Ukraine has called on G7 leaders at a meeting in Germany to send more weapons to help defend itself against Russia’s bombardment, hours after strikes hit residential buildings in Kyiv.
“G7 summit must respond with more sanctions on Russia and more heavy arms for Ukraine. Russia’s sick imperialism must be defeated,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, tweeted.
Ihor Klymenko, the head of Ukraine’s police force, said that at least five people were wounded when a missile hit a building in central Kyiv on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson urged G7 allies to stand firm in support of Ukraine.
Mr Johnson said that Vladimir Putin must not be allowed to “hack” Russia’s neighbour apart with impunity.
Follow the latest updates below.
01:43 PM
Missile strikes kill one near central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy
Two Russian missiles struck near the central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy, killing one person and wounding five others, the regional authorities said.
Cherkasy has been largely untouched by bombardment since the war started in February, but Russia has stepped up missile attacks across Ukraine this weekend.
“Today, the enemy launched missile attacks on the Cherkasy region. There are 2 strikes near the regional center. One dead and five wounded. Infrastructure damaged,” said regional governor Ihor Taburets on the Telegram app.
01:41 PM
Boris Johnson jokes about taking his jacket off to show he is ‘tougher than Putin’
In grim news, Boris Johnson here jokes about taking his jacket off to show he is “tougher than Putin”.
Justin Trudeau jokes they should go “bare chested horseback riding”.
PM: “We’ve got to take our jackets off and show our pecs.” https://t.co/Sty7TCgNgF
— Tony Diver (@Tony_Diver) June 26, 2022
01:16 PM
‘We have to stay together,’ Biden on alliance behind Ukraine
President Joe Biden on Sunday praised the continued unity of the global alliance confronting Russia, as he and other heads of the Group of Seven leading economies met.
“We’ve got to make sure we have us all staying together,” Biden said during a pre-summit sit-down with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who holds the G-7’s rotating presidency and is hosting the gathering
“You know, we’re gonna continue working on economic challenges that we face but I think we get through all this.”
Scholz replied that the “good message” is that “we all made it to stay united, which Putin never expected,” a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sent his military across the border into Ukraine in late February.
12:54 PM
Boris Johnson said he would be ‘honoured’ to host Volodymyr Zelensky for a state visi
Boris Johnson said he would be “honoured” to host Volodymyr Zelensky for a state visit if the Ukrainian president felt able to leave his war-torn country.
The Prime Minister stressed the most important thing now for Ukraine was for western leaders at the G7 summit in Germany to remain united in support of President Zelensky.
“I think that Volodymyr Zelensky has done an absolutely amazing job of leading his country and leading world opinion in an appalling time,” Mr Johnson told ITV News at the summit in Bavaria.
Asked if he wanted to offer the Ukrainian leader a state visit, Mr Johnson said: “If he ever becomes free to leave and it makes sense for him to leave Ukraine, then obviously the UK would be only too honoured to host him.
“But the most important thing is for us to continue to be united here at the G7. And we are.”
12:51 PM
Russia’s sick imperialism must be defeated, urges Kuleba
This 7 y.o. Ukrainian kid was sleeping peacefully in Kyiv until a Russian cruise missile blasted her home. Many more around Ukraine are under strikes. G7 summit must respond with more sanctions on Russia and more heavy arms for Ukraine. Russia’s sick imperialism must be defeated. pic.twitter.com/0kn2hl7A4x
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) June 26, 2022
12:24 PM
International sanctions should be ‘more aggressive’, says Ukraine
The latest missile strikes by Russia on Kyiv show that international sanctions should be more aggressive and include an EU embargo on Russian gas, the Ukraine president’s chief of staff said on Sunday.
“The G7 summit should respond to Russian strikes on Kyiv,” said Andriy Yermak, head of the president’s office.
“The sanctions should be more aggressive. An embargo on gold exports is good, but a gas embargo is needed in the new EU sanctions package,” he said on the Telegram app.
12:17 PM
Pictured: A crater filled with water caused by Russian missiles at a nursery school in Kyiv
12:14 PM
Russia strikes Kyiv hours after Putin rushed to Kremlin
Russian missiles hit an apartment block in central Kyiv for the first time since April on Sunday, hours after Vladimir Putin’s motorcade was seen speeding into the Kremlin late on Saturday night.
Ukrainian rescue services pulled a 7-year-old girl from the part-destroyed building. Her father was reported to have been killed and her mother injured.
Residents were woken at dawn as four rockets slammed into the Artem industrial complex and an adjacent block of flats in the city centre. A video on Twitter showed smoke billowing over Kyiv.
