One man was killed and six others injured as Kyiv came under attack for the first time since 5 June. Russian missiles struck residential buildings and a Kindergarten in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital. Among the injured were a seven-year-old girl. There are unconfirmed reports that her father was killed in the attack. A Russian woman was also among the injured.
Another civilian was killed in a missile attack on Cherkasy south-east of the capital. A bridge over the Dnipro river was also hit.
Both the attacks on Kyiv and Cherkasy are being seen message of defiance by Russia to G7 leaders gathering at a summit in Bavaria, Germany. Russia said it hit military targets in Chernihiv, Zhytomyr and Lviv. Joe Biden condemned the Russian attacks as “more barbarism”. Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said they showed the importance of G7 unity.
Ukraine has called for more aggressive sanctions against Russia and naval support. Andriy Yermak, the head of office to President Zelenskiy, said the G7 should respond to the attacks with a ban on Russia gas and naval help in the Black Sea.
Members of the G7 have confirmed a ban on imports of Russian gold. The move by Britain, the United States, Japan and Canada is part of efforts to tighten the sanctions squeeze on Moscow. Gold exports were worth $15.2bn to Russia in 2021, and their importance has increased since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The UK and France have agreed to provide more support for Ukraine, according to Downing Street. Leaders of the G7 have spoken of their solidarity for Ukraine. “We have to stay together,” Joe Biden said.
G7 leaders also mocked Vladimir Putin’s tough-man image during a summit lunch. They joked about whether they should go bare-chested, with Boris Johnson suggesting they needed to show their “pecs”. Justin Trudeau said:“We’re going to get the bare-chested horseback riding display.”
Russian forces are trying to cut off the strategic twin city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine, having reduced Sievierodonetskto rubble.Lysychansk is set to become the next main focus of fighting, as Moscow has launched massive artillery bombardments and airstrikes on areas far from the heart of the eastern battles. Ukraine called its retreat from Sievierodonetsk a “tactical withdrawal” to fight from higher ground in Lysychansk on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets river.
Russian news footage has shown the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, visiting troops involved in the Ukraine war. It is unclear if he visited Ukrainian territory, but the footage appeared to confirm that the colonel general Gennady Zhidko is now commanding troops in Ukraine.
The mayors of several European capitals have been duped into holding video calls with a deepfake of their counterpart in Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko. The mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey, took part in a scheduled call on the Webex video conferencing platform on Friday with a person she said looked and sounded like Klitschko. “There were no signs that the video conference call wasn’t being held with a real person,” her office said in a statement.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Saturday that Ukraine would win back all the cities it has lost to Russia, including Sievierodonetsk. “All our cities – Sievierodonetsk, Donetsk, Luhansk – we’ll get them all back,” he said in a late-night video address. Zelenskiy also admitted that the war was becoming difficult to handle emotionally.
We will be pausing our live coverage of the war in Ukraine and returning in a few hours to bring you all the latest developments. You can find a summary of where things stand here.
Johnson set to demand action on Ukrainian grain at G7
UK prime minister Boris Johnson will use Monday’s session at the G7 summit in Germany to call for urgent action to help get vital grain supplies out of Ukraine’s blockaded ports to support the country’s economy and alleviate shortages around the world, PA reports.
The blockade of major Ukrainian ports such as Odesa, attacks on farms and warehouses and the wider impact of the Russian invasion have all added to the problems facing food from the country reaching the global market.
Ukraine previously supplied 10% of the world’s wheat, up to 17% of the world’s maize and half of the world’s sunflower oil. Around 25 million tonnes of corn and wheat is currently at risk of rotting in Ukrainian silos.
Mr Johnson will call for an international solution to the crisis, including finding overland routes for grain supplies to beat the Russian blockade, with 10 million in materials and equipment to repair damaged rail infrastructure. The UK has also been urging Turkey, which controls access to the Black Sea, to do more to get grain supplies out by ship.
The prime minister will tell G7 leaders on Monday:
“Putin’s actions in Ukraine are creating terrible aftershocks across the world, driving up energy and food prices as millions of people are on the brink of famine. Only Putin can end this needless and futile war.
“But global leaders need to come together and apply their combined economic and political heft to help Ukraine and make life easier for households across the world. Nothing should be off the table.”
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has turned down a meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on her trip to Europe, citing scheduling issues. Ardern is currently en route to the Nato leaders’ summit in Madrid, Spain.
Deputy prime minister Grant Robertson said the prime minister was invited to Ukraine to meet with Zelenskiy, but had declined.
“I understand that there was an invitation but it came quite late in the day and, unfortunately, the prime minister’s programme in Europe and indeed in Australia, where she’s leading a trade mission, was already set,” Robertson said in a radio interview with AM on Monday.
Robertson said Ardern would attempt to speak to the president by phone.
“I know she’s going to be attempting to speak to president Zelenskiy directly to continue to show New Zealand’s support for the people of Ukraine but, unfortunately, that timing didn’t quite work out.”
This trip is Ardern’s first to Europe since the Covid-19 pandemic began. She is pushing to finalise a free trade agreement with the EU, and has also made plans to visit prime minister Boris Johnson in the UK.
Putin to make first foreign trips since launching Ukraine war
Vladimir Putin will visit two small former Soviet states in central Asia this week, Russian state television reported on Sunday, in what would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since ordering the invasion of Ukraine.
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.
Putin also plans to visit the Belarus city of Grodno on 30 June and 1 July to take part in a forum with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, RIA news agency cited Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia’s upper chamber of parliament, as telling Belarus television on Sunday.
Putin’s last known trip outside Russia was a visit to the Beijing in early February, where he and Chinese president Xi Jinping unveiled a “no limits” friendship treaty hours before both attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games.
France has become the latest country to reconsider its energy options because of the war in Ukraine, announcing Sunday it was looking into reopening a recently closed coal-fired power station. The energy transition ministry said it was considering reopening the station at Saint-Avold in eastern France this winter, “given the situation in Ukraine” and the effect it was having on the energy markets.
In a video address to Belarusians, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Belarusians to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. “Russian leadership wants to drag you into the Ukraine-Russian war because it doesn’t care about your lives. But you aren’t slaves and can decide your destiny yourself,” Zelenskiy said.
The UN Human Rights division in Ukrainesaid on Sunday that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, it has “received hundreds of allegations of torture and ill-treatment, including conflict-related sexual violence.” “People were kept tied and blindfolded for several days, beaten, subjected to mock executions, put in a closed metal box, forced to sing or shout glorifying slogans, provided with no or scarce food or water, and held in overcrowded rooms with no sanitation,” the Ukrainians UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission said.
Ukrainian forces have attacked a drilling platform in the Black Sea owned by a Crimean oil and gas company, Russian Tass news agency cited local officials as saying on Sunday, the second strike in a week. The platform is operated by Chernomorneftegaz, which Russian-backed officials seized from Ukraine’s national gas operator Naftogaz as part of Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014.
Canada deployed two warships to the Baltic Sea and north Atlantic on Sunday, joining a pair of frigates already in the region in attempts to reinforce Nato’s eastern flank in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) Kingston and Summerside will be on a four-month deployment as part of “deterrence measures in central and eastern Europe” launched in 2014 after Moscow annexed Crimea, the Canadian navy said in a statement.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as I hand the blog over to my colleagues in Australia who will bring you the latest updates. Thank you.
— Stratcom Centre UA (@StratcomCentre) June 26, 2022
According to Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko, two residential buildings had been hit. One man was killed and six people, including a woman from Russia, were taken to the hospital. A seven-year old girl was rescued from rubble.
More residents could be trapped under rubble as rescue efforts get underway, Klitschko said.
France has become the latest country to reconsider its energy options because of the war in Ukraine, announcing Sunday it was looking into reopening a recently closed coal-fired power station.
Agence France-Presse reports:
The energy transition ministry said it was considering reopening the station at Saint-Avold in eastern France this winter, “given the situation in Ukraine” and the effect it was having on the energy markets.
“We are keeping open the possibility of being able to put the Saint-Avold station back in action for a few hours more if we need it next winter,” said a ministry statement, confirming a report on RTL radio.
But France would still be producing less than one percent of its electricity through coal power, and no Russian coal would be used, the statement added.
President Emmanuel Macron’s commitment to eventually shut all France’s coal-fired stations remained unchanged, the ministry statement said.
Saint-Avold was only closed on March 31, and the only coal-fired power station still operating in France is in Cordemais, in the west of the country.
Most of France’s electricity production comes from nuclear power: 67 percent in 2020. In the same year, coal only accounted for 0.3 percent.
Austria, Germany and the Netherlands have all announced recently that they would be making greater use of coal for their energy needs because of the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The war there has sent global energy prices soaring and raised the prospect of shortages if supplies are cut off. Russian energy giant Gazprom has already stopped deliveries to a number of European countries, including Poland, Bulgaria, Finland and the Netherlands.
But the shift back towards fossil fuels has caused alarm in the European Commission, and among environmental campaigners.
They point to the risk that the European Union will miss its targets for cutting back on polluting energy sources, and potentially disastrous consequences for the climate.
In a video address to Belarussians, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Belarussians to stand in solidarity with Ukraine.
“Russian leadership wants to drag you into the Ukraine-Russian war because it doesn’t care about your lives. But you aren’t slaves and can decide your destiny yourself,” Zelenskiy said.
His address comes amid growing concerns that Belarus may invade Ukraine on Russia’s side.
Earlier this week, Russia announced that it will deliver missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the coming months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said as he received Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin has several times referred to nuclear weapons since his country launched a military operation in Ukraine on 24 February, in what the west has seen as a warning not to intervene. Lukashenko said last month that his country had bought Iskander nuclear-capable missiles and S-400 anti-aircraft anti-missile systems from Russia.
