STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. Leaders of the Group of Seven major democracies, meeting in Germany, said they would keep sanctions on Russia for as long as necessary and intensify international pressure on President Vladimir Putin’s government and its ally Belarus.
“Imagine if we allowed Putin to get away with the violent acquisition of huge chunks of another country, sovereign, independent territory,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC.
“The lessons for that would be absolutely chilling. The point I would make to people is I think that sometimes the price of freedom is worth paying.”
The United States said it was finalising a weapons package for Ukraine that would include long-range air-defence systems – arms that Zelenskiy specifically requested when he addressed the leaders by video link on Monday.
Ukraine meanwhile endured another difficult day on the battlefront following the loss of the now-ruined city of Sievierodonetsk after weeks of bombardment and street fighting.
Russian artillery was pounding Lysychansk, its twin just across the Siverskyi Donets River, which eastern Luhansk province governor Serhiy Gaidai said was suffering “catastrophic” damage. He urged civilians to evacuate urgently.
Lysychansk is the last big city still held by Ukraine in Luhansk, half of the industrial Donbas region, a main target for the Kremlin after Russian troops failed to take the capital Kyiv early in the war, now in its fifth month.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said the Russians were trying to cut off Lysychansk from the south. Russian war planes had also struck near the city, the general staff said in its daily update.
Russian Sunday reports that troops had already entered Lysychansk could not be confirmed by Reuters.
Two Russian missiles struck the shopping centre in the central city of Kremenchuk, southeast of Kyiv, killing at least 11 people and wounding 40, senior Ukrainian officials said.
“It’s useless to hope for decency and humanity from Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
Russia did not immediately comment on the Ukrainian accusations.
The White House said Russia had defaulted on its external debt for the first time in more than a century as sweeping sanctions have effectively cut the country off from the global financial system.
Russia rejected the claims, telling investors to go to Western financial agents for the cash which was sent but bondholders did not receive.
The war has created difficulties for countries way beyond Europe’s borders, with disruptions to food and energy exports hitting the global economy.
