(NEW YORK) — 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. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time last week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.

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

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Mar 28, 7:33 am
Nightly curfew in Kyiv shifts back, shortens an hour

The nightly citywide curfew in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has been shifted back and shortened by an hour.

Starting Monday night, the curfew will be from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time.

There has been a curfew in Kyiv every day since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24. The previous time frame was from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time.

-ABC News’ Julia Drozd and Patrick Reevell

Mar 28, 7:00 am
Russian forces attempt to seize key highways, settlements

Russian forces on Monday morning were attempting to breach defenses from the northwest and east of Ukraine to seize key highways and settlements, which are held by Ukrainian troops, according to Ukrainian officials.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said that hypersonic missiles for the Russian military’s Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile system were being delivered to the Belarusian town of Kalinkovichi. Two of the latest strikes to hit Lutsk, a city in northwestern Ukraine, were launched from neighboring Belarus, according to Ukrainian officials.

Mar 28, 6:20 am
New round of talks could start Monday in Turkey

Ukraine and Russia have both said that a new round of peace negotiations with be held in person in Turkey at the start of this week, but it remains unclear whether the talks begin Monday or Tuesday.

One of the Ukrainian negotiators, David Arakhamia, has said the talks would be held Monday through Wednesday.

Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, has said the talks would start Tuesday.

Arakhamia said the decision to hold the negotiations in person was reached during the latest round of talks via video link, which are taking place everyday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Russian journalists that his country is ready to compromise on Moscow’s demand for neutral status, but wants meaningful security guarantees from Western countries. He said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws all of its troops to areas occupied before the war began.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Mar 28, 6:16 am
Ukraine intel chief says Russia plans a ‘Korean scenario’

Russian President Vladimir Putin may be seeking to split Ukraine in two after failing to seize the capital, Kyiv, according to the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency.

Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said in a statement Sunday that Putin may now be pursuing a “Korean scenario” that would see Russian forces try to occupy the east and south of Ukraine since they no longer have the strength to “swallow the whole state.”

“After the failures near Kyiv and the impossibility to overthrow the central government in Ukraine, Putin is already changing his main direction of operations — to the south and east,” Budanov said. “There are grounds to suggest that he is considering the Korean scenario for Ukraine. That is to attempt to lay down a new line of contact between the non-occupied and occupied regions of our country. In fact, it’s an attempt to create in Ukraine a North and South Korea. Indeed, he definitely doesn’t have the strength to swallow the whole state.”

Budanov said he believes Putin still wants to open a land corridor between the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula and the other Russian-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, which would mean the occupation of besieged Mariupol, a strategic port city in the southeast that has been under heavy Russian bombardment. But he said Ukraine’s continued counterattacks as well as resistance by local people in the occupied areas were disrupting Putin’s plans.

Budanov also predicted the start of guerrilla warfare that would make it impossible for Russia to hold territory.

“Soon the season of the total Ukrainian partisan safari will start,” he said. “Then for the Russians will remain only one relevant scenario — how to survive.”

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Mar 28, 5:07 am
Ukraine says no humanitarian corridors for Monday

Ukraine’s government announced for the first time in nearly three weeks that no humanitarian corridors for evacuating civilians will be open on Monday due to concerns about possible “provocations” from Russian forces.

“Our intelligence has informed us of possible provocations from the side of the occupiers on the routes of the humanitarian corridors,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on her official Telegram channel. “And so in interest of citizens’ safety today we are not opening humanitarian corridors.”

The Ukrainian government has been evacuating hundreds of thousands of civilians from cities and towns in the north, east and south of the country through established corridors. Officials have previously accused Russian forces of shelling some of the evacuation routes, despite agreeing to cease-fires.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Mar 27, 5:17 pm
Zelenskyy outlines goals for peace agreement to Russian journalists

In his first interview with Russian journalists since his country was invaded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described some of Ukraine’s positions for ending the war.

During an interview with popular Russian independent news sites TV Rain and Meduza, Zelenskyy said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws its troops to the territory occupied before the start of the invasion, meaning Crimea and the separatist-held areas of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said his main goals are “to maximally reduce the number of casualties (and) to shorten the length of this war.”

“The withdrawal of Russia to compromise territories — but that is everything (that) was before 24 February, before the assault. Let them return there,” Zelenskyy said. “I understand that to force Russia to completely liberate territory is impossible. That will lead to a third world war. I totally understand all that. And I say it: compromise. Return to where all this started and there we will try to resolve the question of Donbas, the difficult question of Donbas.”

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is ready to discuss taking a position of “neutrality” and “non-nuclear status” with Russia, but wants security guarantees for his country in return.

He again said he would put the issue to a referendum in Ukraine and that any treaty would need to be ratified by “guarantor countries” — which other officials have suggested must include the United States.

Zelenskyy reiterated that no guarantor countries, such as the United Kingdom and Turkey, will sign any agreement while Russian troops remain on Ukrainian soil.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — 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. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time last week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.

