The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Russia condemned by G7 leaders as rescuers sift shopping centre rubble
France’s president has said Russia “cannot and should not win” in Ukraine, voicing the West’s continued support for Kyiv following Moscow’s missile attack on a shopping centre.
Ukrainian leaders denounced the strike, which killed 18 people in the central city of Kremenchuk, as a war crime and a terrorist attack.
The attack drew swift condemnation from the Group of Seven (G7) leaders meeting in Germany at the time.
It came as an unusually intense barrage of Russian fire all across Ukraine, including in the capital of Kyiv, drew new attention to a war that some fear could fade from the headlines as it drags on.
Speaking at the end of the G7 summit in Germany, French president Emmanuel Macron appeared to address that concern, vowing that the seven leading industrialised democracies would support Ukraine and maintain sanctions against Russia “as long as necessary, and with the necessary intensity”.
As they have in other attacks, Russian authorities claimed the shopping centre was not the target.
How to counter Russia and back Ukraine will be the focus of a summit this week of the Nato alliance, whose support has been critical to Kyiv’s ability to fend off Moscow’s larger and better equipped forces.
Ukrainian leaders, however, say they need more and better weapons if they are to continue to hold off and even drive back Russia, which is pressing an all-out assault in Ukraine’s eastern region of the Donbas.
As Mr Macron spoke, rescuers combed through the charred rubble of the shopping centre that authorities said was struck with more than 1,000 afternoon shoppers and workers inside.
Many of those inside quickly fled the building when an air raid siren sounded and took shelter across the street, Ukrainian interior minister Denis Monastyrsky said.
Several of the bodies of those who did not make it out in time are burned beyond recognition and their identification could take days, he said.
In addition to the 18 killed, authorities said 59 were wounded. Another 21 people are still missing, Mr Monastyrsky said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called it “one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov struck a defiant note, saying Russia would press its offensive until it fulfils its goals.
He said the hostilities could stop “before the end of the day” if Ukraine were to surrender and meet Russia’s demands, including recognising its control over territory it has taken by force.
Mr Zelensky has called for more air defence systems from his Western allies to help his forces fight back.
The US appeared ready to respond to that call, and Nato’s support for Ukraine will be a major focus of its summit as the alliance turns its attention once again to confronting an adversarial Russia.
In a sinister warning as Nato leaders gathered in Madrid ahead of that summit, Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos published satellite images and the precise co-ordinates of the conference hall where the meeting will be held.
It also posted the images and co-ordinates of the White House, the Pentagon and the government headquarters in London, Paris and Berlin – referring to them as “decisionmaking centres supporting the Ukrainian nationalists” in a message on the Telegram app.