World

SIVERSK, Ukraine — Russia claimed on Sunday to have captured the strategic Ukrainian city of Lysychansk and the entire frontline Lugansk region as a mayor said six people were killed by Russian shelling to the west.

The gains claimed by Russia would mark a decisive breakthrough for Moscow's forces seeking control of eastern Ukraine, more than four months into their invasion and after turning their focus away from the capital Kyiv.

The mayor of Sloviansk, 75 kilometres west of Lysychansk, reported the heaviest Russian shelling "for a long time", saying that a child was among six people killed, with another 15 people wounded and 15 fires sparked.

On Sunday, Russia accused Ukraine of firing three cluster missiles at the city of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border and late Saturday, Belarus said it intercepted Ukrainian missiles.

Lysychansk had been the last major city in the Lugansk area of the Donbas still in Ukrainian hands and its capture would signal a deeper push into the eastern region.

"Sergei Shoigu has informed the commander in chief of the Russian armed forces, Vladimir Putin, of the liberation of the People's Republic of Lugansk," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.

A few minutes prior to the announcement, which AFP has not verified, a spokesman for the Russian defence ministry had said fighting was ongoing in Lysychansk and that Ukrainian forces were “completely” surrounded.

Ukraine has yet to comment on the Russian claim that Lysychansk has fallen.

‘Shooting from all sides’ 

On Saturday, there were conflicting reports about Lysychansk’s status with Ukraine denying Moscow’s claim to have encircled the entire city, which lies just across the river from neighbouring Severodonetsk which Russian forces seized last week.

The city of Siversk, 30 kilometres west of Lysychansk, saw overnight shelling, residents and an official told AFP.

“It was intense and it was shooting from all sides,” said a woman sheltering in a cellar.

“Fierce fighting continues along the entire frontline, in Donbas,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address late Saturday, accusing “enemy activity” of “intensifying” in the wider region around Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv.

Two people were killed and three wounded — including two children — in a strike on the town of Dobropillya, local authorities in Donetsk said.

On Monday, leaders from dozens of countries and international organisations set to gather in the Swiss city of Lugano for a conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction with the aim of providing a roadmap for the war-ravaged country’s recovery.

Zelensky said “colossal investments” would be needed and that 10 regions of Ukraine had been affected in the war, with many towns and villages needing to be “rebuilt from scratch”.

‘Fierce fighting’ 

Ukraine will also face demands for broad reforms, especially in cracking down on corruption after Brussels recently granted Kyiv candidate status in its push to join the 27-member bloc.

On Sunday, Moscow said its anti-aircraft defences shot down three Tochka-U cluster missiles launched by “Ukrainian nationalists” against Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border.

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 11 residential buildings and 39 houses were damaged.

Russia has previously accused Kyiv of conducting strikes on Russian soil, particularly in the Belgorod region.

On Saturday, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko accused Kyiv of provocation and said his army intercepted missiles fired at his country by Ukrainian forces “around three days ago”.

Belarus, a Russian ally, supported the February 24 invasion and has been accused by Kyiv of launching its own attacks on Ukrainian territory.

Lukashenko denied any involvement in a recent cross-border incident, which would represent an escalation of the conflict.

‘Out of action’ 

“We do not intend to fight in Ukraine,” he was quoted as saying by state news agency Belta on Saturday.

A Ukrainian official said Sunday that his country’s forces had “put out of action” a Russian military base in Melitopol, while the Ukrainian army said the air force had taken out around 20 Russian units and two ammunition depots.

“The town of Melitopol is covered in smoke,” said the city’s exiled mayor Ivan Fedorov.

In peacetime, Ukraine is a major agricultural exporter, but Russia’s invasion has damaged farmland and seen Ukraine’s ports seized, razed or blockaded — sparking concerns about food shortages, particularly in poor countries.

Farmer Sergiy Lyubarsky, whose fields are close to the frontline, warned time was running out to harvest this year’s crop.

“We can wait until August 10 at the latest, but after that, the grains are going to dry out and fall to the ground,” he said.

Western powers have accused Putin of using the trapped harvest as a weapon to increase pressure on the international community, and Russia has been accused of stealing grain.