In a gathering on Sunday, G7 leaders on Sunday joked whether it would be advisable to remove their suit jackets in order to stand up to the “formidable” and “tough” image of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“We all have to show that we’re tougher than Putin,” said UK prime minister Boris Johnson.
In response, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said, “We’re going to get the bare-chested horseback riding display.”
Ukrainian president Vladymyr Zelenskiy is due to address G7 leaders via video conference in the coming days as he attempts to solidify increased Western support against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
G7 leaders summit Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, U.S. President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel pose for a photo during the G7 summit in Schloss Elmau, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany June 26, 2022. Photograph: Reuters
The UN Human Rights division in Ukraine said on Sunday that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, it has “received hundreds of allegations of torture and ill-treatment, including conflict-related sexual violence.”
“People were kept tied and blindfolded for several days, beaten, subjected to mock executions, put in a closed metal box, forced to sing or shout glorifying slogans, provided with no or scarce food or water, and held in overcrowded rooms with no sanitation,” the Ukrainians UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission said.
It went on to add, “We have also documented cases when people were tortured to death.”
Ukrainian forces have attacked a drilling platform in the Black Sea owned by a Crimean oil and gas company, Russian Tass news agency cited local officials as saying on Sunday, the second strike in a week.
Reuters reports:
The platform is operated by Chernomorneftegaz, which Russian-backed officials seized from Ukraine’s national gas operator Naftogaz as part of Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014.
“It’s shelling by the armed forces of Ukraine, there are no casualties,” Tass cited a member of Crimea’s emergency services as saying. It gave no further details.
Last Monday Crimean officials said three people were wounded with seven missing after a Ukrainian strike that forced the suspension of work on three platforms. Chernomorneftegaz is under US and European Union sanctions.
Canada deployed two warships to the Baltic Sea and north Atlantic on Sunday, joining a pair of frigates already in the region in attempts to reinforce Nato’s eastern flank in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) Kingston and Summerside will be on a four-month deployment as part of “deterrence measures in central and eastern Europe” launched in 2014 after Moscow annexed Crimea, the Canadian navy said in a statement.
Through October, the ships will participate in naval mine-sweeping exercises and maintain a “high readiness” allowing them to “quickly and effectively respond in support of any Nato operations”, it added.
HMCS Halifax and Montreal are scheduled to return to port in July from Operation Reassurance – which is currently Canada’s largest deployment abroad.
The mission also includes roughly 700 Canadian troops in Latvia with artillery and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as several military aircraft.
HMCS Montreal departs Halifax for a six-month deployment on a Nato mission in the Mediterranean on Wednesday. Photograph: Andrew Vaughan/AP
Responding to the Russian missiles in Kyiv which left one person dead and six injured, Andriy Yermak, head of the president’s administration, said: “The Russians hit Kyiv again. Missiles damaged an apartment building and a kindergarten.”
The deputy mayor, Mykola Povoroznyk, said explosions heard later in other parts if Kyiv were air defences destroying further incoming missiles, Reuters reports.
The RIA agency quoted a pro-Russian separatist official as saying separatist forces had evacuated more than 250 people, including children, on Sunday from Sievierodonetsk’s Azot chemical plant.
The plant’s surrounding industrial area was the last part of Sievierodonetsk held by Ukrainian forces.
Russia’s Tass news agency quoted the same official as saying forces were advancing on Lysychansk across the river from Sievierodonetsk.
Lysychansk is now the last major city held by Ukraine in Luhansk, Reuters reports.
Ukrainian folk band DakhaBrakha and Eurovision 2016 winner Jamala performed together on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage, sharing a message to “stop Putin”.
Jamala won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016, representing Ukraine, and was welcomed on stage as DakhaBrakha’s special guest for the performance on Sunday afternoon.
Jamala, full name Susana Alimivna Jamaladinova, told the PA news agency after the set: “We can stop this evil only if we are united, only if we are together.
“We are fighting for freedom, for equality … it’s my first time in Glastonbury and I see that freedom here.
“It’s a treasure to be human and to express yourself, and you even don’t know how important it is.”
On a weekend when Kyiv experienced its first Russian bombing in weeks, part of DakhaBrakha’s act featured an animation on a screen showing birds transforming into fighter jets.
Other images included Ukrainian tractors dragging Russian tanks, and crowds marching towards armoured vehicles adorned with the letter Z, a Russian pro-war symbol.
A leading historian of the outbreak of the first world war has urged admirers of his work among Germany’s political elite to stop drawing comparisons to the conflict in Ukraine, warning any parallels between 1914 and 2022 are flawed.
Cambridge academic Christopher Clark’s account of the complex logic behind each of the main actors’ entry into the global conflict, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, was an international bestseller after its publication in 2013. The book struck a particular chord in Germany, where it provided a counterview to a prevailing narrative of national war guilt and has sold more than 350,000 copies.
