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ABC News

Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin says 'certain positive movements' in negotiations

PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at the Kremlin in Moscow, March 11, 2022.
2:28
Sputnik/via Reuters
How Russia’s Ukraine invasion might come to an end
By Morgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, Julia Jacobo, Nadine El-Bawab, Meredith Deliso, Ivan Pereira, Kevin Shalvey, Bill Hutchinson, Celia Darrough
Last Updated: March 11, 2022, 4:06 PM

Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation."

Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance, coming within about 9 miles as of Friday.

Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.

For previous coverage, please click here.

Two Men at War
Two Men at Wartitle
Two Men at War
A look at the two leaders at the center of the war in Ukraine and how they both rose to power, the difference in their leadership and what led to this moment in history.

Latest headlines:

  • Ukrainian air force claims Russia carried out false flag airstrike in Belarus
  • UN has credible reports of Russian cluster bomb use, attacks on health care
  • Putin claims 'certain positive movements' in Ukraine negotiations
  • Russian general prosecutor wants Meta declared 'extremist organization'
  • Putin orders Russian military to help volunteer fighters from Middle East travel to Ukraine
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.

Mar 11, 2022 4:06 PM

Ukrainian air force claims Russia carried out false flag airstrike in Belarus

Ukraine's air force claimed Friday that Russia carried out an alleged false flag airstrike in a Belarusian village near the border with Ukraine.

In a post on Facebook, Ukraine's air force claimed Russian jets took off from a base in Belarus and entered Ukraine's airspace, then a fire started in the village of Kopani.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksy Reznikov earlier claimed in a Facebook post that Russian forces would launch a strike against Kopani to "pull the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus into the war with Ukraine."

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell


Mar 11, 2022 3:39 PM

Ukraine claims Russia planning false flag airstrikes on Belarus to push it into the war

Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksy Reznikov on Friday accused Russia of preparing to carry out airstrikes against Belarusian villages close to the border with Ukraine in order to create a pretext for Belarus entering the war more directly.

Until now, Belarus has largely only acted as a base for Russia’s invasion forces and for missile and air strikes to be launched from its territory.

Ukraine claims it has information that Russia is planning to launch a series of false flag airstrikes against Belarusian villages to try to change that and create a push for war within Belarus, Reznikov said in a post online.

"I appeal to the Belarusian people. Friends. According to information in which we are completely sure and which we have confirmed, at the present moment the command of the Russian occupation troops is preparing a series of bloody provocations," he said.

Reznikov added, "According to their criminal conspiracy, Russian aviation is preparing to launch a strike on a range of population centers on the territory of Belarus, located close to the Ukrainian-Belarusian border."

He named the village of Kopani in the Brest region.

He denied Ukraine would ever launch strikes and said, "the goal of the provocation is to push the acting leadership of Belarus towards war against Ukraine. Moscow is trying to bind you with blood."

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell


Mar 11, 2022 4:11 PM

US Restricts the export of luxury goods to Russia, Belarus

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Friday that it will restrict the export of U.S. luxury goods to Russia and Belarus, as well as "certain Russian and Belarusian oligarchs and malign actors located worldwide," as a result of their actions in Ukraine.

The Department of Commerce said it will impose restrictions on the export, reexport and transfer of luxury items including certain spirits, tobacco products, clothing items, jewelry, vehicles and antique goods.

"Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine continues to take a devastating toll on innocent civilians in Ukraine, fueling one of the worst humanitarian crises Europe has seen in decades," Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement.

Raimondo added, "Putin and the oligarchs who fund him have gotten rich off of Putin’s rampant corruption and the exploitation of the Russian people. We will not allow Putin and his cronies to continue living in opulence while causing tremendous suffering throughout Eastern Europe. Today’s action takes away another source of comfort and reminds them that Russia is increasingly isolated."

-ABC News' Luke Barr



Mar 11, 2022 3:16 PM

WHO advised Ukraine to destroy pathogens to prevent 'accidental spill'

The World Health Organization said Friday that it is urging Ukraine to now destroy its pathogen samples because Russia's war in the country risks an "accidental spill," according to WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević.

PHOTO: The logo of the World Health Organization (WHO) is pictured on the facade of the WHO headquarters.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
The logo of the World Health Organization (WHO) is pictured on the facade of the WHO headquarters.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

"This is part of us providing a public health advice to every country to try to ensure there is a minimized risk of any harm to population because of any possible accidental leak of pathogens," Jašarević said Friday from Lviv.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan


Mar 02, 2022 1:04 PM

Harris stops short of calling for Putin's ouster

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris stopped short of calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin's ouster on Wednesday while urging for an end to the invasion of Ukraine.

"What we want is that the Ukrainian people will be free and that they will be safe. But we are now at a place where obviously Russia has yet again invaded Ukraine and we must stand in solidarity with our allies and make sure there are severe and swift consequences which is what we've been doing," Harris told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an interview on "Good Morning America".

When asked whether there is anything more the United States and its allies could be doing, Harris argued that the actions taken thus far have already had an effect.

"We are seeing the impact of the work that we have done. We are seeing the ruble in a free fall. We are seeing the stock market in Russia has essentially closed. What we have seen is that the credit rating of Russia is now junk," she said. "So, what we know is that we're having an impact and we're taking it quite seriously."

VIDEO: VP Kamala Harris talks SOTU
6:17
Harris joined "Good Morning America" after the State of the Union address to discuss the crisis with Russia and the president's plans for health care, inflation, jobs and education.

When pressed again that Putin appears to be willing to take the cost and is not backing down, Harris insisted: "We're going to do everything that we can to support the Ukrainian people."

"We are doing that through our security assistance, through economic assistance, humanitarian assistance," she added. "We're not going to let up."

Harris dodged a question about whether about whether U.S. intelligence now suggests that Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, will fall to Russian forces.

"This is Putin's war, and we are very concerned and we are monitoring it," she said. "We are fully aware that if there's any intentional targeting of civilians, that we are looking at the fact that there may be a violation, very well may be a violation of international law. So this is an issue that we should all be paying attention to. It is atrocious and it is a violation of all of the standards and principles that we as particularly NATO nations take seriously."

-ABC News Sarah Kolinovsky and Kelly McCarthy


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