War in Ukraine: Selenskyj at NATO summit and crisis meeting at the UN

► Selenskyj announces arrival in Washington for NATO summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced his arrival in Washington on July 9 to attend the NATO summit and request more weapons following the deadly Russian attacks that devastated Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital.

“Today it is Washington,” Zelensky said in his daily video address. “We are fighting for more air defense” and “more F-16 aircraft,” which are soon to be delivered to Ukraine, he added.

► Pope condemns bomb attack on hospital in Kyiv

Pope Francis expressed his “great sadness” following the attack on Kyiv’s children’s hospital, the largest in the country and located near the city center, in which two people were killed and 32 injured.

The Pope “learned with great sadness the news of the attacks on two medical centers in Kyiv, including the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine,” the Vatican said in a statement on July 9.

► UN crisis meeting on Ukraine

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Ukraine following the deadly Russian attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv, a spokesman announced.

The meeting was called in response to a call by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council following “Russian attacks on civilian buildings.”

► Narendra Modi says: “War cannot solve problems”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow that “peace is of paramount importance.”

“I know that war cannot solve problems and solutions and that peace talks cannot take place amid bombs, guns and bullets,” Modi argued, calling for “finding a path to peace through dialogue.”

The Indian leader has never explicitly condemned the Russian offensive, and his visit to Moscow, his first since the conflict began in 2022, comes after a series of deadly Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Zelensky criticized the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Russia. “It is a great disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts when the leader of the world’s largest democracy embraces the world’s most bloodthirsty criminal in Moscow,” Volodymyr Zelensky denounced on social media a few hours after Russia’s deadly attack on Ukrainian cities.

► UN accuses Moscow of attack on children’s hospital

According to the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine, it is “highly likely” that the children’s hospital in Kyiv was hit by a “direct attack” from a Russian missile. Danielle Bell, the High Commissioner, stressed the need for a more thorough investigation, but based her statement on video footage of a KH101 cruise missile “fired by the Russian Federation”.

A Kremlin spokesman denied any responsibility for the hospital bombing and assured that Russia had not carried out “any attacks on civilian targets.”

► Kremlin closely monitors NATO summit

Russia said it was closely following the NATO summit, which begins in Washington on Tuesday, as the Atlantic Alliance “views Russia as its enemy.”

“It is an alliance that sees Russia as its enemy, its opponent. An alliance that has repeatedly openly stated that its goal is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield. That is why we will closely monitor the rhetoric of the discussions and the decisions taken,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

► Four dead in Ukrainian attacks in Russia

According to the region’s governor, at least four people have been killed in Ukrainian attacks in the Russian region of Belgorod on the border with Ukraine in the last 24 hours.

“These 24 hours have been very difficult for the Belgorod region. Four people have died, 20 have been injured, 17 are still in medical facilities, including two in critical condition,” Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

Valentin Demidov, the mayor of Belgorod, the region’s administrative capital, had previously pointed out that Ukrainian forces had launched night attacks across the region. “Ukrainian forces continue to attack settlements in the Belgorod region,” Demidov said on Telegram.

► Russia claims to have intercepted dozens of Ukrainian drones

Russian authorities reported attacks in other regions of western Russia, including Kursk, Voronezh, Volgograd, Rostov and Astrakhan. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 38 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight in regions near the border with Ukraine.

“Air defense systems in operation destroyed and intercepted three drones in the Belgorod region, seven drones in the Kursk region, two drones in the Voronezh region, 21 drones in the Rostov region and five drones in the Astrakhan region,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.