Russia-Ukraine war latest news: US House passes $13bn Ukrainian aid bill…

It is 6.50am in Ukraine and here is where the crisis currently stands:

• A children’s hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol was destroyed by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday afternoon, Ukrainian officials said.
• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the attack “the ultimate evidence of genocide” adding that children are buried under rubble while the regional governor said 17 people have been wounded. “A children’s hospital, a maternity ward. How did they threaten the Russian Federation?” Zelenskiy added. The Guardian was unable to fully verify Ukrainian officials’ accounts, but video published by the Associated Press showed multiple injured people at the site of the hospital attack.
• Western officials warned of their “serious concern” that Vladimir Putin could use chemical weapons on Kyiv. In an assessment, they said an “utterly horrific” attack on the Ukrainian capital could be unleashed as Russian forces attempt to overcome the logistical issues that have apparently plagued troops headed towards Kyiv.
• The US House of Representatives approved $13.6 billion in US aid to Ukraine and its European allies.
• Britain is planning to supply Starstreak anti-aircraft weapons and “a small consignment” of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine as Russian forces close in on Kyiv, the British defence secretary said.
• Canada will also provide Ukraine with an additional $50m in lethal and non-lethal military aid.
• The United States has seen indications that Russia is dropping “dumb bombs” – unguided munitions with no precise target – on Ukraine, a senior US defence official said.
• Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has landed in Turkey for the face-to-face talks on Thursday with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, the highest-level meeting between the two countries since Russia invaded. Kuleba warned in a Facebook video his expectations were “limited”.
• Ukraine has accused Russian forces of “holding 400,000 people hostage” in Mariupol. The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said the city, where conditions are described as “apocalyptic”, was still being shelled by Russian troops despite an agreement to establish a safe evacuation corridor for civilians.
• Overnight strikes in the north-eastern city of Okhtyrka, Sumy region, reportedly killed a 13-year-old boy and two women, according to regional officials.
• Ukrainian authorities have said the power supply has been cut to the defunct Chernobyl power plant. The UN’s atomic watchdog said the spent nuclear fuel stored there had cooled down sufficiently for it not to be an imminent concern. Still, the news is raising concerns that a lack of external power to the site could compromise nuclear safety.
• More than 40,000 civilians were evacuated from across Ukraine on Wednesday but authorities struggled to get people away from conflict zones around the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol, a Ukrainian negotiator said. Ukrainian authorities said earlier that the corridors should allow residents of the heavily bombarded cities of Mariupol, Enerhodar, Sumy, Izyum and Volnovakha, as well as towns around Kyiv including Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel, to leave, calling on Russian forces to respect an “official public commitment” to cease fire.
• The International Monetary Fund has approved $1.4 billion in emergency financing for Ukraine to help meet urgent spending needs and mitigate the economic impact of Russia’s military invasion.
• Mining giant Rio Tinto has become the latest corporation to cut ties with Moscow saying it was ending all commercial relations with Russian businesses.

The US House of Representatives approved $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine and its European allies on Wednesday night.

After approval in the House, Senate approval is expected by week’s end or perhaps slightly longer.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters: “We’ve got a war going on in Ukraine. We have important work that we’re doing here.”

She said with her party in the 50-50 Senate needing at least 10 GOP votes to pass legislation, Democrats “are going to have to know there has to be compromise.”

The House approved the overall bill in two separate votes. The measure’s security programs were overwhelmingly approved by 361-69, the rest by 260-171, with most Republicans opposed.

The Ukraine aid included $6.5 billion for the US costs of sending troops and weapons to eastern Europe and equipping allied forces there in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion and repeated, bellicose threats.

There was another $6.8 billion to care for refugees and provide economic aid to allies, and more to help federal agencies enforce economic sanctions against Russia and protect against cyber threats at home. Biden had requested $10 billion for the package.

Pelosi said she talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for 45 minutes Wednesday. She said they discussed the weapons and other assistance his country needs and “the crimes against humanity that Putin is committing,” including a Russian airstrike that destroyed a maternity hospital. “This is the beast that Putin is,” Pelosi said.

More than two million refugees have so far fled Ukraine, according to estimates from the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

On Wednesday alone, at least 35,000 civilians were evacuated from besieged Ukrainian cities, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. Three humanitarian corridors allowed residents to leave the cities of Sumy, Enerhodar and areas around Kyiv.

It is hoped evacuations will continue on Thursday with three more routes set to open out of the cities of Mariupol, Volnovakha in the southeast and Izium in eastern Ukraine.