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

Ukraine warned Norway on Wednesday that Russian forces have "amassed in the Arctic region" and will ultimately pose a threat to Europe.

"I think you are experiencing new risks near your border with Russia," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address to Norwegian lawmakers via video link from Kyiv. "A number of Russian troops that has no normal explanation has already been amassed in the Arctic region. For what? Against whom?"

"The future of Europe -- the whole continent from north to south, from west to east -- is being decided right now," he added. "On our land, on Ukrainian soil, in Ukrainian air, in Ukrainian sea. So that your soldiers do not have to defend NATO's eastern flank, so that Russian mines do not drift to your ports and fjords, so that your people do not have to get used to the sound of air alarms and so that Russian tanks are not amassed at your border, we must stop the aggression of the Russian Federation together and only together."

Zelenskyy said Russian forces are continuing to carry out relentless and indiscriminate attacks on his country. Although Ukrainian troops are holding off Russian advances, he warned that "the columns of Russian armoured vehicles are not decreasing."

"There are no forbidden targets for Russian troops. They attack everything," he told Norwegian lawmakers. "Ukraine's losses are enormous."

-ABC News' Fidel Pavlenko and Christine Theodorou

During a meeting in China on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi doubled down on increasingly close ties between the two nations despite the invasion of Ukraine.

Wang acknowledged the "Ukraine problem" but stopped short of offering support.

Chinese officials have said repeatedly in the past weeks that they are "not a party" to the conflict but "support Russia and Ukraine in overcoming difficulties."

-ABC News' Karson Yiu

U.S. intelligence said it believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by his advisers on his troops' performance in Ukraine "because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth," a U.S. official told ABC News.

Based on declassified intelligence, the official said, "We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military. There is now persistent tension between Putin and the MOD [Ministry of Defence], stemming from Putin’s mistrust in MOD leadership. Putin didn’t even know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian President."

The official continued: "We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth."

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez

Poland announced Wednesday its plan to stop buying Russian oil, gas and coal by the end of 2022.

"Today, we present the most radical plan in Europe to abandon Russian hydrocarbons -- oil, gas and coal. This plan is necessary for the recovery of Europe," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a press conference.

According to Morawiecki, Poland "will impose a total embargo on Russian coal in April, at the latest in May." He said his country has already largely reduced its dependence on oil from Russia and "will do [its] best to abandon Russian oil by the end of the year." He added that he is also expecting a decline in gas imports in May.

Morawiecki called on other European countries, including Germany, to follow suit. He urged the European Commission "to establish a tax on Russian hydrocarbons so that trade and economic rules in the European single market are fair."