For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.
The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EDT.
10:10 p.m.: The Conflict Observatory, which is supported by the U.S. Department of State, on Thursday released an independent, detailed assessment of the impact of Russia’s war on food storage sites in Ukraine, the department said in a statement.
An estimated 15.7% of Ukraine’s crop storage facilities have been affected by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the resulting conflict, either through seizure by Russia’s and Russia-aligned forces, or because facilities have been destroyed, damaged, or degraded to the point of compromising the crops contained inside.
The report notes that intentional destruction of such facilities may constitute a war crime and a violation of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
This report and other analyses are available online at the Conflict Observatory website.
9:15 p.m.: Finland’s president said Thursday that he wants to make it harder for Russians to use real estate owned in the Nordic nation, usually apartments or summer cottages, as justification for obtaining travel visas, The Associated Press reported.
“Getting a visa to a country is not a subjective right for anyone, but the visa issuer always has discretion,” President Sauli Niinisto told journalists in Helsinki. “Until now, owning a property or an apartment in Finland has been perceived as a factor supporting a visa application. I don’t think it’s necessary.”
Regional newspaper Etela-Saimaa reported in August that Russian citizens purchased property in Finland at an increased rate this year despite the war in Ukraine and Western economic sanctions against Russia.
As of Sept. 1, Finland slashed the number of visas, including for tourism purposes, issued to Russian citizens to one-tenth of the typical number, a move seen as a show of solidarity with Ukraine.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto recently told public broadcaster YLE that as a result of the new limit, Russian property owners have started to divide the ownership of their Finnish real estate among several people so more of them are eligible for visas.
8:30 p.m.: The U.N. nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors on Thursday passed a resolution demanding that Russia end its occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, diplomats at the closed-door meeting said, according to Reuters.
The resolution is the second on Russia's invasion of Ukraine passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors, and their content is very similar, though the first resolution in March preceded Russian forces taking control of Zaporizhzhia, Europe's biggest nuclear power plant.
American Nuclear Society President Steven Arndt and CEO/Executive Director Craig Piercy released a statement after the IAEA’s passed the resolution: "The American Nuclear Society applauds the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors in calling for an end to the Russian military occupation of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. A civilian nuclear power plant must not be treated as a military base or military target in any armed conflict.”
“We echo the United Nations nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors in its resolution for Russia to ‘immediately cease all actions against, and at, the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and any other nuclear facility in Ukraine,” they said in a statement provided by VOA’s U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer.
The statement added, “The adopted resolution aligns with the IAEA's calls for safety and security zones around Ukraine's nuclear facilities to safeguard plant operations and the well-being of nuclear workers."
7:56 p.m.: U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new $600 million arms package to help the Ukrainian military battle Russia, according to a White House memo sent to the State Department on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Biden authorized the assistance using his Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to authorize the transfer of excess weapons from U.S. stocks.
The memo does not detail how the money would be used, but several sources told Reuters the package is expected to contain munitions, including more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). The package would include ammunition for howitzers, according to two sources who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to talk publicly.
The memo also mentions the money will be used for military education and training.
Washington has sent about $15.1 billion dollars in security assistance to the Kyiv government since Russia's invasion.
7:03 p.m.: VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer reports that Friday morning, the U.N. General Assembly will consider a motion on whether to allow Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to deliver his speech next week via a video message (this year all speeches should be in person). A simple majority of those present and voting will be needed for it to pass.
6:10 p.m: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that a mass grave had been found in Izium after the town was retaken from Russian forces, Agence France-Presse reported.
"We want the world to know what the Russian occupation has caused," he said, without giving details on the number of bodies found or their cause of death.
"We need to have more clear and verified information tomorrow."
5:20 p.m.: The administration of Ramzan Kadyrov in Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya has prepared a draft resolution calling for a "fall mobilization" of the region's male residents 18-26 years of age to the armed forces as Moscow faces major setbacks in the war in Ukraine. The draft resolution's text was obtained by RFE/RL.
4:27 p.m.: Germany’s foreign minister is putting pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to decide soon whether to supply Ukraine with advanced tanks as it seeks to reclaim more of its captured territory from Russia, The Associated Press reported.
Kyiv has said it would like to get German Leopard-2 tanks, but Berlin has so far rebuffed that request while delivering other weaponry, such as howitzers and self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons.
In an interview with daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published Thursday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a decision on delivering modern battle tanks to Ukraine could only be taken jointly by Germany’s governing three-party coalition and its international partners.