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

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Mar 28, 7:00 am
Russian forces attempt to seize key highways, settlements

Russian forces on Monday morning were attempting to breach defenses from the northwest and east of Ukraine to seize key highways and settlements, which are held by Ukrainian troops, according to Ukrainian officials.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said that hypersonic missiles for the Russian military’s Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile system were being delivered to the Belarusian town of Kalinkovichi. Two of the latest strikes to hit Lutsk, a city in northwestern Ukraine, were launched from neighboring Belarus, according to Ukrainian officials.

Mar 28, 6:20 am
New round of talks could start Monday in Turkey

Ukraine and Russia have both said that a new round of peace negotiations with be held in person in Turkey at the start of this week, but it remains unclear whether the talks begin Monday or Tuesday.

One of the Ukrainian negotiators, David Arakhamia, has said the talks would be held Monday through Wednesday.

Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, has said the talks would start Tuesday.

Arakhamia said the decision to hold the negotiations in person was reached during the latest round of talks via video link, which are taking place everyday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Russian journalists that his country is ready to compromise on Moscow’s demand for neutral status, but wants meaningful security guarantees from Western countries. He said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws all of its troops to areas occupied before the war began.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Mar 28, 6:16 am
Ukraine intel chief says Russia plans a ‘Korean scenario’

Russian President Vladimir Putin may be seeking to split Ukraine in two after failing to seize the capital, Kyiv, according to the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency.

Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said in a statement Sunday that Putin may now be pursuing a “Korean scenario” that would see Russian forces try to occupy the east and south of Ukraine since they no longer have the strength to “swallow the whole state.”

“After the failures near Kyiv and the impossibility to overthrow the central government in Ukraine, Putin is already changing his main direction of operations — to the south and east,” Budanov said. “There are grounds to suggest that he is considering the Korean scenario for Ukraine. That is to attempt to lay down a new line of contact between the non-occupied and occupied regions of our country. In fact, it’s an attempt to create in Ukraine a North and South Korea. Indeed, he definitely doesn’t have the strength to swallow the whole state.”

Budanov said he believes Putin still wants to open a land corridor between the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula and the other Russian-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, which would mean the occupation of besieged Mariupol, a strategic port city in the southeast that has been under heavy Russian bombardment. But he said Ukraine’s continued counterattacks as well as resistance by local people in the occupied areas were disrupting Putin’s plans.

Budanov also predicted the start of guerrilla warfare that would make it impossible for Russia to hold territory.

“Soon the season of the total Ukrainian partisan safari will start,” he said. “Then for the Russians will remain only one relevant scenario — how to survive.”

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Mar 28, 5:07 am
Ukraine says no humanitarian corridors for Monday

Ukraine’s government announced for the first time in nearly three weeks that no humanitarian corridors for evacuating civilians will be open on Monday due to concerns about possible “provocations” from Russian forces.

“Our intelligence has informed us of possible provocations from the side of the occupiers on the routes of the humanitarian corridors,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on her official Telegram channel. “And so in interest of citizens’ safety today we are not opening humanitarian corridors.”

The Ukrainian government has been evacuating hundreds of thousands of civilians from cities and towns in the north, east and south of the country through established corridors. Officials have previously accused Russian forces of shelling some of the evacuation routes, despite agreeing to cease-fires.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Mar 27, 5:17 pm
Zelenskyy outlines goals for peace agreement to Russian journalists

In his first interview with Russian journalists since his country was invaded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described some of Ukraine’s positions for ending the war.

During an interview with popular Russian independent news sites TV Rain and Meduza, Zelenskyy said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws its troops to the territory occupied before the start of the invasion, meaning Crimea and the separatist-held areas of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said his main goals are “to maximally reduce the number of casualties (and) to shorten the length of this war.”

“The withdrawal of Russia to compromise territories — but that is everything (that) was before 24 February, before the assault. Let them return there,” Zelenskyy said. “I understand that to force Russia to completely liberate territory is impossible. That will lead to a third world war. I totally understand all that. And I say it: compromise. Return to where all this started and there we will try to resolve the question of Donbas, the difficult question of Donbas.”

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is ready to discuss taking a position of “neutrality” and “non-nuclear status” with Russia, but wants security guarantees for his country in return.

He again said he would put the issue to a referendum in Ukraine and that any treaty would need to be ratified by “guarantor countries” — which other officials have suggested must include the United States.

Zelenskyy reiterated that no guarantor countries, such as the United Kingdom and Turkey, will sign any agreement while Russian troops remain on Ukrainian soil.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(SDE BOKER, Israel) — Out here in the Negev desert, the Israeli government says, history is being made.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is hosting for the first time on Israeli soil the foreign ministers of four Arab countries that now have close ties with the Jewish state — a new reality for a region realigned in recent years, especially by the threat from Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will join them for what Israel calls the Negev summit, but only after an evening of meetings with Palestinian leadership, including President Mahmoud Abbas, and civil society Sunday. While these new Arab-Israeli ties have been heralded for bringing peace and stability, they have left the Palestinians behind and done little to address the decades-old tensions there.

