Ukraine news - live: Russian airstrike hits crowded shopping centre with ‘more than 1000’ people inside

President Volodymyr Zelensky that more than 1,000 people were in the shopping centre at the time of the attack

G7 leaders focus on helping Ukraine and punishing Russia

A Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky that more than 1,000 people were in the shopping centre at the time of the attack.

He gave no details of casualties but said: “It is impossible to even imagine the number of victims.”

Footage posted on social media showed a large fire and smoke billowing into the sky as people were fleeing from the burning building.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has said the “price of freedom is worth paying” as he compared Russia with Nazi Germany.

The prime minister argued that Western allies must continue to back Ukraine because standing up against Vladimir Putin’s aggression would ultimately make the world a safer and more prosperous place.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Germany, Mr Johnson said that if Mr Putin is not resisted, it could give the green light to countries such as China to pursue their own goals of territorial expansion, he suggested.

Comparing the situation to the defeat of Nazi Germany, Mr Johnson declined to put a limit on UK support to Ukraine.

Key Points

• Russian missile strike hits crowded shopping centre in Kremenchuk
• Zelensky tells G7 he wants Ukraine war over by end of 2022, as leaders back him ‘for as long as it takes’
• Boris Johnson urges allies to back Ukraine and compares Russia to Nazi Germany
• Zelensky asks G7 for more sanctions on Russia and anti-aircraft defence systems
• Nato increases forces on high alert from 40,000 to 300,000 amid Russia threat
• Russia ‘defaults on foreign debt’ for the first time in a century

[27 June 2022 17:09 · Lamiat Sabin]

Moroccan sentenced to death in DPR given permission to contact family

A Moroccan man who Russian-backed separatists had sentenced to death in eastern Ukraine has been granted permission to speak to his family.

Brahim Saadoun, 21, and two Britons were handed down the sentence earlier this month in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

Western politicians have decried the case as a show trial.

Although the men were all serving under contract with the Ukrainian armed forces fighting the Russian invasion.

Both the DPR and Moscow consider them mercenaries, and therefore outside the protection of the Geneva Conventions for prisoners of war.

Unlike Russia, the DPR, which Moscow says it wants to “liberate” from Ukrainian control, has the death penalty on its statute book.

Natalya Nikonorova, foreign minister of the DPR, was quoted by Russian news agency RIA Novosti as saying: “The relatives contacted the lawyers who were provided to the gentleman ... in particular, there was a request for communication and also to provide their own lawyer.

“As far as I know, this request was granted.”

DPR officials said Saadoun as well as British men s Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner have less than two weeks left to appeal the sentence.

[27 June 2022 16:20 · Lamiat Sabin]

Russia says it is expelling eight Greek diplomats

Russia declared eight Greek diplomats “personae non-gratae” and gave them eight days to leave the country.

The Russian foreign ministry said it had summoned the Greek ambassador to protest over what it called “the confrontational course of the Greek authorities towards Russia, including the supply of weapons and military equipment to the Kyiv regime”.

The ministry said it had also protested against a Greek decision to declare a group of Russian diplomats “personae non-gratae”.

Greece is a member of Nato and the European Union – and has joined EU sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

[27 June 2022 16:04 · Joe Middleton]

Two dead and 20 injured in Russian missile strike on shopping mall

At least two people were killed and 20 wounded in a Russian missile strike on a shopping mall in central Ukraine on Monday, a senior official said.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said nine of the wounded were in a serious condition following the missile strike on the city of Kremenchuk.

[27 June 2022 15:44 · Joe Middleton]

Russian missile strike hits crowded shopping centre in Kremenchuk

A Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

He said more than 1,000 people were in the shopping centre at the time of the attack.

He gave no details of casualties but said: “It is impossible to even imagine the number of victims.”

Footage posted on social media showed a large fire and smoke billowing into the sky as people were fleeing from the burning building.

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Missiles hit shopping centre containing over 1,000 people in Eastern Ukraine, Zelensky says

[27 June 2022 15:13 · Joe Middleton]

Stoltenberg says redeployment of troops is to protect NATO from the 'direct threat' of Russia

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Stoltenberg says redeployment of troops is to protect NATO from the 'direct threat' of Russia

[27 June 2022 15:01 · Joe Middleton]

Russian airstrike hits civilian building in Kremenchuk, says regional governor

Russian forces hit a civilian building in an attack on the city of Kremenchuk in central Ukraine on Monday, causing casualties, the regional governor said.

Dmitry Lunin, the governor of the Poltava region, gave no details of the attack or the casualties. “Unfortunately, there are victims. More details later,” Lunin said.

No further information is available on the airstike currently.

[27 June 2022 14:49 · Joe Middleton]

Russian hacker group claims responsibility for cyber attack on Lithuania

Russian hacker group Killnet claimed responsibility on Monday for a cyber attack on Lithuania.

It said it was in response to country’s decision to block the transit of goods sanctioned by the European Union to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

“The attack will continue until Lithuania lifts the blockade,” a spokesperson for the Killnet group told Reuters. “We have demolished 1652 web resources. And that’s just so far.”

Kaliningrad is connected to the rest of Russia by a rail link through Lithuania, a member of the EU and Nato.

[27 June 2022 14:29 · Joe Middleton]

Ukraine’s richest man sues Russia

Ukraine‘s richest man filed a lawsuit against Russia at Europe’s top human rights court on Monday, seeking compensation over what he has said are billions of dollars in business losses since the invasion of Ukraine.

Rinat Akhmetov, owner of the Azovstal steelworks in the city of Mariupol where Ukrainian fighters defied weeks of Russian bombardment, sued Russia for “grievous violations of his property rights” at the European Court of Human Rights, his System Capital Management (SCM) holding company said.

It said Akhmetov was also seeking a court order “preventing Russia from engaging in further blockading, looting, diversion and destruction of grain and steel” produced by his companies.

“Evil cannot go unpunished. Russia’s crimes against Ukraine and our people are egregious, and those guilty of them must be held liable,” SCM quoted Akhmetov as saying.

“The looting of Ukraine‘s export commodities, including grain and steel, has already resulted in higher prices and people dying of hunger worldwide. These barbaric actions must be stopped, and Russia must pay in full.”

Asked about the suit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was no longer under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.

“We left the (jurisdiction of) relevant documents. Therefore, here the answer is absolutely obvious,” he said.

Akhmetov said last month his company Metinvest, Ukraine‘s largest steelmaker, had suffered $17 to $20 billion in losses because of Russia’s bombardment of its steel plants in Mariupol.

[27 June 2022 14:13 · Joe Middleton]

Zelensky tells G7 he wants Ukraine war over by end of 2022, as leaders back him ‘for as long as it takes’

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has told G7 leaders that he wants the war with Russia over by the end of 2022.

Mr Zelensky addressed the leaders of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan by video link on Monday, urging them to give him more weapons for the struggle against Vladimir Putin’s forces.

The Ukraine leader also said he was keen to see the war to end this year, telling G7 allies not to let the conflict drag on through the winter, The Independent understands.

Adam Forrest reports.

[27 June 2022 13:50 · Joe Middleton]

Nato increases forces on high alert from 40,000 to 300,000 amid Russia threat

Nato is to boost the number of its forces to be on high-alert amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine from 40,000 to more than 300,000.

The seven-fold increase was announced by the military alliance’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg ahead of a summit in Madrid this week.

It’s the biggest overhaul of collective defence since the Cold War, he said. “We will transform the Nato response force and increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000.”

Lamiat Sabin reports.