Ukraine’s president urges G7 nations to help end the war

By Stefan J. Bos

Rescue workers searched beneath the rubble of an apartment block devastated by a Russian missile strike that killed at least one person.

Despite the deadly destruction, there was some hope: they managed to pull a seven-year-old girl from the ruins.

She was pulled out from the partially collapsed building and carried by stretcher to an ambulance.

Authorities say Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital since the early hours of Sunday morning, striking at least two residential buildings.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko suggests Russia wanted to intimidate Ukraine ahead of the G7 gathering and the upcoming summit of the NATO military alliance. "Now, with the NATO summit, it's perhaps a symbolic act of aggression," he said near the destruction site.

Russian missiles also hit other Ukrainian cities, adding pressure on outgunned Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian military had to abandon the town of Severodonetsk as Russia seemed determined to capture the entire Donbas region, Ukraine's industrial heartland.

With casualties mounting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to the G7 to help him end the war before the start of winter.

He spoke through a video link to G7 leaders gathering in the Bavarian Alps in Germany, where he asked for more military support and sanctions against Russia.

Difficult stage

In separate remarks recorded before Monday's meeting, he also asked the G7 for more help during what he called "the difficult stage of the war."

The war is in "such a difficult stage, both morally and emotionally, as we know the enemy will not succeed," he said. "But we do not know how many shots, losses, and efforts will have to be made before we see victory is on the horizon."

G7 leaders were due to offer more weapons and further sanctions, including a ban on Russian gold imports. Yet Moscow, already hit by a magnitude of other sanctions, including an energy boycott, tried to play down the punitive measures.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also announced there were, in his words," no grounds to call this situation a default", following reports Russia has defaulted on its debt.

But the implications of the war are already felt globally amid concerns that hundreds of millions of people could face starvation in Africa and the Middle East.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among those calling for action to get grain supplies out of Ukraine's blockaded ports.

Hungary has already offered to help provide an alternative route for neighboring Ukraine's food produce as energy and food prices increase worldwide.