G7 summit, working cession
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told G7 leaders that he wanted the Russia-Ukraine war to end before the winter sets in, according to Reuters.
Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.
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The Ukrainian president is also planning on addressing the NATO summit later this week in Madrid to ask for further help against Russia.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has warned of growing “fatigue in populations and politicians” as he began talks at the G7 summit. Johnson hopes to push for renewed sanctions and isolate Russia from the international finance system.
World Leaders Target Russia With Fresh Sanctions At G7 Summit
Front cover Die Welt
As the G7 summit continues in Germany, world leaders look set to hit Vladimir Putin’s Russia with a fresh wave of sanctions, including imports of gold.
Gold is one of the country’s top exports after energy and has been particularly valuable to Russian elites looking to circumvent Western sanctions. U.K. prime ministerBoris Johnson said the gold band would “directly hit Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin's war machine."
G7 leaders will be hoping to pile more pressure on Putin as the country’s economy continues to struggle.Russia defaulted on its foreign-currency sovereign debt for the first time since 1918 as Western sanctions shut down payment routes to foreign creditors. The country missed a deadline of Sunday night to pay interest of $100 million on two Eurobonds originally due on May 27.
However, Moscow rejected the word default, saying it had the means to pay the debt but that sanctions have frozen its foreign currency reserves held abroad.
Kyiv Hit By Missiles For the First Time In Weeks, Lviv Also Targeted
Building damaged by Russian shelling
One man was killed and six people were hospitalized when two residential buildings in Kyivwere hit by Russian missiles on Sunday morning, the first attack on the Ukrainian capital in three weeks. Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, claimed the attacks were to “intimidate Ukrainians”.
Western leaders said that the missile strikes were a deliberate escalation ahead of a G7 meeting, taking place in Germany, and an upcoming NATO summit in Madrid on Tuesday.
Fighting in recent weeks has mostly been confined to the east of the country. However, explosions were also reported in other areas of Ukraine over the weekend, including Lviv in the west of the country.
Ukraine Accuses Russia Of Mass Forced Adoption Of Ukrainian Kids
Ukraine has accused the Russian army of kidnapping and deporting thousands of unaccompanied minors from occupied parts of the country, including orphans and children who have lost their parents during the invasion.
The accusation came in a report from Daria Gerasymchuk, who heads child safety policy for the office of the Ukrainian presidency, who said that 234,000 children have been forcibly deported to Russia, with 4,795 already identified.
"The Russian side calls what they are doing - in fact abducting Ukrainian children - evacuation," says Gerasymchuk. "The Russian Federation is not going to return Ukrainian children to Ukraine. They communicate this very clearly.”
100 More Bodies Found Of Those Killed In Mariupol Bombings
Bodies continue to be found under the rubble of houses in the southern city of Mariupol, the adviser to the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andryushchenko said on Telegram.
“During the inspection of buildings in the Livoberezhny district … more than 100 bodies of the victims of the bombing were found," writes Andryushchenko. He also added that Russians do not plan to seize and bury the bodies.
According to current estimates, more than 20,000 civilians were killed in Mariupol. Exit from the city is currently blocked by the Russian army, even amid reports that contagious diseases are spreading.
Fresh Evidence Of Russian Stealing Ukrainian Grain
After Russian forces were accused of stealing grain and other property from Ukrainian farmers in occupied areas, a new report by the BBC has analyzed satellite images and followed tracking data to look for evidence of where the stolen grain is being taken.
Documents show that the Russian-installed authorities have told farmers they're seizing their grain to ensure what they call "food security".
But CCTV from one farm captured the moment the Russians arrived and video footage showed looting. Some of the grain trucks that were stolen had GPS trackers on them, and using this data, evidence was found that they had gone into Crimea.
While Moscow denies any theft, U.S. officials have named nine ships believed to have transported the stolen grain from Crimea to other parts of the world.
Ukrainian Tennis Player On A “Mission”
Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina has put her tennis career on hold to use her platform and provide as much help as she can to her country. The 27-year-old, who won the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics, is focusing on raising funds and awareness for her country. She is in regular contact with her family living in Odessa, her hometown, where she gets daily updates on the situation.
She is dedicating her time to the foundation UNITED24, which was set up by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, with the goal of raising funds for medical supplies, defense and eventually rebuilding the country’s infrastructure.
This comes after the tennis star had said she would donate all the prize money she won at the Monterrey Open to the Ukrainian army back in March.