MADRID — Demonstrators held rallies in several Spanish cities and in Rabat late Friday to protest over the deaths of 23 African migrants who died in a crush trying to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla in northern Morocco.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Barcelona, Malaga, Vigo and San Sebastian and in Melilla itself to denounce migration policies and the "militarisation of borders".

In the Moroccan capital, a few dozen representatives of the Collective of Sub-Saharan Communities in Morocco and associations helping migrants demonstrated in front of parliament calling for Rabat to "stop playing the role of EU policeman".

"We demand an end to the migration policy funded by the European Union, the opening of an independent investigation and the return of the bodies to the families," activist Mamadou Diallo told AFP.

"The Europeans colonised us and took everything from us to develop. Today, if we go to them, it means that we have the right to leave," he said.

Moroccan prosecutors have initiated proceedings against 65 migrants, mostly Sudanese, accused of having taken part in the mass attempt to enter Melilla from Morocco a week ago.

At least 23 migrants died when around 2,000, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, tried to break through the fence into the Spanish enclave, according to Moroccan authorities, while NGOs say at least 37 lost their lives.

The death toll was by far the worst recorded in years of attempts by migrants to cross into Spain's Ceuta and Melilla enclaves, which have the EU's only land borders with Africa, making them a magnet for those desperate to escape grinding poverty and hunger.

'Borders kill' 

The tragedy has provoked international indignation, including an unusually strong response from the United Nations, and the opening of investigations by Spain and Morocco.

In Madrid, several hundred people took up the slogans of the "Black Lives Matter" movement and chanted "No human being is illegal!" and held up signs that read: "Borders kill."

"This country makes me ashamed," said Carmen Reco, 77, attending the protest after this "injustice which resulted in the murder of migrants because they were trying to enter Spain".

Renzo Rupay, who works in transport, said he was shocked by "the images of the border".

“I too am a migrant, arrived with a child’s travel papers. Not everyone has the possibility of arriving legally in Spain,” the 28-year-old said.

“It’s not normal that so many people die. We’re talking about human lives, people fleeing war and we kill them at the border,” said Eva Ruiz, a 24-year-old student.

According to Rabat, the victims died “in jostling and falling” from the top of the metal gate that separates Morocco from Melilla during an attempt to storm the border “marked by the use of very violent methods on the part of migrants”.

=

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has said he is “greatly disappointed” he cannot make a planned visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan on Saturday due to knee pain.

The 85-year-old Pontiff suffers chronic arthritis in his knee, according to Vatican sources, and has cancelled a string of events in recent months.

“The Lord knows how greatly disappointed I am to have had to postpone this long-awaited and much-desired visit,” the Pope said in a video message released by the Vatican on Saturday. “But we remain confident and hopeful that we shall be able to meet as soon as possible.”

The Vatican had postponed the Pope’s trip to South Sudan and the DRC on June 10 “at the request of his doctors” to avoid jeopardising treatment.

In his video message, the Pope offered a “heartfelt blessing” to the two countries he was set to visit.

He said: “I think of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the exploitation, violence and insecurity from which it suffers, particularly in the east of the country, where armed conflicts continue to cause much intense suffering, aggravated by the indifference and the convenience of many.”

“I think of South Sudan and the plea for peace arising from its people who, weary of violence and poverty, await concrete results from the process of national reconciliation.”

“Dear Congolese and South Sudanese friends, at this time words are insufficient to convey to you my closeness and the affection that I feel for you,” he added.

The Pope — who has needed a wheelchair at official events — has also spoken of an injured ligament and suffers from hip pain which forces him to limp. Last July, he spent 10 days in hospital after undergoing colon surgery.

A scheduled trip to Lebanon in June was also postponed due to health reasons, according to the Lebanese government — although the Vatican had never confirmed the visit.

But a trip to Canada at the end of July is still on the Pontiff’s schedule.

KYIV — Russian troops have abandoned their positions on a captured Ukrainian island, a major set-back to their invasion effort that weakens their blockade of Ukraine's ports, defence officials said Thursday.

The news from the Black Sea came as NATO leaders met for a second day in Madrid, intent on demonstrating their unity and determination to back up Kyiv with advanced weapons in the face of Moscow's assault.

