Russia-Ukraine updates: Russian missiles hit close to nuclear reactors: IAEA director

Shelling is ongoing near the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

Last Updated: August 24, 2023, 10:20 AM EDT

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine's disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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Jun 28, 2022, 4:13 PM EDT

Biden: Ukraine 'standing up' to Putin 'in ways that I don't think anyone anticipated'

President Joe Biden and Spanish President Pedro Sanchez delivered remarks Tuesday on new areas of cooperation between the two countries and efforts to keep supporting Ukraine against Russia's invasion.

Biden did not mention Monday’s strike on the Ukraine mall that killed 18, but said the invasion has "shattered peace in Europe and every norm since WWII."

People watch as smoke bellows after a Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping mall, in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, June 27, 2022.
Viacheslav Priadko/AP

A couple wounded in a shopping mall hit by a Russian missile strike hold hands in a hospital as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kremenchuk, in Poltava region, Ukraine, June 27, 2022.
Anna Voitenko/Reuters

Biden said he and Sanchez discussed the need to continue to provide weapons to Ukraine.

The Ukrainians "are standing up in ways that I don't think anyone anticipated, showing enormous bravery, enormous resolve," Biden said.

He said he believes Putin's objective is to "wipe out the culture of Ukraine."

Biden said NATO allies will be "standing as one" to support Ukraine and teased more military posture commitments in Europe. Biden said the U.S. and Spain are working on an agreement to increase the number of Navy destroyers stationed at Rota Naval Base in Spain.

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez

Jun 28, 2022, 11:12 AM EDT

Russia bans Biden's wife, daughter from entry

Russia announced Tuesday that it was banning the wife and daughter of U.S. President Joe Biden from entering the country.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the names of 25 U.S. citizens were added to the country's "stop list," including Biden's wife Jill and daughter Ashley. The ministry also banned entry to U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Ben Sasse, R-Neb., and Kirstin Gillibrand, D-N.Y., whom it identified as "responsible for the formation of the Russophobic course."

"This was done in response to the continuous expansion of U.S. sanctions against Russian politicians and public persons," the ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

Jun 28, 2022, 10:41 AM EDT

US prohibits Russian gold imports, issues sanctions targeting Russia's defense sector

The U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it’s prohibiting the import of Russian gold to the U.S., two days after President Joe Biden said the U.S. and other G-7 nations would ban the import of Russian gold.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CNN Sunday that the West’s bans on Russian gold imports would cost Russia about $19 billion in revenue annually.

“It can’t acquire what it needs to modernize its defense sector, to modernize its technology, to modernize its energy exploration,” Blinken said.

The Treasury Department also announced Tuesday that the U.S. is sanctioning 70 entities and 29 individuals “critical” to Russia’s “defense industrial base, including State Corporation Rostec, the cornerstone of Russia’s defense, industrial, technology, and manufacturing sectors.” The Treasury said the State Department is also sanctioning 45 more entities and 29 more individuals, including targeting Russian military units and the FSB.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson

Jun 28, 2022, 8:17 AM EDT

Russian forces in Ukraine 'are increasingly hollowed out,' UK says

Ukrainian forces are still consolidating their positions on higher ground in the eastern city of Lyschansak after falling back from nearby Sieverodonetsk, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Tuesday in an intelligence update.

"Ukrainian forces continue to disrupt Russian command and control with successful strikes deep behind Russian lines," the ministry added.

According to the ministry, Russian forces over the weekend "launched unusually intense waves of strikes across Ukraine using long-range missiles."

"These weapons highly likely included the Soviet-era AS-4 KITCHEN and more modern AS-23a KODIAK missiles, fired from both Belarusian and Russian airspace," the ministry said. "These weapons were designed to take on targets of strategic importance, but Russia continues to expend them in large numbers for tactical advantage. Similarly, it fielded the core elements of six different armies yet achieved only tactical success at Sieverodonetsk."

"The Russian armed forces are increasingly hollowed out," the ministry added. "They currently accept a level of degraded combat effectiveness, which is probably unsustainable in the long term.

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