Russia-Ukraine updates: US sanctions Russian military shipbuilder, diamond miner

Russia's largest military shipbuilding and diamond mining firms were targeted.

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Nadine El-Bawab, Ivan Pereira, Julia Jacobo, Meredith Deliso, Bill Hutchinson, Kevin Shalvey, Celia Darrough, Mary Kekatos, and Samara Lynn
Last Updated: April 8, 2022, 4:34 AM EDT

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation” into Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with troops crossing the border from Belarus and Russia. Moscow's forces have since been met with “stiff resistance” from Ukrainians, according to U.S. officials.

Russian forces retreated last week from the Kyiv suburbs, leaving behind a trail of destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, U.S. and European officials accused Russian troops of committing war crimes.

For previous coverage, please click here.

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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 30, 2022, 7:39 AM EDT

Ukrainians attempt to save animals from abandoned zoo near Kyiv

Ukrainians are attempting to rescue exotic animals from an abandoned zoo near the capital.

PHOTO: A crater at the Yasnohorodka family ecopark about 30 miles outside of Kyiv. The animals were abandoned when fighting forced their caretakers to flee.
A crater at the Yasnohorodka family ecopark about 30 miles outside of Kyiv. The animals were abandoned when fighting forced their caretakers to flee. A volunteer bringing supplies to Ukrainian soldiers found them, some in dead, others in poor condition.
Vitaly Mukhanov/Facebook

Vitaly Mukhanov told ABC News that he had volunteered to help bring supplies to Ukrainian soldiers when he came across the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside Kyiv. The park appeared to have been damaged by shelling and the animals, including camels and ostriches, were left with no food. Some were injured, while others were dead.

PHOTO: Dead animals lie among debris at the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside of Kyiv, Ukraine. The animals were abandoned when fighting forced their caretakers to flee.
Dead animals lie among debris at the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside of Kyiv, Ukraine. The animals were abandoned when fighting forced their caretakers to flee. A volunteer bringing supplies to Ukrainian soldiers found them, some in dead, others in poor condition.
Vitaly Mukhanov/Facebook

Videos and images Mukhanov took of the scene and posted on Facebook on Monday quickly went viral and he said he was subsequently contacted by the zoo's owner, who asked if he could help.

PHOTO: Damage from the war at the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside of Kyiv, Ukraine. The animals were abandoned when fighting forced their caretakers to flee.
Damage from the war at the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside of Kyiv, Ukraine. The animals were abandoned when fighting forced their caretakers to flee. A volunteer bringing supplies to Ukrainian soldiers found them, some dead, others in poor condition.
Vitaly Mukhanov/Facebook

In one of the videos, Mukhanov comes across a wounded ostrich. The bird appeared to be taking its last breaths as he gently stroked its head.

PHOTO: Animals at the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside of Kyiv, Ukraine. The animals were abandoned when fighting forced their caretakers to flee.
Animals at the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside of Kyiv, Ukraine. The animals were abandoned when fighting forced their caretakers to flee. A volunteer bringing supplies to Ukrainian soldiers found them, some in dead, others in poor condition.
Vitaly Mukhanov/Facebook

"You can see from the images that the animals were in a very bad way," Mukhanov told ABC News. "The town nearby was liberated from the Russians two days ago, so the owner is now returning to the zoo and they hope to evacuate the animals in the next couple of days."

PHOTO: Animals at the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside of Kyiv, Ukraine. The animals were abandoned when fighting forced their caretakers to flee.
Animals at the Yasnohorodka family ecopark, about 30 miles outside of Kyiv, Ukraine. The animals were abandoned when fighting forced their caretakers to flee. A volunteer bringing supplies to Ukrainian soldiers found them, some in dead, others in poor condition.
Vitaly Mukhanov/Facebook

Mukhanov said he has since returned to western Ukraine to get more supplies, but he was told that veterinarians were due to visit the Yasnohorodka family ecopark on Tuesday to provide care to some of the animals.

-ABC News' Fergal Gallagher

Mar 30, 2022, 7:18 AM EDT

Explosion rings out near Russian city of Belgorod

A missile hit a temporary Russian military camp near the border with Ukraine late Tuesday, according Russian state-owned news agency TASS.

TASS, citing a source, reported that preliminary data shows the camp, just outside the Russian city of Belgorod, was fired on from the Ukrainian side. However, Ukraine has denied responsibility and instead blamed the incident on Russian error.

Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement that blasts occurred in the village of Krasny Oktyabr, about 19 miles southwest of Belgorod. He did not cite a cause of the incident, saying he was awaiting a report from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Verified video circulating online shows an explosion in Krasny Oktyabr, about 19 miles southwest of Belgorod, Russia, on March 29, 2022. The cause of the blast was unknown.
Obtained by ABC News

Video circulating online and verified by ABC News shows an explosion in Krasny Oktyabr on Tuesday night. The cause of the blast was unknown.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk alleged that "an unauthorized detonation of ammunition" took place at a warehouse of the Russian Armed Forces in Belgorod.

"This is an example of typical for Russians neglect of safety precautions and mass use of dangerous ammunition of the Second World War," Vereschuk said at a press briefing Wednesday.

Belgorod is about 50 miles north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which Russian forces have shelled heavily in recent weeks.

-ABC News' Fergal Gallagher

Mar 30, 2022, 6:11 AM EDT

Russia bombards Chernihiv hours after claiming to curb assault

Air raid sirens sounded off across almost all of Ukraine overnight and into early Wednesday, hours after Russia said it would scale back its military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.

Russian forces bombarded the besieged northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv as well as Khmelnytsky Oblast in western Ukraine, while several missiles were shot down over the capital, Kyiv, according to Vadim Denisenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister. The damage and any casualties were still being assessed Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, the Luhansk Oblast has been under heavy shelling for days, Denisenko said.

A view of a residential building damaged by shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine, on March 9, 2022, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Yuriy Vasilenko/AP, File

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed Wednesday that the Russian military continues to withdraw part of its troops from near Kyiv and Chernihiv, and are possibly "regrouping units to concentrate the main efforts in the eastern direction." However, the General Staff said it believes the real goals of the so-called withdrawal are a rotation of individual units, misleading Ukraine's military leadership and creating an erroneous idea about Russia's refusal from the plan to encircle Kyiv.

-ABC News' Julia Drozd

Mar 30, 2022, 5:27 AM EDT

Over 4 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR

More than 4 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency.

An evacuee from Ukraine holds her dog as she waits in a hall of the train station in Przemysl, Poland, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, on March 28, 2022, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images

The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 9% of Ukraine's population -- which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 -- on the move across borders in 35 days.

More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.

-ABC News' Zoe Magee

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