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

A U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile test that was initially postponed in early March to avoid "misinterpretation" by Russia was recently canceled, the Department of the Air Force said Friday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin originally delayed the routine test flight of an LGM-30G Minuteman III missile after Russia put its nuclear deterrent forces on a state of heightened alert.

"The launch had been previously delayed due to an overabundance of caution to avoid misinterpretation or miscommunication during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and was cancelled for the same reason," the Air Force said in a statement. "Our next planned test flight is later this year. The Department is confident in the readiness of the strategic forces of the United States."

-ABC News' Matt Seyler

Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, has been liberated from Russian forces, its mayor declared.

"March 31 will go down in the history of our settlement and the entire territorial community as a day of liberation from the Russian occupiers by our armed forces,” Mayor Anatolii Fedoruk said in a video posted to Facebook Friday. "Today I state that this day is joyful and it is a great victory of our armed forces in Kyiv region."

Last week, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Russian forces battling toward Kyiv were able to partially take several northwestern suburbs, including Bucha.

-ABC News' Irene Hanatiyuk

Over 6,200 people were evacuated from regions in southeastern Ukraine Friday by buses and private cars, according to Ukrainian officials.

In the Donetsk region, 3,071 people were evacuated from the besieged port city of Mariupol, officials said.

Earlier Friday, Mariupol officials said an estimated 100,000 civilians remained trapped in the city despite repeated efforts by Ukrainian officials to evacuate them.

Additionally, over 1,700 people were evacuated from the Luhansk region, and over 1,400 from the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian officials said.

-ABC News' Irene Hanatiyuk

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators continued peace talks virtually on Friday, Mykhailo Podolyak, a chief negotiator for the Ukrainians, told ABC News.

"On the table is the key document proposed by the Ukrainian delegation - the Treaty on Security Guarantees," Podolyak said. This proposed agreement provides for the possibility of exit from the war and the prevention of future conflicts.

Ukraine proposed a new system of security guarantees similar to NATO's collective defense clause which would legally require "guarantor countries" to provide arms and impose a "no-fly" zone over Ukraine, in the event of an attack.

Both sides are working on the legal wording of the basic provisions of the contract, Podolyak said.

"The discussion is extremely difficult, since the negotiating positions of the parties are strongly influenced by the daily change in the military situation on all lines of contact," Podolyak said.

-ABC News' Bruno Roeber and James Longman