A Russian missile hit a shopping center on Monday, killing at least 10 and injuring 40 in central Ukraine, as the Ukrainian president called on the leaders of the G7, meeting in Germany, for “full, complete support” for end the war.
“This appalling attack has shown once again the depths of cruelty and barbarism into which the Russian leader is ready to fall,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson commented from the G7 on the deadly attack. which took place in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine.
But “Putin must understand that his behavior will only strengthen the determination” of Westerners to support Ukraine, he added.
The Russian missile hit a “busy” shopping center, local authorities said, predicting a very heavy toll. Kremenchouk is located 330 km southeast of kyiv on the banks of the Dnieper, and more than 200 km from the front.
“The occupiers fired a missile at a shopping center where there were more than a thousand civilians. The mall is on fire and rescuers are battling the blaze. The number of victims is impossible to imagine,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Facebook.
Strategic bombers
There are “ten dead and more than 40 people were injured,” Poltava region governor Dmytro Lounin later said, warning that the toll could rise. The first assessment reported 2 dead and 20 wounded.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the mall was hit by Kh-22 anti-ship missiles fired from Tu-22 long-range bombers from Russia’s Kursk region.
In New York, the spokesperson for the UN, Stéphane Dujarric, recalled that the belligerents were bound by international law to “protect civilians and civilian infrastructure”, judging the new strike “totally deplorable”.
Another deadly strike in Kharkiv
New Russian bombardments on the large city of Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, also killed four people on Monday evening and injured 19, including four children, said regional governor Oleg Sinegoubov.
“The enemy is deliberately terrorizing the civilian population,” he wrote on Telegram.
On Sunday, for the first time since June 5, kyiv was hit by Russian missiles as fierce fighting continued in the east of the country.
Time is running out, and the G7 must do everything to put an end to this murderous conflict before the end of the year and the arrival of winter, underlined Volodymyr Zelensky.
In a speech by videoconference from kyiv, before the announcement of the strike in Kremenchuk, Mr. Zelensky told the leaders of the seven industrial powers, gathered at the castle of Elmau, in the Bavarian Alps, that it was “not the moment of the negotiation” with Moscow, according to comments reported by the French presidency.
During this speech behind closed doors, the leader insisted on the “need for full, complete, very operational support for Ukraine”, according to Paris.
The G7 countries (Germany, United States, France, Canada, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom) have promised him unwavering support: they will continue to support Ukraine “as long as necessary”, according to their joint statement.
Increase the pressure
At the same time, these heads of state and government, who have been meeting since Sunday, will continue “to increase the pressure on Putin”, assured German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, host of this summit, in particular through a new salvo of sanctions targeting the Russian economy.
Westerners, led by the United States, want to tighten the noose on Moscow by targeting the Russian defense industry in particular, according to a senior White House official.
They also intend to develop a “mechanism to cap the price of Russian oil at the global level”, according to this senior official.
If the modalities of such a measure remain to be defined, the Westerners seem ready to accede to a request from Mr. Zelensky who asked them to “limit the price of oil exported by the aggressor”.
This would mean drying up one of Russia’s main sources of income.
The G7 will also “coordinate to use customs duties on Russian products to help Ukraine,” the same source continued.
On the first day of their exchanges on Sunday, some of the seven industrialized countries had already announced an embargo on newly mined gold in Russia.
Despite the heavy sanctions that have hit the Russian economy since the start of the offensive on Ukraine on February 24, the Kremlin assured Monday that there was “no reason” to mention a default in payment of Russia, as claimed by some media.
The Russian authorities, however, admitted that because of the sanctions, two installments had not reached creditors by the deadline on Sunday.
US missiles for kyiv
As kyiv continues to demand more arms deliveries, the United States is now considering supplying it with a sophisticated “medium and long range” surface-to-air missile system.
For Olaf Scholz, the bombings of Sunday and Monday came as a reminder once again “that it was right to be united and to support Ukraine”.
Russian shelling also continued in and around the eastern city of Lysychansk after Russian forces took full control of its twin city and industrial hub of Severodonetsk after weeks fierce battles.
“Lyssychansk and neighboring villages are living their most difficult days. The Russians are destroying everything in their path,” said Sergiï Gaïdaï, governor of the Lugansk region.
Taking Lysychansk would give Russia control of the entire Lugansk region, one of two provinces in the Donbass industrial basin.
Threat of food crisis
At the G7 meeting, whether during their exchanges or during the casual group photo sessions, Westerners took care to display their unity during this summit largely devoted to the war in Ukraine and its repercussions.
Among the most urgent, the food crisis which threatens part of the planet while thousands of tons of cereals sleep in Ukrainian silos due to the blockade or occupation of the Black Sea ports by the Russians.
Westerners have demanded that Russia allow “the free passage of agricultural goods from Ukrainian Black Sea ports”.
This threat which hovers over a number of emerging countries is also at the heart of the discussions held on Monday by the Heads of State and Government with the leaders of the five countries invited to Bavaria this year (India, Argentina, Senegal, Indonesia and South Africa). South).
Emerging economies are particularly exposed to the risk of food shortages and the climate crisis, another emergency that the seven leaders were to discuss with their guests.
In a context of shortage of Russian gas, environmental NGOs fear that the G7 will back down on its commitments to end international financing of fossil fuels.
The leaders of the G7 will end their summit on Tuesday, the day Vladimir Putin must make his first trip abroad since the start of the offensive on Ukraine. He will travel to Tajikistan, a former Soviet country and Central Asian ally.
The diplomatic marathon of the allies will continue on Tuesday at the summit of 30 NATO members in Madrid, an appointment in which Mr. Zelensky must also participate remotely.
The leaders will decide on this occasion to bring “well above” 300,000 men the troops at a high level of readiness to face the Russian threat, according to the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg.