NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday raised Russia’s missile strike on a children’s hospital in Ukraine with President Vladimir Putin and again nudged him to return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy, saying no solution can be found on the battlefield.
Modi, on his first visit to Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine, raised the matter in his opening remarks at the annual summit with Putin in Moscow. The development came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised the meeting between the Indian and Russian leaders in the wake of the missile strike.
“Whether it is war, conflicts, terror attacks, every person who believes in humanity is deeply affected when there is loss of life. But even in that, when innocent children are killed, when we see innocent children dying, then the heart is pierced and that pain is very horrible,” Modi said, speaking in Hindi.
Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital, Ukraine’s largest paediatric facility, sustained major damage when it was hit during a wave of Russian missile strikes on cities across the country. Thirty-nine people were killed and 140 others were injured in the strikes, including two at the hospital.
{{/usCountry}}Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital, Ukraine’s largest paediatric facility, sustained major damage when it was hit during a wave of Russian missile strikes on cities across the country. Thirty-nine people were killed and 140 others were injured in the strikes, including two at the hospital.
{{/usCountry}}Modi noted he had extensively discussed this matter with Putin during their private meeting at the Russian leader’s dacha or country home on Monday evening and reiterated India’s call for a return to dialogue and diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine.
“As a friend, I have always said that peace is most necessary for the bright future of future generations. But I also know that no solution is possible on the battlefield. Between bombs, guns and bullets, solutions and peace talks are not successful, and we have to find the path to peace through the medium of dialogue,” he said.
Modi said he was satisfied that Putin had talked very openly at their meeting on Monday, with no covering up, and that “many interesting ideas” and a “new thinking” had emerged from the talks. He didn’t give details about these ideas.
Putin, whose opening remarks were briefer, said he was grateful to Modi for the “attention you pay to the most pressing issues, including your efforts to find ways to resolve the Ukraine crisis, primarily through peaceful means”.
India has not publicly criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 or voted in favour of numerous UN resolutions against Moscow’s actions, though it has repeatedly called for a return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy to find a solution to the conflict. India’s top leadership stayed away from a peace summit on Ukraine hosted by Switzerland last month, and the country didn’t sign on for the joint communique issued after the meeting.
Russia has emerged as one of the main suppliers of energy to India after New Delhi snapped up discounted Russian commodities such as crude oil and fertilisers after the imposition of Western sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine.
Putin noted in his opening remarks that two-way trade had grown 66% in 2023 and by another 20% in the first quarter of 2024. Driven largely by India’s oil purchases, two-way trade has grown to more than $65 billion, surpassing the bilateral trade target of $30 billion by 2025.