- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country needs a more modern air defense system.
- One person killed in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and six others injured in Russian attacks hit a residential building and a downtown crèche – it was targeted for the first time since early June.
- The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it used high-precision weapons to attack training centers of the Ukrainian army in the Chernihiv, Zhytomyr and Lviv regions.
- The G7 leaders had their first day meeting in which the four countries supported a ban on Russian gold, but it is not yet clear whether there will be a consensus.
- His spokesman said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan would attend a round of talks with the leaders of Sweden and Finland, as well as NATO on Tuesday ahead of the summit in Madrid.
- Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced he would call for a ceasefire during his peace-building visit to Russia and Ukraine.
Here are the latest updates:
Leaders at G7 mock Putin’s topless horseman
G7 leaders mocked the macho image of absent rival Vladimir Putin on Sunday.
As the gifted leaders sat down for their first meeting of the three-day G7 summit in the sweltering Bavarian Alps, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked whether their coats should be taken off – or they should even take off more.
“We all have to show that we’re tougher than Putin,” Johnson said, to the laughter of some of his colleagues.
“Ride topless,” goes back to Justin Trudeau of Canada.
“Oh yes,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “Riding a horse is the best.”
Erdogan meets the leaders of Sweden, Finland ahead of the NATO summit in a quadrilateral summit
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will attend a round of talks with the leaders of Sweden and Finland, as well as NATO on Tuesday ahead of the summit in Madrid, said Turkish Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.
Speaking to Haberturk television, Kalin said he and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal will also attend a round of talks with the Swedish and Finnish delegations in Brussels on Monday.
“There will be a quadrilateral summit in Madrid at the leadership level in Madrid at the request of the NATO Secretary-General with the participation of our president,” he said. He also said that Erdogan’s attendance at talks with Sweden, Finland and NATO on Tuesday “doesn’t mean we will take a step back from our position”.
Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, the bids have been met with resistance from Turkey, which has been angered by what it says is Helsinki and Stockholm’s support of Kurdish fighters and arms embargoes against them. with Ankara.
Four G7 countries ban Russian gold
Four of the Seven Rich Nations have moved to ban Russian gold imports to tighten sanctions on Moscow and cut off the means of funding the invasion of Ukraine.
But it is unclear whether the G7 will agree on the plan, with European Council President Charles Michel saying the matter will need to be handled with care and discussed further.
The British government said Sunday that Britain, the United States, Japan and Canada have agreed to a new ban on Russian gold imports.
The UK said the ban is aimed at wealthy Russians who are buying safe-haven bullion to reduce the financial impact of Western sanctions. Russia’s gold exports were worth $15.5 billion last year.
EU ministers to seek agreement on climate law; Russia cuts gas supplies
Ministers from the European Union countries will meet this week to come up with joint plans to combat climate change. The previously scheduled meeting of EU energy ministers will also give them the opportunity to discuss emergency plans to reduce gas demand that Brussels is expected to roll out in the coming weeks in the market. supply from Russia is further cut.
Energy ministers meeting on Monday and environment ministers meeting the next day are expected to agree on common views on proposed legislation to meet the 2030 goal of cutting emissions. net emissions 55% above 1990 levels. The law will expand renewable energy, improve the EU’s carbon market and ban the sale of new fossil fuel-powered cars from 2035.
Brussels says this year’s energy supply crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means the 27 EU countries should move even faster to detox from fossil fuels. However, the threat of an economic slowdown due to rising energy prices has also made some countries more cautious about rapid change, which they fear could bring more disruption.
Ukraine needs a more modern air defense system: Zelenskyy
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed a modern air defense system to stop Russian missiles, after a weekend that saw Moscow step up attacks across Ukraine.
In his nightly speech, Zelenskyy disparaged Sunday attack Kyivkilling a 37-year-old man and wounding at least six people, said that “the world’s second army had triumphantly ‘beaten’ a kindergarten and an apartment building.
“The missile also hit the Mykolaiv region, Chernihiv region, Odesa, Cherkasy region. The artillery and mortar shelling did not stop in the Kharkiv region, the Sumy region, in the Donbas, in the south of our state,” he said in his nightly address, adding that Russia had fired 62 missiles into Ukraine within 24 hours.
“Part of the missile was shot down. But only partially. We need a powerful air defense force – modern, fully effective. This can ensure complete protection against these missiles… And partners need to move faster if they are really partners and not observers.”
Read all updates from June 26 here.
