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.
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.
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.
Read the full story:
Johnson urges France and Germany to provide more military support to Ukraine at G7
PM will use G7 and Nato summits to urge tougher action on Russia, warning against any move towards ‘bad peace’
Watch: Zelensky calls for more help from G7 during 'difficult stage of war'
UK ready to be guarantor for $525 million loan to Ukraine
The UK government has said that it’s ready to provide another $525 million (£429 m) in guarantees for the World Bank lending to Ukraine later this year.
Boris Johnson said: “Ukraine can win and it will win. But they need our backing to do so. Now is not the time to give up on Ukraine.
“The UK will continue to back Ukraine every step of the way, because we know that their security is our security, and their freedom is our freedom.”
'We have to stay together': Biden on alliance behind Ukraine
President Biden praised the continued unity of the global alliance confronting Russia, as he and other heads of the G7 strategised on sustaining the pressure in their effort to isolate Moscow over its months-long invasion of Ukraine. “We’ve got to make sure we have us all staying together,” Mr Biden said during a pre-summit sit-down with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who holds the G7’s rotating presidency and is hosting the gathering. “You know, we’re gonna continue working on economic challenges that we face but I think we get through all this.” Scholz replied that the “good message” is that “we all made it to stay united, which Putin never expected.” “We have to stay together, because Putin has been counting on, from the beginning, that somehow NATO and the G7 would splinter, but we haven’t and we’re not going to,” Mr Biden replied. “We can’t let this aggression take the form it has and get away with it,” added Mr Biden.
PM: Putin conquering parts of Ukraine would be ‘absolutely catastrophic'
Speaking to CNN at the G7 summit, Boris Johnson was 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: “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.”
‘Let’s show our pecs!’ Boris Johnson and Trudeau mock Putin’s topless horse riding
Boris Johnson and Justin Trudeau were seen mocking Vladimir Putin at the G7 summit in Germany, joking about his infamous bare-chested horseback riding photographs.
As the leaders sat down together at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps on Sunday, the British prime minister questioned whether they should keep their suit jackets on.
Warming to his theme, Mr Johnson then added, “Shall we take our clothes off?” – before suggesting: “We all have to show that we’re tougher than Putin.”
Adam Forrest reports.
One person dead after Russian missiles hit Cherkasy
Russian missiles struck near the central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy on Sunday, killing one person and hitting a bridge that helps connect western regions with eastern battle zones, Ukrainian officials said.
Cherkasy has been largely untouched by bombardment since the war started in February, but Russia has stepped up missile attacks across Ukraine this weekend.
“Today, the enemy launched missile attacks on the Cherkasy region. There are 2 strikes near the regional center. One dead and five wounded. Infrastructure damaged,” said regional governor Ihor Taburets on the Telegram app.
He did not provide further details, but a presidential adviser told Reuters one of the missiles targeted a bridge across the Dnipro river.
“They are trying to limit the transfer of our reserves and western weapons to the east,” adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a message.
“It means that these kinds of transfers are going well and causing them major issues.”
Boris Johnson and Justin Trudeau mock Putin's 'bare-chested horse rides'
Ukraine peace deal would give Putin ‘license to manipulate’, Boris Johnson tells Macron
Boris Johnson has warned Emmanuel Macron that any attempt to settle the conflict in Ukraine now will give Russian president Vladimir Putin “license to manipulate” other countries.
The prime minister told the French president that compromise will “only cause enduring instability” as the pair met to discuss the war at the G7 summit in Germany.
Mr Macron was criticised for negotiating with Putin at the start of the invasion and saying Russia must not be “humiliated” – raising fears Ukraine could be pushed into giving up territory.
Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson at the G7 on Sunday
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