War in Ukraine: Recent Developments

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

Russian strikes hit a Kyiv apartment building in the first attack on the capital in nearly three weeks, Ukraine says.

One person died and four people, including a seven-year-old girl, were hospitalized after the early morning strikes, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The top three floors of a building in the Shevchenkivsky district were completely destroyed and several fires broke out, pouring out thick smoke.

Russia says its attack on Kyiv hit an arms factory, dismissing as “false” reports that it hit a residential area of ​​the Ukrainian capital.

The Artyom factory “was targeted as military infrastructure,” says the Russian Defense Ministry, adding that it was attacked back in April.

Russia says its forces have carried out attacks on three military training centers in northern and western Ukraine, including one near the Polish border.

“High-precision weapons from the Russian Aerospace Forces and Kalibr missiles” were used, said Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

Targets included a military training center for Ukrainian forces in the Starychi district of the Lviv region, about 30 kilometers from the border with NATO member Poland.

The other two training centers were located in the Central Zhytomyr and North Chernigiv regions.

Konashenkov did not say when and from where the rockets were fired.

But Kyiv said on Saturday Russia was conducting strikes from Ukraine’s northern neighbor Belarus. Moscow did not comment on the allegation.

In talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that “any attempt at a settlement” of the Ukraine conflict now risks prolonging instability and emboldening Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

On the fringes of the G7 summit, both heads of state and government agreed “that this is a critical moment for the course of the conflict and that there is an opportunity to turn the tide of the war,” says Downing Street.

But Johnson warns that “any attempt to resolve the conflict now will only lead to lasting instability.”

World powers agree to ban gold exports from Russia and launch a G7 meeting aimed at taking new steps to drain Moscow’s war chest and strengthen Ukraine’s defenses.

US President Joe Biden and his counterparts from the world’s most industrialized countries gather at Schloss Elmau in the German Alps ahead of talks with NATO partners in Madrid.

“We have to stay together,” Biden said to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the host of the three-day meeting.

Putin had hoped “that NATO and the G7 would somehow splinter,” says Biden. “But we haven’t, and we won’t.”

After the attacks on Kyiv, the Ukrainian government is calling for a meeting of G7 leaders in Germany to provide more weapons – and to impose more sanctions on Moscow.

“The G7 must respond with more sanctions against Russia and more heavy weapons for Ukraine. Russia’s sick imperialism must be defeated,” tweeted Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Canada is dispatching two warships to the Baltic and North Atlantic, joining two frigates already in the region to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) Kingston and Summerside sailed for a four-month deployment as part of “deterrent operations in Central and Eastern Europe” launched in 2014 after Moscow annexed Crimea, the Canadian Navy said in a statement.

World leaders sneer at Putin’s tough man image and whether they should strip down to their shirtsleeves — or even less — at a G7 lunch in Germany.

“Jackets on? Jackets off? Shall we take off our coats?” asks Brit Johnson as he sits down at the table in the picturesque Bavarian Schloss Elmau, where Scholz hosted the summit of seven powerful democracies.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggests waiting for official picture before undressing.