Russia-Ukraine war live: Modi tells Putin that the ‘heart bleeds’ when children are killed | Ukraine
Modi tells Putin that the ‘heart bleeds’ when children are killed
An update from Reuters on Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow:
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the death of innocent children was painful and terrifying, a day after a lethal strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
The pointed remark by the visiting Indian leader was an implicit rebuke to Putin, who moments earlier had welcomed him to the Kremlin with a warm statement on the importance of the strategic ties between the two countries.
Ukraine says it has recovered fragments of a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile at the children’s hospital, which was hit on Monday during a wave of Russian attacks that killed at least 41 Ukrainians across the country.
Russia said, without providing evidence, that it was a Ukrainian anti-missile system that struck the hospital.
“Whether it is war, conflict or a terrorist attack, any person who believes in humanity, is pained when there is loss of lives,” Modi said.
“But even in that, when innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds and that pain is very terrifying.”
It was not the first time that Modi has appeared to criticise Russia over its actions in Ukraine. In September 2022, he told Putin that “today’s era is not an era of war”, and Putin said at that time he understood Modi’s concerns.
India, however, has not condemned Russia’s invasion and has taken the opportunity to buy record amounts of discounted Russian oil as sanctions have decimated Moscow’s trade with the west.
Key events
The UN security council is to hold an emergency meeting after the deadly Russian missile attacks over Ukraine yesterday. You can watch the meeting on the stream at the top of this blog.
Norway’s government will give defence firm Nammo 1 billion crowns ($94m; £73.7m) to boost production of artillery ammunition, it said on Tuesday, as heads of Nato member states met for their annual summit in Washington.
“Nammo will be investing in a new production line that can increase production of the defence sector’s most modern artillery shells tenfold,” the Norwegian government said, adding that Nammo had committed to maintaining the new production capacity for at least 15 years.
Norway and its Nato allies have been racing to increase their production of weapons, ammunition and missiles, partly to supply Ukraine but also to replenish stocks and be able to counter new threats.
Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said (you can read the press release here):
Ukraine has an enormous and urgent need for ammunition and weapons. The Government has implemented a number of measures to enhance production in the Norwegian defence industry.
This agreement will make it possible for Nammo to expand production of highly sought-after military equipment. This is of great importance for Ukraine, for Allied security and for our own national preparedness.
Pope Francis voiced “grave sorrow” over the Russian missile strikes on Ukraine yesterday that hit the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in central Kyiv, and expressed “deep distress” at the escalation of violence in Ukraine and Gaza, the Vatican has said.
It said in a statement:
The Holy Father has learned with grave sorrow the news about attacks on two medical centres in Kyiv, including Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, as well as against a school in Gaza.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, spoke to journalists at an airport in Ankara before flying to Washington to join Nato leaders at a summit meeting. He cautioned Nato allies about taking any step that could escalate the war in Ukraine and potentially drag member states into it directly.
“While designing the steps to be taken to support Ukraine, we also maintain our principled stance not to make Nato a party to the war,” he said.
His comments come a day after Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, said that Poland was open to the idea of shooting down Russian missiles that were heading for Nato territory while they were still over Ukrainian soil.
A delegation of North Korean military trainers led by the head of a prestigious military academy in Pyongyang has begun a trip to Russia, according to North Korean state media.
The delegation of North Korean military trainers is led by the president of the Kim Il Sung Military University, Kim Geum Chol, North Korean state media said, without providing any further information about the visit.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said on 8 June that growing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea poses a “distinct threat and a grave challenge to the peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in Europe”.
News emerged at the end of May that France could soon send its military trainers to Ukraine, after commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that he had already signed documents “that will allow the first French instructors to visit training centers soon”.
Ukrainian drones attacked a Russian oil refinery, military airfield, and electricity substation in an overnight joint operation by Kyiv’s security and military intelligence agencies, a security source told Reuters on Tuesday.
