Russia demands Ukraine surrender
Russia vowed yesterday its assault on Ukraine would continue until Kyiv surrenders, as world leaders warned that Moscow would pay for its aggression.
The G7 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.
The consequences of Russia's four-month-old invasion were on display in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, where shaken civilians recounted 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 and 36 missing-- 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.
"Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime," the G7 leaders said in a statement, condemning the "abominable attack".
At their summit in the German Alps, the 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 G7 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."
British military leaders warned yesterday that UK armed forces must "mobilise" in response to the threat posed by Russia, with the army's new chief invoking the Allies' struggle against Nazi Germany.
Meanwhile, Moscow has stepped up shelling of Kharkiv, where Russian troops were pushed back in a counter-offensive in May.
Russian forces are also trying to storm Lysychansk, across the Siverskyi Donets River from Severodonetsk, which would complete their capture of Luhansk province, one of two eastern regions Moscow aims to conquer on behalf of separatist proxies.
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.
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