Ukraine war latest: Modi issues rebuke to Putin during state visit; 'highly unstable scenario' with Western powers and Ukrainian military funding

Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky has said he has summoned Russia's ambassador in Prague following an attack on a children's hospital in Ukraine's capital, saying those who carried out the strike were the "dregs of humanity".

Ukrainian authorities say Russia struck the main children's hospital in Kyiv with a cruise missile and fired missiles at other cities yesterday, killing at least 41 civilians across the country.

Russia denied it had attacked a Kyiv children's hospital and said that Ukrainian anti-missile fire was to blame for Monday's strike.

"I have decided to summon the Russian ambassador," Mr Lipavsky wrote on X.

"Murderers who attack children in hospitals are the dregs of humanity. He has been instructed to deliver the message in Moscow."

A court in Moscow has ordered the arrest of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of  Alexei Navalny, in absentia for two months.

The court accused Ms Navalnaya, who lives outside Russia, of participating in an "extremist" group. 

The decision means she would face certain arrest if she set foot in the country.

Ms Navalnaya met her husband in her early twenties on a holiday in Turkey in 1998. 

She stayed largely in the shadows of his political career until his poisoning in 2020.

She has since vowed to take on his fight and called on fellow Russians to "use every opportunity" to fight against Vladimir Putin's regime.

Russia has pledged to begin discharging Indian nationals who had been "misled" into joining its military.

India's foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Russia, had raised the issue in his talks with Vladimir Putin.

"The prime minister strongly raised the issue of early discharge of Indian nationals who have been misled into the service of the Russian army," Mr Kwatra said.

He also said the situation affected an estimated 35-50 Indians, of whom 10 had already been brought home. 

He said the two countries would now work to expedite the remaining cases.

New Delhi has been seeking the release of its nationals whose families say they were lured to Russia by the promise of "support jobs" in the army, and were later forced into active combat in Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy will deliver an address this evening at the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington, the institute has said.

Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the US, said in a statement: "President Reagan understood the Soviet Union and Russia. 

"He knew that free countries must stand together with confidence whenever tyranny is on the move."

NATO is not expected to invite Ukraine to become a member at this year's 9-11 July gathering. 

Many NATO countries want to state that Ukraine's path to membership is "irreversible" but alliance members are still wrangling over the summit declaration.

A little earlier, we reported on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's implicit rebuke of Vladimir Putin, by referencing the "pain" of the death of children (see 12.17 post).

We now have some more detail on talks between the pair, with the Russian leader saying they had constructive discussions about Ukraine.

In comments reported by Russian state-owned agency RIA, Mr Modi said: "We also agreed to establish peace as soon as possible and we are ready for any assistance in this matter.

"I have heard your position, your positive views and ideas. I can assure you that India has always been on the side of peace. And when I listened to you, I felt optimistic and hopes for the future arose, so I want to thank you for that."

"The solution cannot be through war. Bombs, missiles and guns cannot ensure peace, so we are emphasising the importance of dialogue, and dialogue is necessary."

However, despite Mr Modi's veiled criticism of Mr Putin earlier today, relations between the two appear to remain close - with the Russian president later awarding Mr Modi with the Order of St Andrew, Russia's highest state honour.

Yesterday we reported how a Russian strike on Ukraine's largest children's hospital, Okhmatdyt, Kyiv, killed two people.

A further 32 people were wounded, among them eight children requiring hospital treatment, said Ihor Klymenko, minister of internal affairs.

One of those killed has been named as 30-year-old Svitlana Lukyanchuk, from Lviv.

Orphaned as a child, she was raised by her aunt before she went on to study at the Bogomolets National Medical University.

After graduating, she worked as a paediatric nephrologist at Okhmatdyt.

Ms Lukyanchuk will be buried in Lviv near her parents at Holoskiv Cemetery.

Russia may be loathe to admit the impacts of Ukrainian attacks on its territory, but footage emerging from its southern Volgograd region speaks for itself.

Explosions were heard in the town of Kalach-on-the-Don overnight, said the Baza Telegram channel, which has sources in Russian law enforcement.

Then, video of an oil depot set ablaze - fire leaping into the air and smoke visible from a distance.

Regional governor Andrei Bocharov said it was caused by falling drone debris destroyed by air defence systems - but the region was not included in a Russian defence ministry list of repelled attacks.

The refinery was hit by Ukrainian drones, an unnamed  security source told Reuters, alongside the Akhtubinsk airfield in Russia's southern Astrakhan region and an electricity substation in the Rostov region.

Switzerland has announced new sanctions against Russia.

Pointing to a package of measures adopted by the EU against Russia on 24 June, the Swiss economy ministry said in a statement that it would impose sanctions within its jurisdiction on a further 69 individuals and 86 entities.

These sanctions mainly target "businesspersons, propagandists, members of the armed forces and judiciary, persons responsible for the deportation of Ukrainian children" and members of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), it said.

The newly sanctioned entities include companies operating in Russia's defence industry and firms in the financial and trade sectors involved in circumventing sanctions, it added.

This means that more than 2,200 individuals and entities are now subject to the sanctions listings, the ministry said.

The Swiss government also said that it had placed an advertising ban on media outlets Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta "owing to Russia's continuous propaganda and disinformation campaigns".

In contrast to the EU, these media are not subject to a broadcasting ban in Switzerland, the ministry added.

Vladimir Putin is showing that "norms of behaviour do not apply to him" by attacking a Ukrainian children's hospital ahead of the NATO summit, said a former head of the Royal Navy.

Combined with his dealings with the North Korean leader and Hungarian prime minister, Mr Putin is putting on a "show of strength", Admiral Lord Alan West told Sky News.

The Russian leader is also "annoyed" his so-called peace deal has been flatly rejected.

"He has effectively said: 'I don't agree with the world order that has worked so well since 1946. I will make my own world order'."

For this reason, an emergency meeting of the UN security council taking place today over the strikes will not make "any difference at all to him", Admiral Lord West said.

Mr Putin will continue his actions so long as he has "got the Chinese supporting him, he's able to get weapons from the North Koreans and there are still some large countries that won't condemn him, for example India".