Modi says ‘firmly for peace’ on historic Ukraine visit

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com   

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his first visit to Kyiv yesterday to again call for a diplomatic solution to more than two years of war with Russia, saying he stood “firmly for peace” in talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Arriving for talks on Friday, he embraced Zelensky and the pair held a minute of silence at a memorial commemorating children killed in Russia’s invasion.

“We were not neutral from day one, we have taken a side, and we stand firmly for peace,” he told Zelensky. He earlier said that “no problem should be solved on the battlefield.”

The Indian leader pledged humanitarian support for Kyiv, saying: “Whatever help is required from a humanitarian standpoint, India will always stand with you.” Zelensky called Modi’s visit a “historic moment”.

But neither side showed signs of a breakthrough, with India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar later saying that it was “clearly a complex issue” and that India believes Moscow should be involved if peace efforts were to progress.

Modi began his visit by accompanying Zelensky to an exhibit commemorating children killed in the war.

“I realised that the first casualty of war is in fact innocent children,” Modi said. “And that is truly heartbreaking.”