Today, October 11, the leaders of the G-7 group of the world’s most developed economies will hold an emergency meeting to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine, following coordinated Russian missile strikes on civilians targets in cities across the country.
Top officials in the United States, European Union and at the United Nations expressed shock and horror Monday over the strikes, which had killed at least 20 people and injured approx. 100 more.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also expected to speak at the meeting.
President Joe Biden said the attacks “once again demonstrate the utter brutality†of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “shocked†by the attacks, saying through a spokesman that they represented an escalation of the war.
In addition to the human toll, the strikes damaged significant parts of Ukraine’s energy grid, prompting the nation’s energy ministry to announce it would halt exports of electricity to the European Union starting Tuesday.
Russia’s missile strikes came just two days after a blast damaged part of Russia’s Kerch Bridge, the only connection between Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
