Tuesday morning news - June 28, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

G7 leaders meet with Zelenskyy on day two of summit » Leaders from many of the world’s richest nations are huddling again today in the mountains of Germany on the final day of the G7 summit.

On Monday the leaders gathered around a table for a virtual conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who joined from Kyiv.

He stressed the urgency of Ukrainian forces hitting Russian invaders hard. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan explained…

SULLIVAN: Pushing the pace of both assistance and operations on the battlefield is an important part of the Ukrainian strategy, as opposed to just letting things drag out indefinitely.

To do that, Zelenskyy said his country needs more weapons.

The United States has promised, among other things, more defense systems to shoot down Russian missiles.

Ukraine’s president has expressed concern about the West’s possible war fatigue as the costs of the war continue to mount. But G7 leaders pledged to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”

The G7 leaders also discussed a price cap on Russian oil, higher tariffs on its exports, and stiffer sanctions. That right after Russia has officially defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time in more than a century.

Russian missile strikes shopping mall in eastern Ukraine » Meantime, in eastern Ukraine, emergency crews are searching for survivors amid twisted metal and shattered concrete after Russian missiles struck a shopping mall. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: A column of black smoke rose from a mall in the city of Kremenchuk after a long-range missile strike. President Zelenskyy said more than a thousand civilians were inside. Many were able to escape.

It’s unclear how many people died in the attack. Early reports suggested the missile killed more than a dozen and wounded at least 40. But those numbers could climb much higher.

At Ukraine's request, the U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting in New York last night to discuss the attack.

Zelensky called it “one of the most disastrous terrorist attacks in European history.”

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

NATO plans rapid response upgrade » The secretary-general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, said Monday that the alliance will soon have more troops at the ready to deter any possible Russian aggression.

He said NATO will multiply its rapid response force eight-fold—from 40,000 soldiers to 300,000.

STOLTENBERG: I expect it will make clear that allies consider Russia as the most significant and direct threat to our security

Stoltenberg said NATO also plans to deploy more troops to allied countries.

The announcement comes just ahead of the alliance’s summit in Madrid later this week.

3 killed when Amtrak train hits truck, derails in Missouri » An Amtrak train derailed Monday after striking a dump truck, killing at least three people.

Police say dozens were also injured in the collision in rural Missouri. The train was en route from Los Angeles to Chicago.

One passenger recorded this shortly after escaping the train.

AUDIO: Man, we hit a truck. Someone was crossing the tracks.

Authorities say two of the people who died were on the train and one was in the truck. More than 250 people were on board.

Police investigate attacks against two pro-life pregnancy centers » Police are investigating the vandalism of two pro-life pregnancy centers, one of which was set on fire. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: In Colorado, vandals shattered the windows of a pregnancy center in Longmont before lighting the building on fire.

On a wall near the entrance, the attackers spray-painted the words, “if abortions aren’t safe, then you aren’t either.”

In Virginia, vandals spray-painted a similar message at the entrance of a pregnancy center in Lynchburg. Police there released a photo of four masked and hooded suspects.

The slogan is a call sign of the pro-abortion extremist group, Jane’s Revenge.

Both attacks occurred during overnight hours over the weekend, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Roe v. Wade decision.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Supreme Court sides with coach in religious liberty case » Religious liberty scored a touchdown at the Supreme Court on Monday. The justices ruled that high school football Coach Joseph Kennedy has the right to kneel and pray at the 50-yard-line after games.

The coach used pray and give a post-game motivational speech to students who gathered voluntarily. But the Washington state school district told him to stop and when he didn’t, they fired him.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the district violated his First Amendment freedoms. Kennedy reacted Monday…

KENNEDY: Just because you want to thank God, you can do it now, and that’s just an awesome thing for everybody.

The court said separation of church and state does not mean the school should—quote—“ferret out” public displays of faith.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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