At a time when Western countries intensified their officials' visits to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to show support for it, the Group of Seven countries announced a ban or gradual cancellation of Russian oil imports.

Whereas, Moscow declared that it could destroy NATO countries within 30 minutes, the day a nuclear war broke out.

The White House announced that "the Group of Seven of all its members pledged today to ban or gradually eliminate imports of Russian oil."

A statement issued by the US presidency said that this decision "will deal a severe blow to the main artery that feeds (Vladimir) Putin's economy and deprive him of the revenues he needs to finance his war."

But the statement does not clarify the obligations of each of the members of the Group of Seven, which includes Germany - the group's chair this year - Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.

The Group of Seven held its third meeting this year via video link with the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The meeting was held on the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe on May 8 and on the eve of the military parade on May 9 in Russia to celebrate the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany.

It is noteworthy that the ban on importing oil and gas from Russia has been a point of contention among the European Union countries since the start of sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine.

On Sunday, European Union member states continued intense negotiations to impose an embargo on Russian oil, under increasing pressure on them to take a decision in this regard.

In a related context, Washington announced on Sunday the imposition of a new package of sanctions on Russia that affected the Russian media, the wealthy of Russia, and the advisory and accounting services in which the Americans and British are pioneers.

And the United States imposed a new ban on the export of American products to Russia, which included a whole range of goods from bulldozers to ventilation systems to heaters.

On Sunday, it also announced that it would impose visa restrictions on 2,600 Russian and Belarusian personalities, as well as impose sanctions on officials of Sberbank and Gazprombank.

Britain had preempted the summit by declaring its intention to provide one billion six hundred thousand US dollars in military support and aid to Ukraine.


In a statement, the British Treasury described this pledge as the highest rate of British military spending on the conflict since the height of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, as it put it.

I'm in Ukraine with @cafreeland and @melaniejoly today.

We're here to show our support for Ukraine and its people.

Our message to President @ZelenskyyUa and Ukrainians is this: Canada will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine.

More to come on our visit.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 8, 2022

Support visits

Today, Kyiv witnessed many visits by Western officials in an attempt to show support for Ukraine and the West's standing with it in the face of Russia. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in the capital, Kyiv, on an unannounced visit. A number of local officials.

German Parliament Speaker Beryl Pas also met with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Perel is the highest-ranking German official to visit the Ukrainian capital since the beginning of the Russian war on Ukraine.

During his talks with the German official, Zelensky expressed his hope that Berlin would continue to support Ukraine, especially in the file of its accession to the European Union.

In the same context, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyal said that he discussed with the Speaker of the German Parliament providing his country with weapons and imposing sanctions on Russia.

For her part, Bass stressed that Germany stands firmly with Ukraine and strongly supports its accession to the European Union.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Blankovic was also a guest of the Ukrainian President and held a press conference in which Zelensky said that eleven million people had fled their homes because of the war, and that Ukraine had to rebuild its economy.

The Ukrainian president praised Croatia's support for his country in its bid to join the European Union, adding that Kyiv has proven that it can unite Europe.

Norwegian Parliament Speaker Masoud Qarakhani also visited Kyiv and met his Ukrainian counterpart Ruslan Stefanchuk.

In an unannounced visit, US First Lady Jill Biden visited Ukraine and met her Ukrainian counterpart Olena Zelensky at a school near the Slovak border.

"I wanted to come on Mother's Day," Jill Biden said. "I think it's important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop, that this war is brutal, and that the people of the United States stand with the Ukrainian people."

In the context of Western support for Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that he had discussed with his American counterpart Anthony Blinken coordinating what he described as steps to bring Ukraine closer to victory.

In his tweet, Kuleba added that he discussed with Blinken ways to overcome the disruption of Ukrainian food exports and ensure global food security, as he put it.


Russian threat

On the other hand, Dmitriy Rogozin, Director of the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, said that Moscow needs only 30 minutes to destroy NATO countries in the event of a nuclear war between the two sides.

Rogozin noted that they should prevent this from happening, because the consequences of mutual nuclear strikes would negatively affect the state of the planet.

This calls for, according to him, achieving a victory over what he called the most powerful enemy, economically and militarily, using traditional fighting methods.