“But in the decisive phase that Ukraine currently finds itself, I also don’t believe that it’s a decision which can be delayed for long,” she was quoted as saying.
3:38 p.m.: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday air defense systems were a priority for his country as it attempts to protect its cities and towns from Russian strikes, Reuters reported.
Speaking at a joint news conference in Kyiv with the visiting president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Zelenskyy also said Ukraine had not yet received a positive response from Israel on the possible supply of aerial defense systems.
Zelenskyy said air defense systems promised previously by Germany and the United States had not yet arrived in Ukraine.
2:30 p.m.: Supporting Ukraine comes at a high cost, but freedom is "priceless," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday amid soaring inflation and high energy prices in Europe, Reuters reported.
The EU's sanctions on Russia are having a deep and visible impact, von der Leyen told Reuters at an interview in Kyiv, after she met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Asked about the potential impact of Europe's unfolding cost of living and energy crises on support for Ukraine, von der Leyen said supporting Ukraine "comes at a high cost, but our freedom, the international peace order, and democracy, is priceless."
2:15 p.m.: After European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday to discuss closer cooperation, she traveled with first lady Olena Zelenska to the nearby town of Irpin, once occupied by Russian forces, and she repeated an EU pledge to support the rebuilding of schools.
2:05 p.m.: A group of European Union countries has agreed to ask the U.N. Human Rights Council to appoint a newly created independent expert on alleged human rights abuses in Russia, three sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters on Thursday.
The creation of a mandate for a new Special Rapporteur, decided in a closed-door meeting on Thursday, follows stronger Russian laws this year to punish people Moscow says discredit the armed forces or spread fake information.
The timing of the proposal's submission is not clear but it is set to be decided on, possibly through a vote, in early October.
Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Kremlin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said earlier this week that Russia was intimidating opponents of the war in Ukraine and violating the right to access to information.
1:50 p.m.: A volunteer Ukrainian medic detained in the besieged port city of Mariupol described Russian torture she endured as a "torment of hell," The Associated Press reported.
She told U.S. lawmakers Thursday of comforting fellow detainees as many died during her three months of captivity, cradling and consoling them as best she could, as male, female and child prisoners succumbed to Russian torture and untreated wounds.
Ukrainian Yuliia Paievska, who was captured by pro-Russian forces in Mariupol in March and held at shifting locations in Russian-allied territory in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, spoke to lawmakers with the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better known as the Helsinki Commission, a government agency created in part to promote international compliance with human rights.
Her accounts Thursday were her most detailed publicly of her treatment in captivity, in what Ukrainians and international rights groups say are widespread detentions of both Ukrainian noncombatants and fighters by Russia’s forces.
Known to Ukrainians by the nickname Taira, Paievska and her care of Mariupol’s wounded during the nearly seven-month Russian invasion of Ukraine received global attention after her bodycam footage was provided to The Associated Press.
“Do you know why we do this to you?” a Russian asked Paievska as he tortured her, she recounted to the commission. She told the panel her answer to him: “Because you can.”
1:30 p.m..:
1:10 p.m.: The U.N. World Food Program has chartered a ship to move grain from Ukraine to Afghanistan, VOA’s U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer reported Thursday.
The MV BC Vanessa is on its way to the Ukrainian port of Odessa, where it is expected to load 30,000 metric tons of wheat destined for Turkey, where it will be milled. Then the wheat will be shipped onward via Pakistan’s port of Karachi to reach WFP’s operations hub in Afghanistan.
Aid organizations have raised the alarm over worsening food insecurity in Afghanistan this year. Almost 20 million people – half the population – are suffering either level-3 “crisis” or level-4 “emergency” levels of food insecurity according to the WFP’s assessment system.
12:50 p.m.: Russia's lower house of parliament will consider summoning Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to face questioning in a closed session, senior lawmaker Sergei Mironov was cited as saying by Kommersant newspaper on Thursday, according to Reuters.
It is virtually unknown for the State Duma to summon a defense minister to account for himself. However, Russia's armed forces have been openly criticized by military commentators this week after losing control of large parts of Ukraine's Kharkiv region to a lightning advance by Ukrainian forces.
Mironov, a strong supporter of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and head of the small pro-Kremlin "Just Russia" party, was quoted as saying that the State Duma Council, which manages the chamber's business, would discuss the matter on Monday.
Mironov had tweeted on Wednesday that his party had proposed the session with Shoigu "so that the deputies can speak with him behind closed doors and ask all the questions that interest us and the citizens."
12:20 p.m.:
12:05 p.m.: All European Union nations except Hungary are moving forward at the U.N.’s human rights body to hold Russia’s government accountable for a crackdown on media, arbitrary arrests, restrictions on free speech and other rights concerns after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine this year, The Associated Press reported Thursday.
Back-channel negotiations at the Human Rights Council by 26 EU nations hope to give teeth to efforts to keep tabs on rights violations in Russia— such as by appointing a rights expert to work on Russia. The move, if successful, would add a new element of scrutiny on Russia. A team of U.N.-backed investigators is already looking into rights abuses related to the war in Ukraine.
Efforts to draft a resolution, spearheaded by EU member Luxembourg, would create a “special rapporteur” on Russia to chronicle and call out rights violations in Russia — such as arbitrary detentions, arrests of members of civil society, the closure of NGOs and independent press groups, said a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Two Western diplomats said Hungary, whose government under Prime Minister Viktor Orban has resisted some EU efforts to punish Russia over the war, had not joined with other EU members in pushing for the resolution.
11:50 a.m.:
11:25 a.m.: The United States on Thursday imposed new sanctions on individuals and groups that have facilitated Russia's war in Ukraine, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.
The new sanctions target 22 individuals and two entities that advanced Moscow's objectives in Ukraine both before and after Russia's February invasion of its neighbor, the department said in a statement.
The new sanctions are being imposed in coordination with the Commerce Department, which is imposing new export controls on Russia, and the State Department, which is targeting Russia's defense and high-technology industries, the statement said.
"As Ukraine presses forward with defending its freedom, today we're taking steps to further degrade Russia’s ability to rebuild its military, hold perpetrators of violence accountable, and further financially isolate Putin," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
11:10 a.m.: Around 82 ships with 418 seafarers remain stuck around Ukrainian ports despite the opening of a U.N.-backed sea corridor to ship grains with efforts to get the mariners sailing still stuck, shipping industry officials said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
The agreement reached in July, creating a protected sea transit corridor, was designed to alleviate global food shortages, with Ukraine's customers including some of the world's poorest countries.
However, the initiative only involved dry bulk ships around three Ukrainian ports with dozens of other vessels including oil tankers not able to access the corridor and awaiting approval to leave while waterways remain controlled by Russia and other ports are blocked by Ukraine.
At the start of the conflict in late February approximately 2,000 seafarers from all over the world were stranded aboard up to 94 vessels in Ukrainian ports.
10:45 a.m.:
10:20 a.m.: Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that if the United States decided to supply Kyiv with longer-range missiles, it would cross a "red line" and become "a party to the conflict," Reuters reported.
In a briefing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova added that Russia "reserves the right to defend its territory."
Washington has openly supplied Ukraine with advanced GMLRS rockets, fired from HIMARS launchers, that can hit targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.
"If Washington decides to supply longer-range missiles to Kyiv, then it will be crossing a red line, and will become a direct party to the conflict," Zakharova said.
U.S. officials say Ukraine has promised not to use U.S. rockets to strike Russia itself.
Ukraine has requested and received large quantities of weapons from the United States and other Western allies to help it resist the Russian armed forces that were sent into Ukraine in February.
10 a.m.: The U.S. Army has awarded a contract for more Javelin missiles to be produced and provided to Ukraine, VOA National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin reported Thursday. He shared the details on Twitter.
9:40 a.m.: Iran has moved a step closer towards becoming a permanent member of a central Asian security body dominated by Russia and China, as Tehran seeks to overcome economic isolation imposed by U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported.
Foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Thursday said Iran had signed a memorandum of obligations to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is holding a summit this week in Uzbekistan.
The body, formed in the 2001 as a talking shop for Russia, China and ex-Soviet states in Central Asia, expanded four years ago to include India and Pakistan, with a view to playing a bigger role as counterweight to Western influence in the region.
"By signing the document for full membership of the SCO, now Iran has entered a new stage of various economic, commercial, transit and energy cooperation," Hossein Amirabdollahian wrote on his Instagram page.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was in the Silk Road oasis of Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Thursday to attend the summit. He held a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian state TV reported.
9:25 a.m.: The U.S. State Department has said that the Biden administration is discussing new economic measures to penalize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine after two U.S. senators introduced legislation to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Thursday.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said on September 14 the department was discussing “analogous measures” to impose on Russia in place of those carried by a state sponsorship of terrorism designation.
Price made the comments after Senators Richard Blumenthal (Democrat-Connecticut) and Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina), who have been advocating for the state sponsor of terrorism designation for months, introduced their legislation.
Price noted that President Joe Biden last week said he would not approve of such a designation. The White House said the consequences could delay food exports to parts of war-torn Ukraine and jeopardize deals to move goods through the Black Sea.
"We have to take into account the consequences, both the intended and the unintended. And that has led us to the approach we've taken here," said Price.
He said the State Department was engaging with Congress “on tools that would continue to have analogous implications for the Russian economy, for the Russian government, that would not have those unintended consequences."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on the West to label Russia a terrorist state, citing several deadly attacks on facilities like shopping centers and railway stations that killed numerous civilians.
9:10 a.m.: Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service said a group of teenagers have been rescued from Russian captivity in the Kharkiv region, the Kyiv Independent reported Thursday.
“The State Border Guard Service said it rescued five teenagers, aged 15 to 17, in recently liberated Kupiansk who were locked in a basement for seven days by Russian troops,” the media organization said.
8:55 a.m.:
8:40 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said he understood that China’s leader Xi Jinping had questions and concern about the situation in Ukraine but praised Xi for what he said was a "balanced" position on the conflict, Reuters reported.
Russia's war in Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed the global economy into uncharted waters with soaring prices for food and energy amid the biggest confrontation between Moscow with the West since the Cold War.
At their first face-to-face meeting since the war, Xi called Putin his "old friend" after Putin said attempts by the United States to create a unipolar world would fail.
"We highly value the balanced position of our Chinese friends when it comes to the Ukraine crisis," Putin told Xi. "We understand your questions and concern about this. During today's meeting, we will of course explain our position."
China has refrained from condemning Russia's operation against Ukraine or calling it an "invasion" in line with the Kremlin, which casts the war as "a special military operation." Still, Beijing is perturbed by the impact on the global economy and has been careful not to give material support to Russia that could trigger Western sanctions on China's own economy
Putin's first remarks about Chinese concern over the war come just days after a lightning rout of his forces in north-eastern Ukraine.
The last time Xi and Putin met in person, just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, they declared a "no limits" partnership and inked a promise to collaborate more against the West.
8:15 a.m.: Ukraine’s Investigative Bureau has opened a probe into the traffic accident involving President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Kyiv Independent reported Thursday.
“According to the State Investigation Bureau, a civilian car hit the car of President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv suburbs on September 14,” the media outlet reported.
“(The) President's Office said that Zelenskyy wasn't seriously injured,” it added.
Zelenskyy was returning to Kyiv from the Kharkiv region, where he visited troops in the recaptured city of Izium. A passenger vehicle collided with the president’s motorcade in the Ukrainian capital, his spokesman, Sergii Nikiforov, said in a Facebook post.
7:30 a.m.: Chinese President Xi Jinping met Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Uzbekistan, their first meeting since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, triggering the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War, Reuters reported.
Xi, on his first trip outside China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, met Putin in the ancient Uzbek Silk Road city of Samarkand where they will attend a attend a summit of The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The two leaders are due to discuss the war in Ukraine, tensions over Taiwan and the deepening partnership between rising superpower China and natural resources titan Russia.
7:10 a.m.: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen with an award Thursday during her visit to Kyiv. She tweeted her thanks for the honor, accepting it “in the name of all EU citizens” and emphasizing the “strong bond” between the EU and Ukraine.
6:55 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy are each courting major allies on Thursday, seeking to prop up their efforts in a war whose fortunes have tilted toward Ukraine in recent days, The Associated Press reported.
In Uzbekistan’s ancient Samarkand, Putin was hoping to break through his international isolation and further cement his ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a geopolitical alliance increasingly seen as potent counterweight to the Western powers.
Putin and Xi were due to meet one-on-one and discuss Ukraine, according to the Russian president’s foreign affairs adviser.
In Kyiv, Zelenskyy was shrugging off a traffic collision the previous night that left him with no major injuries, officials said. He met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who once more showed full commitment to Ukraine’s cause.
Von der Leyen said she would address “how to continue getting our economies and people closer while Ukraine progresses towards accession” to the European Union, which is likely still years away in even the best of circumstances.
In a sign of further EU commitment, the European Parliament completed the drawn-out political process of a 5 billion-euro preferential loan to Ukraine, the key part of a 9 billion-euro package of aid to offset the cost of war.
6:35 a.m.: A new polls shows that 87% of Ukrainians are against territorial concessions related to Russia's war, the Kyiv Independent reported Thursday.
“A survey conducted from Sept. 7 to 13 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology said that no territorial concessions are acceptable for 87% of respondents,” the media organization reported.
“This is a 3% increase from July,” it noted.
6:20 a.m.:
6:05 a.m.: European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is in Kyiv to discuss closer cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Thursday.
"In Kyiv, for my 3rd visit since the start of Russia's war. So much has changed. Ukraine is now an EU candidate," von der Leyen said on Twitter ahead of meetings with senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who had recently returned from a visit to areas the Ukrainian military has recaptured from Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
"I'll discuss with Zelensky and (Prime Minister) Denys Shmyhal how to continue getting our economies and people closer while Ukraine progresses towards accession," she said.
Ukraine became a candidate for EU membership in June, a move that Moscow claimed was part of the West's efforts to isolate Russia internationally after it launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in late February.
Von der Leyen announced the visit to Kyiv the day before in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg in the presence of Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska.
The overwhelming majority of EU countries have staunchly supported Ukraine since the Russian invasion by hitting Russia with waves of economic penalties.
Many members of the bloc have supplied Kyiv with advanced weapons that have helped the Ukrainian military regain control over swaths of territory Russia took in the early weeks of the war.
5:45 a.m.: The Wold Bank is willing to provide up to $30 billion to combat global food shortages aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a senior bank official said Thursday, according to a Reuters report.
Axel van Trotsenburg, the bank's managing director of operations, cited "an absolute need for international solidarity with Ukraine" during an interview with Reuters. "...that solidarity has to be sustained not only in the short term but in the long term," he said.
Van Trotsenburg said the World Bank began providing support to Ukraine soon after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. So far, the bank has disbursed close to $10 billion of $13 billion it committed to Kyiv.
5:10 a.m.:
4:01 a.m. Ukraine’s defense ministry found what its officials believe to be a “torture chamber” used by Russian troops to hold Ukrainian prisoners in the city of Balakliia, reports The Guardian.
One resident told the BBC he was held by Russians in the city’s police station for more than 40 days and tortured with electrocution, the report said.
2:40 a.m.: European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Ukraine for a visit as the nation continues its bid for full EU membership, she announced on Twitter Thursday.
The EU Commission chief announced her visit to Kyiv to show the bloc’s support for Ukraine as it fights back against the Russian invasion, The Associated Press reported.
Dressed in the colors of Ukraine, von der Leyen said in her State of the European Union address Wednesday that the bloc would come to the aid of Ukraine by opening its seamless single market more to Ukrainian products and said she would “discuss all this with President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy.”
Von der Leyen’s trip symbolize the EU’s increasing opposition to Russia’s actions, which she called a war of “autocracy against democracy,” pushed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At the same time, she claimed there were increasing indications that Russia was suffering ever more from EU and other international sanctions — and certainly more than some critics of Western sanctions acknowledge.
2:15 a.m.:
1:18 a.m.: Russian rockets struck Kharkiv overnight said Kharkiv’s mayor, according to The Kyiv Independent. No casualties have been reported.
1:10 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's car collided with another vehicle early Thursday after a battlefield visit, but he was not seriously injured, his spokesman said, according to The Associated Press.
Zelenskyy was returning to Kyiv from the Kharkiv region, where he visited troops in the recaptured city of Izium.
A passenger vehicle collided with the president’s motorcade in the Ukrainian capital, his spokesman, Sergii Nikiforov, said in a Facebook post.
The driver of the other vehicle received first aid from Zelenskyy’s medical team and was taken away by ambulance, he said. Medics examined the president, who suffered no serious injuries, Nikiforov wrote. He did not specify what injuries Zelenskyy might have suffered.
The spokesman added that the circumstances of the accident are under investigation.
12:05 a.m.: The United States distanced itself on Wednesday from a visit by former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson to Russia where WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan remain jailed, Reuters reported.
Richardson, who has privately worked to secure the release of American detainees abroad, held meetings there this week, according to a source familiar with the matter.
"In this case we believe that any efforts that fall outside of that officially designated channel have the potential to complicate what is already an extraordinarily complicated challenge that we face," department spokesperson Ned Price told a news briefing.
He said the U.S. government has been in touch with the Richardson Center but said Richardson’s travel was not coordinated with the U.S. embassy in Moscow. The center specializes in negotiating releases of prisoners and hostages.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
