Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that it was a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the “world’s most bloody criminal” in Moscow, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The remarks came after at least 38 persons, including four children, were killed and 190 others injured as Russia launched attacks on cities across Ukraine on Monday.

The attacks came during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Moscow. Zelensky described Modi’s meeting with Putin as a “huge disappointment” in a post on X on Tuesday.

A children’s hospital, Okhmatdyt, was also partially damaged in Kyiv on Monday.

“Russian missile struck the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, targeting young cancer patients,” Zelensky said in another post on X. “Many were buried under the rubble.”

All patients from Okhmatdyt have been transferred to other medical institutions, the Ukrainian president said.

The country’s emergency service said that two floors of the hospital were demolished, reported CNN, adding that the health minister, Viktor Liashko, said its intensive care units, oncology departments and surgery units had been damaged.

Search and rescue operations continued throughout the night and into Tuesday after Russia bombarded the capital Kyiv, as well as Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, reported CNN.

Meanwhile, in the United States, President Joe Biden is set to host a three-day meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from Tuesday, reported the Associated Press. The organisation is an intergovernmental military alliance of 30 European and two North American countries.

The meeting will focus on ways to reassure the Ukrainians of continued military support amid a continued Russian offensive.

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