The French president denounced the Russian airstrikes on a crowded shopping mall in Ukraine as a “new war crime” on Tuesday and vowed that Western support for Kyiv would not waver, saying Moscow “cannot and should not win “the war with its neighbor. The strike, which killed at least 18 people in the central city of Kremenchuk, came as leaders of the Group of Seven met in Europe. It was part of an unusually intense barrage of Russian fire across Ukraine, including the capital Kiev, which drew attention to a war that some feared could disappear from the headlines as it continues. Speaking at the end of the G-7 summit in Germany, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to address this concern, pledging that the top seven industrial democracies would support Ukraine and maintain sanctions against Russia “as long as necessary with the necessary intensity. ” “Russia cannot and must not win,” he said. He described Monday’s attack on the mall as a “new war crime”. As in other attacks, Russian officials have claimed that the mall was not the target. In a virtual speech to the UN Security Council, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being a “terrorist” and called for Russia to be expelled from the United Nations. He also urged the UN to set up an international tribunal to investigate Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Zelensky concluded his speech by asking everyone in the room to pay a silent tribute to the “tens of thousands” of Ukrainian children and adults killed in the war. All council members revolted, including Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky. Dealing with Russia and supporting Ukraine will also be the focus of a NATO summit this week, backing which was crucial to Kiev’s ability to repel Moscow’s largest and best-equipped forces. Ukrainian leaders, however, say they need more and better weapons if they want to contain or even oust Russia, which is pushing for a full-scale offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region. As Macron spoke, rescuers combed the charred wreckage of the mall, which officials said was hit when more than 1,000 afternoon shoppers and workers were inside. Kateryna Romashyna, a local resident, told the Associated Press she had just arrived at the mall when an explosion knocked her down. When another explosion came about 10 minutes later, he realized he had to leave. “I left the spotlight with all my might,” he said. Fighting tears, he added: “You have to be a real monster” to hit a mall. Many inside were quick to leave the building when an air raid was heard and fled across the street, said Ukrainian Interior Minister Denis Monastirsky. Many of the bodies of those who did not make it on time have been identified unrecognized, he said. In addition to the 18 dead, authorities said 59 were injured and 21 people are still missing. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a police recruiting center at a theater, a train station and a hospital. Zelensky called it “one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history.” Rocket attacks continued elsewhere in Ukraine, with authorities in the city of Dnipro saying workers at a diesel car repair shop were trapped in the rubble after being hit by a cruise missile fired from the Black Sea, Ukrainian news agencies reported. The Ukrainian army managed to stop and destroy other rockets fired at the city, the agencies reported. As the condemnation came from many quarters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov made a provocative note, saying Russia would step up its attack until it met its targets. He said the hostilities could end “before the end of the day” if Ukraine surrendered and met Russia’s demands, including recognizing its control of violently occupied territories. A spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said warplanes fired precision-guided missiles at a warehouse containing Western weapons and ammunition, which set the mall on fire. Ukrainian authorities said that in addition to the direct attack on the mall, a factory was also hit, but denied that it was hosting weapons. Konashenkov also falsely claimed that the mall was not in use. A survivor, Oleksandr, a mall employee, told the AP from a hospital bed that the mall was full of customers. He recalled going out with a colleague for a cigarette when the air raid siren went off. “There was a black tunnel, smoke, fire,” he said. “I started crawling. I saw the sun up there and my brain was telling me I had to be saved. “ Ukraine’s attorney general, Iryna Venediktova, said the rocket attack was one of Russia’s “crimes against humanity.” He stressed the need for all Ukrainians to remain vigilant and wait for a similar strike “every minute”. On Tuesday, Russian forces struck the Black Sea city of Ochakiv, damaging apartment buildings and killing two people, including a 6-year-old boy. Six other people, including four children, were injured. One of them, a 3-month-old baby, is in a coma, according to officials. The unusually sharp firefight came as G-7 leaders vowed to continue supporting Ukraine and prepared new sanctions against Russia, including an oil price cap and higher tariffs on goods. Zelensky called for more air defense systems from his Western allies to help his forces counterattack. NATO support for Ukraine will be the main focus of this week’s summit in Madrid, and an early message of unity came on Tuesday when Turkey agreed to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted the two Nordic countries to abandon their long-standing non-aligned status and apply for NATO membership. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had blocked the move, insisting they would change their stance on Kurdish rebels, whom Turkey considers terrorists. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the West that “the more weapons are pumped into Ukraine, the longer the conflict will continue and the longer the agony of the Nazi-backed regime in the western capitals will last.” Russia has falsely called the war a campaign for Ukraine’s “de-Nazi organization” – a country with a democratically elected Jewish president who wants closer ties with the West. In a gruesome message to NATO leaders, Russia’s state-owned space company Roscosmos released satellite images and the exact coordinates of the summit room where the summit will take place. He also posted pictures and coordinates of the White House, the Pentagon and government headquarters in London, Paris and Berlin – referred to as “decision-making centers in support of Ukrainian nationalists” in a message to the Telegram app. This phrase echoes Putin’s warnings that he could target such centers in response to what he called Western aggression.
In other developments:
One of the two Britons sentenced to death by separatist forces in eastern Ukraine has filed a formal appeal, Russia’s Tass news agency reported early Wednesday. The report states that the appeal filed on behalf of Shaun Pinner will be considered within two months. Pinner, Aiden Aslin and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun were sentenced to death on June 9 and given one month to appeal. The court ruled that they were fighting for Ukraine as mercenaries, so they had no right to protection provided to prisoners of war. There were no appeals for the other two men. – The two warring countries continued a sporadic series of prisoner exchanges. Ukraine exchanged 15 Russian prisoners of war with 16 Ukrainian soldiers and a civilian, Ukrainian news agency Pravda reported on Tuesday. Ukrainian Pravda also reported that in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, the mayor was arrested on Tuesday and the occupying authorities confiscated his computer hard drive and documents after refusing to cooperate with local Russian-appointed officials. The Russian news agency Tass confirmed the arrest. – Bulgaria announced on Tuesday that it was deporting 70 Russian diplomats described as a “threat to national security”, ordering them to leave within five days. A statement from the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said that this would reduce the number of staff at the Russian embassy in Sofia to “up to 23 diplomatic and 25 administrative and technical staff”. —— Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press reporters Oleksandr Stashevskyi in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Getting in touch
Do you have questions about the attack in Ukraine? Email [email protected]
Include your name, location, and contact information if you would like to speak to a reporter with CTV News. Your comments can be used in a CTVNews.ca story.
