Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin says war was ‘unleashed’ on Russia

The Russian president delivered his annual Victory Day speech.

More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's forces are readying a spring counteroffensive, but Putin appears to be preparing for a long and bloody war.

For previous coverage, please click here.


0

Ukrainian Patriot missile training at Fort Sill nearly complete

The Patriot missile training for Ukrainian troops at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, is wrapping up soon, an Army spokesman said Tuesday.

Sixty-five Ukrainian soldiers have been training at Fort Sill since mid-January in an expedited training cycle on using the Patriots -- training that typically can last up to a year.

The Ukrainians will depart the Army post in the coming days for Europe, where they will receive additional training, before heading back to Ukraine "in the coming weeks," Col. Marty O’Donnell of U.S. Army Europe/Africa told ABC News.

"In Europe, the Ukrainians training here will meet up with Ukrainians training in Europe, and with U.S., German, and Dutch equipment donations to validate the systems and ensure interoperability," O'Donnell said.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez


US to speed up delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine

The United States is going to speed up the manufacture and delivery of the 31 Abrams tanks President Joe Biden approved sending to Ukraine, a U.S. official confirmed Tuesday.

Instead of making new tanks from scratch, the Department of Defense will now refurbish the hulls of several older models that will be equipped with more modern equipment, according to the official.

The new delivery target date is fall 2023, the official said; previously the anticipated delivery time was believed to be mid-2024.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby hinted at the accelerated timeline on Tuesday.

"We're working on that," Kirby said on MSNBC. "There's some changes that you can make to the process to sort of speed that up."

-ABC News' Luis Martinez and Teresa Mettela


Japanese PM visits Ukraine for 1st time during war

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Ukraine on Tuesday for the first time since the start of Russia's invasion.

In Kyiv, Kishida laid a wreath at the memorial for fallen Ukrainian soldiers. In Bucha, where Ukrainian officials said more than 400 civilians were killed last year by Russian forces, he laid a wreath outside a church before observing a moment of silence and bowing.

"The world was astonished to see innocent civilians in Bucha killed one year ago," Kishida said. "I really feel great anger for all the atrocious acts."

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman


Ukraine claims it destroyed Russian cruise missiles in Crimea drone attack

Ukrainian forces destroyed Russian Kalibr-NK cruise missiles in a drone strike in Crimea as the weapons were being transported by rail, the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate said on their official Telegram channel Monday.

Sergey Aksyonov, an adviser to the head of the Republic of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, confirmed a drone attack on his official Telegram channel.

Debris from the aerial object damaged a household and a shop and one person was injured from the explosions, Aksyonov said.

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman


St. Petersburg bomb attack kills pro-war blogger

A top Russian pro-war blogger has been killed in a bomb attack on a cafe in Russia, according to police.

The explosion on Sunday tore through a cafe in St. Petersburg, killing Vladlen Tatarsky, one of the best-known of the Russian military bloggers who have become influential during the war in Ukraine.

At least 30 other people were injured in the blast, according to the Ministry of Health. Video circulating online appeared to capture the aftermath, showing bloodied people emerging from the heavily damaged cafe.

The Russian Interior Ministry said an explosion has occurred in a cafe on the city's Universitetskaya Embankment.

"One person was killed in the incident, it was military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky, the Russian Interior Ministry press center told reporters on Sunday.

Denis Pushilin, acting head of the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic, issued a statement describing Tatarsky as "a great patriot" of the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine and Russia. Pushilin blamed the attack on the Kyiv regime, calling it a terrorist regime.

"A man with a difficult fate, Vladlen earned the respect of his comrades-in-arms because he lived and worked for the sake of truth and justice, for the sake of victory," Pushilin said of Tatarsky. "He managed to fight, and in the status of a military correspondent to make his contribution."

Pushilin said Tatarsky was to be awarded a medal "for the liberation of Mariupol" in eastern Ukraine.

It was the most serious bomb attack on a pro-war Russian figure inside Russia since the high-profile assassination of the Daria Dugina, the daughter of the ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugina, who was killed in a car bombing last year.

Tatarsky was a Russian ultra-nationalist and one of the best-known military bloggers, who strongly supported the war in Ukraine. He had also criticized the execution of the war by Russia’s military command.

Tatarsky had become a significant source of information for how the war was being fought on the Russian side.

His killing will likely set off speculation on whether Ukraine or Russia was behind his killing, similar to the Dugina episode.

In the Dugina case, U.S. intelligence sources eventually told The New York Times that Ukraine was behind the attack.

-News Patrick Reevell