Russian missiles hit residential buildings in Kyiv hours after Zelensky addressed G20

Russia today fired a wave of missiles at cities across Ukraine, just hours after President Zelensky called on G20 leaders to pressure Russia to end the war.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least three rockets hit residential buildings in Kiev, while explosions were also reported in Zhytomyr, Lviv and Kharkiv.

It came just hours after Zelensky – speaking via video link from Kiev – told world leaders he is ready to end the war provided Russia withdraws all troops from all territories it currently occupies.

Lavrov – who later spoke at the same summit – accused the West of waging a “hybrid war” in Ukraine and accused Kiev of “prolonging” the conflict, without citing Russia’s own involvement in the fighting.

“There is an attack on the capital. “According to preliminary information, two residential buildings were hit in the Pechersk district,” Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

“Several missiles were shot down over Kiev by air defense systems. Medics and rescue workers are at the scene of the strikes.”

A little later he added: “Another hit in the Pechersk district. Multi-storey building.”

Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said the attack was in response to the president addressing the G20 and stepping up pressure on Russia to stop his attacks.

“Does anyone seriously think the Kremlin really wants peace? It wants obedience. But in the end, terrorists always lose,” Yermak said.

Russian forces have been targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine in recent weeks, launching barrages of missiles and sending swarms of drones.

About a third of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been knocked out in the attacks, which, like winter strikes, have caused power outages across the country.

Kiev was last attacked by Russian troops almost a month ago, on October 17.

Russia faced growing diplomatic pressure on Tuesday to end the war in Ukraine, as G20 allies and critics lamented the painful global impact of nearly nine months of conflict.

A draft communiqué obtained by AFP showed that the world’s 20 leading economies came together to condemn the effects of the war, but were still divided over the allocation of blame.

The summit has shown that even Russia’s allies have little patience with a conflict that has inflated global food and energy prices and raised the specter of nuclear war.

Risking diplomatic isolation, Russia was forced to admit that the “war in Ukraine” – which Moscow refuses to call a war – has “had a negative impact on the global economy.”

It also agreed that “the use or threat of using nuclear weapons” is “unacceptable” after President Vladimir Putin made such threats for months.

The embattled Russian leader has skipped the summit and stayed home to deal with a string of embarrassing defeats on the battlefield and a tough campaign that threatens the future of his regime.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, just back from a visit to liberated Kherson, rubbed salt into Russia’s wounds and held an impassioned video call to G20 leaders.

Zelensky told leaders from China’s Xi Jinping to America’s Joe Biden that they could “save thousands of lives” by pushing for a Russian withdrawal.

“I am convinced that now is the time when Russia’s destructive war must and can be stopped,” he said, wearing his now signature army green T-shirt.

Putin’s deputy, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose preparation for the summit was disrupted by two hospital checks for an undiagnosed condition, remained in the room during Zelensky’s speech, diplomatic sources said.

His most notable diplomatic victory was an admission in the communiqué that while “most members” of the G20 condemned Putin’s invasion, “there were different views and different assessments.”

Leaders must now sign the final text before the summit ends on Wednesday.

“All the problems lie with the Ukrainian side, which categorically refuses negotiations and puts forward terms that are clearly unrealistic,” Lavrov told reporters.

The foreign minister had a dinner with leaders before leaving on Tuesday.

The United States and its allies used the summit to expand the coalition against the Russian invasion and counter Moscow’s claims of an East against West war.

Many “see the Russian war in Ukraine as the source of immense economic and humanitarian suffering in the world,” a senior US official said.

Russia’s G20 allies China, India and South Africa refrain from public criticism of Putin’s war, and the draft joint statement is riddled with diplomatic nonsense and linguistic gymnastics.

But it gives a growing sense of the global impact of the war.

G20 members Argentina and Turkey are among the countries hardest hit by global food inflation, but there was hardly a country around the table that was unaffected.

“The war affects everyone,” said Argentina’s Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero.

“In the Northern Hemisphere the merchants broker lethal arms sales, but in the Southern Hemisphere food is expensive or scarce – what kills is not bullets or rockets, but poverty and hunger.”

There was also a hint of growing Chinese unease about Russia’s prosecution of the war when Presidents Xi and Biden met late Monday.

“It is clear that the Russians are very isolated,” said a Western official. “I think some countries were involved with Russia, but… I didn’t see any gestures of great solidarity.”