G7 leaders pledge 'unwavering support' to Ukraine, including boosting air defense systems

Freed from a Russian penal colony and back on American soil, WNBA star Brittney Griner got her first taste of a return to normal life at a Texas military facility over the weekend.

The Olympic gold medalist and basketball superstar arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio Friday and is now staying with her wife, Cherelle Griner, in a residential environment on the base — one that her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, decorated with a Christmas tree.

For Griner — who spent nearly 10 months in detention in Russia — “normal” has meant indulging in her favorites: a Dr Pepper soda, the first drink she had in the airplane hangar after landing.

Members of Griner’s family have visited her off and on for hours, bringing some San Antonio barbecue for her to enjoy.

The athlete has been eating far more nutritious food and supplements compared with her time in detention, Colas said. “Her energy level was really high,” she added.

Griner also got a haircut to clean up her “Russian fade,” as her friends and family jokingly call it, Colas said.

Griner’s long, signature deadlocks had been cut while in captivity. Griner continuously battled the flu while detained because her hair kept freezing and she was unable to dry it, Colas said.

At the Texas military base, Griner hit the basketball court for the first time since she was imprisoned. Her first move was a dunk.

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Heavy shelling and artillery fire were reported in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, a Ukrainian military official said on Telegram Tuesday.

Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said grad missiles and heavy artillery were fired at the communities of Nikopol, Chervonohryhorivka and Marhanets. No casualties were reported.

"Seven attacks and more than 50 enemy shells on peaceful towns and villages. Russians terrorized Nikopol district all night long," he said.

Power lines and buildings including homes were damaged in Nikopol, which sits across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. 

In Chervonohryhorivka, power lines were damaged along with more than 10 houses.

Russia will continue targeting Ukraine’s power supply, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Monday, following a wave of strikes on the country's energy infrastructure that have left millions without power heading into winter.

"The absence of massive missile strikes only means that the enemy is preparing for them and can strike at any time. Although it is obvious that even without light we know well where to shoot and what to liberate, Russia still hopes for blackouts. This is the last hope of terrorists.”

Engineers have repeatedly scrambled to restore power after the Russian attacks, and Zelensky added Kyiv was "doing everything to bring to Ukraine as much equipment as possible, which can compensate for the damage caused by missile hits."

Gas supplies: Earlier Monday, Zelensky asked G7 leaders to commit to increasing gas assistance to Ukraine. “The terror against our power plants forced us to use more gas than expected. This is why we need additional support over this particular winter,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the Group of Seven leaders Monday to maintain its support for Ukraine next year while outlining three steps for securing peace.

More military equipment: In a video statement, Zelensky said the first step is a “new force,” and he requested more military equipment from the G7.

“Russia still has the advantage in artillery and missiles, this is a fact,” Zelensky said in his statement. “Ukraine needs modern tanks — and I ask you to provide this defensive capability to us. It can be done right now.”

He also said Ukraine needed more “rocket artillery and more long-range missiles,” adding that Ukraine needs “constant artillery support with guns and shells.”

Support for financial and energy stability: The second step, according to Zelensky, was for the leaders to maintain financial, energy and social stability next year.

He also asked the G7 to commit to increasing gas assistance for Ukraine.

“The terror against our power plants forced us to use more gas than expected. This is why we need additional support over this particular winter,” Zelensky said. “We are talking about the volume of about 2 billion cubic meters of gas that has to be procured additionally.”

New diplomacy: In the third and final step, Zelensky said Ukraine would like to offer a peace solution, beginning with asking Russia to start withdrawing troops this Christmas. 

“I propose Russia to take a concrete and meaningful step toward a diplomatic settlement, which is being mentioned by Moscow so regularly,” he said. "Very soon we’ll have holidays celebrated by billions of people. Christmas — according to the Gregorian calendar or the New Year and Christmas — according to the Julian calendar," Zelensky said. 

“This is the time for normal people to think about peace, not aggression. I suggest Russia to at least try to prove that it is capable of abandoning the aggression.”

“If Russia withdraws its troops from Ukraine, it will ensure a lasting cessation of hostilities.”

