Morning opening: G7, EU leaders meet after deadly strikes on Kyiv, including Unesco-listed religious site
Jakub Krupa
G7 leaders are set to meet in Évian-les-Bains in France later today to discuss the most pressing issues, including Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran.
The summit, hosted by France’s Emmanuel Macron, will see the US president, Donald Trump, give the leaders the latest on the Iran peace deal struck overnight, as he also kept himself busy with a martial arts gala at the White House.
But as our diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, notes,
“the French president has no idea if Trump, a haphazard summit attender, will last the full three days – or disrupt the proceedings every hour he stays.”
On Monday, some 20,000 people clashed with police in nearby Geneva as part of broad demonstrations against the meeting of the world’s leaders.
Separately, EU foreign ministers are also meeting in Luxembourg, with a pretty similar agenda.
The issue of Ukraine will feature prominently in both meetings, after another Russian attack overnight which saw at least nine killed, and more than 20 injured after heavy strikes on Kyiv.
The Unesco-listed Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery was also hit during the attacks, with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling it “one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date.”
Zelenskyy said:
“This is how Russia shows the world its intention to continue the war.
It is very important that there be a response from the G7 countries, which are now gathering for their summit – and that this response be decisive and substantive: more pressure on the aggressor and more support for Ukraine’s air defence, especially anti-ballistic capabilities.”
France led the condemnations, with foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot saying the attack on the religious site was “the equivalent, for us in France, as if Notre Dame or Saint Denis had been bombed, which is totally unacceptable.”
I will bring you all the latest here.
It’s Monday, 15 June 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Key events
Russia claims it didn’t strike historic monastery, blames Ukraine air defence for damage
Meanwhile, Russia claimed it did not strike the historic Pechersk Lavra monastery in Kyiv in an overnight attack on military factories in the Ukrainian capital and that a US-made Patriot air defence missile had damaged the religious site.
The armed forces of the Russian Federation do not plan or carry out strikes against civilian infrastructure,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Reuters.
“One possible reason for the malfunction of this system could be that western countries supplied the Kyiv regime with missiles that had expired,” it added.
Russian attacks on civilian targets amount to ‘war crimes’ and Moscow ‘will have to anwer for them,’ EU’s top diplomat says
EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the overnight attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets and a Unesco world heritage site in Kyiv amounted to “war crimes” and “Russia will have to answer for them.”
Kallas, chairing the meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers today, added:
“In response, today we are adopting additional sanctions targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex and its shadow fleet. Every measure further restricts Russia’s room for manoeuvre.”
G7 summit to discuss Ukraine peace after unjustified strike on monastery, Macron says
The G7 summit host, France’s president Emmanuel Macron, also condemned the attack on the Unesco-listed Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery.
In a post on X, he said that “nothing justifies this attack on our universal heritage.”
“France stands ready to cooperate with the Ukrainian authorities in charge of heritage.
This attack only strengthens our determination to do everything, with our allies and partners, to work toward a ceasefire that Russia continues to obstinately refuse, and then toward peace. We will strive for this at the G7 in Evian.”
Morning opening: G7, EU leaders meet after deadly strikes on Kyiv, including Unesco-listed religious site
Jakub Krupa
G7 leaders are set to meet in Évian-les-Bains in France later today to discuss the most pressing issues, including Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran.
The summit, hosted by France’s Emmanuel Macron, will see the US president, Donald Trump, give the leaders the latest on the Iran peace deal struck overnight, as he also kept himself busy with a martial arts gala at the White House.
But as our diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, notes,
“the French president has no idea if Trump, a haphazard summit attender, will last the full three days – or disrupt the proceedings every hour he stays.”
On Monday, some 20,000 people clashed with police in nearby Geneva as part of broad demonstrations against the meeting of the world’s leaders.
Separately, EU foreign ministers are also meeting in Luxembourg, with a pretty similar agenda.
The issue of Ukraine will feature prominently in both meetings, after another Russian attack overnight which saw at least nine killed, and more than 20 injured after heavy strikes on Kyiv.
The Unesco-listed Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery was also hit during the attacks, with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling it “one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date.”
Zelenskyy said:
“This is how Russia shows the world its intention to continue the war.
It is very important that there be a response from the G7 countries, which are now gathering for their summit – and that this response be decisive and substantive: more pressure on the aggressor and more support for Ukraine’s air defence, especially anti-ballistic capabilities.”
France led the condemnations, with foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot saying the attack on the religious site was “the equivalent, for us in France, as if Notre Dame or Saint Denis had been bombed, which is totally unacceptable.”
I will bring you all the latest here.
It’s Monday, 15 June 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.