India‘s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed his ‘memorable welcome’ in Moscow just hours after a Russian missile strike on a children’s hospital in Ukraine.
MODI VISITS PUTIN
Modi is in Russia for a two-day visit – his first since Russia invaded Ukraine – and was pictured hugging and laughing with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday.
The state visit comes on the same day as Putin’s forces killed at least 36 civilians in a strike on the main children‘s hospital in Kyiv.
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.
When Modi shared footage of the first day of his visit on social media, he captioned the post: ‘A memorable welcome in Moscow.’ His visit and lack of response to the hospital strike caused outrage on social media.
BACKLASHES
‘It is actually quite an embarrassment for Indian PM Modi to celebrate Putin in Moscow just after he has bombed the main children’s hospital in Kyiv. Are these Modi’s “values”?,’ Russia expert and economist Anders Aslund wrote on X.
Michael McFaul, US Ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, added: ‘I wonder if Mr Modi will raise concerns about the children’s hospital in Ukraine that Putin just bombed?’
Children – some still hooked up to medical machines – were pictured outside the building in hospital beds, or being held by their mothers or hospital staff.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had targeted five cities with more than 40 missiles of different types in the assault, adding that people were trapped under the rubble of the children’s hospital.
