Zelensky blasts Modi meeting with Putin

CNN :
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized his Indian counterpart’s visit to Moscow as a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts,” on the same day that a Russian missile smashed into a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin at his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow on Monday, while less than 600 miles away Russian missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities in a morning rush hour assault that killed at least 39 people.
Modi’s two-day trip marks his first visit to Russia since Putin began his full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two and a half years ago, with images and video Monday showing the two leaders hugging, chatting over tea, riding in an electric vehicle and watching a horse show.
“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,” Zelensky said in a post on X on Monday, referring to the deadly Russian attacks.
Modi did not address the strikes directly during a meeting with Putin at the Kremlin on Tuesday though he did say solutions to conflict are unlikely to come through war, but rather peace and dialogue.
“Whether it’s conflict war or terror, any person who believes in humanity is troubled when there are deaths, especially when innocent children die,” Modi told reporters while seated alongside the Russian president, appearing to deliver his most critical comments to date against Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“As a friend, I have always said that peace is necessary for the prosperity of future generations, but I also know that on the battlefield, solutions aren’t easy to come by between guns, bombs and bullets. We have to adopt a path to peace through dialogue,” Modi said.
The Indian prime minister said the “world is watching this current visit and interpreting it in various ways.”
He added: “India is ready to support you in every possible way to achieve peace. I assure you and the world that we are in favor of peace and, after talking to my friend Putin yesterday, I have hope.”
Modi said the two leaders had discussed Ukraine when he made a five-hour visit to Putin’s Novo-Ogaryovo residence late Monday. Putin also confirmed to reporters Tuesday that the pair had discussed Ukraine, thanking Modi for his attempts to find a solution to the conflict.
Earlier Tuesday, Modi praised relations between the two countries while addressing the Indian diaspora in Moscow. He also announced the opening of two new consulates in the Russian cities of Yekaterinburg and Kazan to “facilitate travel and business.”
“No matter if the temperatures in Russia are in minus, Russia-India friendship has always been in plus,” he said. “This is a relationship built on a foundation of mutual trust and mutual respect.”