Read the full story from Colin Freeman and James Kilner here
12:00 PM
Boris Johnson: Ukraine is on a ‘knife-edge’
Boris Johnson warned Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau that Ukraine is on a “knife-edge”.
During a meeting at the G7 summit in Germany, the UK Prime Minister said “we need to tip the balance of the war” in the Ukrainians’ favour at this “crucial moment”.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “On Ukraine, the Prime Minister said this is a crucial moment for us all.
“Ukraine is on a knife-edge and we need to tip the balance of the war in their favour. That means providing Ukraine with the defensive capabilities, training and intelligence they need to repel the Russian advance.”
The leaders also welcomed progress in negotiations since the launch of the UK-Canada Free Trade Agreement in March, and agreed to advance co-operation in areas such as security, Downing Street said.
11:51 AM
Biden calls latest Russian bombing of Kyiv ‘barbarism’
President Joe Biden on Sunday described Russia’s latest bombing of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv as “barbarism” at the G7 summit in Germany.
“It’s more of their barbarism,” Biden told reporters at the summit site in the German Alps, when asked for his reaction to the Russian missile strikes against a residential building.
11:46 AM
UK and France agree to give more support for Ukraine, UK says
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to provide more support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, Johnson’s office said on Sunday as the leaders met on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit.
“They agreed this is a critical moment for the course of the conflict, and there is an opportunity to turn the tide in the war,” a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement.
Both men “stressed the need to support Ukraine to strengthen their hand in both the war and any future negotiations.
President Macron praised the Prime Minister’s ongoing military support to Ukraine and the leaders agreed to step up this work,” the spokesperson said.
11:42 AM
Watch: Boris Johnson says cost of a Russian victory ‘too high’
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11:22 AM
Boris Johnson heaps praise on Germany’s support for Ukraine – but fails to mention Macron once
Boris Johnson has heaped praise on Germany for its support for Ukraine but failed to mention France ahead of a meeting with Emmanuel Macron.
The Prime Minister warned of “fatigue in populations and politicians” over support for Ukraine in what will be interpreted as a coded rebuke to Mr Macron.
Asked what he thought of the French and German responses to the war in recent weeks, Mr Johnson gave effusive support for Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor.
Read the full story from Tony Diver, our Whitehall Correspondent at the G7, here
11:14 AM
Boris Johnson says Scholz has ‘stepped up’ in Ukraine response
Ahead of a meeting with Emmanuel Macron, Boris Johnson was asked whether France and Germany are doing enough over Ukraine.
In his response, Mr Johnson focused on the German response without mentioning France.
“Just look at what the Germans alone have done,” he said.
“I never believed in my lifetime that I would see a German Chancellor stepping up in the way that Olaf Scholz has and sending weaponry to help the Ukrainians to to protect themselves.
“He’s made huge, huge strides. We have 4% of our gas comes from Russia, in Germany, it’s 40%.
“They’re facing real, real pressures, they’re having to source energy from elsewhere. But they’re doing it. They’re making the effort. They’re making the sacrifice.
“That’s because they see that the price of freedom is worth paying.
10:44 AM
Ukraine urges G7 to give more weapons after Russian Kyiv strike
The Ukrainian government called for the G7 leaders meeting in Germany to give more weapons to Ukraine and impose further sanctions against Moscow, hours after Russian strikes hit residential buildings in Kyiv on Sunday.
“G7 summit must respond with more sanctions on Russia and more heavy arms for Ukraine. Russia’s sick imperialism must be defeated,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
10:32 AM
Russian strikes on Kyiv – including footage of 7-year-old being rescued
Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of this morning, striking at least two residential buildings, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, as elsewhere Russian troops consolidated their gains in the east.
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10:20 AM
Kyiv strike was ‘murderous cowardice’, says British ambassador to Ukraine
10:02 AM
Biden thanks Scholz for leadership on Ukraine crisis
Joe Biden, the US president, thanked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his leadership on the response to the Ukraine crisis as they met for a bilateral talk ahead of a three-day summit of the Group of Seven rich democracies on Sunday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had expected the West to splinter after his invasion of Ukraine but it has and will not, Biden said in a good-humoured exchange with Scholz, who is hosting the summit at a Bavarian alpine resort.
“I want to complement you on stepping up as you did when yuo became Chancellor,” Biden said. “Putin’s being counting on it from the beginning, that somehow NATO and the G7 would splinter, but we haven’t and it’s not going to,” he said.
