part of the stall could be ... as a result of their own self-determined sort of pause in operations -- that they are possibly regrouping, rethinking, reevaluating," the official said.
The U.S. believes Russian forces "have committed now more than 80% of what was their pre-staged combat power," the official added.
The official said some Russian soldiers weren't told they were going into combat. The official said "not all of them were apparently fully trained and prepared."
The strong Ukrainian resistance has also hurt morale, according to the official.
Russia has now launched more than 400 missiles on Ukraine, the official said. The U.S. believes Russia has launchers that could be used for thermobaric weapons, but cannot confirm their use, the official said.
Russian forces are making the most progress in the south. Russians are attacking Kherson in south Ukraine, which "appears very much to be contested city at this point," the official said.
Russians are also approaching Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, and while they haven't yet entered the city, "they are close enough now that they could attack Mariupol with long range fires," the official said.
Two towns on the path to Mariupol are believed to be occupied by the Russians, according to the official.
The U.S. believes the Russians hope to move north out of Mariupol up to the heavily-contested city of Kharkiv. The official said they believe Russian forces are trying to encircle Kharkiv.
The U.S. official noted that they've seen "certain risk-averse behavior by the Russian military" over the last week.
"Take the amphibious assault, for instance. They put those troops ashore a good 70 kilometers away from Mariupol because they knew Mariupol was going to be defended and they could put them ashore in an uncontested environment. And they still haven't reached Mariupol," the official said.
"They are not necessarily willing to take high risks with their own aircraft and their own pilots," the official said.
"And of course we're seeing that on the ground -- the fairly slow and steady progress that they have made, and you guys are seeing it for yourselves on the ground where ... units are surrendering, sometimes without a fight."
-ABC News' Matt Seyler