Ukraine Russia war live: Nato summit to begin as Zelensky hits out at Modi for hugging Putin during visit

Russia hit the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital with a missile in broad daylight on Monday 8 July and rained missiles down on other cities across Ukraine, killing at least 41 civilians in the deadliest wave of air strikes for months.

Parents holding babies walked in the street outside the hospital, dazed and sobbing after the rare daylight aerial attack.

Windows had been smashed and panels ripped off, and hundreds of Kyiv residents were helping to clear debris.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, who stopped in Poland before heading off to Washington for a Nato summit, put the death toll at 37, including three children.

Volodymyr Zelensky said he could not predict what Donald Trump would do if he regains the US presidency in November, but the whole world, including Russian leader Vladimir Putin, was awaiting the outcome of the ballot.

“I don’t know (him) very well,” Mr Zelensky said of Mr Trump, adding he had “good meetings” with him during the Republican candidate’s first presidency but said that was before Russia’s 2022 invasion.

“I can’t tell you what he will do, if he will be the president of the United States. I don’t know.”

The Ukrainian leader, speaking ahead of this week’s Nato summit, said he hoped Trump would not quit the 75-year-old Nato alliance and that America would keep supporting Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s more than two-year-old invasion.

“Everyone is waiting for November. Americans are waiting for November, in Europe, Middle East, in the Pacific, the whole world is looking towards November and, truly speaking, Putin awaits November too,” Mr Zelensky said.

“It is time to step out of the shadows, to make strong decisions… to act and not to wait for November or any other month.”

Mr Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the US presidential election in November, has frequently criticised the size of US military support for Ukraine – some $60bn since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 – and called Mr Zelensky “the greatest salesman ever.”

The Ukrainian State Security Service (SBU) has presented new evidence it says proves that Kyiv’s main children’s hospital had been directly hit by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.

“The experts’ conclusions are unequivocal, it was a direct strike,” the SBU said on Telegram.

It shared images of a missile engine fragment it said was found at the site. The SBU added that analysis of trajectory and nature of damage caused prove the was a direct strike.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Nato counterparts are meeting in Washington this week to mark the 75th anniversary of the world’s biggest security organization just as Russia presses its advantage on the battlefield in Ukraine.

The three-day summit, which begins today, will focus on ways to reassure Ukraine of Nato’s enduring support and offer some hope to its war-weary citizens that their country might survive the biggest land conflict in Europe in decades.

Much of what Nato can do for Ukraine, and indeed for global security, is misunderstood. Often the alliance is thought of as the sum of all US relations with its European partners, from imposing sanctions and other costs on Russia to sending arms and ammunition.

But as an organization, its brief is limited to the defence by military means of its 32 member countries — the sacred Three Musketeers-like vow of all for one, one for all — and a commitment to help keep the peace in Europe and North America.

Russia’s deepening military cooperation with North Korea has underlined the need for Japan to forge closer ties with Nato, the country’s leader warned.

Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida also expressed concern over Beijing’s alleged role in aiding Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

“The securities of the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are inseparable, and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its deepened military cooperation with North Korea are strong reminders of that,” Mr Kishida said.

“Japan is determined to strengthen its cooperation with Nato and its partners,” he added.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has been criticised for greeting Vladimir Putin with his signature bear hug during their Moscow summit, even as he offered veiled criticism of Russia’s latest missile bombardment of civilians in Ukraine.

The Modi government’s carefully balanced policy on the Ukraine war – neither criticising nor condoning it, and increasing trade links with Russia while also courting stronger ties to the West – led some analysts to question just how warmly the two would interact during Mr Modi’s visit to Moscow.

Mr Modi arrived to a red-carpet welcome at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow on Monday, and later the two leaders went for a hug after a brief handshake as the Indian prime minister arrrived at Mr Putin’s residence at Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow.