Ukrainian leaders supply G7 with more weapons after deadly Russian attack

Kyiv, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Russian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to ask G7 leaders to urgently supply Ukraine with weapons to fend off a Russian missile attack, a day after Moscow launched an attack that killed 19 people. retaliatory attack.

U.S. President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders will meet later on Tuesday to discuss what they can do to support Ukraine and to hear from Zelensky, who has called the air defense system his The “first priority” that Biden has promised to deliver.

In the widest wave of far-flung airstrikes since the war began, Russian missiles crashed in Ukraine early Monday, hitting power generation facilities as well as non-strategic targets such as parks and tourist attractions, causing destruction, terror and blackouts in their wake.

Emergency services officials said at least 19 people were killed and 105 injured, in what President Vladimir Putin said was retaliation for Ukraine’s bombing of the Kerch Bridge Saturday that allowed Russia to annex Crimea.

Kyiv has not publicly taken responsibility for what Putin called an “act of terror” that killed at least three civilians and destroyed sections of bridges that were used to supply the Russian occupying forces in Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials reported more strikes on Tuesday, including an attack in the southeastern town of Zaporozhye that killed at least one person.

“We will do everything we can to strengthen our armed forces. We will make the enemy on the battlefield more painful,” Zelensky said in remarks late Monday.

As many as 301 settlements in the Kyiv, Lviv, Sumy, Ternopol and Khmelnitsky regions remained without power on Tuesday morning.

Faced with blackouts, Ukraine has stopped exporting electricity to neighboring Moldova and the European Union, at a time when the continent is already facing soaring electricity prices, which have fueled inflation and hampered industrial activity.

Fears in Belarus

The G7 leaders are also likely to warn Russia’s close ally Belarus not to become more closely involved in the war, after Minsk said on Monday that it would deploy its soldiers near Ukraine alongside Russian troops, in response to what it said were concerns about Kyiv and its supporters. A clear threat from Belarus. in the West.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told Radio France International on Tuesday that the G7 heads of state may warn Belarus, which is already used by Russia as a logistics base and a platform for launching missiles, not to get involved.

“Russia has crossed another line with tactics that do not involve fighting on the battlefield, but indiscriminate bombardment, deliberately targeting civilian targets on all Ukrainian territory since yesterday,” Colonna said.

“This violates the rules of war and international law,” she added, adding that France had agreed to increase arms supplies to Kyiv after Monday’s attack.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister has warned that Russia will respond to the West’s growing involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

“We warn and hope that they are aware of the danger of an out-of-control escalation in Washington and other Western capitals,” RIA Novosti quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov as saying on Tuesday.

Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said more help from the West to Ukraine increased the risk of a wider war.

“Such assistance, as well as providing Kyiv with intelligence, instructors and operational guidance, could lead to a further escalation of the situation and increase the risk of a conflict between Russia and NATO,” Antonov told the media.

Russia suffered a diplomatic setback on Monday as the UN General Assembly voted down its call for the 193-member body to allow a secret ballot this week in a debate on whether to condemn Moscow’s annexation of four parts of Ukraine.read more

The president of the United Arab Emirates, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) who rejected the U.S. last week by announcing deep production cuts, will travel to Russia on Tuesday to meet Putin and push for a “military de-escalation,” Emirates state news agency WAM reported.

Reporting at the Reuters office; Writing by Stephen Coates/Andrew Osborne; Editing by Peter Graff

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