World leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden will leave the group of seven in Germany on Tuesday and head to Spain for a NATO summit. G7 leaders issued a statement condemning Russia’s deadly attack on a Ukrainian shopping center on Monday as a war crime. Follow our live blog for the latest developments. All times are Paris time, GMT + 2.
06:43: G7 condemns Russian attack on shopping center as “war crime”, death toll rises
The group of seven leaders has branded the Russian air strike that hit a crowded shopping center in the city of Kremenchuk in central Ukraine as a war crime.
“Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians are a war crime,” they said in a statement condemning Monday’s heinous attack. The leaders promised that Russian President Vladimir Putin and those responsible would be held accountable for the strike.
Ukraine accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians, and President Volodymyr Zelensky called it “one of the most cheeky terrorist attacks in European history” in his evening broadcast on Telegram.
Dmytro Lunin, governor of the Poltava region where Kremenchuk is located, said on Tuesday that the death toll had risen to 18.
The G7 summit – which includes the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – ends on Tuesday and will be immediately followed by a NATO summit in Spain.
02:07: Russian opposition politician imprisoned – sources
Prominent Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was imprisoned in Moscow on Monday, a lawyer for opposition figures and a Russian journalist said on their social media accounts.
Irina Babloyan, journalist and host of the now defunct radio station Ekho Moskvy, said Yashin was detained while the two walked together.
“I went with my friend, Ilya Yashin, to the park … The police came and removed Ilya,” Babloyan said in the messaging app Telegram.
Attorney Vadim Prokhorov, who has represented many Russian opposition figures, also said Yashin was in police custody for the alleged administrative violation of disobeying a police officer.
01:40: Putin promises Bolsonaro to maintain the supply of fertilizers
President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Monday promised its Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro that Russia “has undertaken” to maintain its supply of much-needed fertilizer to the South American agricultural giant.
Bolsonaro spoke in Brasilia and said that the two leaders had discussed “food security” and “energy security” by telephone without giving further details.
In its own statement on the talks, the Kremlin said Putin “emphasized that Russia has committed itself to fulfilling its obligations to ensure the uninterrupted supply of Russian manure to Brazilian farmers.”
The statement added that Putin had called for “restoration of the architecture of free trade in food and fertilizers that has collapsed due to Western sanctions” against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
01:14: The death toll in the Russian strike rises to 16
The Russian missile attack on a crowded mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk killed at least 16 people, the head of the rescue service said early Tuesday, causing international outrage.
“As of now, we know of 16 dead and 59 injured, 25 of whom are hospitalized. The information is being updated,” Kruk told Telegram.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
Originally published on France24
Source: sn.dk