Good morning. Russia’s attack on a children’s hospital has been called evidence of “genocide” by Ukraine’s president. In Australia, the head of Ukraine’s embassy has called for the expulsion of Russia’s ambassador. Shane Warne’s body has arrived in Melbourne. And the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said more support will be offered to flood-hit regions in NSW and Queensland.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has condemned a Russian attack on a children’s hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol as evidence of “genocide” as the US moved to drastically bolster support to Ukraine with a US$13.6bn aid package. At least 39 countries have called on the international criminal court to investigate war crimes, with the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, saying Russia should “absolutely” be investigated. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said Vladimir Putin will fail in his effort to subjugate Ukraine, and will instead lead Russia into a “strategic defeat” that is already unfolding. “I’m absolutely convinced that Putin will fail, and Russia will suffer a strategic defeat no matter what short-term tactical gains it may make in Ukraine,” the secretary of state said. Meanwhile, the head of Ukraine’s embassy in Australia says he cannot remain “diplomatically polite” when his parents, aged in their 70s, spend their nights in a bomb shelter in Kyiv, and has called for the Russian ambassador to be expelled.
