World leaders from the Nato defence alliance declare Russia a "direct threat" to their security at a summit in Madrid
Ukraine can count on the alliance "for as long as it takes", Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg says
Finland and Sweden will be invited to join and high-alert troops will be increased to 300,000 by next year, he says
The UK makes more troops available for Nato's eastern flank and Boris Johnson urges members to boost defence spending
Meanwhile, at least three people have died in a Russian missile strike on a residential building in the southern city of Mykolaiv
And Ukraine's president has called on the UN to recognise Russia as a terrorist state after Monday's strike on a shopping centre in Kremenchuk killed 18
Image source, EPAMore now from Jens Stoltenberg.
He says that sanctions imposed on Russia are the price worth paying for freedom.
The Nato chief acknowledged most people in the West were paying higher energy prices as a result but said an even higher price was being paid by Ukrainians.
The world would be more insecure if Putin won, Stoltenberg says, so it is in our interest to support Ukraine.
Image source, REURussia is using energy as a "weapon of coercion," Nato's secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has told reporters.
He's been speaking at an event at the alliance's summit which is getting under way in Madrid.
Stoltenberg says it was not obvious to everyone before the invasion of Ukraine that the high dependence of European allies on gas and oil imports from Russia would make those countries vulnerable.
And he says allies should also be aware of the risks of heavy dependency on Chinese resources for their infrastructure projects.
In a wide-ranging speech, Stoltenberg adds Nato is aiming to be carbon-neutral as an organisation by 2050.
Sophie Williams
Reporting from Kremenchuk
Emergency services have allowed us access to the inside of what’s left of the shopping centre here in Kremenchuk.
It’s hard even to tell where the shops might have been – the whole interior is gutted. The feeling of dust and the smell of the smoke is still quite intense, almost a day after the strike.
In one segment of the mall we walk through, you can see remnants of books on the floor, singed from the fire.
All that can be heard is the sound of machines working to clear the debris.
As I mentioned earlier, there are still a large number of emergency services at the scene, moving the rubble and searching for missing people.
At least 18 people are known to have died and there are currently 24 people in hospital, according to the head of the ministry of internal affairs.
Scorched books were visible scattered across the shopping mall floor
In London, the UK's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is speaking at a conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute, a defence and security think tank.
During his address, the government minister says it is important that investment in Britain's military continues to increase if there is any realistic chance of tackling threats not only from Russia - but from China and other countries too.
"We must always be ready to fight... because it is increasingly clear that [Russian] President Putin cannot be deterred by threat of punishment or the cost imposed on his people," he says.
Quote MessageAs [Russian Foreign] Minister Shoigu told me when I was in Moscow earlier this year, 'no one can suffer like the Russians'. There’s almost a perverse pride in that suffering and I believe that is what distinguishes us and our allies from Putin’s regime – we serve our people to protect and prevent suffering while they exploit innocent people’s suffering in service of imperialist ambitions."
After praising PM Boris Johnson for committing £24bn to the UK military at the end of 2020, Wallace says again how much the armed forces need more cash.
After all, he says, there is still a "very real danger Russia [could] attack wider Europe".
Sophie Williams
Reporting from Kremenchuk
Image source, PA MediaHere in Kremenchuk, we’ve been speaking to people on the ground.
A man who gave his name as Mykola remembers waking up in the ruins next to his wife.
“We tried to get out. I helped my wife and helped a girl on our way. I saw people lying around, some weren’t responding,” he said.
“The fire was getting bigger and I was walking on glass,” he added.
Russia's foreign minister has said the more weapons Western countries supply to Ukraine, the longer the conflict will last, according to Reuters.
Sergei Lavrov was speaking on a trip to Turkmenistan.
He also reportedly echoed earlier claims by Russia's defence ministry regarding Monday's fatal attack on a shopping centre in Kremenchuk - that its forces were targeting weapons near the centre, which was not in use.
As our Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg reported earlier, Russian authorities want the Russian people to believe the country's "special military operation" in Ukraine is the right thing to do.
Image source, PA MediaAfter wrapping up their summit in Germany, G7 leaders are dashing off to Madrid for a meeting of Nato
Here's a quick recap of the main developments so far today:
It's not just the G7 and Nato discussing the crisis around the invasion of Ukraine today.
The United Nations Security Council will also meet later to discuss Russian attacks against civilians following Monday's missile strike on the Kremenchuk shopping centre, the US ambassador to the UN says.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield described, external the attack as "absolutely sickening", adding "we must continue to hold Russia accountable".
