The Russian advance
Russia was accused of war crimes this week, after launching a missile strike on a busy shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk. At least 20 people were killed in Monday’s strike; dozens more were injured or missing. Russian forces finally seized full control of the key eastern city of Severodonetsk on Friday; over the weekend they launched fresh strikes on Kyiv.
Meeting in Bavaria, G7 leaders condemned the Kremenchuk attack as “abominable”. The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US promised to extend their financial, military and humanitarian support to Ukraine “for as long as it takes”. Nato leaders later met in Madrid, where it was announced that Turkey had dropped its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance (see page 7). Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s chief, told the summit that high energy costs caused by sanctions were a price worth paying for “freedom”.
What the editorials said
Putin’s latest atrocities seem to have given the West “a renewed sense of purpose”, said The Times. As G7 leaders met in Germany, Russia was “bombing civilians”. In response, Washington confirmed that it would send Kyiv more much-needed air defence missiles, and the UK, US, Canada and Japan agreed to block Russian gold imports, closing off a “sanctions-busting” loophole for its oligarchs. Nato, too, is waking up, said the FT: the alliance’s members were expected this week to back plans to expand its “rapid reaction force”, which is largely based in Eastern Europe, from 40,000 to 300,000 troops. Clearly, world leaders are starting to grasp “the magnitude of the threat from the Kremlin”.
Yet the West still has much to do if it’s going to hurt Putin in the short term, said The Guardian. There must be a “swift delivery” of the air defence systems that Ukraine’s President Zelensky has requested. And the G7 should also take advantage of an “emerging consensus” in favour of a global cap on the price of Russian oil and gas – a move which would make a big dent in the Kremlin’s coffers.
What the commentators said
Russia’s war is taking an ominous turn, said David Patrikarakos in the Daily Mail. The fall of Severodonetsk gives it near-total control of the Luhansk province; it is bombarding civilians hundreds of miles from the Donbas; and Ukrainian battalions are suffering unsustainable losses. Yet Europe still drags its heels: Germany promised seven howitzers in early May, but they only arrived last week. Such delays could prove disastrous for the West, and let Putin “triumph by dint of our inertia”. It isn’t just on the battlefield that things are going badly, said Fraser Nelson in The Daily Telegraph. “The economic war may be about to turn”, too. Soaring oil and gas prices, and willing buyers in the form of China and India, have put Russia on course to make £260bn selling energy this year, up 35% on last year. Putin has also started cutting gas supplies to Europe, in a warning ahead of winter. “It’s not hard” to imagine Russia, with its huge cash reserves and military might, eventually winning this war.
Putin’s forces still face challenges, said Joe Inwood on BBC News. They suffered heavy losses in Severodonetsk. And their next target, nearby Lysychansk, is an even tougher prospect, thanks to the Siversky-Donets river – a “natural barrier” to a Russian advance – and its hilltop position. If Russia takes it, however, Kyiv will face pressure to cede territory in a peace deal. We Ukrainians know where deals with Putin lead, said Svitlana Morenets in The Spectator – 78% of us oppose making concessions to get one. No, our problem isn’t resolve; it’s weapons. “Just 10% of the arms Ukraine has asked for have been delivered” and we’re badly outgunned. “Only Ukrainians have the right to decide when to negotiate and what concessions to make,” said Jonathan Powell in The Guardian. In the meantime, the West should start thinking about a settlement that reflects both Kyiv’s priorities and the reality that “there will only be a lasting peace if we do not leave Russia nursing a grievance, isolated, and waiting for the next opportunity to invade”.
What next?
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has reportedly written to the Prime Minister to call for the defence budget to be lifted to 2.5% of GDP by 2028, up from the 2.1% of GDP it is projected to spend this year. But at this week’s Nato summit, Johnson dodged questions on whether he supported increasing defence spending, The Guardian reports.
Britain has announced new sanctions on Putin’s inner circle. Putin’s cousin, Anna Tsivileva, is among those on the list, as is Russia’s second richest man, Vladimir Potanin. Both will face asset freezes and travel bans.