‘War cannot solve problems,’ India’s PM Modi tells Russia’s Putin

The killing of children is ‘unbearable’, Modi says, a day after a deadly strike on a children’s hospital in Ukraine.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that peace is “of utmost importance” and a solution to the war in Ukraine “cannot be found on the battlefield”.

Putin – speaking before Modi at a televised meeting at the Kremlin on Tuesday – said their two countries enjoyed a “special strategic partnership” and praised the Indian leader for his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.

“I thank you for the attention you are paying to the most acute problems, including trying to find ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis – above all by peaceful means, of course,” said Putin.

India has become an increasingly important partner for sanctions-hit Russia as it shifts its trade away from the West and seeks to demonstrate that Western attempts to isolate it have failed.

New Delhi has refrained from criticising Russia over the war and has increased its purchases of cheap Russian oil to record levels, while urging Ukraine and Russia to resolve their conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

“As a friend, I have also said for the brighter future of our next generation, peace is of utmost importance,” Modi said in Hindi, sitting alongside Putin. “When innocent children are murdered, one sees them die, the heart pains and that pain is unbearable.”

The Indian leader’s comments come a day after a lethal strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv, just one of a series of attacks that killed 37 people in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned India’s prime minister for visiting Russia, calling the trip a “devastating blow to peace efforts”.

“It is a huge