As leaders of the G7, the group that brings together the world’s largest economies, began an annual summit in Germany, Russian forces returned to bomb, this Sunday (26), the capital of Ukraine. It was the first attack on Kiev in three weeks.
At least one person died and six were injured during the offensive that hit a building and a children’s school, according to local officials. Russia denied bombing residential areas and claimed to have destroyed a missile factory.
The action sounds like a message to the leaders of the G7 — the US, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom — who announced sanctions on Russian gold imports at the opening of the meeting. Russia is a major producer of the metal, whose exports accounted for about $15.5 billion last year, according to Downing Street, and the ban could have an impact on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s capabilities. , to raise funds.
On the Kiev attack, US President Joe Biden said the offensive was an “act of barbarism”. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, one of the European leaders most critical of Russia’s offensives against Ukraine, echoed the American and said that any retreat by Western countries would come at a “very high price”.
The harsh tone against Moscow was only set aside when G7 leaders mocked Putin’s virile macho image. In front of the suit-clad leaders at the opening of the summit, Boris Johnson asked whether they should remove their jackets and other garments.
“We have to show that we are tougher than Putin,” said the British prime minister, drawing laughter from his colleagues. “Riding horses without a shirt,” amended Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, referring to the Russian leader’s custom of posing shirtless on horses.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba called for a quick response from the G7 countries against the new attacks in Kiev on Sunday. He says it is necessary to send more heavy weapons to Ukraine and to implement even stricter sanctions against Moscow.
At least four explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital, in what was the first attack on the city since June 5, when a train car repair facility was hit. In the historic district of Shevchenkivskyi, firefighters said they had pulled a seven-year-old girl still alive from the rubble of a partially destroyed building. Rescuers tried to rescue the child’s mother and were looking for other victims.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, part of the missiles were launched from bombers that were in the Astrakhan region of southern Russia, more than a thousand kilometers away. Moscow said it had targeted the Artiom weapons factory and that damage to the residential building was said to have been caused by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile. “Russian forces attacked civilian targets in Kyiv = false,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
180 km from Kiev, another person died during an attack in the city of Cherkasi, in central Ukraine. The offensive destroyed a bridge connecting the western areas of the battles in Donbass, in the east of the country.
Until then, Cherkasi had been preserved in the conflict. “The Russians are trying to limit the transfer of our Western reserves and weapons to the east,” Ukrainian adviser Oleksii Arestovich said. “That means these types of transfers are doing well and causing big problems.”
In addition to Cherkasi, new attacks were reported in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. On Saturday, Russia completed its seizure of the strategic Ukrainian city of Severodonestk, in the Donbass, whose dominance is one of the declared goals of the Kremlin. The information was confirmed by the Ukrainians themselves, who announced the withdrawal of their troops from the region that was one of the last pockets of resistance in Lugansk province.
Moscow also announced advances in Lisitchansk, separated from Severodonetsk by the Donets River. The falls of the two cities could facilitate the Russian campaign towards Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.
Lugansk and Donetsk make up Donbass, an area of ​​strong Russian influence. Moscow said, after suffering its first defeats in the war, that it would concentrate forces in the region.
