World leaders were lining up in support of Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the G7 summit began in France. Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, vowed to “choke off” Russian revenue with further sanctions, writes Alexandra Topping, and to provide hundreds of millions of pounds worth of energy support for Ukraine including enriched uranium for its nuclear power plants.
Summit host Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said as he prepared to meet with Donald Trump that he wanted the US to say “we are with you, we will continue to support Ukraine, and we will increase the pressure on Russia to achieve a meaningful negotiation … The right negotiation is one in which Ukraine and Russia are at the table, but with Europeans and Americans present as well.”
Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, expressed hope that “for the first time, a window can open for diplomacy” on ending the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported. He added that he wanted to discuss this further with Trump. The US president, who arrived for the summit on Monday, said: “We had a very good conversation yesterday with President Zelenskyy and President Putin, and I think maybe we can do something there. I really do. I think they’re both open to it.”
Russia denied targeting the cathedral and claimed it had been hit with a US-made Patriot air-defence missile. But contradicting the Russian claim, Peter Beaumont writes that outside the Perchersk-Lavra complex on Monday morning a group of state security officers stood over the remains of two Shahed-Geran type drones – as built in Iran and Russia, and used ubiquitously by Moscow’s forces.
Amid Monday’s heavy Russian air raids on Ukraine, a drone struck the zoo in Kharkiv, killing 10 rabbits while injuring and distressing other animals including an elephant, prosecutors said. The drone hit an area described as a vivarium in which hundreds of rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and mice were housed, the prosecutors said. The elephant’s adjacent enclosure was damaged.
Russia is reportedly being forced to allow the sale of substandard fuel as Ukrainian attacks on oil pipelines, refineries, transport and storage squeeze supplies. The emergency measure were reported by the Russian newspaper Kommersant, which cited a source. Kommersant said refineries were being allowed to sell gasoline and diesel domestically with, for example, levels of sulphur about 15 times the maximum permitted in Europe, China, and India. The concessions also allow a higher share of aromatic hydrocarbons, which are toxic compounds linked to health issues.
On Monday, authorities in the Udmurtia region east of Moscow said temporary limits would be in force on gasoline at stations operated by Tatneft from 12 June, Reuters reported, after Tatneft’s major refinery had to completely shut down production because of drone strikes. As long lines of cars queued on Monday in Sevastopol city, Crimea, driver Alyona, who gave only her first name, said: “How can it be solved, how? Only if the special military operation ends.”
A Ukrainian drone strike killed three farm machine workers in the Russian border region of Bryansk, the region’s acting governor said on Monday. Yegor Kovalchuk said the three were killed while working in a field in Pochepsky district near the border. There was no independent confirmation. Ukraine denies targeting civilians.
Ukraine was due on Monday to officially begin European Union membership negotiations, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms even as it continues to fight a Russian invasion. Ukrainian deputy prime minister Taras Kachka was to attend a conference in Luxembourg to open the talks, and called it a “Rubicon” moment. “All Ukrainian society believes that joining the European Union is our dream.” Moldova was also due to officially launch its membership talks.