World

President Joe Biden and Western allies pledged new sanctions and humanitarian aid on Thursday in response to Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine, but their offers fell short of the more robust military assistance that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for in a pair of live-video appearances.

A humanitarian crisis is brewing in and around Ukraine. One million people – mostly women and children – have fled the country in the first week of Russia's invasion, according to the head of the United Nations refugee agency. The United Nations has predicted that upwards of four million people may eventually have to flee Ukraine. The one million people who have left so far account for about 2% of Ukraine's population.

Invading Russian forces closed in on Ukraine's capital Friday, in an apparent encircling movement after a barrage of airstrikes on cities and military bases around the country.

While fighting is happening halfway around the world in Ukraine, economists say Americans can expect to feel the impact.s

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending in troops and tanks from three sides in an attack that could rewrite the global post-Cold War security order.

With the White House calling Russian deployments in eastern Ukraine an invasion, it’s expected to follow up with tough sanctions. President Joe Biden has made clear the United States intends to deploy sweeping financial penalties, not American troops, to hit Russia over President Vladimir Putin's moves against Ukraine.

Tensions are growing in Eastern Europe as Russia continues to build up a presence of military forces along its border with Ukraine.