Russia is among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which also includes the US, the UK, China and France.
It wields veto power but has not been able to prevent critical discussion of the invasion.
Frank Gardner
BBC News Security Correspondent
Image source, EPASecurity has been stepped up ahead of the Nato summit in Madrid
This Madrid summit is being called historic, critical and transformative.
Carefully laid plans for how this western military alliance will defend Europe have been turned upside down by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As Nato chief, Jens Stoltenberg has called for a major increase to the alliance's rapid response force. But meeting that target is fraught with difficulties.
Some members are questioning whether the West has the money, the manpower or the will to follow through on its ambition.
Finland and Sweden both want to join Nato, but so far Turkey has vetoed their application due to the presence of Kurdish activists living in those countries - individuals whom Turkey views as terrorists.
So beneath the outward show of unity at this summit there are clearly some tricky issues to be overcome.
Image source, MoDGeneral Sir Patrick Sanders
Britain must be prepared to act rapidly to prevent the spread of war in Europe, the new head of the Army says.
Likening the current conflict in Ukraine to the run-up to World War Two, General Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of the general staff, says Britain faces its "1937 moment".
Delivering a speech to the Royal United Services Institute think tank, Sanders has been laying out how he plans to mobilise the army, regulars, reservists and civilians in order to deter Russian aggression.
“Let me be clear: the British Army is not mobilising to provoke war, it is mobilising to prevent war.
“We’re living through a period of history as profound as the one our forebears did 80 years ago. And now, as then, our choices will have a disproportionate effect on the future. This is our 1937 moment."
In his first public engagement since taking up his new post earlier this month, Sanders says: “If we fail to deter, there are no good choices given the cost of a potential counterattack and the associated nuclear threat. We must therefore meet strength with strength from the outset and be unequivocally prepared to fight for Nato territory."
“This is the war that we are mobilising to prevent by preparing to win... And in doing so, it’s my hope that we never have to fight it."
It's not just the city of Kremenchuk, where the shopping centre was attacked, that is causing immmediate concern today in Ukraine.
The city of Lysychansk is "turning into rubble", officials in the region say, after a Russian missile attack killed eight civilians.
A total of 21 other people were injured in the attack as they gathered to collect drinking water.
Lugansk region governor Sergiy Gaiday says on Telegram: "Our defenders are holding the line, but the Russians are turning the city into rubble... the infrastructure is completely destroyed."
Lysychansk has become the focus of heavy Russian attacks following the fall of its twin city, Severodonetsk, at the weekend.
Alexander Rodnyansky, an adviser to Ukraine's President Zelensky, earlier told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Russia was "focusing all its troops" on progressing in the east, or the Donbas area.
He added he "wouldn’t exaggerate the type of success" Russia was having but there was a danger they would capture more territories in the region.
He said Ukraine needed more weapons as Russia was "using artillery to destroy cities and take over the ruins".
Elsewhere on the battlefield, a strike in Kharkiv has killed four people and wounded 19 others, including four children, says Oleg Synegubov, head of Kharkiv's regional administration.
"The enemy is deliberately terrorising the civilian population," Synegubov has said in a statement on Telegram.
Image source, .
Jenny Hill
BBC News, at the G7 in Bavaria
The Russian strike on a shopping centre in Kremenchuk cast a sombre shadow over the last day of the G7 summit; a reminder perhaps for the leaders here of just what, or rather who, they’re dealing with.
Vladimir Putin, they said, would be held accountable (though exactly how remains unclear) but they’ve pledged to not rest until Russia ends its war.
To that end, they’ve promised to support Ukraine in its defence, promising more money, more humanitarian aid, more weapons and military support (although there is little detail of exactly what will be given and when).
They’ve promised too, to coordinate further sanctions, though some proposals, including a potential cap on the price of Russian oil, appear to have failed to gain consensus support, with leaders agreeing only to ‘explore’ the measure in their final statement.
Leaders are painfully conscious of the global consequences of the war – not least because it’s exacerbating a cost of living crisis which is hitting their citizens hard – so pledges to secure energy and global food supplies were unsurprising.
The war in Ukraine has dominated what, in different times, would have been a summit focused on climate change and tackling global inequality.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz got a pledge to establish his proposed ‘climate club’ (which would see countries sign up to targets in return for economic support and incentives) by the end of the year but no commitment from each G7 country to join in.
Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editor
Yet again we see Russia trying to deny that it’s been striking civilian targets, and trying to shift the blame for what has happened away from Russia and onto Ukraine and the West.
