The United States on Sunday unveiled sanctions against three Russian television stations, banned Americans from providing accounting and consulting services to Russians, and sanctioned executives from Gazprombank to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

The new sanctions are the latest effort by the United States to increase pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin after his country’s assault on Ukraine and came as president Joe Biden met virtually with G7 leaders and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the war.

The measures leveled against Gazprombank executives were the first involving the giant Russian gas exporter as the United States and its allies have avoided taking steps that might lead to disruptions of gas to Europe, Russia’s main customer.

“This is not a full block. We’re not freezing the assets of Gazprombank or prohibiting any transactions with Gazprombank,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters. “What we’re signaling is that Gazprombank is not a safe haven, and so we’re sanctioning some of their top business executives … to create a chilling effect.”

Eight executives from Sberbank, which holds one-third of Russia’s banking assets, were added to the sanctions list. Moscow Industrial Bank and its 10 subsidiaries were also added.

G7 leaders will meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine and new measures to punish Moscow.

US president Biden, who has lauded unity among the Group of Seven large economies in standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was scheduled to meet by video conference with his fellow leaders at 11:00 a.m. ET (3pm GMT) from his home in Delaware, where he is spending the weekend. A White House official said the meeting was underway.

The White House said the leaders would discuss adding to the sanctions that Western countries have imposed on Russia since its 24 February invasion.

“They will discuss the latest developments in Russia’s war against Ukraine; the global impact of Putin’s war; showing support for Ukraine and Ukraine’s future; and demonstrating continued G7 unity in our collective response, including building on our unprecedented sanctions to impose severe costs for Putin’s war,” the White House said in a statement.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Sunday he discussed with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken how to unblock Ukraine’s food exports and ensure global food security.

Ukraine, one of the world’s major grain and oilseeds, used to export most of its cereals through its Black Sea ports, which have been blocked by Russia since the start of Moscow’s invasion on 24 February.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday told CBS that Congress needs to pass by the end of the month a bill that would give Ukraine $33 billion in military and humanitarian aid.

First lady Jill Biden became the highest-profile US delegate to visit wartime Ukraine when she made a surprise visit to the country’s western region on Sunday.

The visit was not announced by the White House beforehand and comes as Joe Biden himself has faced questions as to whether he would follow a visit to the country from the UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson.

“I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine,” Ms Biden said.

John Bowden reports:

The Irish Rock band U2 has arrived in Ukraine’s capital to perform in “a show of solidarity” with the war-torn country.

Tweeting today from the official U2 account, its lead vocalist Bono said the band had been invited to perform in Kyiv by president Volodymyr Zelensky.

He said: “President @ZelenskyyUa invited us to perform in Kyiv as a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and so that’s what we’ve come to do. — Bono and The Edge #StandWithUkraine.”

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has arrived in Ukraine to meet the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Mr Trudeau visited Irpin, near Kyiv, on Sunday “to see with his own eyes all the horror which Russian occupiers have caused,” according to a social media post by the town’s mayor on Sunday.

The Canadian PM’s spokesperson confirmed he was in Ukraine to meet Mr Zelensky.

US first lady Jill Biden also made an unannounced trip to western Ukraine on Sunday, holding a surprise Mother’s Day meeting with first lady Olena Zelenska as Russia presses its punishing war in the eastern regions.

Two people are confirmed to have died and another 60 people trapped under rubble are feared dead after Russia bombed a school in Ukraine’s Luhansk region.

About 90 people are said to have been sheltering the school when Vladimir Putin’s forces dropped shelled the village of Bilohorivka on Saturday afternoon, causing a fire that engulfed the building. Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said.

Mr Gaidai said 30 people had been rescued from the smouldering debris but is thought many remain trapped underneath it.

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Ukrainian fighters at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the southeastern port of Mariupol have vowed to continue their stand as long as they are alive.

“We will continue to fight as long as we are alive to repel the Russian occupiers,” Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, a deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, told an online news conference.

“We don’t have much time, we are coming under intense shelling,” he said, pleading with the international community to help to evacuate wounded soldiers from the plant.