Russia said it was aiming on Tuesday, the day after a bombing that killed 18, the capitulation of Ukraine, despite the firm support and reaffirmed unity of the G7.
“The Ukrainian side can put an end (to the conflict) during the day” if its soldiers are “ordered” to “lay down their arms”, declared Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Vladimir Putin.
But the Russian strike that killed at least 18 people on Monday at a shopping center in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, has further invigorated Ukrainian resolve.
In unison with Western condemnations, the G7, meeting in southern Germany, denounced a “war crime”.
“18 dead… My sincere condolences to the families and loved ones. The rescuers continue to work,” the acting head of the Poltava regional administration, Dmytro Lounin, said of the bombardment that hit the city located 330 km southeast of kyiv and more than 200 km from the front.
– “Godfather of terrorism” –
The building is largely collapsed and charred, surrounded by remains of concrete structures and piles of glass, noted an AFP journalist on the spot.
Four giant cranes were installed on the site to evacuate heavy debris. The shopping center car park has been transformed into an emergency area where rescuers and firefighters work. A few green letters of the mall’s name remained on top of the building with bits of burnt plastic hanging down.
It is “one of the most shameless terrorist acts in European history”, denounced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, asking that Russia be designated as a “State sponsor of terrorism” after this strike on “a peaceful city, an ordinary shopping center”.
The Russian army has for its part claimed to have struck an arms warehouse, causing explosions which, according to Moscow, set fire to a disused shopping center.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the mall was hit by Kh-22 anti-ship missiles fired by Tu-22 long-range bombers from Russia’s Kursk region.
– “Brutality” –
Ukraine has been confronted for five months with “unprecedented” brutality since the Second World War, deplored NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“Russia cannot and must not win” the war and the sanctions against it will be maintained “as long as necessary”, added French President Emmanuel Macron at the end of the G7 which concluded its work on Tuesday.
The Westerners, led by the United States, have thus promised to tighten the noose on Moscow by targeting the Russian defense industry in particular.
– Oil price capped –
They also intend to develop a “mechanism to cap the price of Russian oil at the global level”. Another lever operated by the West: the G7 will “coordinate to use customs duties on Russian products to help Ukraine”.
The overall goal is to “increase” the costs of war for Russia, summed up German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, host of the summit.
The G7 also promises to participate in the reconstruction of the country via an international conference and plan.
Russia has banned 25 Americans, including the wife and daughter of President Joe Biden.
Despite the heaviness of the sanctions hitting the Russian economy, the Kremlin assured that there was “no reason” to mention a default of payment from Russia.
The Russian authorities, however, admitted that because of the sanctions, two installments had not reached creditors by the deadline on Sunday. This constitutes in fact a “default” of payment, estimated Tuesday the rating agency Moody’s.
In New York, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric recalled that the belligerents were bound by international law to “protect civilians and civilian infrastructure”, judging the new strike “totally deplorable”.
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the latest Russian bombings against civilian targets in Ukraine is scheduled for Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. GMT.
– City in “ruins” –
A few hours after the announcement of the bombardment of Kremenchuk, the Ukrainian authorities announced another deadly Russian strike against civilians in Lyssychansk, a strategic pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the Donbass basin (east).
In this twin town of Severodonetsk, recently taken by the Russians, at least eight Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 20 others, including two children, injured while “collecting water from a cistern “, announced the governor of the Lugansk region, Sergei Gaïdaï. “The Russians fired into a crowd of people with multiple Hurricane rocket launchers,” he said.
Lysytchansk is the last major city left to conquer for the Russians in this province. “Our defenders hold the line, but the Russians reduce the city to ruins with artillery, aviation … The infrastructure is completely destroyed,” detailed Mr. Gaïdaï.
The conquest of Donbass, already partly held by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, has been the Russians’ priority objective since they evacuated the area around kyiv at the end of March.
Russia also launched 11 rockets overnight at Mykolaiv (south), according to the district chief of this city. Some of them were intercepted but three people died in Ochakiv, including a 6-year-old girl.
– Diplomatic marathon –
While kyiv continues to demand more arms deliveries, the United States is now considering supplying it with a sophisticated “medium and long range” surface-to-air missile system.
The leaders of the G7 wrap up their summit on Tuesday, the day Vladimir Putin must make his first trip abroad to Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, since the February 24 launch of the offensive in Ukraine.
The diplomatic marathon of Westerners continues Tuesday evening with a NATO summit in Madrid, an appointment in which Mr. Zelensky must also participate remotely.
This meeting of the Atlantic Alliance must also send a “message of unity and strength”, pleaded Emmanuel Macron.
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