Russia-Ukraine crisis live updates | Dozens missing after strike on Ukraine mall; Russia presses attacks on east

Here are the latest developments from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict on June 29, 2022

Dozens of people were still missing on Wednesday after a Russian missile strike on a shopping mall in central Ukraine two days ago that killed at least 18, while a regional governor said the situation was “very difficult” in Lysychansk in the east. Ukraine said Russia had killed civilians deliberately when it pounded the mall in Kremenchuk. Moscow said the mall was empty and it had struck a nearby arms depot.

“Russian missile hit this location precisely. De-li-be-ra-te-ly... It is clear that Russian killers received those exact coordinates,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an evening video address. “They wanted to kill as many people.” Authorities said around 36 people were still missing.

Mr. Zelensky accused Russia of being a “terrorist state” at the United Nations on Tuesday, prompting Russia to charge that he was using a Security Council address as a “remote PR campaign” to solicit more Western weapons. He pushed the Security Council to expel Moscow from the United Nations and to create a tribunal to investigate actions of the Russian military in Ukraine. However, Russia is a council veto power and can shield itself from any such action.

“Russia does not have the right to take part in discussing and voting in regard to the war in Ukraine, which is unprovoked and simply colonialist of the part of Russia,” Mr. Zelensky told the council. “I urge you to deprive the delegation of the terrorist state of its powers.”

G7 leaders urged China on Tuesday to uphold the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes by pressing Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine and to drop its “expansive maritime claims” in the South China Sea.

In a communique concluding their three-day summit in the Bavarian Alps, the G7 leaders also said they were gravely concerned by the human rights situation in China and that they were consulting on collective approaches to challenges posed by non-market economic policies.  - Reuters

Russia-installed officials in Ukraine’s Kherson region said their security forces had detained Kherson city mayor Ihor Kolykhayev on Tuesday after he refused to follow Moscow’s orders, while a Kherson local official said the mayor was abducted.