A photograph taken on June 28, 2022 shows charred goods in a grocery store of the destroyed Amstor mall in Kremenchuk, one day after it was hit by a Russian missile strike according to Ukrainian authorities. AFP
碍驰滨痴鈥�Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
Turkey backs Finland, Sweden Nato membership
Turkey has agreed to support Finland and Sweden鈥檚 Nato membership bid, Finland and Turkey say.
A trilateral agreement signed in Madrid 鈥渃onfirms that Turkey will at the Madrid (Nato) Summit this week support the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of Nato,鈥� Finnish president Sauli Niinisto says in a statement, after he and the leader of Sweden met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan鈥檚 office confirms that Ankara will back the membership drive, saying Ankara 鈥済ot what it wanted鈥� from Sweden and Finland.
Turkey has been resisting attempts by the two longstanding non-aligned Nordic states to join Nato in response to Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine, saying Finland and Sweden have provided a safe haven for Kurdish militants engaged in a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
Nato leaders will formally invite Finland and Sweden to join the alliance Wednesday, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg says.
G7 to make Russia 鈥榩ay鈥�
The Group of Seven leading industrialised powers vows to make Russia pay for its invasion of Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says, stressing that 鈥�(President Vladimir) Putin must not be allowed to win鈥�.
鈥淭he G7 stands united in its support for Ukraine,鈥� Scholz tells a news conference at the end of a three-day summit in the German Alps.
鈥淲e will continue to keep up and drive up the economic and political costs of this war for President Putin and his regime.鈥�
The leaders agree to work on a price cap for Russian oil, as part of efforts to cut the Kremlin鈥檚 revenues, a US official says.
Ukraine must surrender: Kremlin
The Kremlin says Russia will halt its offensive as soon as Ukraine surrenders, urging Kyiv to order its troops to lay down arms.
鈥淭he Ukrainian side can stop everything before the end of today,鈥� Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters. 鈥淎n order for the nationalist units to lay down their arms is necessary.鈥�
Mall 鈥榯error鈥�
Ukrainian officials say at least 18 people were killed and 59 wounded in a Russian missile strike on a shopping mall in central Ukraine on Monday in what G7 leaders call a 鈥渨ar crime鈥�.
The Russian military says the target of the strike was an arms depot and that the resulting explosions triggered the blaze at the shopping mall, which it claims was shut at the time of the attack.
Ukraine鈥檚 President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia must be labelled a 鈥渟tate sponsor of terrorism鈥� after the attack.
鈥楤谤耻迟补濒颈迟测鈥�
Nato chief Stoltenberg urges alliance leaders at their Madrid summit to keep up their backing for Ukraine amid the Russian onslaught.
鈥淚t is extremely important that we are ready to continue to provide support because Ukraine now faces a brutality which we haven鈥檛 seen in Europe since the Second World War,鈥� he says.
At the meeting Nato is expected to boost high readiness forces to more than 300,000 troops.
The United States will also announce new long-term military deployments across Europe in response to the threat from Russia, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says.
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