09:56 AM
Blasts heard in central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy
Explosions were heard in the central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy on Sunday, regional governor Oleksandr Skichko said on the Telegram app.
He did not give further details. Cherkasy has been largely untouched by bombardment since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
09:37 AM
West needs to maintain unity, Boris Johnson tells G7
World leaders must recognise the price of supporting Ukraine including the surge in energy and food costs but must also acknowledge that the price of allowing Russia to win would be far higher, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
Speaking at the G7 summit, Mr Johnson said the West needed to maintain its unity in the face of Moscow’s aggression.
“In order to protect that unity, in order to make it work, you’ve got to have really, really honest discussions about the implications of what’s going on, the pressures that individual friends and partners are feeling,” he told reporters.
“But the price of backing down, the price of allowing Putin to succeed, to hack off huge parts of Ukraine, to continue with his programme of conquest, that price will be far, far higher. Everybody here understands that.”
09:28 AM
Five wounded in Kyiv missile strike
At least five people were wounded when a missile hit a building in central Kyiv on Sunday, the head of Ukraine’s police force Ihor Klymenko said on national television
09:24 AM
Attack intended to ‘intimidate Ukrainians’, says Kyiv mayor
The first attack on the capital in nearly three weeks was intended to “intimidate Ukrainians… at the approach of the NATO summit,” the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
“Some of the inhabitants have been evacuated. Two wounded people have been hospitalised,” Klitschko said after visiting the apartment building that was hit, adding people remained “under the rubble”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is expected to address both the EU and NATO gatherings, said cities as far away as Lviv, near the Polish border, had been struck by a wave of attacks on Saturday.
“This confirms… that air defence systems – the modern systems which our partners have – should not be on (their current) sites or in storage, but in Ukraine,” he said in his daily address.
09:18 AM
Latest MoD update
08:55 AM
Britain to ban Russian gold imports
Britain is set to ban imports of Russian gold in a bid to “starve the Putin regime of its funding”, Boris Johnson has said.
Arriving at the G7 summit in Bavaria, the Prime Minister said the measures “will directly hit Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine”.
The move is part of a joint step taken by Britain, Canada, Japan and the United States.
Mr Johnson added: “We need to starve the Putin regime of its funding.
The UK and our allies are doing just that.” Legislation to implement the ban will be introduced in Parliament in the coming weeks.
08:36 AM
‘There are people under the rubble’
Russian strikes on Kyiv partially destroyed a nine-storey apartment building and caused a fire, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.
“There are people under the rubble,” Klitschko said. He added that several people had already been hospitalised.
“They (the rescuers) have pulled out a seven-year-old girl. She is alive. Now they’re trying to rescue her mother.”
Life had been returning to normal in Kyiv after fierce resistance held off Russian advances in the early phase of the war, although air raid sirens regularly sound across the city.
08:34 AM
Pictured: Airstrike in Kyiv
08:31 AM
Gazprom’s gas exports to Europe via Ukraine ‘steady’
Russian gas producer Gazprom said its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point was seen at 42.1 million cubic metres (mcm) on Sunday – same as on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported citing the company.
An application to supply gas via another major entry point, Sokhranovka, was again rejected by Ukraine, Gazprom said
08:30 AM
Russia strikes two buildings in Kyiv
Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in the early hours of Sunday morning, striking at least two residential buildings, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, as elsewhere Russian troops consolidated their gains in the east.
Associated Press journalists in Kyiv saw rescue services battling flames and rescuing civilians. Klitschko said two people were hospitalized with injuries and a 7-year-old girl was pulled alive from the rubble.
Ukraine Member of Parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app that “according to prelim data 14 missiles were launched against Kyiv region and Kyiv.”
Before Sunday’s early morning attack, Kyiv had not faced any such Russian airstrikes since June 5.
08:29 AM
West must not sell out Ukraine, says Liz Truss in swipe at Emmanuel Macron
Liz Truss has warned leaders including Emmanuel Macron that the West cannot “sell out Ukraine” for a “quick end” to the war, calling on G7 and Nato countries to commit more arms and funding to the country.
In a joint article for The Telegraph with Dmytro Kuleba, her Ukrainian counterpart, the Foreign Secretary said Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, will “only be serious about negotiations once the Ukrainian people have pushed his troops back”.
The pair added: “The Ukrainian people do not have the luxury to feel fatigued. Nor can the rest of the free world.”
Mr Macron, who has talked of spending 100 hours on the phone to Putin since December, has been accused of wanting Ukraine to make concessions to secure a peace agreement – although the Elysee Palace insists any deal must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Read the full story from Tony Diver and Ed Malnick here
