Biden news - live: President speaks with Zelensky amid warnings Putin’s forces could storm Kyiv within hours

Adding to the pile-on of news this week, the Centers for Disease Control announced on Friday that residents of counties that are judged to be places of “low” to “medium” risk of Covid transmission could go maskless indoors.

The non-binding CDC guidelines have for months stressed the use of masks in indoor settings for all Americans, including those vaccinated against Covid-19. Today’s decision affects more than half of the population based on current CDC risk assessments.

“We are in a stronger place today as a nation to protect communities from Covid-19,” Dr Rochelle Walensky said on Friday. “We want to give people a break from things like mask wearing when risks are low.”

Read more from The Independent:

The top telecommunications authority in the US began a review of companies it regulates to better understand the level of Russian ownership in US media and communications companies this week.

Any company with an FCC license will now have its ownership models scrutinised for connections to Moscow, according to CNN.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that the US would join the EU in instituting sanctions against Vladimir Putin and a top deputy, Sergei Lavrov.

Ms Psaki made the revelation at her daily press briefing, stating that the decision was made following a phone call between Joe Biden and the president of the European Commission.

“The United States will join them in sanctioning President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov and members of the Russian national security team,” she said.

Read more at The Independent:

Vice President Mike Pence joined a growing crowd of both Republicans and Democrats who are calling for more severe penalties to be levied on Russia as a response to its invasion of Ukraine on Friday.

In an interview with Fox News, he claimed that the US had the power to unilaterally institute sanctions that would “force” Russia’s military to withdraw from Ukrainian territory.

"The fact that we have not yet imposed the level of punitive sanctions that would be required not just to stop Putin’s advance but to get the Russians to ultimately withdraw from Ukraine is incomprehensible to me," he said.

Mr Biden and the White House are expected to announce more sanctions and other punishments for the invasion in the days ahead.

President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee thanked the justice she is hoping to replace on the Court on Friday as she recognised both his legacy on the bench as well as his own personal influence on her career.

Ketanji Brown Jackson gave brief remarks at the White House on Friday alongside Mr Biden, and shared warm words for Justice Stephen Breyer, the retiring Supreme Court justice for whom Ms Brown Jackson previously clerked.

“Justice Breyer not only gave me the greatest job that any young lawyer could ever hope to have, but he also exemplified every day in every way that a Supreme Court justice can perform at the highest level of skill and integrity, while also being guided by civility,” she said.

To Mr Breyer, she added: “The members of the Senate will decide if I fill your seat, but please know that I could never fill your shoes.”

President Joe Biden stood alongside Ketanji Brown Jackson at the White House on Friday and made his selection of the first Black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court official.

Speaking early Friday afternoon Mr Biden noted the historic precedent being set by Ms Brown Jackson’s nomination and stated that it was about time the Supreme Court more accurately represent America’s population.

"For too long, our government and our courts haven't looked like America. I believe it's time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications," he said.

Republican Paul Ryan, the former Speaker of the House, praised Joe Biden’s nomination of his distant relative Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Friday, stating that while they had ideological differences that his praise for her character and intellect was “unequivocal”.

Read more about their family connection from The Independent’s Eric Garcia:

President Joe Biden spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday as the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces entered its second day.

Mr Biden vowed tough sanctions against Russia and Belarus on Thursday, but so far the US and Europe have not gone as far with punishing economic measures as Ukraine’s government would like.

The White House told reporters that the call lasted a little more than a half hour.

Republican Marsha Blackburn has hit out at President Joe Biden over his SCOTUS nomination and the timing of the annoucement, bizarrely claiming he has put the needs of the “radical left” above the US, despite Mr Biden previously pledging to make his nomination public by the end of February.

Derrick Johnson, head of the NAACP, praised Joe Biden’s Supreme Court pick in a statement on Friday after the news was made public. Ketanji Brown Jackson will be the first Black woman nominated (or confirmed) to the Supreme Court.

"The NAACP applauds President Biden's nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. This is a historic moment for our nation and our community in particular. President Biden has met this moment with an extraordinarily qualified nominee, who has stellar credentials and an impeccable background," said Mr Johnson, leader of one of America’s oldest and most powerful civil rights groups.