Rogozin warned that Ukraine's existence as a state independent of Russia would inevitably turn it into a state hostile to Moscow, and a springboard for Western aggression against the Russian people.

He stressed that the Russian military operation in Ukraine exceeds its moral and geographical borders, considering it a war for truth and Russia's right to exist as a united and independent state, as he put it.

Field developments

On the field level, Svyatoslav Balamar, deputy commander of the "Azov Battalion" of the Ukrainian army, which is entrenched in the Azovstal industrial complex in the city of Mariupol, said that the Russian forces continue their attacks on the complex, which witnessed Russian raids at night and in the morning.

Palamar added that their forces need urgent support from the Ukrainian government and a third party to ensure a ceasefire, the evacuation of the wounded and the recovery of the dead from the besieged compound.

In the same context, the officer in the Ukrainian intelligence service Ilya Samoylenko stressed that "surrender is not an option because our lives do not matter to Russia. Leaving us alive does not matter to them."

"All our supplies are limited. We have water left. We have ammunition left. We will carry our weapons. We will fight until the best outcome of this situation," he added in a video press conference from the basements of the industrial site.

"We, the soldiers of the Mariupol garrison, are witnesses to the war crimes committed by Russia, the Russian army. We are the witnesses to that," Samoylenko, who spoke in Ukrainian and sometimes in English, added at the press conference.


Regarding the situation in the city of Mariupol and the besieged Azovstal complex, Donetsk separatists said that 145 civilians were evacuated from the city of Mariupol to the town of "Bizimnoy", which is under their control.


The separatists in Donetsk also announced their control of two towns in the Volnovakha region, after fighting with Ukrainian forces.

In Lugansk, the separatists declared control of the town of "Svetlichnaya", which they said was one of the most fortified towns for the Ukrainian forces, south of Severodonetsk.

They also broadcast pictures that they said were of the battles waged by their forces in the forests near the city of "Severodonetsk", the last city controlled by the Ukrainian army in the province.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian forces announced that they were continuing their counterattack east of the city of Kharkiv, and that they had taken control of a number of villages, rescued dozens of trapped civilians, and responded to the artillery and missile shelling of the Russian forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation in his country as difficult and dangerous in various regions, with fighting intensifying on a number of fronts, as he put it.

And earlier, the governor of the Ukrainian province of Lugansk, Serhiy Haiday, suggested that 60 people were killed in a Russian air raid on a school in the eastern province of the country.

Haiday said, in a statement via Telegram, that the air strike took place yesterday, Saturday, and caused a fire in the school located in the village of "Yogorovka", which was put out about four hours after it broke out.

Meanwhile, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said that his forces had taken control of most of the districts of the strategic city of Popasnaya, west of Lugansk.

And the Chechen president's account on Telegram published pictures, which he said were of Chechen fighters within the Russian army fighting alongside the Lugansk forces inside Popasnaya.

It is noteworthy that Chechen fighters are fighting alongside Russian forces in the battles in southern and western Ukraine.

In a related context, Kyiv accused Russia of flagrantly violating its commitments, undermining global security, and showing contempt for a rules-based world order.

In a statement, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that Russia openly threatens the European Union and international food security;

By stealing Ukrainian grain, closing Ukrainian ports, and threatening agriculture.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyal said that the world should use the experience of World War II, to stop the war in the heart of Europe today

In a statement issued by his office on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation commemorated by Ukraine, Shimhal indicated that it is already clear that Russia has no plans to stop its war on Ukraine, and asked who will be the next role.


war crimes

The British Foreign Office has expressed shock at the recent Russian strike on a school in the eastern Ukrainian province of Lugansk, and considered it a "war crime".

"Deeply shocked by the recent Russian attack on a school in Lugansk that killed innocent people who were sheltering from bombing," Secretary of State Liz Truss said in a tweet. "


The deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure amounts to war crimes."

The US delegate to the United Nations, Linda Thomas Greenfield, expressed the same position, considering that "itself is on the list of state sponsors of terrorism after targeting civilians," noting that it is not necessary "to include it in this list."

Greenfield asserted in an interview with CNN that "Russia isolated itself at the international level and became a pariah state."

She explained that her country would continue to "work with Ukraine and others to document evidence of war crimes."