Russia-Ukraine updates: Russian missiles hit close to nuclear reactors: IAEA director

Shelling is ongoing near the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

ByMorgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: August 24, 2023, 10:20 AM EDT

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine's disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Jul 12, 2022, 10:27 PM EDT

US transfers $1.7 billion in economic assistance to Ukrainian government

The United States transferred $1.7 billion to Ukraine’s government Tuesday, the Treasury Department announced.

It’s the second tranche of money the Treasury transferred to Ukraine’s government as part of $7.5 billion approved for this purpose in the $40 billion Ukraine aid package Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law in May.

It’ll go, in part, to helping Ukraine’s government provide "essential health care services" and health care workers' salaries, the Treasury Department said.

The U.S. transferred the first tranche, $1.3 billion, to Ukraine’s government two weeks ago.

-ABC News Benjamin Gittleson

Jul 12, 2022, 1:59 AM EDT

Ukraine destroys Russian ammo depot in occupied Kherson region

Ukrainian forces hit and likely destroyed a Russian ammunition depot in the Russian-occupied town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region on Monday night, local officials said.

The strike resulted in a massive blast, videos of which soon circulated online. According to local reports, more than 40 trucks filled with gasoline were destroyed. Russian media didn't verify the claims, saying instead that pro-Russian forces had destroyed a series of saltpeter warehouses.

“People's windows are blown out, but they are still happy ... because this means that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are close," Sergey Khlan, from the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said in the aftermath of the attack.

Monday's strike marked at least the fourth time Ukrainian forces destroyed ammunition depots in Nova Kakhovka, local media reported.

-ABC News' Edward Szekeres, Tatiana Rymarenko, Max Uzol and Yulia Drozd

Jul 11, 2022, 10:18 PM EDT

33 killed in missile strike on apartment complex

Thirty-three people are confirmed dead from a missile strike on an apartment complex in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

Ukrainian emergency workers carry the lifeless body of a victim found under rubble after a Russian rocket attack smashed into apartment buildings late Saturday, in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, July 11, 2022.
Nariman El-Mofty/AP

The complex was reduced to rubble from multiple rocket strikes on Sunday.

Emergency workers said others might still be alive and trapped under the debris.

Ukrainian emergency workers labor to pull people out of the rubble after a Russian rocket attack smashed into apartment buildings, in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, July 11, 2022.
Nariman El-Mofty/AP

Jul 11, 2022, 10:40 AM EDT

Putin clears way to fast-citizenship for Ukrainians

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday that simplifies the procedure for any Ukrainian seeking Russian citizenship, allowing them to fast-track their applications, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

The fast-tracked citizenship applications previously only applied to residents of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

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