C T Online Desk: Russian strikes hit a residential building in Kyiv on Sunday in the first attack on the capital in almost three weeks, Ukraine said, calling for increased support from G7 leaders meeting in Germany.
One man died and four people, including the dead victim’s seven-year-old daughter, were taken to hospital following the early morning strikes, said city mayor Vitali Klitschko and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russia denied it had hit a civilian target. Earlier, it announced strikes against three military centres in northern and western Ukraine, including one near the border with NATO and EU member Poland.
The high-profile attacks come as a week of Western diplomacy kicked off with the G7 summit in Germany, which will be followed by a meeting of NATO leaders in Spain.
Allies including US President Joe Biden — who condemned the Kyiv attack as “barbarism” — will take stock of their support for Ukraine and for sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Biden said NATO and the G7 were defying Russian President Vladimir Putin’s wish for the West to “splinter”, vowing unity in support of Ukraine.
– ‘More sanctions’ –
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz added that the club of industrialised nations needed “to share responsibility” to deal with the fallout from the war.
The G7 talks opened on Sunday with the announcement of a ban on imports of Russian gold, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for more.
He posted on Twitter a photo of an injured child being carried on a stretcher, who he said was “sleeping peacefully in Kyiv until a Russian cruise missile blasted her home”.
The “G7 summit must respond with more sanctions on Russia and more heavy arms for Ukraine. Russia’s sick imperialism must be defeated”, he said.
Zelensky renewed calls for more weapons and air defence systems to be delivered to Ukraine and for fresh sanctions against Russia by G7 nations.
“Partners should proceed more quickly if they are really our partners and not just observers… any restriction is in reality an invitation to Russia to strike again and again,” he said in his nightly message to the Ukrainian people.
Zelensky will address the G7 and the NATO summit, the week after the European Union showed its support by granting Kyiv candidate status.
