Russia-Ukraine conflict: In phone call to Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi stresses on evacuation of students
FirstpostPrime Minister Modi had earlier in the day spoken to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and sought his support too for the evacuation of Indians stuck in Sumy Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian president Vladimir Putin this afternoon over a phone call that lasted for 50 minutes. Prime Minister Modi had also spoken to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy today and sought his support for the evacuation of Indians stuck in northeastern Ukraine’s Sumy city, while reiterating his call for an immediate cessation of violence to defuse the ongoing conflict in the eastern European nation. A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office said Modi expressed “deep concern for safety and security of Indian students still in Ukraine and emphasised the need for their quick and safe evacuation.” The Modi-Zelenskyy talks, the second between the two in the last nine days, came on a day Russian authorities said they would start a ceasefire on Monday and open “humanitarian corridors” in key Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Sumy. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that he has informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the need to counter the “Russian aggression against his country and India has appreciated Ukraine’s commitment to direct peaceful dialogue at the highest level with Moscow.