‘War cannot solve problems’

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday told President Vladimir Putin that “war cannot solve problems” and urged peace on a trip to Moscow over two years into the Ukraine offensive.

On his first visit since Russia launched its campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, Modi said he and Putin had chatted on a range of issues, adding: “I was happy that on Ukraine, we could both express our views openly and in detail.”

“When innocent children are murdered, one sees them die, the heart pains and that pain is unbearable,” Modi told Putin in comments in Hindi.

“I know that war cannot solve problems, solutions and peace talks can’t succeed among bombs, guns, and bullets,” the Indian leader added. “And we need to find a way to peace through dialogue.”

Putin thanked Modi for “the attention you pay to the most urgent problems” and said “you are trying to find some ways to solve the Ukrainian crisis, too, of course primarily by peaceful means”.

Modi landed in Moscow on Monday hours after Russia launched a massive barrage across Ukraine that killed at least 38 people and heavily damaged a children’s hospital in Kyiv, sparking condemnation from governments in Europe and North America.

On Monday evening Modi was pictured hugging Putin at the Russian president’s country residence, where the leaders spent several hours together, according to the Kremlin.

Such warm contact drew condemnation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He wrote on social media:  “It is a huge disappointment and 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 on such a day.”