After Modi-Putin meeting, US Pentagon's 'we trust India will…' response
What's the story
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his two-day trip to Russia, the Pentagon said that the United States trusts that India will back efforts to achieve a "lasting and just peace for Ukraine."
"India and Russia have had a relationship for a very long time. From a US perspective, India is a strategic partner with whom we continue to engage in...to include their relationship with Russia," Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters.
Diplomatic relations
Biden administration had voiced concerns over Modi's Russia visit
Responding to a question on PM Modi's visit to Russia, Ryder said, "I do not think anybody will be surprised if [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin tries to represent this visit in a way that seeks to somehow show that he is not isolated from the rest of the world...President Putin's war of choice has isolated Russia from the rest of the world."
To recall, the Joe Biden administration had already voiced its concerns ahead of the PM's visit.
Diplomatic influence
'Trust India will convey to Putin importance of UN charter...'
In response to a reporter's comment about Putin appearing "less isolated" due to PM Modi's visit, Ryder said that the Indian PM had also recently met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"I think that we trust that India will support efforts to realise an enduring and just peace for Ukraine and will convey to Mr Putin the importance of adhering to the UN [United Nations] charter and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity," he added.
Diplomatic messaging
'Heart bleeds' over children's deaths in war: Modi tells Putin
Notably, on Tuesday, PM Modi told President Putin that the death of innocent children in Kyiv was painful and terrifying, a day after a lethal strike on a children's hospital in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
PM Modi said, "when innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds and that pain is very terrifying."
While Ukraine says it recovered fragments of a Russian missile at the hospital, Russia has claimed, without providing evidence, that a Ukrainian anti-missile system had hit the hospital.
Statement
'Huge disappointment...': Zelenskyy reacts to Modi's Russia visit
Separately, President Zelenskyy has reacted sharply to PM's visit to Russia and his interaction with President Putin.
In a post on X, he said, "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."
His post included photographs of the bombed hospital and babies in ambulances.
Twitter Post
Read: Zelenskyy's post here
In Ukraine today, 37 people were killed, three of whom were children, and 170 were injured, including 13 children, as a result of Russia’s brutal missile strike.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 8, 2024
A Russian missile struck the largest children's hospital in Ukraine, targeting young cancer patients. Many were… pic.twitter.com/V1k7PEz2rJ