Every week we wrap up the must-reads from our coverage of the Ukraine war, from news and features to analysis, visual guides and opinion.
G7 leaders seek unity on Ukraine and China at Japan summit
The leaders of the G7 group of wealthiest nations are meeting in Hiroshima this weekend to discuss war; how to prosecute one in Ukraine and how to prevent one with China, Patrick Wintour writes in his analysis of the G7. But the group is divided, or unclear on two issues – the wisdom and plausibility of Russia’s total military humiliation, and how to convince the global south that the new order that will emerge from this war can be shaped in their interests. On both issues the credibility of the west is on the line.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will attend the talks in person, the Japanese government belatedly confirmed on Saturday. The visit will follow his address to Arab League leaders in Saudi Arabia.
The G7 leaders have unveiled further sanctions and export controls. The US has spearheaded tough sanctions on Russian companies, banks and individuals; the announcements are designed to reaffirm world powers’ resolve to support Ukraine and squeeze Moscow.
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak announced a UK ban on imports of Russian diamonds, Rowena Mason reports, as well as Russian-origin copper, nickel and aluminium, with other G7 members expected to follow suit. Seeking to push his credentials on the global stage after a bruising few weeks of domestic politics, Sunak also set out sanctions targeting another 86 individuals and firms linked to Vladimir Putin, taking the total UK sanctions list to over 1,500.
Russia’s most potent hypersonic weapon neutralised, says Ukraine
Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
Ukraine said it had neutralised the Kremlin’s most potent hypersonic weapon, shooting down six out of six Kinzhal missiles launched at Kyiv, but hours later it emerged the intense night-time attack had damaged a Patriot air defence system, Luke Harding and Dan Sabbagh report.
Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s air command, said Moscow had also bombarded the capital with nine Kalibr missiles and three ballistic rockets, as well as six attack drones and three reconnaissance drones. All were shot down, he said, thwarting what he called “air terrorism”.
The attack on Kyiv was one of the biggest since last year’s invasion and followed Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s three-day trip to Europe. During meetings in London, Berlin, Paris and Rome, Ukraine’s president secured promises of more military assistance, including long-range attack drones from the UK.
Ukraine tells China envoy it will not give up territory
Ukraine’s foreign minister met China’s special envoy to Kyiv and insisted that the war-torn country would not accept a peace plan that relied on giving up territory after Russia’s invasion.
Chinese envoy Li Hui is seeking to promote Beijing-led negotiations to resolve the conflict. He is the most senior Chinese diplomat to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.
China, a close ally of Moscow, has not publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, whose foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba told Li that peace depended on “respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”.
Meanwhile in Beijing, foreign embassies were asked to remove “politicised propaganda” from their buildings, Amy Hawkins reported, apparently a reference to the Ukrainian flags that many missions have displayed on their exterior since the Russian invasion.
UK, Netherlands agree to ‘international coalition’ for F-16s
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch leader Mark Rutte agreed to build an “international coalition” to help procure F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine, the British government announced.
The question remains, Dan Sabbagh wrote: is Ukraine getting enough arms to have a chance to win the war decisively? A partial answer will come whenever Ukraine launches its already anticipated counterattack, although wisely, Zelenskiy was saying “we really need some more time” as he met Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, at Chequers on Monday.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine could defeat Russia by the end of this year with western help, and thanked Germany during a visit to Berlin for its “big” military and economic support.
Washington now risks opening a rift with European allies over its reluctance to contemplate supplying F-16 fighters to Ukraine, Dan Sabbagh and Artem Mazhulin wrote.
Ukraine supreme court chief held in corruption investigation
Anti-corruption authorities in Ukraine have detained the head of the country’s supreme court in an investigation they cast as an important step in Kyiv’s fight against high-level graft. Kyiv has redoubled efforts to clamp down on corruption despite Russia’s invasion as a necessary pre-condition for joining the European Union.
Oleksandr Omelchenko, a prosecutor at the specialised anti-corruption prosecutor’s Office (Sapo), said on Tuesday that the supreme court’s top judge had been detained as part of a suspected bribery scheme and was awaiting a formal “notice of suspicion”.
Ukraine strikes Russian forces in Luhansk
Ukraine carried out further strikes on Russian forces on Monday, apparently targeting Russian command and control centres deep behind enemy lines ahead of its long-awaited counteroffensive, with explosions reported in the occupied city of Luhansk.
Smoke was seen rising above a former aviation school in the eastern city, used by the Russian military. Moscow-installed local officials said Kyiv carried out the attack with two Storm Shadow long-range missiles, supplied by the British. An administrative building was damaged, they said.
The strike follows a similar attack on Saturday in Luhansk, Luke Harding reported, which destroyed a multi-storey building and slightly wounded a Russian MP. Russian state media showed fragments that it said came from Storm Shadow rockets.
Life in Mariupol a year since Russian occupation
The mood in Mariupol has “changed dramatically”, according to residents who thought Russia would stay forever but are now expecting a swift Ukrainian military offensive to recapture the city.
In a series of anonymous interviews with the Guardian’s Luke Harding, people said Mariupol had been transformed into a gloomy version of the Soviet Union since the last Ukrainian defenders holed up in the Azovstal steelworks surrendered to Russian troops a year ago.
“I feel as if I’ve fallen into some terrible submerged and downtrodden collective farm. The shops are primitive and the prices astronomical,” one said. “The city isn’t the one I knew. The people are not the same. Everything is changed. I have a permanent feeling of wanting to go home.”
