The White House said Friday it believed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine could be helpful as the latter became the first Indian PM to visit Ukraine.
“If it can get us to an end to the conflict that comports with President Zelensky’s vision for a just peace… well then, we think that would be helpful,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
PM Modi and Zelensky visited a memorial for hundreds of Ukrainian children killed in more than two years of war. Zelensky published a video on Telegram showing the two hugging each other after shaking hands.
“Conflict is particularly devastating for young children,” Modi wrote on the social media platform X. “My heart goes out to the families of children who lost their lives, and I pray that they find the strength to endure their grief.”
They laid teddy bears at the memorial at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II before observing a moment of silence.
PM Modi later told Zelensky that India has stood “firmly for peace”. “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.”
His visit comes as Kyiv’s forces are mounting a major incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, while Moscow’s army is advancing in eastern Ukraine.
Both leaders spent almost three hours behind closed doors before they signed cooperation agreements in the spheres of agriculture, medicine, and culture.
The joint statement said both countries agreed on the importance of closer dialogue to “ensure a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace.”
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