Russia strikes Kyiv as troops consolidate gains in the east

Before Sunday’s early morning assault, Kyiv had not confronted any such Russian airstrikes since June 5.

Klitschko advised journalists that he believed “it is maybe a symbolic attack” forward of this week’s NATO summit in Madrid.

Two extra explosions have been later heard in Kyiv, however their trigger and doable casualties weren’t instantly clear.

President Joe Biden, requested for his response to Russian missile strikes Sunday on Kyiv, stated: “It’s more of their barbarism,” as he stood with Olaf Scholz as the German chancellor greeted leaders arriving to open the Group of Seven summit.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have been in search of to swallow up the final remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the japanese Luhansk area, urgent their momentum after taking full management Saturday of the charred ruins of Sievierodonetsk and the chemical plant the place lots of of Ukrainian troops and civilians had been holed up.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk area that features Sievierodonetsk, stated Sunday that Russia was conducting intense airstrikes on the adjoining metropolis of Lysychansk, destroying its tv tower and severely damaging a highway bridge.

“There’s very much destruction — Lysychansk is almost unrecognizable,” he wrote on Facebook.

Also Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden stated the United States and different Group of Seven main economies intend to announce a ban on imports of gold from Russia. They hope that measure will additional isolate Russia economically over its invasion of Ukraine.

Senior Biden administration officers stated gold is Moscow’s second largest export after vitality, and that banning imports would make it harder for Russia to take part in world markets.

Biden’s Twitter feed stated Russia “rakes in tens of billions of dollars” from the sale of its gold, its second largest export after vitality.

On Saturday, Russia additionally launched dozens of missiles on a number of areas throughout the nation removed from the coronary heart of the japanese battles. Some of the missiles have been fired from Russian long-range Tu-22 bombers deployed from Belarus for the first time, Ukraine’s air command stated.

The bombardment preceded a gathering between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, throughout which Putin introduced that Russia deliberate to produce Belarus with the Iskander-M missile system.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov stated late Saturday that Russian and Moscow-backed separatist forces now management Sievierodonetsk and the villages surrounding it. He stated the try by Ukrainian forces to show the Azot plant right into a “stubborn center of resistance” had been thwarted.

Haidai confirmed Saturday that Sievierodonetsk had fallen to Russian and separatist fighters, who he stated have been now making an attempt to blockade Lysychansk from the south.

Russia’s Interfax information company quoted a spokesman for the separatist forces, Andrei Marochko, as saying Russian troops and separatist fighters had entered Lysychansk and that combating was happening in the coronary heart of the metropolis. There was no quick touch upon the declare from the Ukrainian facet.

Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk have been the focus of a Russian offensive geared toward capturing all of the Donbas and destroying the Ukrainian navy defending it — the most succesful and battle-hardened section of the nation’s armed forces.

Capturing Lysychansk would give Russian forces management of each main settlement in the province, a major step towards Russia’s goal of capturing the complete Donbas. The Russians and separatists management about half of Donetsk, the second province in the Donbas.