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

Associated Press

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, seeking to deepen the two nuclear powers’ relationship as NATO leaders gathered in Washington and Russia and launched deadly missile strikes in Ukraine that destroyed a children’s hospital. Modi is on his first trip to Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin’s forces in 2022. He has avoided condemning Russia while emphasizing a peaceful settlement. Their partnership has become fraught, however, as Russia has moved closer to China amid international isolation of Moscow over Ukraine. Modi alluded to the bloodshed, saying, “When innocent children are killed, when we see innocent children dying, then the heart pains. And that pain is very horrible.”