Its story will be derided outside of Russia but pushed and promoted here in the state media.
Russia’s official version of events in Kremenchuk is that its air force carried out a precision strike on hangars containing weaponry and ammunition supplied by the West to Ukraine. According to the Russians, there was a fire which spread to a shopping centre, which was not in use.
That version of events will not convince anyone in the G7 or the United Nations.
But it will be promoted in Russia because the authorities here want the Russian people to continue to believe that what Russia is doing with this so-called special military operation (as the Kremlin calls it) is the right thing to do.
The one phrase you hear constantly on Russian television is this is a just cause - and the authorities want Russians to believe that.
Sophie Williams
Reporting from Kremenchuk
While the world's leaders meet and talk about what to do about Ukraine, on the ground, people are trying to come to terms with the attack on Monday on a shopping centre in Kremenchuk.
Here at the site of the shopping centre, a memorial has been set up to those who have died in the missile strike.
People are leaving candles and flowers, with many weeping as they look over at the ruins of the shopping mall.
One person tells me that she knows a few people who were working at the pharmacy at the time of the strike.
"My friends there are all young, under 30," she says.
The leaders have also been looking at what to do about the hold-up in Ukrainian grain exports and the threat of a global food crisis.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says G7 leaders are working on finding a way of letting Ukraine export its grain.
Johnson says "the key message the world needs to hear" is that western sanctions are not stopping grain from leaving Ukraine - Russian President Vladimir Putin is.
"As long as Putin is holding that grain hostage it is going to be very difficult," Johnson says.
Image source, AFPBack now to German Chancellor Scholz, who's also been making concluding remarks after the G7.
He stresses "countries can determine their own fate" and should not be "attacked by their neighbours".
He condemns Monday's strike on a shopping centre in Kremenchuk, which he says is "yet again proof that Putin is keeping up his brutal aggression against the population" in Ukraine.
Referring to ongoing Western sanctions, Scholz continues: "There is only one way out: for Putin to accept that his plans in Ukraine will not succeed."
He says G7 countries will consider a price cap on Russian oil, and hope to tackle soaring energy prices triggered by Moscow's invasion.
He adds $4.5bn (£3.7bn) will be spent on tackling global hunger, made worse by the Russian war in Ukraine.
More from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson now. He's talking about the Russian missile attack in Kremenchuck.
He says news of Monday's attack broke while the G7 leaders were in session.
"You could feel the mood of the meeting become yet more sombre," he says.
People are shocked at what Putin is capable of doing, Johnson says, saying this was "utter barbarism".
"If anything, it helped those of us who are making the case for helping to protect the Ukrainians, to get that message across to those people who are swing voters," he adds.
The G7 has shown unity and determination to support Ukraine, Johnson says.
G7 'shocked' by Russia's Kremenchuk attack, says Johnson
Also heading away from the G7 summit and towards the Nato meeting in Madrid is UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In his comments to reporters he says he does not think the UK will end up at war with Russia.
"I don't think it will come to that," he says, speaking in Bavaria.
"Clearly we're working very hard to make sure that we confine this to Ukraine."
Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent
With every Russian missile that slams into Ukraine’s towns and cities, western resolve to help defend that country increases – at least on paper.
As Nato leaders prepare to fly in for a crucial summit here in Madrid, the alliance’s leader, Jens Stoltenberg, announced what he called "a fundamental shift in Nato’s deterrence and defence".
No more beating about the bush about who is the enemy. This summit, he said, would make it clear that Russia was the most significant and direct threat to western security.
So now, forward defences in eastern Europe will be strengthened, Nato’s rapid response force will be dramatically increased to more than 300,000 troops and the summit will agree a Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine.
But Nato countries have also come in for criticism from Ukraine for being too slow to send the long-range weapons it needs to hold back the advancing Russians.
And from inside the alliance, Estonia’s prime minister has accused Nato of not doing nearly enough to deter Russian aggression until it was too late.
Russia's missile strike on the shopping centre in Kremenchuck is a war crime, French President Emmanuel Macron says.
He's speaking as the G7 summit in Germany concludes. Macron says Russia must not win the war, and pledges to support Ukraine for as long as necessary.
Russia's invasion is far from over but reconstruction is under way, he adds.
He says Russia's aggression has one aim - Ukraine's surrender. That's something we heard from the Kremlin in Russia's comments earlier today.
Nobody thinks the war will be over in the next week or month, Macron says, but he's hoping it will conclude by the end of the year.