Ukraine updates: 15 killed in wave of Russian strikes

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met at the G7 Summit, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

The two leaders agreed to advance the next stage of military support, emphasizing that a strong Ukraine is essential to ensuring long-term peace.

Starmer and Zelenskyy discussed increasing economic pressure on Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

"They agreed there should be no place to hide for those who fund Putin’s war machine," the statement added.

They also agreed to hold the next Coalition of the Willing meeting in the coming weeks.

The US has blocked a "strong" statement on Ukraine that the Group of Seven leaders aimed to release at the end of their summit, news agencies reported, citing unnamed officials from summit host Canada as saying.

The statement would have condemned Russia. But Washington argued it wanted to preserve the ability to negotiate.

"Basically no statement because the Americans wanted to water it down," the French AFP news agency quoted a Canadian official as saying. The official added that the G7's other six members were in agreement on the "strong language" used in the statement.

The US State Department has confirmed a US citizen was killed in Russia's massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv earlier Tuesday. 

Ukrainian authorities say at least 15 people were killed, and search and rescue operations continue in one collapsed apartment building. 

Russia launched over 400 drones and 30 missiles in what has been called one of the largest attacks on the Ukrainian capital since Moscow launched its invasion in 2022. 

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce condemned the Russian attack.

"We are aware of last night's attack on Kyiv, which resulted in numerous casualties, including the tragic death of a US citizen."

"We condemn those strikes and extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected," Bruce told reporters at a regular news briefing.

All Russian gas imports will be banned in the European Union by the end of 2027 under new draft laws laid out by the bloc's executive on Tuesday.

The EU has been struggling to reduce its dependence on Russian gas since President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian imports made up 19% of EU gas supplies in 2024 — down from 45% before the war. But Kyiv complains these remaining purchases help Moscow fund its attacks on Ukraine.

"We can no longer keep letting ourselves be blackmailed, letting ourselves be subject to Putin weaponizing energy," EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen told DW in Strasbourg.

Now, all new gas import contracts will be gradually phased out under the new plans.

Unlike past EU restrictions on Russian coal and oil imports, the EU's executive is using its trade policy powers — not formal sanctions — to push the new restrictions forward.

This bypasses the need for unanimous backing from EU states, and means bloc members Hungary and Slovakia will not be able to veto the new rules. The two landlocked states argue the gas import ban will endanger their energy security.

Jorgensen told DW the bloc would not consider lifting the ban in the event of a peace deal in Ukraine.

"It's not very rational or sustainable to be dependent on any country on the planet, and certainly not if that country is your enemy," he said.

The EU energy chief would not commit to a timeline for extending the ban to include Russian nuclear fuel exports.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday said that booting Russia from the then G8 club of industrialized nations was the right move after Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The chancellor spoke to Germany's Welt TV a day after US President Donald Trump told the G7 summit that it was a "very big mistake" to remove Russia from the group.

Trump had suggested that Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine would not have happened had Russia still been in.

The US president's stance on Ukraine is in contrast to other G7 leaders, including Germany's Merz, who unequivocally back Ukraine, while making it clear that Russia is the aggressor in the conflict.

"We are not sitting here in this format with warlords and not with war criminals, which is why [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has no place at this table," Merz said.

Merz's comments seemed in direct response to Trump's remarks on Monday, during which he said that Putin is "no longer at the table, so it makes life more complicated."

Trump left the summit early on Monday evening, before the group was due to discuss the war in Ukraine on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The United Kingdom announced it was ramping up economic pressure on Russia with fresh sanctions aimed at 30 Russian finance, military and energy targets.

"The new sanctions crack down further on Putin's shadow fleet, targeting 20 of his oil tankers," a statement from Downing Street said.

"These sanctions strike right at the heart of Putin's war machine, choking off his ability to continue his barbaric war in Ukraine," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

"We know that our sanctions are hitting hard, so while Putin shows total disregard for peace, we will not hesitate to keep tightening the screws," Starmer added.

The UK has sanctioned over 2,300 individuals, entities and vessels since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The European Commission has proposed a plan whereby the EU will gradually and effectively stop the import of Russian gas and oil by the end of 2027.

In a statement, the Commission said that it would end the bloc's exposure to market and economic security risks because of there being dependency on Russian energy.

"Russia has repeatedly attempted to blackmail us by weaponising its energy supplies. We have taken clear steps to turn off the tap and end the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe for good," said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The Commission said under the plan, imports under short-term Russian gas deals would start being banned from as early as June 17, 2026.

