Kyiv has condemned Indian prime minister Narendra Modi for visiting Russia and embracing its president Vladimir Putin as Ukrainians observed a day of mourning after Russian missile attacks killed and injured more than 200 civilians.
Recovery and clean-up operations continued on Tuesday at the badly damaged Ohmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv and other sites in the Ukrainian capital and in the eastern cities of Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Pokrovsk, where missile strikes killed at least 41 people and injured about 190 on Monday.
Many western states, including Ireland, condemned the attacks, which came shortly before Mr Modi met and embraced Mr Putin at his residence outside Moscow and called him a “reliable friend” and “trusted ally”.
“It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day,” said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
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India has maintained close relations with Moscow since Soviet times, is a major buyer of Russian weapons and energy and is keen to ensure that it does not become a victim of strengthening Moscow-Beijing ties.
“We would hope India and any other country, when they engage with Russia, would make clear that Russia should respect the UN Charter, should respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said US state department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Mr Modi apparently referred to Moscow’s latest attacks on Tuesday, without specifically mentioning the strike on Ohmatdyt, Ukraine’s biggest children’s hospital, where many young patients have severe illnesses or injuries caused by Russian bombs.
“Whether it is war, conflict or a terrorist attack, any person who believes in humanity is pained when there is loss of lives. But even in that, when innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds and that pain is very terrifying,” Mr Modi said.
“As a friend I have always said that peace is necessary for our future generations. Solutions are not possible on the battleground. Amidst guns, bullets and bombs, peace talks cannot be successful. We have to find the path to peace only through talks,” he added.
Russia is trying to win the support of the so-called “global south” by portraying its invasion of pro-western Ukraine as a defensive war against an aggressive United States and its allies, and as an attempt to create what the Kremlin calls a fairer “multipolar” model of international relations.
Before Mr Zelenskiy flew to Washington for a Nato summit at which he will push for membership of the bloc for Ukraine and more air defence weapons and long-range missiles, he thanked his compatriots for their response to one of the most deadly and destructive strikes of Russia’s invasion of his country.
“All patients [from Ohmatdyt] have been transferred to other medical institutions. In some areas where the missiles hit, rescue operations continued throughout the night,” he said. “We continue our work to increase the protection of our cities and communities from Russian terror. There will be decisions. The world has the necessary strength for this. I also thank all the leaders who supported us and are preparing new joint steps to protect lives from Russian terror.”
The Kremlin says an errant Ukrainian air defence rocket hit Ohmatdyt, but international experts dismissed that claim due to the scale of the destruction caused and the presence of clear footage showing the profile of the incoming missile.
Unnamed officials in Ukraine’s security services told Kyiv media that their drones hit a military airfield, oil depot and electricity substation in southern Russia in the early hours of Tuesday. Russia’s military said it shot down dozens of Ukrainian drones over several regions.
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