Russia-Ukraine updates: US to ban Russian carriers from its airspace

Following President Joe Biden's announcement from the White House of additional Russian sanctions and deployments to the region, a senior defense official offered details on U.S. forces headed to the Baltics.

The official said 800 troops from an infantry battalion task force based in Italy will move to the Baltic region, as well as up to eight F-35 fighters from Germany to "several operating locations along NATO's eastern flank."

Additionally, 20 AH-64 Apache helicopters from Germany will head to the Baltic region and 12 AH-64 Apache helicopters from Greece will head to Poland, the official said. 

"These additional personnel are being repositioned to reassure our NATO allies, deter any potential aggression against NATO member states, and train with host-nation forces," the senior defense official said in a statement. "These moves are temporary in nature, and are part of the more than 90,000 U.S. troops already in Europe on rotational and permanent orders."

-ABC News' Matt Seyler

President Joe Biden said Tuesday, "in response to Russia's admission that it will not withdraw its forces from Belarus," he has authorized "the additional movements of U.S. forces and equipment already stationed in Europe, to strengthen our Baltic allies, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania."

Biden did not provide more details other than calling the deployments "totally defensive moves on our part."

He noted "we have no intention of fighting Russia" and said it was, instead, about sending "an unmistakable message" the U.S. "will defend every inch of NATO territory."

Echoing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reporting that the U.S. has seen Russians "stocking up their blood support supplies," Biden also used that as an example of Russia's intended purpose to invade, adding, "You don't need blood unless you plan on starting a war."

Pushing back on Russian President Vladimir Putin after Putin essentially negated the idea that Ukraine was a sovereign state, Biden said Tuesday, "the world heard clearly the full extent of Vladimir Putin's twisted rewrite of history."

Announcing new economic sanctions on Russia, and calling Russian movements Tuesday "the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine," President Joe Biden also addressed how Russian sanctions might be felt in the U.S.

In a similar move to sanctions the European Union just announced, Biden said the new sanctions would target large Russian banks, Russia's sovereign debt, and, starting Wednesday, the Russian elite and their relatives.

"None of us -- none of us should be fooled," Biden said. "None of us will be fooled. There is no justification. Further Russian assault in Ukraine remains a severe threat in the days ahead."

 Biden said that the sanctions were just the "first tranche" of sanctions in response to their actions and have been coordinated with allies and partners, including with Germany on halting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and warned that imposing these sanctions against Russia could come at a cost to Americans as well.

"As I said last week, defending freedom will have costs for us as well and here at home. We need to be honest about that," Biden said. "But as we do this, I'm going to take robust action to make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at the Russian economy, not ours."

"I want to limit the pain to the American people, fueling at the gas pump. This is critical to me," he added.

Notably, Biden did not mention personally targeting Putin, which he had previously said he was considering. The president did not take questions from reporters.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson and Justin Gomez

President Joe Biden announced new sanctions on Russia on Tuesday following Russian President Vladimir Putin signaling he would send "military assistance" to the two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine whose independence Moscow has recognized.

"This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, as he indicated and asked permission to be able to do from his Duma," Biden said in remarks from the White House. "So I'm going to begin to impose sanctions in response -- far beyond the steps we and our allies and partners implemented in 2014."

"If Russia goes further with this invasion, we stand prepared to go further as with sanctions," Biden continued.

In his first public remarks since Friday on Ukraine, the president said Putin is "setting up a rationale to take more territory by force" -- and "to go much further."

"Who in the Lord's name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors? This is a flagrant violation of international law and demands a firm response from the international community," he added.