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

A U.S. official alleges that Russia is deploying a disinformation campaign to damage Ukrainians' morale through false reports about Ukrainian troops surrendering or through planned threats to kill the family members of Ukraine's military troops.

"We commend the Ukrainian people for showing strength and determination in response to an unprovoked attack by a significantly larger military," the official said. "We are concerned, however, that Russia plans to discourage them and induce surrender through disinformation."

Earlier Friday, Russia's Ministry of Defense claimed that more than 150 Ukrainian service members "laid down their arms and surrendered," even providing names and figures for where they say these surrenders took place.

"After the stabilization of the situation in the combat area, all surrendered Ukrainian servicemen will be released home," the Ministry of Defense said.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan, Anastasia Bagaeva

NATO has activated its NATO Response Force, marking the first time the alliance has activated the potentially 40,000-person force for “a deterrence and defence" role, according to a NATO spokesperson. This means that the 8,500 American troops put on heightened alert in late January for this mission could soon be ordered to Europe.

The decision follows a meeting of NATO ministers Friday morning in Brussels.

To be activated, the 30 members of NATO must all agree to activate the force, which is under the command of Gen. Told Wolters, the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

Officials are seeing more signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn't interested in a diplomatic solution, a senior U.S. official said.

Russian troops are now resupplied and are planning multiple entrance points into Kyiv that will likely be carried out at once, the official said.

-ABC News' Martha Raddatz

After Russian forces seized the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power station, the facilities continue "to operate safely and securely," Ukraine's regulatory agency informed the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. Nuclear watchdog said Friday. 

There were slightly higher levels of radiation, but they are still "low and remain within the operational range measured in the Exclusion Zone since it was established, and therefore do not pose any danger to the public," the IAEA said. 

One theory why the levels could have ticked up, according to the IAEA, is "heavy military vehicles stirring up soil still contaminated from the 1986 accident." 

The Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, is located about 60 miles north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The Chernobyl exclusion zone begins almost immediately below Ukraine's border with Belarus. 

The Russian Ministry of Defense said Friday that Russian troops took full control of the Chernobyl plant area on Thursday.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan