Indonesia’s president to visit Russia, Ukraine on peace mission
Joko Widodo says he will urge his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts to open room for dialogue during a peace-building mission to the warring countries.
- Severodonetsk’s mayor says the city is now under the “full occupation of Russia”.
- Dozens of Russian missiles have simultaneously hit military facilities in western and northern Ukraine, local officials say.
- Ukraine’s military says attacks on the border region of Chernihiv were launched from the territory of Russia’s ally Belarus.
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Ukraine could face pressure to agree to a peace deal with Russia that may not be in its interests due to the economic consequences of the war in Europe.
Here are all the latest updates:
Explosions rock Kyiv central district
Several explosions were heard in the Shevchenkivskiy district of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.
There was no immediate information on the cause of the explosions or casualties.
“Ambulance crews and rescuers dispatched to the scene. More detailed information – later,” Klitschko said.
“Residents are being rescued and evacuated from two buildings.”
Indonesia’s president to visit Ukraine, Russia on peace-building mission
Indonesian President Joko Widodo says he will urge his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts to open room for dialogue during a peace-building mission to the warring countries and ask Russia’s Putin to order an immediate ceasefire.
“War has to be stopped and global food supply chains need to be reactivated,” Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, said before leaving for Germany to attend the G7 summit.
The president also said he will encourage the G7 countries to seek peace in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, and find an immediate solution to global food and energy crises. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation”.
G7 leaders set to discuss Ukraine war, food and energy crises
The leaders of the G7 are gathering in southern Germany, seeking emphatic backing for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion while grappling with the intensifying global fallout of the war.
The leaders are expected to seek to crank up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin – although they will want to avoid sanctions that could stoke inflation and exacerbate the cost-of-living crisis affecting their own people.
“The main message from the G7 will be unity and coordination of action… That’s the main message, that even through difficult times… we stick to our alliance,” an EU official told Reuters.
The G7 are set to agree to ban imports of gold from Russia, a source familiar with the matter told the news agency. A German government source later said that leaders were having “really constructive” conversations on a possible price cap on Russian oil imports.
The summit is also expected to discuss options for tackling rising energy prices and replacing Russian oil and gas imports.
The summit takes place at the castle resort of Schloss Elmau at the foot of Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze – the same venue as when the country last hosted the G7 annual meet-up in 2015. Then too, Russian aggression against Ukraine dominated the agenda a year after Moscow’s invasion of Crimea.
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Read all the key developments from yesterday, June 25, here.
