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

President Joe Biden responded to former President Donald Trump's comments this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine are “genius."

"I put as much stock in Trump saying that Putin's a genius as I do when he called himself a stable genius," Biden said in a pre-recorded interview with Brian Tyler Cohen.

In a radio interview this week, Trump said it was "genius" that Putin declared a portion of Ukraine independent.

"Putin is now saying, 'It’s independent,' a large section of Ukraine. I said, 'How smart is that?' And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s strongest peace force … We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen," Trump said on the conservative talk radio program "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show."

"Here’s a guy who’s very savvy," Trump said. "I know him very well. Very, very well."

Biden in the interview defended his sanctions on Russia as “nothing like” what the U.S. has done before and weighed what the other option could have been.

“You have two options: start a third World War, go to war with Russia physically. Or two, make sure that a country that acts so contrary to international law ends up paying the price," he said.

"There's no sanction that is immediate. It's not like you can sanction someone and say, 'You no longer are going to be able to be president of Russia,'" he continued. "But I think the sanctions -- I know -- I know the sanctions are the broadest sanctions in history."

“Russia will pay a serious price for this short term and long term, particularly long term," Biden said.

Biden held a secure call with his national security team Saturday morning on the latest developments, according to a White House official.

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez

The new package of $350 million in assistance to Ukraine will include “anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, body armor, and related equipment in support of Ukraine’s front-line defenders facing down Russia’s unprovoked attack," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

It also includes portable surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS) in the Pentagon's inventory, a U.S. official told ABC News.

It's not clear how the equipment will be provided to the Ukrainian military. The U.S. official said they can't speak to logistics or timing, but said, "Time is clearly of the essence, so we expect deliveries to start very soon."

This brings total U.S. security assistance approved for Ukraine in the last year to $1 billion.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez, Conor Finnegan

Over 150,000 Ukrainians have crossed into neighboring countries, according to Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Poland's Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker told reporters 100,000 people have crossed from Ukraine into Poland.

For those still in Ukraine, a stricter curfew has been enacted in Kyiv, instructing residents to stay home from 5 p.m. Saturday until 8 a.m. Monday.

The Russians have launched more than 250 missiles, mostly short-range ballistic type, a senior defense official told reporters Saturday. 

"We continue to see civilian infrastructure and residential areas impacted and damaged by these missile strikes," the official said.

Though Russian troops are about 30 kilometers north of Kyiv, Russian forces continue to meet more Ukrainian resistance than expected and have failed to take any cities so far, the official said.

"We have indications that the Russians are increasingly frustrated by their lack of momentum over the last 24 hours, particularly in the north parts of Ukraine," the official said. "We continue to see indications of viable Ukrainian resistance."

"We still believe that Russia has yet to achieve air superiority. Ukrainian air defenses, including aircraft do continue to be operable and continue to engage and deny access to Russian aircraft in places over the country," the official said. 

The official said Russian forces are meeting less resistance in the south and are having more success there than the north.

The official said several thousand Russian troops went ashore in Friday's amphibious assault from the Sea of Azov to the west of Mariupol, and they're now heading northeast toward Donbas.

"The Russians are continuing to try to advance on Kherson" in southern Ukraine, the official added.

The mayor of the southern city of Mykolayiv warned on live TV of an immediate fall of the city to Russian forces.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez, Matt Seyler