Several explosions were heard in kyiv on Sunday at dawn, hours before the opening of the G7 summit in Germany where Ukraine was to be discussed, and while Russia was advancing in the conquest of the Donbass. Leaders of the major powers, including US President Joe Biden, meet from 10 a.m. GMT in the Bavarian Alps, for the annual summit of the club’s seven industrialized nations consisting of Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Great Britain and the United States. Union.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday called on G7 leaders not to “give up on Ukraine”, warned of “tiredness” in supporting kyiv and announced additional economic aid of up to $525 million, bringing the total to 1.8 billion. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country will “in the coming months” send to Belarus, from where attacks were carried out on Ukrainian territory, missiles capable of carrying a nuclear payload.

> News for this Week, June 26:

09:05 – New Russian attack on kyiv, four explosions heard

A new Russian strike early this morning hit a residential complex near central kyiv, which has been spared Russian bombardment since early June, the AFP reporter noted. Four explosions were heard at around 06:30 (0330 GMT), half an hour after anti-aircraft sirens sounded in the capital.

At least two injured people were hospitalized, the capital’s mayor said on Telegram, adding that as people remained “under the rubble”, the toll could rise. This is a question “intimidating Ukraine (…) as the NATO summit approaches”, an organization despised by Russia, stated to the journalist Vitali Klitschko who went to the affected site a few days before the Atlantic Alliance summit, from June 28 to 30 in Madrid .

08:36 – London, Washington, Ottawa and Tokyo ban imports of Russian gold

The UK, US, Canada and Japan will ban imports of Russian gold in new sanctions imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine, Downing Street announced on the first day of the G7 summit. “These measures will hit the Russian oligarchs directly and strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who met with leaders of the major industrial nations in Germany for three days.

08:23 – With the war in Ukraine, India’s “diamond city” lost its luster

The effects of the war in Ukraine are felt even in this corner of the Indian factory where Yogesh Zanzamera, one of India’s two million diamond polishers, lays his diaper on the floor. A new concern has been added to an already difficult daily life: Western sanctions, after the invasion of Ukraine, against Russia, India’s biggest supplier of crude stone and a longtime strategic ally.

“There are not enough diamonds and therefore not enough jobs”, explains Mr Zanzamera, 44, in the workshop where he has worked since he left school at the age of 13.

6:46 am – War gives new impetus to the ICC, which celebrates its 20th anniversary

Criticism and controversy marred the first two decades of its existence, but the war in Ukraine gave the International Criminal Court (ICC) a new impetus, twenty years after its creation to try the world’s worst atrocities. A disclaimer of five convictions and accusations that it is focused solely on Africa have tarnished the image of the ICC, whose founding treaty – the Rome Statute – entered into force on 1 July 2002.

But as the world’s only permanent tribunal for serious charges such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, it remains the court of last resort for many countries. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February made the international community aware of the importance of the rule of law, according to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.

>> Highlight of the day June 25

> Severodonetsk is “completely controlled” by Russia

The city of Severodonetsk in Donbass (east), where fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian armies has been going on for several weeks, is “completely occupied” by the Russian army, mayor Oleksandre Striouk announced on Saturday. “This city is completely occupied by Russia,” he said on Ukrainian television late in the afternoon. The Ukrainian army announced Thursday its withdrawal from the pre-war city of about 100,000 to better defend the neighboring city of Lisichansk.

> Moscow will deliver “in the coming months” to Belarusian missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads

“In the coming months, we will transfer the Iskander-M tactical missile system to Belarus, which can use ballistic missiles or cruise missiles, in both conventional and nuclear versions,” Vladimir Putin said at the start of his interview with Alexander. Lukashenko in Saint Petersburg was broadcast on television. Russia.

> Russian and pro-Russian troops enter Lisichansk

Russian and pro-Russian troops have entered Lisichansk and “street fighting” is now taking place in the neighboring city of Severodonetsk, a strategic keystone in eastern Ukraine in the process of being taken over by Moscow, the separatists say.