Imports under existing long-term Russian contracts would be banned from January 1, 2028.

Russia said there should soon be "an understanding" for terms to continue talks with Ukraine, state-run news agency TASS reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"In the coming days, it will be time to reach an understanding of possible terms for continuing this work [negotiations with Ukraine]," TASS quoted Peskov as saying at a news briefing on the question of whether Moscow and Kyiv planned to agree to a new round of talks.

There have been two rounds of talks in Istanbul that have resulted in prisoner exchanges but a deal to secure peace has proven to be elusive.

Saturday saw the fourth exchange in a week of prisoners of war after an agreement earlier in June in Istanbul.

The bodies of fighters from either side have also been repatriated.

A US company that manufactures machines used to build prosthetic limbs is on a mission to help Ukrainian veterans by donating life-changing equipment.

But tariffs now stand in the way of helping Ukraine’s wounded.

Russian news agencies report that North Korea will send thousands of military construction workers and sappers to help rebuild the western Kursk region, following Ukraine's incursion.

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted security chief Sergei Shoigu as saying that North Korea would send "a division of builders, two military brigades — 5,000 people" as well as 1,000 deminers to the region.

Shoigu is currently heading up Russia's Security Council and was formerly Russia's defense minister.

He previously visited Pyongyang on March 21 and more recently June 4.

Russia's state newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, reported that Shoigu and Kim were holding wide-ranging security consultations on Tuesday.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said that while the world was watching the escalating situation developing in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin was continuing to bomb Ukraine.

The foreign office said that Russia was using diplomacy "merely as a facade" and that Putin was not interested in finding a solution to the war in Ukraine.

"Over a dozen dead in Kyiv alone show that Russia is using diplomacy merely as a facade. Putin doesn't want a solution, he wants capitulation," the Foreign Ministry said on X.

"We will continue to increase the pressure," the ministry said.

A new study has revealed how young women, mainly from Africa, have been being exploited by a program purportedly aimed at training and employing foreign nationals in Russia.

Alabuga Start offers female applicants from poorer countries the prospect of a well-paid career.

For most of them, the dream is shattered shortly after their arrival in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a large industrial area in the Russian region of Tatarstan.

Some of those affected have shared their stories with DW. Read more here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is in Canada for one-on-one talks with world leaders at the G7 summit, said the Russian attacks on Ukraine "are pure terrorism."

Zelenskyy said "the whole world, the United States, and Europe must finally respond as a civilized society responds to terrorists."

"Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on," Zelenskyy said on X.

"It is wrong when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it. We are in contact with all partners at every possible level to ensure an appropriate response. It is the terrorists who must feel the pain, not innocent peaceful people," the Ukrainian leader said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 15 people have been killed and 75 people have been injured following a large-scale Russian attack.

"Kyiv has faced one of the most horrific attacks. Also, overnight, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv and Kyiv regions were attacked," Zelenskyy said in a post on X. 

The president said there were ongoing efforts to rescue an unknown number of people trapped beneath the rubble of a residential building in the capital.

Ukraine's military said that more than 440 drones and 32 missiles were used in the overnight bombardment.

The Kyiv City Military Administration said in a statement Tuesday that "the nature of the damage is direct hits on residential buildings. Rockets — from the upper floors to the basement."

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that a US citizen had been killed in the attack after being struck by shrapnel.

Klymenko told reporters at the scene that thirty apartments were destroyed in a single residential block after it was hit by a missile.

"We have 27 locations that were attacked by the enemy. We currently have over 2,000 people working there, rescuers, police, municipal
services and doctors," Klymenko said of one of the attacks.

Ukraine's president had been due to meet US President Donald Trump  in Canada on Tuesday but the White House said Trump would be returning to Washington  as the situation between Israel and Iran escalates.

State media in Russia has reported that Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu is in North Korea for talks with leader Kim Jong Un.

Russia's Tass news agency said Shoigu was on an unspecified "special" mission from Russia's president.

Shoigu, "arrived in Pyongyang on special orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin to exchange with North Korean officials in the framework of putting in place the agreements reached during his last visit on June 4," a council statement was quoted as saying.

North Korean has supplied Russia with thousands of soldiers as Moscow continues its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The countries have strengthened military cooperation with a sweeping military deal signed last year which included a mutual defense clause when Putin made a rare visit to the reclusive regime.