Ukraine news – live: Russian airstrikes hit Kyiv in ‘symbolic’ attack as G7 summit starts

Multiple air strikes have hit Ukraine as EU leaders gathered in Germany for the international G7 summit

‘Putin is weaponising hunger’: Liz Truss blames Russia for food shortages

Russia has launched airstrikes on the Ukraine capital Kyiv in a ‘symbolic’ attack as the G7 summit begins.

Ukraine officials said 14 missiles were launched against the capital and the region on Sunday morning.

Ukraine’s police chief, Ihor Klymenko, said on national television that five people had been wounded, and police later said one person was killed in the airstrikes. Before Sunday’s early morning attack, Kyiv had not faced any such Russian airstrikes since June 5.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko told journalists that he believed “it is maybe a symbolic attack” ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Madrid.

It comes as Boris Johnson urged EU leaders to boost their military support for Ukraine, amid concerns a ‘bad peace’ could be agreed due to fatigure over the now five-month war.

And Russian president Vladimir Putin has ramped up the international tensions further by promising to arm its ally Belarus with nuclear-capable Iskander-M missile systems on Ukraine’s border.

Belarus also asked for an upgrade to its airforce, with the aim of making them nuclear-capable.

Key Points

• Several explosions in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskiy district, says mayor
• Sievierodonetsk now ‘under full Russian occupation’
• G7 to impose import ban on new Russian gold, reports say
• Dozens of Russian missiles hit military facilities

[27 June 2022 00:00 · Emily Atkinson]

UK will give £10m to rebuild Ukrainian railways to help export trapped grain out by train

Boris Johnson’s government will pledge £10million to help rebuild Ukraine’s railways in a bid to use trains to export grain trapped by Vladimir Putin’s blockade in the Black Sea.

The prime minister is set to call on fellow leaders to take urgent action to get essential food supplies out of Ukraine at the G7 Summit in Germany on Monday.

Mr Johnson said the United Nations’ plan to get the grain out of Ukraine is a “non-starter” because Russia will continue to use food supply as a bargaining chip to ease sanctions.

Adam Forrest has the story:

[26 June 2022 23:15 · Emily Atkinson]

Putin cannot ‘get away’ with conquering parts of Ukraine, says Johnson

Boris Johnson said he thinks the US is “still the last, best hope of peace and freedom”.

Speaking to CNN at the G7 summit in Germany, he said Russian president Vladimir Putin must not be allowed to “get away” with conquering parts of Ukraine.

Asked how so-called Ukraine fatigue can be combated in the West, and whether he worries higher energy prices might cause people in the US and UK to decide it is not worth the fight, he said: “I would just say to people in the United States that this is something that America historically does and has to do, and that is to step up for peace and freedom and democracy.

“If we let Putin get away with it, and just annex, conquer, sizeable parts of a free, independent, sovereign country, which is what he is poised to do, if not the whole thing, then the consequences for the world are absolutely catastrophic.”

He said the US came in twice in the last century “as the arsenal of democracy” and President Joe Biden’s current investment in helping Ukraine is “a price worth paying”.

“All I’m saying to people is sometimes America is asked by the world to step up. And getting back to your first question, I think America is still the last, best hope of peace and freedom,” he said.

PA

[26 June 2022 22:15 · Emily Atkinson]

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Boris Johnson and Justin Trudeau mock Putin's 'bare-chested horse rides'

[26 June 2022 21:15 · Emily Atkinson]

Russian airstrikes hit Kyiv killing one in ‘symbolic’ attack as G7 summit begins

Russian missiles have struck a residential building in Kyiv in the first such attack on the Ukraine capital in the three weeks,

One person was killed and five more injured as result of the early morning attack on Sunday, dubbed ‘symbolic’ by the city mayor as it coincided with the opening of the G7 summit.

Emergency services were seen battling flames in a badly damaged nine-storey residential building, as well as rescuing civilians from the rubble.

Aisha Rimi reports:

[26 June 2022 20:45 · Emily Atkinson]

Putin to make first foreign trip since launching Ukraine war

Russia’s president will visit two small former Soviet states in central Asia this week, according to reports, in what would be the Vladimir Putin’s first known trip abroad since ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

Putin has said the ratcheting up of western sanctions against Russia are a reason to build stronger trade ties with other powers such as China, India and Iran.

Pavel Zarubin, the Kremlin correspondent of the Rossiya 1 state television station, said Putin would visit Tajikistan and Turkmenistan and then meet Indonesian president Joko Widodo for talks in Moscow.

In Dushanbe, Putin will meet Tajik president Imomali Rakhmon, a close Russian ally and the longest-serving ruler of a former Soviet state. In Ashgabat, he will attend a summit of Caspian nations including the leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkmenistan, Zarubin said.

[26 June 2022 20:15 · Emily Atkinson]

Watch: Boris Johnson says politicians suffering from 'fatigue' over Ukraine

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Boris Johnson says politicians suffering from 'fatigue' over Ukraine

[26 June 2022 19:45 · Emily Atkinson]

Putin wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine if Tory 1922 committee was ‘on his case’, claims Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has suggested that Vladimir Putin would have not invaded Ukraine earlier this year if he had the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers “on his case”.

Speaking at the G7 summit, the prime minister boasted to CNN that he had “a new mandate for my party” after squeaking through the recent confidence vote arranged by the powerful Tory committee.

“I’m very happy ... I got a higher percentage of the parliamentary votes than I did the first time. So, I’m very happy, we will move forward,” he said on the challenge by Tory rebels.

Adam Forrest reports:

[26 June 2022 19:15 · Emily Atkinson]

Ukraine ‘launches strike on Black Sea drilling platform'

Kyiv’s forces have attacked a drilling platform in the Black Sea owned by a Crimean oil and gas company, local officials have claimed.

Tass news agency reported that today’s strike against the platform, operated by Chernomorneftegaz - which was seized from Ukraine’s Naftogaz as part of Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014 - is the second in a week.

“It’s shelling by the armed forces of Ukraine, there are no casualties,” a member of Crimea’s emergency services was cited as saying.

[26 June 2022 18:45 · Aisha Rimi]

Child pulled from rubble of Kyiv building after Russian airstrike

A seven-year-old girl has been rescued from the ruins of an apartment block that was hit by Russian airstrikes on Sunday.

Footage shared by Ukraine’s emergency services shows the child being pulled out from the partially collapsed building and being carried by stretcher to an ambulance.

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Sunday morning, striking at least two residential buildings, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said.

He added that two people have been hospitalised with injuries.

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Seven-year-old child pulled from rubble of Kyiv apartment building after Russian strike

[26 June 2022 18:16 · Aisha Rimi]

Boris Johnson urges G7 allies to stand firm in support of Ukraine

Boris Johnson will use G7 and Nato summits to urge France and Germany to provide more military support to Ukraine and warn them against any attempt to push president Volodymyr Zelensky into a “bad” peace deal.

This week’s conferences in Germany and Spain offer the beleaguered prime minister – battling to stave off a new leadership challenge at home – the chance to talk about strong British backing for Kyiv.

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