Ukraine-Russia war latest news: Blow for Putin’s forces as Crimea airfield hit and Russia drone debris found in Romania

Below are pictures of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Okhmadit Hospital in central Kyiv, which was partially destroyed by a Russian missile attack earlier this month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited young patients at Okhmadit Hospital in central Kyiv, which was bombed by Russian forces earlier this month.

The hospital is home to many of Ukraine’s youngest cancer patients.

Russia continues to deny that it was responsible for the attack, despite considerable evidence to the contrary, including video footage of the missile hitting the hospital.

Since the hospital was partially destroyed, millions of pounds have been raised to rebuild it.

Prosecutors said a Russian rocket attack killed a 14-year-old boy and wounded 12 others in a town in the northeastern Sumy region.

The attack in the town of Furkhiv, near the Russian border, took place just after midday on Saturday and hit apartments, homes, educational facilities, shops and vehicles, prosecutors said. Six of the injured were also children.

Khrukhiv is just six miles from the Russian border, which has regularly shelled Ukraine’s border areas in recent months. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Ukraine next month for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion, local media reported.

The Ukrainian embassy in New Delhi told Reuters it had no information immediately to share about such plans, and there was no immediate reaction from India’s foreign ministry.

Western countries imposed sanctions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but “friendly” countries such as India and China have continued to trade. India has refrained from directly criticizing Russia and has urged the two countries to resolve their disputes through dialogue and diplomacy.

Modi met with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow a few weeks ago, shortly after a Russian missile struck a hospital in Kiev, killing at least 41 people. The Indian leader told Putin that the deaths of innocent children were “painful and horrifying.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed displeasure with Modi’s visit, calling the sight of Modi embracing “the world’s most brutal criminal” in Moscow on a day like this “a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts.”

The final date of PM Modi’s visit is yet to be finalised. Print report.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban argued that the Russian leadership was “very rational” and would never allow Ukraine to fulfil its hopes of joining the European Union or NATO.

In a television address, the far-right leader argued that world power was shifting from the “irrational” West to Asia and Russia, and that “we, the West, have pushed Russia into this bloc as well.”

Orbán argued that Russia’s position in world affairs is rational and predictable, in contrast to the “weakness” of Western countries, and said Russia has shown economic flexibility in adapting to Western sanctions since its invasion of Crimea in 2014. “The most powerful international appeal of Russian soft power is its opposition to LGBTQ,” he argued.

He added that Ukraine will never join the EU or NATO because “we Europeans do not have enough money for this.” “The EU needs to shed its identity as a political project and become an economic and defense project,” Orban added.

The EU began accession talks with Ukraine late last month, but the country faces a long and difficult road to membership. A declaration at the end of a NATO summit this month said the allies would support Ukraine on its “irreversible path” to membership.

A Ukrainian attack drone shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber at a military airfield in northern Russia, Ukrainian media reported. Ukrainska Pravda The report cited military sources.

“As a result of military intelligence on the military operation of the Ukrainian armed forces near Olenegorsk, a long-range TU-22M3 supersonic bomber was shot down at the Olenya military airfield, a strategic air base of the Russian occupation forces,” the source told the media, without giving further details.

The airfield, where Russian strategic bombers take off to launch missile attacks on Ukraine, is about 1,100 miles from the Ukrainian border, the report said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Washington would take action against Chinese companies supporting the war in Ukraine.

The two leaders held wide-ranging discussions about Taiwan on Saturday, with Blinken expressing concern about Beijing’s recent provocative actions, a senior U.S. official said.

As part of the 80-minute talks on the sidelines of the regional summit, Blinken also spoke about China’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base and warned that the United States would take action against Chinese companies that aid Moscow’s war efforts, the official said, adding that Wang made no commitments on the issue.