Russia-Ukraine updates: US sanctions Russian military shipbuilder, diamond miner

The United States Senate unanimously approved major legislation late Wednesday to resurrect a World War II-era policy that gives President Joe Biden the authority to expedite the delivery of weapons and other supplies to Ukraine amid Russia's invasion.

The so-called Lend-Lease program was created during the Second World War and allowed the U.S. to swiftly resupply allies without bureaucratic barriers in the fight against Nazi Germany. The bill that passed in the Senate on Wednesday night would enable the U.S. to stay physically out of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine while providing allies with weapons and military equipment.

In a brief, late-night speech on the Senate floor in Washington, D.C., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military forces of carrying out "genocide" in Ukraine, calling the alleged atrocities "pure evil."

"When we murder wantonly innocent civilians because of who they are, whether it be their religion, their race, or their nationality, that is genocide," Schumer said, "and Mr. Putin is guilty of it."

The Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022, as it's called, would be specific to Ukraine and Eastern European nations to help remove obstacles to lending arms. The legislation would not create a new program, but would streamline the president's current authority to lend the defense articles needed by Ukraine and Eastern European countries and expedite the delivery of defense articles to Ukraine. It would remain in effect through fiscal year 2023, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation and a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Shaheen introduced the bill with Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) in January. It will now be considered by the U.S. House of Representatives.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country had a "simple" agenda for Thursday's NATO meeting.

"It has only three items on it. It's weapons, weapons and weapons," Kuleba told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.

NATO foreign ministers are meeting this week to discuss the situation in Ukraine, including whether to implement new sanctions and supply additional weapons, said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who spoke alongside Kuleba.

"So we are providing support, but, at the same time, working hard to prevent the escalation of the conflict," Stoltenberg said.

Kuleba called on "all allies to put aside their hesitations" in aiding Ukraine.

"We are confident that the best way to help Ukraine now is to provide it with all necessary to contain [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, and to defeat Russian army in Ukraine, in the territory of Ukraine, so that the war does not spill over further," Kuleba said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to meet with Kuleba on Thursday, according to his office.

"The G7 is committed to holding President Putin to account for his unprovoked war of choice and ensuring he endures a strategic defeat in Ukraine," Blinken said on Twitter on Thursday.

Former President Barack Obama weighed in on the Ukraine-Russia conflict Wednesday during his appearance at the Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy conference and called the war a "tragedy of historic proportions.”

“It is a bracing reminder for democracies that have gotten flabby, and confused and feckless around the stakes of things that we tended to take for granted: rule of law, freedom of press and conscience … that you have to fight for that information,” he said.

Obama said Russian President Vladimir Putin was "always ruthless."

“For him to bet the farm in this way, I would have not necessarily predicted by him five years ago," he said.

Obama added he sees some hope given the response of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the country's residents.

"He has the potential of preventing a maximalist victory for Putin and over the long term may allow for an independent Ukraine," Obama said.

-ABC News' Brittany Shepherd

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his daily address Russia's leadership is now afraid after photos and videos of their army's atrocities in Bucha, and are trying to cover up their actions.

But the president vowed that the country won't succeed in hiding their violence.

"If the world has started a debate about whether it is permissible to call what the Russian military did on the territory of Ukraine genocide, the search for truth can no longer be stopped. You can't roll it back in any way," he said.

Zelenskyy praised the new U.S. sanctions that suspend Russia's ability to use U.S. bank accounts and related assets to pay its debt.

"This package has a spectacular look, but this is not enough," he said.

Zelenskyy added, "we will continue to insist on a complete blockade of the Russian banking system from international finance."

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou