U.S., allies move to revoke Russia trade status as Moscow expands ...

President Joe Biden called for revoking normal trade relations with Russia on Friday, which would pave the way for new tariffs — a move supported by both parties in Congress and joined by members of the Group of 7 nations and the European Union.Meanwhile, Russian forces appeared to be stepping up their campaign across Ukraine, edging closer to the capital, Kyiv, and expanding their offensive west.Satellite images appeared to show that a huge military convoy close to Kyiv had dispersed, prompting fears of an imminent ground offensive. Multiple airstrikes also hit the cities of Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk early Friday, Ukraine's Parliament said, striking farther west than before.Ukraine continued to try to evacuate civilians from besieged cities, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying that as many as 100,000 people had been brought to safety over the past two days.Follow our full coverage on the conflict here.Phil HelselRussian forces northwest of Ukraine's capital Kyiv were around 15 miles from the city center and fighting was continuing, the United Kingdom's defense ministry said Saturday.The British assessment said that a larger Russian column north of the city had dispersed, which might be part of an attempt to encircle it. When war broke out, he joined the fight against Russia with Ukraine’s Territorial Defense and was killed near the northern city of Irpin.News of his death led to social media reaction recounting his career, including from the Odesa International Film Festival and president of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.Dennis RomeroInstagram CEO Adam Mosseri on Friday said that by blocking the platform in Russia, the country's media regulator would be preventing as many as 80 million people from the communication tool.State news agency TASS on Friday said the prohibition by the telecommunication and media watchdog known as Roskomnadzor followed the decision by Instagram sister platform Facebook to allow publication of anti-Russian posts such as, "Death to the Russian invaders."Russia’s Investigative Committee on Friday opened a probe of alleged propaganda, terrorism, threats of violence and hate speech at Meta in response to the Facebook policy. The IAEA reiterated that the disconnection “will not have a critical impact on essential safety functions at the site.”The Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog said that it still isn’t receiving data from monitoring systems installed to monitor nuclear material and activities at Chernobyl, but transmission from the Zaporizhzhia plant — Ukraine’s biggest, which Russian forces seized last week — has been restored after being lost earlier this week.Dennis RomeroThe mayor of Poland's second-largest city, Krakow, said Friday it was "already at the limit" with the number of Ukrainian refugees it could reasonably accommodate, and he asked that his nation help move them to less populous areas."We are primarily responsible for our inhabitants, we cannot destabilize the city's functioning," Mayor Jacek Majchrowski said. It called on the international community "to respond immediately to the abduction of Ivan Fedorov and other civilians, and to increase pressure on Russia to end its barbaric war against the Ukrainian people." Zoë RichardsYouTube announced on Friday that it would immediately block access globally to channels linked with Russian state-funded media, citing community guidelines that prohibit content that denies, minimizes or trivializes well-documents violent events."We are now removing content about Russia’s invasion in Ukraine that violates this policy," the company, which is owned by Google, wrote in a statement on Twitter.The video-sharing platform said it had also recently paused all YouTube ads in Russia. Khrystyna is among hundreds of Ukrainian exchange students in the United States who fear for the safety of their families and worry about what kind of homeland there will be to return to now that their country is at war.Read more.Daniel ArkinThe media giant Sony Pictures Entertainment announced Friday that it "paused" all business operations in Russia, including home entertainment releases, television distribution deals and an anime-themed streaming service.The company previously said it would halt the theatrical release of upcoming movies, including the Marvel thriller "Morbius," starring Jared Leto."We stand with many businesses around the world who have now paused their business operations in Russia, and in support of the humanitarian efforts currently underway in Ukraine and the surrounding region," SPE chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra said in a memo to staff shared with NBC News.Zoë RichardsWhite House national security advisor Jake Sullivan on Friday met with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to discuss coordinated efforts to thwart Russia's "unprovoked and unjustified war" in Ukraine, the White House said in a statement.The pair discussed the ongoing coordination of security and humanitarian efforts to support Ukraine and  inflict costs on Moscow, the White House said."Our two countries are working in lockstep to ensure Putin fails in Ukraine," Truss wrote in a statement on Twitter.The meeting comes after Truss on Thursday called the invasion of Ukraine “a paradigm shift on a scale of 9/11," during a speech at the Atlantic Council. Dareh GregorianPentagon spokesman John Kirby said Friday the U.S. has not needed to use its deconfliction hotline with Russia, but has been testing the connection "once or twice a day." The hotline, which allows the U.S. military to communicate directly with the Russian military as a way to deconflict tactical movements around Ukraine and avoid unintended clashes or misunderstandings with American or NATO forces, was set up last week, NBC News previously reported. In remarks delivered at the U.N. on Friday, Thomas-Greenfield had accused Russia of calling on the Security Council to meet "for the sole purpose of lying and spreading disinformation," echoing concerns that a false-flag operation was at play for Russia to potentially use chemical or biological agents against Ukraine.Sahil KapurPHILADELPHIA — President Joe Biden told House Democrats gathered here on Friday that 2022 “may be the most important off-year election in modern history,” gave his party credit for an improving economy and rejected blame for rising gas prices.Biden, who was greeted by his party to a standing ovation at a caucus retreat, thanked a roomful of Democrats for passing a $1.5 trillion government funding bill this week, which includes aid to Ukraine in Russia's escalating war.“Democrats didn’t cause this problem. Khrystyna is among hundreds of Ukrainian exchange students in the United States who fear for the safety of their families and worry about what kind of homeland there will be to return to now that their country is at war.Read the full story.Anjali HuynhPresident Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday about the U.S.'s continued support for Ukraine and increased sanctions on Russia, the White House said.Biden updated Zelenskyy on security, humanitarian and economic assistance for his country and the sanctions that the Group of 7 industrial nations and the European Union are undertaking to "further raise the costs on Russia," the White House said in a release.Earlier Friday, Biden called for the suspension of normal trade relations with Russia, allowing increased tariffs on Russian goods, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will vote on next week. Officials said that would not affect decisions about what evidence to hand over to investigating bodies.But some Western officials say if Putin faced charges of war crimes or believed the U.S. was intent on toppling his regime, the Russian president could conclude there was no point in negotiations and might resort to more drastic measures.Read the full story.Rebecca ShabadBiden announced Friday that the U.S. and its allies from the G7 will take steps to deny the "most favored nation" status designation to Russia, putting an end to normal trade relations and paving the way for higher tariffs.The move "is going to make it harder for Russia to do business with the United States and doing it in unison with other nations that make up half of the global economy will be another crushing blow" to Russia and President Vladimir Putin, Biden said. Chantal Da Silva and ReutersRussia has restricted access to Instagram, in addition to launching a criminal case against its parent company Meta Platforms and moving to designate it an "extremist organization."The developments came following a policy change allowing users of the social media platform to call for violence against Russian soldiers within the context of the war.A spokesperson for Meta Platforms said the company was lifting a ban for residents of a number of countries on posting information containing calls for violence against Russian citizens, including military personnel, on its social networks.During a daily briefing Friday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would take the most drastic measures available if the company did not revoke the change.The Associated PressA drone that apparently flew all the way from the Ukrainian war zone crashed overnight on the outskirts of the Croatian capital, Zagreb, triggering a loud blast but causing no injuries, Croatian authorities said Friday.A statement issued by Croatia’s government said the “pilotless military aircraft” entered Croatian airspace from neighboring Hungary at a speed of 430 mph and an altitude of 4,300 feet.The government said that an official criminal investigation will be launched and that NATO will be informed about the incident. We urge your administration to work with Poland and our NATO allies to expedite the transfer of urgently-needed airpower, air defense systems and other combat and support capabilities from the United States, NATO allies, and other European partners to Ukraine," the senators wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden on Thursday.The letter, signed by 42 Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, came after U.S. officials rejected a proposal from Poland to transfer its Soviet-era MiG fighter jets to Ukraine through a U.S. military base in Germany.The Defense Department has said such a handover would be a “high risk” step that could ratchet up tensions with Russia and risk direct military conflict.Read the full story.NBC NewsThe coffin of Roman Rushchyshyn, a senior Ukrainian police officer, is lowered into a grave during his funeral in the village of Soposhyn, on the outskirts of Lviv.Chantal Da SilvaRussian President Vladimir Putin appeared defiant in the face of mounting international pressure on Friday, saying he was convinced his country would "overcome" the impact of the West's economic penalties over the war in Ukraine.Speaking ahead of talks in Moscow with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally, Putin noted his country was facing "problems connected to recent events, the restrictions and sanctions we all know about." "There have always been attempts to curtail our development and they are happening now, obviously on a larger scale," he said. It also comes after the U.S. banned imports of Russian oil and gas and as the West adds to an ever-growing list of sanctions targeting Russia's powerful and wealthy.NBC NewsHenry AustinThe war in Ukraine will cause “significant food security repercussions,” especially for the world's poorest countries, the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations warned Friday.Qu Dongyu said in a statement that this was “especially true” for some 50 countries that depend on Russia and Ukraine for 30 percent or more of their wheat supply. Ukraine continued its efforts to evacuate residents from hard-hit areas, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying as many as 100,000 civilians had been brought to safety over the past two days.As the West moved to ramp up its bid to isolate and punish Moscow for its invasion, the White House said President Joe Biden will announce new measures to "hold Russia accountable" Friday morning. Reznikov said the authorities are working to evacuate people from the most affected areas, including Mariupol, Sumy, and Kharkiv.Tens of thousands of helmets and bulletproof vests are also on the move to Ukraine to strengthen the military, he said.ReutersRussian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he wanted to allow volunteers to fight against Ukrainian forces and approved handing over captured Western missile systems to Russian-backed rebel fighters.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed handing over American made anti-tank systems such as Javelin and Stinger to fighters from the rebel regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.Putin, speaking at a Russian security council meeting, said he supported such an idea. ReutersPresident Joe Biden on Friday will call for an end to normal trade relations with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, clearing the way for increased tariffs on Russian imports, five people familiar with the situation told Reuters.The move would mark the latest escalation of a push by the U.S. and its allies to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the largest war in Europe since World War II.Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation.”Read the full story here.