INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A Russian missile strike on a crowded mall in central Ukraine killed at least 18 people in what Group of Seven leaders branded "a war crime"
at a meeting in Germany where they looked to step up sanctions on Moscow.The leaders vowed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and those
responsible would be held to account for Monday's strike in the city of Kremenchuk, carried out during the shopping mall's busiest
hours."Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime," they said in a statement condemning the "abominable
attack."Ukraine accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians, with President Volodymyr Zelensky calling it "one of the most brazen
children ordinary civilians inside," said Zelensky, who earlier shared a video of the mall engulfed in flames with dozens of rescuers and a
fire truck outside.Dmytro Lunin, governor of the Poltava region where Kremenchuk is located, said Tuesday that 18 people were killed in the
Fifty-nine were wounded, according to the emergency services.In a separate attack Monday, Russian rockets killed at least eight civilians as
they were out collecting water in the eastern city of Lysychansk, said Lugansk region governor Sergiy Gaiday.Lysychansk has become the focus
of heavy Russian attacks following the fall of its twin city, Severodonetsk."Our defenders are holding the line, but the Russians are
turning the city into rubble..
the infrastructure is completely destroyed," Gaiday said on Telegram.After failing to capture Kyiv following their February invasion,
Russian troops have focused their campaign on seizing a swathe of eastern Ukraine, and have been gaining ground.A strike in Kharkiv, in
Ukraine's northeast, killed four people and wounded 19 others, including four children, authorities said.'Cruelty, barbarism'British Prime
Minister Boris Johnson, speaking from the G7 gathering in the Bavarian Alps, said the Kremenchuk attack demonstrated Putin's "depths of
cruelty and barbarism."US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the world was "horrified", while UN chief Antonio Guterres's office
condemned the strike as "totally deplorable."French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the attack as an "abomination."Diplomats said
Ukraine requested a Tuesday meeting on the strikes at the UN Security Council, where Russia wields veto power but has not been able to
prevent critical discussion of the invasion.United States President Joe Biden and his peers from the wealthy G7 nations are seeking to
tighten the economic screws on Moscow, even as soaring energy and food prices drive up global inflation."We will continue to provide
financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support and stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes," the G7 said in a statement on the
summit's second day.Zelensky, addressing the leaders virtually, had urged them to "intensify sanctions" to help end the war before the
bitter winter."We will continue to increase pressure on Putin," summit host German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in response
"This war has to come to an end."G7 leaders are discussing a price cap on Russian oil imports and sanctions targeting Russia's defense
sector.But European officials fear difficulty in implementation.To help bring down surging prices, France urged oil-producing nations to
raise output in an "exceptional manner" and Macron backed a return to the market of crude from Iran and Venezuela, both under US
Spain.Ukraine is again expected to dominate the agenda.NATO said Monday it would boost its high-readiness force from 40,000 to 300,000
troops, in what chief Jens Stoltenberg called "the biggest overhaul of our collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War."Moody's
ratings agency confirmed that Russia defaulted on foreign debt for the first time in a century after bond holders did not receive $100
million in interest payments.Russia has been hit by sweeping Western sanctions designed to choke off its access to the international
financial system.Moscow said Monday there were "no grounds to call this situation a default" as the payments did not reach creditors because
of western sanctions, not a shortage of funds.In the strategic eastern city of Sloviansk, a man's body still wearing one slipper lay in
Russians shell it from just a few kilometers away."How can I live? All the rooms are damaged, see?" said resident Tatiana Levchenko,
surveying her row of cracked and blown-out windows on the ground floor and shrapnel-scored wallpaper."Where will I go, all of Ukraine is
under fire! You see, there's nowhere to hide," added the 67-year-old.