Snake Island became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the first days of the war, when the rocky outcrop's defenders told a Russian warship that called on them to surrender to "go f*ck yourself," an incident that spurred a defiant meme.

It was also a strategic target, sitting aside shipping lanes near Ukraine's port of Odessa. Russia had attempted to install missile and air defence batteries while under fire from drones.

Now, however, Ukraine has begun to receive longer range missiles and military gear from its Western backers, and the Russian position on Snake Island seems to have become untenable.

'Strategically important' 

The Russian defence ministry statement described the retreat as "a gesture of goodwill" meant to demonstrate that Moscow will not interfere with UN efforts to organise protected grain exports from Ukraine.

But Kyiv claimed it as a win.

"I thank the defenders of Odessa region who took maximum measures to liberate a strategically important part of our territory," Valeriy Zaluzhny, the Ukraine military's commander-in-chief, said on Telegram.

In peacetime, Ukraine is a major agricultural exporter, but Russia's invasion has damaged farmland and seen Ukraine's ports seized, razed or blockaded — threatening grain importers in Africa with famine.

Western powers have accused President Vladimir Putin of using the trapped harvest as a weapon to increase pressure on the international community, and Russia has been accused of stealing grain.

On Thursday, a ship carrying 7,000 tonnes of grain sailed from Ukraine’s occupied port of Berdyansk, said the regional leader appointed by the Russian occupation forces.

Evgeny Balitsky, the head of the pro-Moscow administration, said Russia’s Black Sea ships “are ensuring the security” of the journey he said, adding that the port had been de-mined.

‘Direct threat’ 

Separately, the Russian defence ministry said its forces are holding more than 6,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war who have been captured since the February 24 invasion.

The conflict in Ukraine has dominated the NATO summit in Madrid, where the leaders said Russia “is the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area”.

This came as NATO officially invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, and US President Joe Biden announced new deployments of US troops, ships and planes to Europe.

Biden said that the US move was exactly what Russian President Putin “didn’t want” — and Moscow, facing fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces equipped with Western arms, reacted with predictable fury.

Putin accused the alliance of seeking to assert its “supremacy”, telling journalists in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat that Ukraine and its people are “a means” for NATO to “defend their own interests”.

“The NATO countries’ leaders wish to... assert their supremacy, their imperial ambitions,” Putin added.

NATO leaders have funnelled billions of dollars of arms to Ukraine and faced a renewed appeal from President Volodymyr Zelensky for more long-range artillery.

“Ukraine can count on us for as long as it takes,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said at the summit, which ends Thursday, as he announced a new strategic overview that focuses on the Moscow threat.

‘Clear-eyed’ 

The document, updated for the first time since 2010, warned that the alliance “cannot discount the possibility” of an attack on its members.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed NATO’s “clear-eyed stance on Russia”.

Russian missiles continued to rain down across Ukraine.

In the southern city of Mykolaiv rescuers found the bodies of six slain civilians in the rubble of a destroyed building, emergency services said.

The city of Lysychansk in the eastern Donbas region — the current focus of Russia’s offensive — is also facing sustained bombardment.

“The Russians are throwing almost all of their resources at capturing Lysychansk,” Sergiy Gaiday, regional governor of Lugansk, which includes the city, said on Telegram.

“It’s hard to find a safe spot in the city.”

Theatre strike ‘war crime’ 

Moscow’s invasion triggered massive economic sanctions and a wave of support for Zelensky’s government, including deliveries of advanced weapons, as well as the reinforcement of Europe’s defences.

Washington has announced that it will shift the headquarters of its 5th Army Corps to Poland.

An army brigade will head to Romania and two squadrons of F-35 fighters to Britain, air defence systems will be sent to Germany and Italy, and the fleet of US Navy destroyers in Spain will grow from four to six.

Britain also pledged another $1.2 billion in military aid for Ukraine on Wednesday, including air defence systems and drones.

In a report released on Thursday, Amnesty International said a theatre sheltering civilians destroyed in March in the besieged city of Mariupol was likely hit by a Russian airstrike in a war crime.

