Live updates: Russia bombs Ukraine again
Zelensky has continuously asked the G-7 for a more comprehensive “air shield” for Ukraine. “When Ukraine receives a large number of effective and fashionable air defense systems, the key detail of Russian terror, missile movements, will stop working. ” he told them. Russia, he said, is already squandering the war, but President Vladimir Putin, “who is now in the final stages of his rule, still has room for further escalation. “
Monday’s major attack sent citizens from nonviolent urban spaces running to shelters, while administrative buildings and apartments were destroyed. The measures sparked widespread outrage, as well as heightened optimism within the Biden administration that in the past reluctant countries would join in the condemnation. of Russia in a vote scheduled for later this week at the United Nations General Assembly.
The United States and Russia lobbied heavily on all 193 UN member countries, 35 of which abstained the last time the meeting voted on a resolution condemning it, just 10 days after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in February. its American sponsor and Western allies as a check on the global rejection of Russia.
The war in Ukraine at a turning point with an escalation of the conflict
China and India, whose leaders have publicly challenged Moscow’s actions, will be closely watched: there is little indication that they will take a business stance. The same will be true for countries like the United Arab Emirates, which have hesitated between approving or abstaining in past votes condemning Russia.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. President Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan visited Moscow on Tuesday, where Putin told him his country could play a “significant” role in efforts to achieve a solution in Ukraine. Mohamed, a close U. S. advocacy spouse, later posted photos of himself with Putin on Twitter, accompanied by a message saying they had “discussed several issues of not unusual interest, adding to the Ukraine crisis and the importance of engaging in a discussion to de-escalate tensions and achieve a diplomatic solution. “
At a foreign assembly last week, Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council, or upper house, called for talks between the Russian and Ukrainian parliaments in a theatrical performance of Russia’s willingness to talk about peace. But the proposal had little credibility, coming after Putin’s call for Ukraine to settle for Moscow’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories in Crimea (in 2014) and now Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson.
Ukraine maintains that there is no point in arguing or negotiating until Russia ends the war and withdraws its troops from all spaces within Ukraine’s identified territorial borders around the world. “We have to admit the apparent fact,” Zelensky told G7 leaders. “There can be no argument with this leader of Russia, who has no future. He himself rejected the discussion.
In a statement issued after their meeting, G7 leaders welcomed Zelensky’s “preparation for a just peace,” which he said included the full recovery of Ukraine’s territorial integrity; safeguard your long-term ability to protect yourself; its recovery and reconstruction, adding up through the use of Russian funds; and prosecuting duty for Russian war crimes.
After his meeting with Mohamed, Putin won over Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Nuclear power plant. The early vicinity of the reactors has been bombed in recent months, and both sides blame the other.
Putin, who has threatened to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine as his forces have lost ground, criticized “elements of exaggerated harmful politicization of something akin to nuclear activity” in his meeting with Grossi, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency. it will be our enthusiasm to talk about all our issues of mutual interest, and perhaps concern,” the Zaporizhzhia facility added.
Meanwhile, Energoatom, Ukraine’s energy company, on Tuesday accused Russia of kidnapping a momentary senior manager at the plant, which is operated by Russian-controlled Ukrainian personnel. torture and intimidation,” the firm said on its Telegram channel. Late last month, the Russians arrested and then released the Ukrainian director of the facility.
Much of the G-7 discussion, held privately among leaders after Zelensky’s speech, was about Ukraine’s “urgent” request for air defense systems. But the leaders vowed to continue for Ukraine rather than significant expansion, said an official with direct wisdom to the conversation, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the closed-door meeting.
Biden fights for cracks in pro-Ukrainian coalition
President Biden, the official said, “emphasized the importance” of the systems, but there is no indication that the United States is willing to go beyond the commitments it had already made to supply them.
The administration is “working hard” to deliver to Ukraine the first two sets of a promised mid-range air defense formula, NASAMS, National Security Council coordinator John Kirthrough told reporters in Washington. Defense officials said the formula is expected to be delivered until December. . Six more sets are also destined for Ukraine, but their manufacture will take a year or more.
Kirby noted that Ukraine already has “layered air defense” elements in its arsenal, adding short-range Stingers sent early in the standoff and Russian-made longer-range S-300 systems dating back to the Soviet era. Ukraine said it shot down about part of the 80 or so missiles Russia fired Monday at cities far from the front lines, most of them air-launched cruise missiles.
Attacks in Ukraine increase pressure on allies to send air defense
“There is no silver bullet weapon formula that is used more than cruise missiles,” Kirby said, adding that the variables come with post-launch detection time and its flight path. other.
“I’m going to move forward on where we are in the decision-making process” about which weapons to send and when, he added. “We have provided air defense systems to Ukraine and plan to continue. When there is something to announce in this regard. . . We will.
In Germany, Der Spiegel magazine said the first of Germany’s 4 vehicle-mounted IRIS-T air defense systems had arrived in Ukraine, a day after Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said the shipment of long-promised systems was being accelerated.
In Jerusalem, where a meeting of the Ukrainian “contact group” of more than 40 countries supplying materials to Ukraine is scheduled for this week, as well as an assembly of NATO defense ministers, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters they would talk about how to “accelerate production” of defense equipment. either to send it to Ukraine and fill its own stock. German systems, he said, were “something Germany hoped to order for itself. “
“I hope ministers will make decisions . . . on how to use NATO’s plan-making process” to agree on production targets and supply industry with long-term orders, he said.
Energy stocks were also a major topic of G7 discussions, with leaders saying that while there was smart progress in reducing energy consumption, “there were fears about values and broad agreement that more needed to be done through mechanisms such as oil and fuel. “It’s worth capital life,” the official with direct knowledge of the talks said. Biden, the official said, referred to the U. S. willingness to do so. Russia and Saudi Arabia are members.
Kirby later told reporters that management was “reviewing” U. S. -Saudi relations.
Morris returned from Berlin, Khurshudyan from Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, and Rauhala from Brussels. Robyn Dixon and Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia, and Louisa Loveluck in Dnipro, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
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