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.
A look at the two leaders at the center of the war in Ukraine and how they both rose to power, the difference in their leadership and what led to this moment in history.
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 04, 2022, 6:45 AM EST
US embassy calls nuclear power plant shelling 'a war crime'
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv took to Twitter on Friday to condemn Russia's shelling of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.
"It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant," the embassy tweeted. "Putin's shelling of Europe's largest nuclear plant takes his reign of terror one step further."
Mar 04, 2022, 6:25 AM EST
Blinken: 'If conflict comes to us, we're ready for it'
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday morning to discuss the response to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
During a press conference prior to the meeting at NATO headquarters, Blinken and Stoltenberg condemned Russia's attacks on civilians in Ukraine and expressed concern over the reports of Russian shelling at Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant.
U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken, left, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speak during a news conference before a NATO foreign ministers meeting, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 4, 2022.
Olivier Douliery/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
"This just demonstrates the recklessness of this war and the importance of ending it, and the importance of Russia withdrawing all its troops and engage in good faith in diplomatic efforts," Stoltenberg told reporters. "We provide support to Ukraine. At the same time, NATO is not part of the conflict. NATO is a defensive alliance, we don't seek war conflict with Russia."
Blinken emphasized that NATO and the United States "seek no conflict."
"But if conflict comes to us, we're ready for it," he added. "And we will defend every inch of NATO territory."
Mar 04, 2022, 5:41 AM EST
No radioactive material released at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant: IAEA
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Friday that no radioactive material was released at Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant amid shelling from Russian forces overnight.
The shelling sparked a fire in a training building at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, in the eastern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. The blaze has since been extinguished, according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference in Vienna, Austria, March 4, 2022.
Leonhard Foeger/Reuters
Two security employees at the plant were injured during the incident, according to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
"The safety systems at the six reactors were not effected," Grossi said at a press conference in Vienna on Friday morning. "No radioactive material was released."
"We are following the situation very, very closely," he added.
-ABC News' Joe Simonetti
Mar 04, 2022, 2:57 AM EST
Fire at Ukraine's largest nuclear facility extinguished as Russian forces take control
A fire at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar was extinguished Friday, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
The fire occurred in a training building at the site after shelling from Russian forces. There were no victims, the emergency service said.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe.
A view shows a damaged administrative building of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in Enerhodar, the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine in a photo released March 4, 2022, by the press service of National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom.
Energoatom via Reuters
Meanwhile, Energodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov told reporters Friday morning that the city is now under the control of Russian forces and fighting near the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant has stopped. It's the second Ukrainian nuclear facility to fall under Russian control since the invasion began Feb. 24. Last week, Russian forces seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where the world's worst nuclear accident took place in 1986, and the surrounding exclusion zone, which includes the ghost city of Pripyat.
Ukraine's national nuclear regulator has said that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant's employees are being permitted to work as normal, safety systems are currently functioning and there was no reported change in radiation levels at the site.