“Until now, we were speaking about an alleged war crime. Now we can clearly say it was one, committed by the Russian armed forces,” Oksana Pokalchuk, head of Amnesty’s Ukraine branch, told AFP.

Nevertheless, the group also found the death toll may have been smaller than initially believed. Amnesty believes at least a dozen people died in the attack although it is likely many more remain unreported.

Mariupol city authorities had provided an initial estimate of around 300 deaths.

MADRID - The NATO Summit in Madrid drew to a close on Thursday with decisions to transform and strengthen the Alliance.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: “The decisions we have taken in Madrid will ensure that our Alliance continues to preserve peace, prevent conflict, and protect our people and our values. Europe and North America, standing together in NATO.”

Allied leaders agreed on a fundamental shift in NATO’s deterrence and defence, with strengthened forward defences, enhanced battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance, and an increase in the number of high readiness forces to well over 300,000, according to a NATO statement a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua.

Leaders also agreed to invest more in NATO and to increase common funding. During the Summit, NATO’s closest partners Finland and Sweden were invited to join the Alliance, a significant boost to Euro-Atlantic security.

Allies further agreed on long-term support for Ukraine through a strengthened Comprehensive Assistance Package.

Leaders endorsed a new NATO Strategic Concept, the blueprint for the Alliance in a more dangerous and competitive world. It sets out NATO’s approach to Russia and to other threats, including terrorism, cyber and hybrid. For the first time, the Strategic Concept addresses the challenges posed by China.

Leaders agreed on steps to fight climate change, including targets to cut NATO greenhouse gas emissions and move towards Net Zero by 2050.

A new NATO Innovation Fund to help the Alliance sharpen its technological edge was also launched at the Summit. NATO leaders met with key partners to address global challenges and Indo-Pacific partners Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea participated together in a NATO Summit for the first time.

Allies also recommitted to the fight against terrorism, and addressed NATO’s response to threats and challenges from the Middle East, North Africa and Sahel.

At his closing press conference the NATO Secretary General said: “We face the most serious security situation in decades. But we are rising to the challenge with unity and resolve.” He thanked Spain for hosting the historic Summit and said a NATO Summit would be held in Vilnius, Lithuania next year.

MADRID — The United States vowed on Wednesday to shore up Europe's defences in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as NATO declared Moscow the West's greatest threat.

Meeting in Madrid, alliance leaders said Russia "is the most significant and direct threat to allies' security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area".

This came as NATO welcomed Sweden and Finland as invitees to join the alliance and US President Joe Biden announced new deployments of US troops, ships and planes.

Biden boasted the US announcement was exactly what President Vladimir Putin "didn't want" and Moscow, facing fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces equipped with Western arms, reacted with predictable fury.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov denounced the US military build-up, and warned NATO members that the shifting balance of power "would lead to compensatory measures on our part".

"I think that those who propose such solutions are under the illusion that they will be able to intimidate Russia, somehow restrain it — they will not succeed," he said.

NATO leaders have funnelled billions of dollars of arms to Ukraine and faced a renewed appeal from President Volodymyr Zelensky for more long-range artillery.

"Ukraine can count on us for as long as it takes," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said, announcing a new NATO strategic overview that focuses on the Moscow threat.

“We cannot discount the possibility of an attack against allies’ sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the document, updated for the first time since 2010, said.

In a summit statement, they said: “Russia’s appalling cruelty has caused immense human suffering and massive displacements, disproportionately affecting women and children.”

Zelensky had earlier addressed the NATO chiefs by videoconference, calling for stricter economic sanctions, but afterwards his Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba thanked Ukraine’s western friends.

‘What needs to be done’ 

“Today in Madrid, NATO proved it can take difficult but essential decisions. We welcome a clear-eyed stance on Russia, as well as the accession for Finland and Sweden,” he said.

“An equally strong and active position on Ukraine will help protect Euro-Atlantic security and stability.”

While US and European chiefs expressed backing for Ukraine in Madrid, Indonesian President Joko Widodo became the first Asian leader to visit Kyiv since the war began.

Zelensky said he had accepted an invitation to attend the upcoming G-20 summit in Bali, depending “on the security situation in the country and on the composition of the summit’s participants”.