The Group of Seven leaders (G7) pledged on Monday to give "unwavering support" and solidarity to Ukraine by promising to boost the country with military and air defense systems, condemning Russia’s ongoing “war of aggression.”

“We condemn Russia’s continuous inhumane and brutal attacks targeting critical infrastructure, in particular energy and water facilities, and cities across Ukraine, and recall that indiscriminate attacks and attacks on the civilian population or civilian objects, constitute a war crime,” a statement from the G7 leaders said. “We are determined to help Ukraine repair, restore and defend its critical energy and water infrastructure.” 

The statement also said the leaders are determined that Russia will ultimately need to pay for the restoration of critical infrastructure “damaged or destroyed” through the invasion.  

“We will hold President Putin and those responsible to account in accordance with international law,” the statement said. “We reiterate that Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric is unacceptable and that any use of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons would be met with severe consequences.”

The G7 leaders also condemned Russia’s “continued seizure” of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, adding they support the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) efforts to establish a safety and security zone. 

“Russia can end this war immediately by ceasing its attacks against Ukraine and completely and unconditionally withdrawing its forces from the territory of Ukraine,” the statement said.

CNN's Betsy Klein and Phil Mattingly contributed reporting to this post.

The streets outside Vyacheslav Tarasov’s home on Ukraine’s eastern frontline are pocked by shell blasts. The buildings around are mostly empty, windowless and cold.

Bakhmut has been facing the relentless firepower of a frustrated Russian army for months. In its pursuit of an increasingly rare battlefield victory, Moscow has leveled buildings with rockets and missiles and sent endless waves of infantry to fight among the destroyed homes.

Tarasov, 48, was sheltering from the shelling in his basement where he now has to live. But last week he dared to venture out — to buy vegetables to make the national dish, borscht.

His face pales as he relays the graphic images still fresh in his mind. “I was wearing a leather jacket and if it wasn’t for that, I would have blown apart. I mean, my guts would have been all over the place… I lost a lot of blood. I remember seeing it — a huge puddle.”

The blast that tore through Tarasov’s body killed his friend and as the shelling continued, he realized he might not make it either. “I’ll tell you the truth,” he says. “I prayed to survive.”

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Ukrainian forces struck the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol over the weekend, opening a new front in Kyiv’s fight to reclaim land in the south of the country and underlining the importance of longer-range weaponry.

The attacks struck a number of different locations, including a church being used as a base by Russian forces, according to the city’s exiled mayor, Ivan Fedorov, who shared a video filmed at night of a fire burning in the distance.

“Fireworks in the east of Melitopol,” he said in a post on social messaging app Telegram on Saturday, claiming that 200 people were killed and 300 injured in heavy shelling on the city.

In an interview with Ukrainian television a day later, Federov rowed back on that number, saying that “dozens” were dead. He added that three sites had been hit, including a restaurant-hotel complex on the outskirts of Melitopol, known as “Prival Okhotnika,” or Hunter’s Rest, a checkpoint 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city in Novobohdanivka, and a military unit that was “completely destroyed” near the village of Semenivka.

Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia region, where Melitopol is located, said that Ukraine had hit Melitopol using a HIMARS system, killing two people and wounding 10 others, three of whom were treated in the hospital — a significantly lower number than was reported by Fedorov.

Russians "redeploying": Fedorov claimed in an interview on Monday that Russian troops in the city were “panicking” and “redeploying,” given Ukrainian strikes on the city. Without providing any evidence, he said “they are busy moving their military groups to other places to try to hide them.”

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The body of Lemekani Nathan Nyirenda, a fighter recruited by the mercenary group Wagner for combat operations in Ukraine, was returned to Zambia on Sunday.

Nyirenda’s body arrived at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in the capital Lusaka and was accompanied by Zambia’s Ambassador to Russia, Shadreck Luwita, its Foreign Ministry said.

The body was received by Nyirenda’s family and Foreign Ministry officials, the ministry stated in a series of tweets Sunday.

In agency pictures from the airport, a coffin can be seen in a white hearse with Cyrillic writing on the outside indicating the provenance of the casket.

A group of choral singers and grieving family members were at the airport to receive Nyirenda’s body.

He died in battle in Ukraine in September fighting for the Russian side.

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