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Russian diplomat clashes with Western G20 members over sanctions and resources

RUSSIA’s top diplomat clashed with his Western counterparts at a G20 meeting today as they urged the country to allow resources out of Kiev amid fears of hunger in other nations.

The world’s richest and largest developing nations failed to find common ground over Russia’s war in Ukraine and its global impacts.

Far from the meeting, President Vladimir Putin said that the continued sanctions against Russia risked causing “catastrophic” energy price rises, indicating that the Kremlin was not open to compromise.

During the G20 meeting, although they were present in the same room at the same time for the first time since the war began, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov carefully ignored each other.

Mr Lavrov walked out of the proceedings at least twice, once when his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock spoke at the opening session and again just before Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was to speak by video at the second session, according to an attending diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi urged the group to overcome mistrust for the sake of a planet confronting multiple challenges from coronavirus to climate change as well as Ukraine.

Ms Marsudi said the ripple effects of the Ukraine war “are being felt globally on food, on energy and physical space.”

She noted that poor and developing countries now face the brunt of fuel and grain shortages resulting from the war and said that the G20 has a responsibility to step up and deal with the matter to ensure the "rules-based global order" remains relevant.

Mr Lavrov told reporters after the meeting: “You know, it was not us who abandoned all contacts, it was the United States.

“And we are not running after anybody suggesting meetings. If they don’t want to talk, it’s their choice.”

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, officials warned of deteriorating living conditions in a city captured by Russian forces two weeks ago.

Governor Serhiy Haidai said Severodonetsk is without water, power or a working sewage system while the bodies of the dead decompose in hot apartment buildings.

Ukraine’s presidential office said that at least 12 civilians were killed and another 30 wounded by Russian shelling over the last 24 hours.

And Donetsk People’s Republic authorities said on Thursday that seven people, including children, were killed and 30 injured by Ukrainian fire over the past 24 hours.

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