It is not clear whether Putin will also be on the guest list in November, with some capitals pushing for his exclusion.

As Western leaders met in Madrid, in Ukraine officials complained that Russian missiles had hit civilian housing and businesses in and around the cities of Dnipro, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv, leaving at least seven dead and 14 wounded.

In Kremenchuk, the town where a Russian missile on Monday destroyed a shopping centre and — according to local officials — killed at least 18 civilians, clearing operations continued.

A giant crane was working near the site of the impact and in the rubble-strewn parking area shopping trolleys piled with clothes and household goods lay abandoned.

Western leaders have dubbed the Kremenchuk strike a war crime, and Zelensky has demanded that UN investigators visit. Russia says it hit a depot storing Western arms.

Foreign ‘mercenaries’ 

Ukrainian officials said that 144 of their soldiers, most of them former defenders of the Azovstal steelworks in the southern port city of Mariupol, had been freed in a prisoner swap with Moscow.

The Russian defence ministry said it had inflicted severe casualties on Ukrainian troops defending the town of Lysychansk, in the eastern Donbas region, and said the Kharkiv attack had hit Ukrainian command centres and a training base for foreign “mercenaries”.

Moscow’s February 24 invasion of pro-Western Ukraine triggered massive economic sanctions and a wave of support for Zelensky’s government, including deliveries of advanced weapons.

At NATO, two formerly military non-aligned European countries — Sweden and Russia’s north-western neighbour Finland — will be accepted as candidates and Washington has announced that it will shift the headquarters of its 5th Army Corps to Poland.

An army brigade will rotate in and out of Romania, two squadrons of F-35 fighters will deploy to Britain, US air defence systems will be sent to Germany and Italy and the fleet of US Navy destroyers in Spain will grow from four to six.

“That’s exactly what he didn’t want but exactly what needs to be done to guarantee security for Europe,” Biden said, of Putin’s efforts to roll back Western influence and reestablish influence or control over territories of the former Russian empire.

Missile artillery 

Sweden and Finland’s path to NATO membership was opened after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to lift his threat of a veto — the ally accuses Stockholm and Helsinki of harbouring wanted Kurdish militants.

Turkey announced on Wednesday that it would request the extradition of 33 alleged “terrorists” under the terms of the agreement signed on Tuesday with Sweden and Finland to allow them to make membership bids.

A sanctions task force of leading Ukraine allies has frozen more than $330 billion in financial resources owned by Russia’s elite and its central bank since Moscow’s invasion, it announced on Wednesday.

The Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force said the allies had blocked $30 billion in assets belonging to Russian oligarchs and officials, and immobilised $300 billion owned by the Russian central bank.

Norway said it would donate three multiple-launch rocket systems to Ukraine, following similar decisions made by Britain, Germany and the United States.

PARIS — A total of 20 people have been tried over the November 2015 attacks by the Daesh group on the Bataclan concert hall and other targets around Paris, with the verdicts expected on Wednesday.

Only 14 of them have appeared in person, with the rest missing or presumed to be dead.

Salah Abdeslam, aged 32 

Once a pot-smoking party-lover who grew up in the impoverished Molenbeek district of Brussels, Abdeslam turned to radical Islam along with his brother Brahim, who blew himself up in a bar during the Paris attacks.

The only surviving attacker gave his profession as an “Daesh fighter” and recounted religious verses in his first appearance in court in September, but his provocative early behaviour has faded from view.

He broke down in tears in April and apologised to victims, asking them to “hate me with moderation”.

He has defended himself by saying he never killed anyone after alleging he backed out of his mission to blow himself up in a bar.

Prosecutors say his suicide belt was simply defective.

He went on the run for four months after the attacks and was involved in a shootout with police in Brussels, for which he has already been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

French prosecutors have requested a full life sentence.

His former lawyer in Belgium once described him as having “the intelligence of an empty ashtray”.

Mohamed Abrini, 

aged 37 

A childhood friend of Abdeslam and other terrorists from Molenbeek, Abrini is a school dropout and multi-convicted thief who turned to Daesh ideology after his radicalised younger brother joined the group and was killed in Syria.