The source said the attacks hit the Akhtubinsk airfield in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region, an oil refinery in the Volgograd region and an electricity substation in the Rostov region.
As was mentioned in the opening summary, the Russian aviation authority confirmed that Russia’s Astrakhan and Volgograd airports resumed flights after closing earlier due to a drone attack.
Russia says its forces have taken control of village in eastern Ukraine – report
Russia’s defence ministry has said that its forces have taken control of Yasnobrodivka settlement in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the Tass news agency reported. This claim has not yet been independently verified by the Guardian.
Ukrainian troops have been trying to fend off an intense Russian offensive focused on the Ukrainian border regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk. Kyiv has reported shortages of ammunition and troops along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) frontline, and is in desperate need of more western military aid, particularly air defence systems.
Austria’s energy minister has appointed a commission of experts to examine whether Austria can scrap a gas-supply contract between Austrian fuel giant OMV and Gazprom to reduce its dependence on Russia, Reuters reported.
Leonore Gewessler of the Greens, which is the junior partner in a conservative-led coalition, said in February she wanted to end the contract that runs until 2040.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservatives have said they agree Austria needs to move away from Russian gas. Ahead of a parliamentary election due on Sept. 29, however, the two sides of the coalition increasingly have been at odds.
In May, the latest month for which data is available, 90% of net gas imports came from Russia.
Gewessler said OMV had agreed to grant members of the commission access to the contract, the terms of which are a closely-guarded secret.
Her commission, made up of economists and legal specialists, is headed by retired judge and former lawmaker for the liberal Neos Irmgard Griss and law professor Andreas Kletecka.
“It is a very significant and important question: isn’t there a way to get out of this contract?” Griss told a news conference. “Is there anything you can use legally to get out of this contract?”
The commission’s initial findings are due to be presented “by autumn” before a final report by the end of this year, Gewessler’s ministry said in a statement without specifying whether that could be before the September elections.
The far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which rival parties accuse of being dangerously pro-Russian, has led opinion polls. It says it is merely defending Austria’s neutrality.
Modi tells Putin that the ‘heart bleeds’ when children are killed
An update from Reuters on Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow:
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the death of innocent children was painful and terrifying, a day after a lethal strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
The pointed remark by the visiting Indian leader was an implicit rebuke to Putin, who moments earlier had welcomed him to the Kremlin with a warm statement on the importance of the strategic ties between the two countries.
Ukraine says it has recovered fragments of a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile at the children’s hospital, which was hit on Monday during a wave of Russian attacks that killed at least 41 Ukrainians across the country.
Russia said, without providing evidence, that it was a Ukrainian anti-missile system that struck the hospital.
“Whether it is war, conflict or a terrorist attack, any person who believes in humanity, is pained when there is loss of lives,” Modi said.
“But even in that, when innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds and that pain is very terrifying.”
It was not the first time that Modi has appeared to criticise Russia over its actions in Ukraine. In September 2022, he told Putin that “today’s era is not an era of war”, and Putin said at that time he understood Modi’s concerns.
India, however, has not condemned Russia’s invasion and has taken the opportunity to buy record amounts of discounted Russian oil as sanctions have decimated Moscow’s trade with the west.
Donations have poured in to help rebuild the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital, one of the largest in Europe and provided treatment for various diseases including cancer. Rescue operations at the hospital ended early on Tuesday, with two people confirmed dead and dozens injured after part of the medical facility was reduced to rubble by Russian strikes.
Reuters calculations based on statements and Ukrainian media reports put the total amount donated to the hospital so far from Ukraine’s corporate sector at about 300 million hryvnia ($7.3m; £5.7m).
Oleh Horokhovskyi, founder of Ukrainian lender Monobank, said they had gathered 100 million hryvnias ($2.4m; £1.9m) from various businesses within just three hours.
A woman’s body has been recovered from the ruins of a residential building in Kyiv where 12 people were killed in the Russian missile attack yesterday, mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram.