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.

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Ukrainian drone hits Russian port, causing fire

A Ukrainian drone hit a Tamanneftegaz fuel tank in the Port of Taman, Russia, at about 2:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, Kirill Fedorov, a pro-Russian blogger, said on his Telegram channel. The Port of Taman is in the Black Sea near the Kerch Strait.

The fire could be seen in a video circulating online.

Local authorities confirmed the fire, which "has been assigned the highest rank," the governor of the region said. A tank with petroleum products was hit by the drone and is burning, the governor said. No injuries were reported and there was no threat to residents, he added on his Telegram channel.

-ABC News' Tanya Stukalova


All drones targeting Kyiv shot down; 3rd attack on capital in 6 days

All drones that were used by Russians to attack Kyiv early Wednesday morning local time were shot down by Ukrainian air defense systems, the Kyiv City Military Administration said on Telegram.

There were no reported injuries or casualties, the military administration said.

This was the third attack on Kyiv in six days, the administration added.

-ABC News' Natalya Kushnir


Explosions reported in Kyiv

Explosions were reported in Kyiv around 1:00 a.m. Wednesday local time, according to Suspilne, the Ukrainian public broadcaster.

The Ukrainian Air Defense Forces were activated in response, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported.

S-300 missiles belonging to Ukrainian Armed Forces were hit in Zaporizhzhia, the spokesman of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Serhiy Bratchuk, said on Telegram.

Reports of damage, and number of people injured or killed were not immediately available.

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman and Max Uzol


Marine veteran killed while evacuating civilians in Ukraine

A 26-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran was killed in a mortar strike last month in Ukraine while working to evacuate civilians, his family confirmed to ABC News this week.

Cooper Andrews died on April 19 in the Bakhmut area, his cousin Willow Pastard, who is speaking on his family's behalf, told ABC News.

The State Department announced Monday that an American citizen died in Ukraine, though did not provide more details or an identity "out of respect for the family's privacy during this difficult time."

"We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance," a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.

At least nine deaths of U.S. citizens who have volunteered to fight in Ukraine have been officially reported since the war began last year, according to the State Department.

-ABC News' Shannon Crawford


WSJ reporter detained in Russia on spying charge

Russia's FSB intelligence agency said on Thursday it had detained a journalist working for The Wall Street Journal on spying charges.

Russian state media cited an FSB statement saying Evan Gershkovich was detained in Ekaterinburg, a city in central Russia, and accusing him of collecting "state secrets" on an enterprise belonging to Russia's military industrial complex on behalf of the United States.

A criminal case has been opened against him, the officials said.

"It is established that Evan Gershkovich, acting on the instruction of the American side, was collecting information consisting of state secrets, about the activity of one of the enterprises of the Russian military industrial complex. He was arrested in Ekaterinburg during an attempt to receive secret information," Russian media said, quoting FSB officials.

Earlier reports from local media said that Gershkovich had been in Ekaterinburg reporting on the Wagner private military company.

Gershkovich is a reporter for the WSJ covering Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. He previously reported for Agence France-Presse and The Moscow Times, according to his WSJ profile. He also served as a news assistant at The New York Times.

-ABC News Tanya Stukalova and Patrick Reevell