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Russia-Ukraine war: US citizens told to leave Ukraine immediately
Grace Millimaci
Thu, July 14, 2022 at 9:40 PM·8 min read
Firefighters, rescuers, military personnel and the police working at the site of the deadly Russian missile strike in downtown Vinnytsia, Ukraine - ROMAN PILIPEY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The US Embassy in Kyiv issued a security alert late on Thursday urging all American citizens in Ukraine to leave immediately.
The alert, which appeared to be in response to a deadly Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, asserted that large gatherings and organised events "may serve as Russian military targets anywhere in Ukraine, including its western regions".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky repeated his call for Russia to be declared a state sponsor of terrorism.
"No other country in the world represents such a terrorist threat as Russia," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
"No other country in the world allows itself every day to use cruise missiles and rocket artillery to destroy cities and ordinary human life."
Follow the latest updates below.
05:40 AM
Yellen condemns Russia's 'brutal' war
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Bali, Indonesia - Made Nagi
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has condemned Russia's "brutal and unjust war" in Ukraine and said Russian finance officials taking part in a G20 meeting on Friday shared responsibility for the "horrific consequences" of the war.
Ms Yellen, speaking at the opening session of the gathering of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers in Bali, Indonesia, welcomed Ukraine's finance minister and blamed the negative spillovers of the war "solely" on Russia, a Treasury official said.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov was in Bali for the meetings, while Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was participating virtually.
05:35 AM
G20 urged to reach consensus to avoid catastrophe
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Friday it was vital for G20 finance leaders to reach a consensus during talks in Bali, warning otherwise it could be "catastrophic" for low-income countries facing soaring food and energy prices.
Finance leaders from the Group of 20 major economies are meeting on the resort island, as host Indonesia tries to find common ground in a group frayed by the Ukraine war and rising economic pressures from soaring inflation.
Sri Mulyani said the world had high hopes that the group would be able to find a solution to the triple threat of war, rising commodity prices and their spillover effects on the ability of low-income countries to repay debt.
"We are acutely aware that the cost of our failure to work together is more than we can afford. The humanitarian consequences for the world, and especially for many low income countries would be catastrophic," she said.
05:00 AM
Battlefield boost for Ukraine
US-made precision rockets have given Ukraine forces a major battlefield boost since they were introduced in June, tilting the balance against the Russians and possibly forcing Moscow to pause its offensive, experts said.
Since mid-June, using the Himars missile systems, Ukraine has destroyed more than 20 major Russian ammunition depots and command posts that were previously too far behind the front lines to be reached by traditional artillery.
But experts also caution that the new weapons are no panacea, and that the country needs more weapons and radars systems to use in combination to defeat the Russians.
04:36 AM
Russia ‘using stolen Western weapons’
Russia could have used captured Western weapons to commit and cover-up atrocities in Ukraine, officials fear, as Volodymyr Zelensky called for a Nuremberg-style court to hold Moscow to account.
The Telegraph understands investigators are exploring evidence that suggests the Kremlin’s invasion forces could have used the tactic in an attempt to cover-up suspected war crimes.
Having heavy weaponry fall into Russian hands is also a chief concern among Western governments donating equipment to Kyiv.
READ MORE: Russia ‘using stolen Western weapons to commit and cover up war crimes’
04:33 AM
Zelensky: Use Russian assets to compensate victims of terror
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for creating a mechanism for confiscating Russian assets around the world and using them to compensate the victims of "Russian terror".
Ukraine's Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrsky, echoed Mr Zelensky, calling the missile attack in Vinnytsia a "war crime" intended to intimidate Ukrainians while the country's forces held out in the east.
He said several dozen people were detained for questioning on suspicion that the Russian forces had received targeting assistance from someone on the ground.
04:13 AM
Little Liza, 4, among those killed
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that among those killed in Vinnytsia was a four-year-old girl called Liza, whose mother was badly wounded.
A video of Liza, twirling in a lavender dress in a field of lavender during happy times, was widely shared on social media.
"Today, our hearts are bleeding, and our eyes are full of tears because our family of many thousands has lost one of our own," the charity Down Syndrome wrote.
"They were just on their way from a speech-therapy class, and they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Mr Zelensky's wife later posted that she had met this "wonderful girl" while filming a Christmas video with a group of children, who were given oversized ornaments to paint.
"The little mischievous girl then managed in a half an hour to paint not only herself, her holiday dress, but also all the other children, me, the cameramen and the director ... Look at her alive, please," Olena Zelenska wrote in a note accompanying the video.
READ MORE: Bloodstained baby buggy tells tragic tale of Russian missile strike on city 300 miles from front line
03:33 AM
'They knew where they were hitting'
A heavily damaged office building in Vinnytsia - Alexey Furman/Getty Images
Officials said Kalibr cruise missiles fired from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea damaged a medical clinic, offices, stores and residential buildings in Vinnytsia, a city 268km (167 miles) southwest of the capital, Kyiv.
Vinnytsia region Governor Serhiy Borzov said Ukrainian air defences downed two of the four incoming Russian missiles.
"It was a building of a medical organisation. When the first rocket hit it, glass fell from my windows," said Vinnytsia resident Svitlana Kubas, 74.
"And when the second wave came, it was so deafening that my head is still buzzing. It tore out the very outermost door, tore it right through the holes."
A rescuer takes a break in Vinnytsia - Alexey Furman/Getty Images
Mr Borzov said 36 apartment buildings were damaged and residents were evacuated. Along with hitting buildings, the missiles ignited a fire that spread to 50 cars in a parking lot, officials said.
"These are quite high-precision missiles," Mr Borzov said. "They knew where they were hitting."
What remains of downtown Vinnytsia after Russia's attack - ROMAN PILIPEY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Among the buildings damaged in the strike was the House of Officers, a Soviet-era concert hall.
Margarita Simonyan, head of the state-controlled Russian television network RT, said military officials told her a building in Vinnytsia was targeted because it housed Ukrainian Nazis.
03:22 AM
Zelensky accuses Russia of deliberately targeting civilians
Ukrainian emergency workers and military work at the site of the Russian missile strike in downtown Vinnytsia - ROMAN PILIPEY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Ukraine's president has accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in locations without military value.
Volodymyr Zelensky's outrage came after Russian missiles struck a city in central Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others far from the front lines.
National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko said only six bodies had been identified so far, while 39 people were still missing.
Toys are scattered near shattered glass in an apartment damaged in the missile strike on Vinnytsia - Alexey Furman/Getty Images
Three children younger than 10 where among the dead.
Of the 66 people hospitalised, five remained in a critical condition while 34 sustained severe injuries, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.
Russia denied targeting civilians.
"Russia only strikes at military targets in Ukraine. The strike on Vinnytsia targeted an officers' residence, where preparations by Ukrainian armed forces were underway," Evgeny Varganov, a member of Russia's permanent UN mission, said in an address to the chamber.
03:05 AM
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