“It’s a duty for all Muslims to go to do jihad,” he told the court in January, justifying the attacks in Paris as a response to Western bombing against Daesh and its now-defunct caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

At the end of the trial on Monday, the one-time bakery worker known as “brioche” to friends said it had enabled him “to put faces to the victims”.

“I’m aware that what happened is disgusting.”

The Belgian claimed that he backed out of the Paris attacks at the last moment, but has admitted meeting the ringleader beforehand and booking cars and safe-houses for the other terrorists.

He took part in separate suicide bombings that struck Brussels in 2016, though he decided not to detonate himself.

Prosecutors asked for a life sentence with 22 years as a minimum term.

Osama Krayem, 29, and Sofian Ayari, 28 

A Swede of Syrian and Palestinian origin, Krayem allegedly fled Paris with Abdeslam after the attacks.

The long-haired terrorist was identified in a notorious Daesh video showing a Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage, thanks to a scar on his eyebrow.

He remained silent for the trial, giving a written statement in January which read: “At the start I thought I would express myself. Then, I saw how the hearings were going and I lost all hope.”

He is suspected of planning another attack at Amsterdam’s airport along with Ayari, a Tunisian who travelled to Syria to join Daesh.

Ayari, who was arrested along with Abdeslam, began to explain his past with Daesh after being “touched” by the testimony of a victim’s mother in February, but then refused to answer any more questions.

Prosecutors sought life terms for them.

Mohamed Bakkali, 35 

Arrested two weeks after the Paris bloodbath, the Belgian-Moroccan national is suspected of providing logistical help such as hiring safe houses and cars, providing fake identity papers and helping repatriate Daesh fighters from Syria.

He was already sentenced to 25 years in prison in Belgium over his role in an attack on a high-speed Paris-bound train that left two passengers injured.

He was handed over to French authorities on the condition that he returned to serve his sentence in Belgium.

He offered apologies to victims on Monday, the last day of hearings.

Muhammed Usman, 29, and Adel Haddidi, 34 

Usman from Pakistan and Haddidi from Algeria were arrested in Greece as they travelled with two terrorists who went on to blow themselves up outside the national sports stadium in Paris.

The pair were attempting to disguise themselves as refugees in the mass of people heading from Syria to Europe via Turkey and intended to take part in the attacks on Paris, prosecutors said.

“I’m working on myself. In the future I would like to do something good with my life,” Haddidi said in his final statement.

Yassine Atar, 35 

He is the younger brother of the man presumed to have overseen the whole operation in Syria: Oussama Atar, a veteran terrorist.

Prosecutors detailed his meetings with key suspects and his family links to the Daesh cell in Brussels, as well as how a key to a hideout was found at his home.

“I hope you’ve understood that I have absolutely nothing to do with Oussama Atar and nothing to do with these attacks which I condemn firmly,” he said in his final statement.

The court heard earlier how Belgian authorities had granted a passport to his older brother in 2013 despite his known links to radical Islamism — a possible attempt to recruit him as an informer.

The older Atar is also on trial but is presumed dead in Syria or Iraq.

The ‘friends’ 

Five friends and acquaintances of Abdeslam and Abrini are on trial, charged over assistance they gave to the main suspects.

Mohammed Amri, 33, Hamza Attou, 28, and Ali Oulkadi, 37, went to fetch Abdeslam from Paris in the aftermath of the attacks, but denied knowing about his involvement.

Haddad Asufi, 36, and Abdellah Chouaa, 41, were tried for alleged help they gave to Bakkali and Abrini.

Others

Ali El Haddad Asufi, 36: a Belgian-Moroccan suspected of supplying weapons.

Farid Kharkhach, 39: a Belgian-Moroccan suspected of supplying fake identity papers.

Ahmad Alkhald, age unknown: also known as Omar Darif, a Syrian, presumed dead, accused of making the suicide belts.

Jean-Michel and Fabien Clain, 38 and 41: notorious terrorist brothers from southwest France who featured in a Daesh video claiming responsibility for the attacks. Presumed dead in Syria.

Ahmed Dahmani, 33: a friend of Abdeslam wanted for providing logistical help. In jail in Turkey.

Obeida Aref Dibo, age unknown: a Syrian Daesh member, presumed dead, thought to have been a planner.

