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Live: From G7 to NATO, Ukraine at the center of diplomatic marathon

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World leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden are due on Tuesday to leave the Group of Seven meeting in Germany and head to Spain for a NATO summit. The G7 leaders issued a statement condemning Russia’s deadly attack on a Ukrainian shopping centre on Monday as a war crime. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments. All times are Paris time, GMT+2.

09:58am: G7 leaders agree on push to ban import of Russian gold

G7 leaders have agreed to push for a ban on imports of Russian gold as part of efforts to tighten the sanctions squeeze on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, an EU official said on Tuesday.

Britain, the United States, Japan and Canada agreed at the start of the G7 summit on Sunday that they would ban imports of newly mined or refined Russian gold, while the European Union expressed some reservations.

09:26am: Moody’s says Russia defaulted on debt

Moody’s ratings agency has confirmed that Russia defaulted on foreign debt for the first time in a century after bond holders did not receive interest payments.

The missed payments follow a series of unprecedented Western sanctions that have increasingly isolated Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

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“On 27 June, holders of Russia’s sovereign debt had not received coupon payments on two eurobonds worth $100 million by the time the 30-calendar-day grace period expired, which we consider an event of default under our definition,” Moody’s said, noting: “Further defaults on future coupon payments are likely.”

Moscow said Monday there were “no grounds to call this situation a default” as the payments did not reach creditors due to the “the actions of third parties”.

06:43am: G7 denounces Russian strike on mall as ‘war crime’, death toll rises

The Group of Seven leaders have branded the Russian air strike which hit a crowded shopping mall in the city of Kremenchuk in central Ukraine as a war crime.

“Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime,” they said in a statement condemning Monday’s “abominable attack”. The leaders vowed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and those responsible would be held to account for the strike.

Ukraine accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians, with President Volodymyr Zelensky calling it “one of the most brazen terrorist acts in European history” in his evening broadcast posted on Telegram.

Dmytro Lunin, governor of the Poltava region where Kremenchuk is located, on Tuesday said the death toll had risen to 18 people.

The summit of the G7 – which comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – ends Tuesday and will be immediately followed by a NATO meeting in Spain.

02:07am: Russian opposition politician detained – sources

Prominent Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was detained in Moscow on Monday, a lawyer for opposition figures and a Russian journalist said on their social media accounts.

Irina Babloyan, a journalist and a host at the now-defunct Ekho Moskvy radio station, said Yashin was detained while the two were walking together.

"I was walking with my friend, Ilya Yashin, in the park … The police came and took Ilya away," Babloyan said on the Telegram messaging app.

Lawyer Vadim Prokhorov, who has represented many Russian opposition figures, also said Yashin was in police custody for the alleged administrative violation of disobeying a police officer

01:40am: Putin promises Bolsonaro to maintain supply of fertilisers

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday promised his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro that Russia "is committed" to maintaining its delivery of much-needed fertilisers to the South American agricultural giant.

Speaking in Brasilia, Bolsonaro said the two leaders had discussed "food security" and "energy insecurity" by telephone without giving more details.

In its own statement on the conversation, the Kremlin said Putin "stressed that Russia is committed to carry out its obligations to guarantee the uninterrupted delivery of Russian fertilisers to Brazilian farmers."

The statement added that Putin asked for "the restoration of the architecture of free commerce of food products and fertilisers that have collapsed due to Western sanctions" against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

01:14am: Russian strike death toll rises to 16

The Russian missile strike on a crowded mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk killed at least 16 people, the head of emergency services said early Tuesday, sparking international outrage.

"As of now, we know of 16 dead and 59 wounded, 25 of them hospitalised. The information is being updated," Kruk said on Telegram.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)

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