Russia's military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.
Thursday's attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.
Latest Developments
Feb 25, 5:55 PM
Ukraine says it is in 'initial stage' of talks with Russia
Ukraine is in the "initial stage of contacts" for possible negotiations with Russia to end the fighting, a spokesman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News.
The two governments are discussing details such as the time and place of the talks, the spokesman, Sergiy Nykyforov, said. The meeting would take place between advisers and aides and not Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, he added.
The Kremlin said earlier Friday it was ready to send a delegation for talks to Belarus' capital, Minsk, and claimed Zelenskyy was ready to discuss "neutral status" for Ukraine. Russia’s foreign ministry later claimed Zelenskyy's administration had said to postpone any more discussion of talks until Saturday.
The discussions come as Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians in a televised address that Russia will attempt to storm Kyiv tonight.
-ABC News' Patrick Reevell and Fidel Pavlenko
Feb 25, 5:23 PM
Zelenskyy warns Russia will try to 'storm' Kyiv tonight
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in a televised address moments ago that he believes Russian forces will "storm" the capital of Kyiv overnight.
“The night will be more difficult than the day,” he said, as the sound of shelling and loud booms from airstrikes could be heard over Kyiv.
"We cannot lose Kyiv," he said.
-ABC News' Patrick Reevell
Feb 25, 5:13 PM
Proposed talks of diplomacy come 'at the barrel of a gun': State Dept.
The State Department expressed doubts Friday that Moscow-led efforts to set up talks between Kyiv and the Kremlin in Minsk, Belarus, could yield any meaningful results against the backdrop of an ongoing invasion.
"You've heard us say before that over the course of several weeks leading up to the events that we've seen recently in Ukraine — the assault on Ukraine, its sovereignty, its territorial integrity, and really, its people — that Moscow engaged in a pretense of diplomacy," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing. "Now, we see Moscow suggesting that diplomacy take place at the barrel of a gun, or as Moscow's rockets, mortars, artillery, target the Ukrainian people. This is not real diplomacy. Those are not the conditions for real diplomacy."
Price added that if Putin were serious about diplomacy, "He should immediately stop the bombing campaign against civilians, order the withdrawal of his forces from Ukraine, and indicate very clearly — unambiguously to the world — that Moscow is prepared to de-escalate. We have not seen that yet."
When pressed on if the U.S. would still support Ukraine entering into such talks, or if the State Department had specifically advised Ukraine against engaging with Russia, Price largely demurred, but said that the countries were "operating in pure lockstep."
-ABC News' Shannon Crawford and Zoha Qamar
Feb 25, 4:43 PM
Russians not making as much progress as they hoped: Pentagon
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Friday that Russian troops aren't making as much progress in Ukraine as they hoped, and in some cases, Ukrainian forces are successfully fighting back.However, "we have seen continued movement by Russian forces into Ukraine both from the north and from the south,” Kirby said, and the amphibious assault on Mariupol in eastern Ukraine “is being conducted today.”
Kirby stressed that the U.S. and other countries will continue providing defensive support to Ukraine.
-ABC News' Luis Martinez
Feb 25, 4:13 PM
Ukraine Railway Company adds evacuation trains from Kyiv to western cities
The Ukraine Railway Company said it's adding a number of evacuation trains running from Kyiv to cities in western Ukraine.
The company said the trains can hold about 10,000 people per day.
-ABC News' Christine Theodorou
BREAKING: U.S. will sanction Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, and members of the Russian national security team, White House press sec. Jen Psaki says.
LIVE UPDATES: https://t.co/1c4zPiKUga pic.twitter.com/GRFroAR1Xj
— ABC News (@ABC) February 25, 2022
Feb 25, 3:42 PM
Biden 'commended the brave actions of the Ukrainian people' during call with Zelensky
President Joe Biden said during his Friday phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he “commended the brave actions of the Ukrainian people” who are defending their country against the Russian military.On the call Biden said he "also conveyed ongoing economic, humanitarian, and security support being provided by the United States as well as our continued efforts to rally other countries to provide similar assistance."Biden, who met with NATO leaders earlier in the day, said in a statement, "Putin has failed in his goal of dividing the West. NATO is as united and resolute as it’s ever been, and NATO will maintain its Open Door to those European states who share our values and who one day may seek to join our Alliance."
"I have ordered the deployment of additional forces to augment our capabilities in Europe to support our NATO Allies," Biden said. "And I strongly welcome the decision to activate NATO’s defensive plans and elements of the NATO Response Force to strengthen our collective posture, as well as the commitments by our Allies to deploy additional land and air forces to the eastern flank and maritime forces from the High North to the Mediterranean."
Feb 25, 3:08 PM
Classified all-member House briefing set for Monday
Administration officials will provide a classified in-person briefing on the Ukraine crisis to all House members on Monday evening following their return from recess, a senior Capitol Hill official confirmed to ABC News. Members have had unclassified virtual briefings throughout the week.
-ABC News' Mariam Khan
Feb 25, 3:01 PM
Ukrainian cyber agency reports mass phishing attempts
The Computer Emergency Response Team for Ukraine said it has seen mass phishing emails targeting government websites.
“Mass phishing emails have recently been observed targeting private ‘’ and ‘’ accounts of Ukrainian military personnel and related individuals,” the agency said in a Facebook post Friday. “After the account is compromised, the attackers, by the IMAP protocol, get access to all the messages. Later, the attackers use contact details from the victim’s address book to send the phishing emails.”
They attribute the emails to officers of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus.
-ABC News' Luke Barr
More than 50,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled their country in less than 48 hours — a majority to Poland and Moldova — and many more are moving towards its borders.
Heartfelt thanks to the governments and people of countries keeping their borders open and welcoming refugees.
— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) February 25, 2022
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