KREMENCHUK, Ukraine — Russia vowed on Tuesday its assault on Ukraine would continue until Kyiv surrenders, as world leaders warned that Moscow would pay for its aggression.

The G-7 group of the world's most powerful democracies met in Germany to send a message that they remain united behind Ukraine's embattled government.

And, ahead of a key meeting of the NATO allies, US President Joe Biden and fellow leaders pledged military aid for Kyiv and economic pain for Moscow.

But President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin was unmoved, warning that Ukraine's forces' only option was to lay down their arms in the face of the Russian invasion.

"The Ukrainian side can stop everything before the end of today," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"An order for the nationalist units to lay down their arms is necessary," he said, adding that Kyiv had to fulfil a list of Moscow's demands.

'Everything burned' 

The consequences of Russia's four-month-old invasion were on display in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, where shaken civilians recounted on Monday's missile strike on a shopping mall.

"Everything burned, really everything, like a spark to a touchpaper. I heard people screaming. It was horror," witness Polina Puchintseva told AFP.

All that was left of the shopping centre — scene of at least 18 deaths — was charred debris, chunks of blackened walls and green lettering from a smashed store front.

Russia claims its missile salvo was aimed at an arms depot — but none of the civilians who talked to AFP knew of any weapons store in the neighbourhood.

And, outside Russia, the latest carnage sparked only Ukrainian fury and western solidarity.

"Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime," the G-7 leaders said in a statement, condemning the "abominable attack".

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky declared on his social media channels: "Only total insane terrorists, who should have no place on Earth, can strike missiles at civilian objects.

“Russia must be recognised as a state sponsor of terrorism. The world can and therefore must stop Russian terror,” he added.

At their summit in the German Alps, the G-7 leaders did not go so far as to brand Putin a terrorist — but they vowed that Russia, already under tough sanctions, would face more economic pain.

“The G-7 stands united in its support for Ukraine,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters.

“We will continue to keep up and drive up the economic and political costs of this war for President Putin and his regime.”

Oil price cap? 

Over the three days of their summit, the G-7 had announced several new measures to put the squeeze on Putin, including a plan to work towards a price cap on Russian oil.

The group also agreed to impose an import ban on Russian gold. At the same time, the G-7 powers heaped financial support on Ukraine, with aid now reaching $29.5 billion.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the West was “to give the Ukrainians the strategic endurance they need to try to shift the dial, to try to change the dynamic of the position”.

After the summit, with G-7 leaders who are also in NATO heading on to Madrid, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden would announce new long-term military deployments across Europe.

The Madrid NATO summit will also try to overcome Turkey’s objections to Sweden and Finland joining the military alliance, and Biden is to talk to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged NATO allies to show they were united.

“The message that should come out of Madrid is a message of unity and strength for member countries, as well as for those that wish to join and whose applications we are supporting,” Macron said.

Sweden and Finland, traditionally non-aligned militarily, asked to join NATO after Putin’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey accuses them of harbouring wanted Kurdish militants.

“We are a 70-year-old member of NATO. Turkey is not a country that randomly joined NATO,” Erdogan said, before setting off for Madrid and talks with his NATO, Swedish and Finnish counterparts.

“We will see what point they have reached... We do not want empty words. We want results.”

Meanwhile, with fierce artillery duels continuing in the eastern Donbas region, Ukrainian intelligence said 17 Ukrainians, mostly servicemen, had been freed in the sides’ latest prisoner exchange.

The United Nations said that 6.2 million people are now estimated to have been displaced within Ukraine, in addition to 5.26 million who have fled abroad.

“Ukraine now faces a brutality which we haven’t seen in Europe since the Second World War,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said as leaders began to gather in the Spanish capital.

An oligarch’s doubts 

Billionaire Russian industrialist Oleg Deripaska admitted in a rare Moscow press conference that the operation in Ukraine may have gone too far.

“Is it in Russia’s interest to destroy Ukraine? Of course not. That would be a colossal mistake,” he said.

After failing to capture Kyiv following their invasion in February, Russian troops have focused their campaign on seizing a swathe of eastern Ukraine, and have been gaining ground.