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

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

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday Ukraine is “successfully repelling” Russia’s attacks and that Kyiv and its outskirts are under the control of the Ukrainian military.

In a televised address, Zelenskyy said Russia had hoped to install a puppet government in Kyiv but that “we broke their plans.”

“The fighting goes on in many cities of our state, but we know we are defending our country, our land, and our childrens' future,” he said. 

Zelenskyy said the Russian forces are being “severely repulsed” in every city under attack and that in fighting around Kyiv Russia “didn’t gain any advantage,” despite attacking with missiles, fighter jets, drones, artillery, armored vehicles, saboteurs and paratroopers.

So far Ukrainian troops do appear to have managed to hold the Russian forces at bay in intense fighting near Kyiv and in cities in the north, east and south of the country. Russian forces have advanced close to several cities but except for the southern city of Melitopol do not yet appear to have advanced into them.

Zelensky also said that the international "anti-war coalition is working,” saying Ukraine now has the support of most EU countries to cut Russia off from the SWIFT banking system. He then said he hopes Germany and Hungary will agree, suggesting for now they still have not.

He also again called on ordinary Russians, seeking their help in stopping the war.

“Now I want to be heard in Russia. By absolutely everyone. Thousands of deaths, hundreds of captured, who just can't grasp what they have been sent to Ukraine for to die and to kill others,” Zelenskyy said. “The faster you tell your authority that the war must be stopped immediately, the more your people will stay alive.”

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Ukrainian military officials on Saturday said Russia’s attempt to encircle Kyiv has been slowed after two days of resistance by Ukrainian forces.

“The units of the Russian occupiers are losing their offensive tempo, they are expecting additional units to join the fight and are forced to stop to replenish supplies,” the statement from the general staff read.

Officials said Russia’s goal is to try to impose “demilitarization” on Ukraine by blockading the capital and forcing Ukraine’s political leadership to “change its political course on Russian terms.”

The statement said seven Russian battalion tactical groups, totalling 4,000 to 7,000 troops, have tried to push into Kyiv from the northwest and north, but have been forced to regroup.

A main force of around 8,000 to 14,000 Russian troops is trying to also push down from the northeast of the city, but have so far been stopped by Ukraine’s forces, officials said. In total, Russia sent in 17 battalion tactical groups from the northeast, totalling up to 17,000 troops, Ukraine said.

The statement said Russia also tried to land paratroopers at an airbase in Vassylkiv, a town about 20 miles south of Kyiv, but that the airborne units had been killed. Ukraine has said it shot down two IL-76 transport planes with paratroopers onboard last night. 

In Kyiv on Saturday, fighting was taking place in a northwestern suburb, near the Beresteiska subway station, about 4 miles from the central Maidan square. Occasional booms and the sound of intense gunfire could be heard in some areas. 

Ukrainian officials have said the Russian troops in the city are special forces and advance units, with the main force of tanks and artillery still further away. Shelling was reported near the town of Dymer, about 20 miles north of Kyiv.

Ukraine’s general staff says Russia has not had success “in any direction.” meaning they have not yet succeeded in taking any cities across the country. 

Russia has claimed to have captured the southern city of Melitopol.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Russia’s media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, told 10 media outlets to remove content that described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a war.

The notifications were “necessary to restrict access to false information” from the 10 outlets, Roskomnadzor said on Saturday.

The outlets published "false socially important information which is not true about the attacks of Ukrainian cities by the Russian Armed Forces and deaths of civilians in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian army, as well as materials describing the operation as an attack, invasion or a war," the watchdog said.

-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova