Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday criticized Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for embracing Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on the day the Kremlin’s forces bombed a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
“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,” Zelenskyy wrote, referring to the deadly Russian attacks.
Modi arrived in Moscow on Monday for a two-day state visit, marking his first trip to Russia since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In a video clip that went viral Monday evening, Modi climbed out of a car, walked up some steps to meet Putin, and gave the Russian president a warm hug.
Earlier the same day, Russia launched a mass missile attack against Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and other cities in Ukraine, killing at least 42 people and injuring at least 206. One missile struck the building of the Okhmatdyt hospital, Ukraine’s largest children’s medical center.
Modi did not address the strikes while speaking to the Indian diaspora in Moscow on Tuesday, but praised relations between the two countries, calling Russia a “reliable friend.”
He also announced the opening of two new Indian consulates in Russia and hailed his “friend” Putin for working toward developing the partnership between the two countries.
India has called for hostilities to end in Ukraine, but it has also abstained from all United Nations resolutions on Ukraine and not condemned Russia’s invasion.