The Biden administration is trying to patch up ties with the Palestinians after frosty Trump years — especially with the specter of violence hanging over next month. Passover and Ramadan coincide, setting the stage for potential sparks like last spring’s deadly fighting.

Even so, Biden’s team has also embraced Trump’s Abraham Accords, the deals that established ties between Israel and several Arab neighbors — a rare piece of continuity between the two administration’s foreign policies.

Monday’s meeting brings together Israel and the U.S. with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco — all members of the new accords. Egypt, which established ties with Israel over 40 years ago in a U.S.-brokered deal, will also attend, although Jordan, which established ties in a 1994 U.S. deal, is not attending. Sudan, which was part of the accords, will not either, after a military coup last fall derailed its transition to a civilian-led democracy.

“The Middle East is changing, and it’s changing for the better. We’re cultivating old ties and building new bridges. We’re rejuvenating old peace and charging it with the new energy of the Abraham Accords,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said alongside Blinken Sunday in Jerusalem.

Blinken sang from the same sheet music Sunday, with he and other U.S. officials saying they believe deepening ties will help anchor peace across the region.

“What we’re seeing is normalization become the new normal for this region,” he said during a photo op with Israeli President Isaac Herzog — a line he deployed repeatedly during his visit. “The United States is very proud to be a part of that — to support the efforts to deepen the partnerships with countries that have already normalized with Israel and to help seek new partners.”

So far, Biden has had no luck with that effort — with Saudi Arabia in particular remaining the key holdout — and it’s unclear what, if any, announcements will come from the meeting Monday.

But still, the symbolism of Israel hosting these Arab countries, with their U.S. backer, is a powerful one – a “dramatic signal of American alignment with Israel and moderate Arab states in the double shadow of the Ukraine crisis … and the likely return to the JCPOA Iranian nuclear agreement,” according to Jim Jeffrey, a veteran U.S. diplomat and now the chair of the middle east program at the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank.

Those two security challenges are where ties have frayed between the U.S. and its Mideast allies and partners under Biden. In recent weeks, the U.S. has urged Israel, the UAE, and others to do more to punish Russia and support Ukraine — although in Jerusalem Sunday, Blinken praised Israeli commitments to enforce sanctions and provide humanitarian support, including a field hospital deployed to western Ukraine.

In addition, as the State Department’s team nears a renewed nuclear deal with Iran, Israel and Arab neighbors worry it will leave Iran flush with cash from sanctions relief — ready to boost arms and funds to its proxies and expand its ballistic missile program. Several of these countries face near daily threats from Tehran and those proxies — Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria for Israel, and the Houthis for UAE and Saudi Arabia, which are particularly adamant that Biden’s administration has not done enough to support them.

That make Monday’s meetings a delicate dance for Blinken — seeking to embrace the peaceful face of the Abraham Accords, while tempering the growing anti-Iran alliance as his team tries to complete a renewed Iran nuclear deal. In Jerusalem, Blinken papered over any differences, particularly with Israel, saying the two countries “are united in addressing the challenges posed by Iran, including its nuclear program.”

But what the burgeoning Arab-Israeli ties don’t address is the decades-old tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Biden administration was seized in one of its first foreign policy challenges by some of the worst violence in years between the Israeli military and Hamas, the U.S.-designated terror group that runs the Gaza Strip. Fighting lasted 11 days last May and killed over 250 people, the vast majority Palestinians.

But the risk of violence looms large again next month, with Judaism, Islam and Christianity’s holy days virtually overlapping in April — Passover, Ramadan, and Easter. The violence last spring erupted after Israeli restrictions on the Temple Mount during Ramadan and prospective evictions of Palestinians from their homes in east Jerusalem.

During meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah, Blinken reiterated a constant U.S. message — that both sides refrain from steps that could provoke the other.

Beyond that low bar, it seems Biden and Blinken have little interest in deep engagement on the issue. This is only Blinken’s second trip to Israel and the West Bank in over a year in office, as the administration tries to focus attention on China and is consumed by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve to live with equal measures of freedom, of opportunity, security, of dignity, and we believe that the most effective way, ultimately, to give expression to that basic principle is through two states,” Blinken said Sunday with President Abbas.

But he added, “Of course, the two sides are very far apart, so we’ll continue our work, step by step, to try to bring them closer.”

One key question in that work is whether the U.S. will reopen its consulate general in East Jerusalem, which traditionally served as a consular operation for Palestinians. As part of its tense ties with Palestinian leaders, the Trump administration shuttered the facility when it moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

Blinken has promised to reopen the consulate, but Israeli officials are fiercely opposed to doing so, saying a U.S. consulate for Palestinians should be in what they consider Palestinian territory, not Jerusalem — which both sides claim as their capital.

During remarks after their meeting, Abbas again welcomed the U.S. reopening the consulate — which earned a head nod from Blinken.

But Blinken made no mention of it throughout his trip in Israel, including when Lapid was asked about it during a joint press conference Sunday.

“It’s not even our place to say anything,” Lapid said. “We just don’t think Jerusalem is the right place for this because Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and Israel alone.”

With that, Blinken and Lapid exited the room with a “thank you” to the press.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.