Putin hosts India’s Modi to deepen ties, but Ukraine looms over their relationship

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, seeking to deepen the relationship between the two nuclear powers at a time when NATO leaders gathered in Washington and Russia launched deadly missile attacks in Ukraine that hit a children's hospital.

"Our relationship is one of a particularly privileged strategic partnership," Putin told Modi, who made his first trip to Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin's forces in 2022.

Modi has avoided condemning Russia while emphasizing a peaceful settlement. Their partnership has become more complicated, however, as Russia has moved closer to China amid international isolation of Moscow over Ukraine. Modi did not attend last week's summit in Kazakhstan of a security organization founded by Moscow and Beijing.

Modi arrived Monday, shortly after Russian missiles struck across Ukraine, severely damaging the largest children's hospital in Kyiv and killing at least 42 people nationwide, including some children, officials said.

After their leaders met, India said its nationals who were "misled" into joining the Russian army will be discharged.

New Delhi had raised this issue in March, when its federal investigation agency said it had broken up a network that lured people to Russia under the pretext of giving them jobs, with at least 35 Indians being sent. It said the men were trained in combat roles and deployed to Ukraine against their wishes, with some of them "grievously injured."

On Monday, Putin greeted Modi at his residence near Moscow, and the two leaders shook hands and embraced

Noting the warm welcome after the attack in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X: "It is a huge disappointment and a