Zelenskyy slams Modi's Russia visit, calls it 'huge disappointment'

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has slammed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia, which coincided with a reported deadly Russian strike on a children's hospital in Kiev.

"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 in a message on social media on Tuesday.

On Monday evening, the Kremlin reported that Modi was pictured hugging Russia's President Vladimir Putin at the Russian president's country residence, where the leaders spent several hours together.

Such warm contact drew condemnation from Zelenskyy.

Modi landed in Moscow on Monday, hours after Russia launched a massive barrage across Ukraine that killed at least 38 people and heavily damaged a children's hospital in Kiev.

At the Kremlin, Putin hailed India and Russia's "very long-standing friendship" and said they now enjoy a "specially privileged, strategic partnership".

Russia is a vital supplier of cut-price oil and weapons to India, but Moscow's isolation from the West and growing ties with Beijing have impacted its partnership with New Delhi.

Modi is courting closer Western security ties after returning to power last month as leader of the world's most populous country.

'A way to peace through dialogue'

Modi told Putin that "war cannot solve problems" and urged peace on a trip to Moscow over two years into the Ukraine offensive.

"When innocent children are murdered, one sees them die, the heart pains and that pain is unbearable," said in comments in Hindi.

"I know that war cannot solve problems, solutions and peace talks can't succeed among bombs, guns, and bullets," the Indian leader added.

"And we need to find a way to peace through dialogue."

Putin thanked Modi for "the attention you pay to the most urgent problems" and said, "You are trying to find some ways to solve the Ukrainian crisis, too, of course primarily by peaceful means".

Modi last visited Russia in 2019 and hosted Putin in the Indian capital two years later, weeks before Russia began its offensive against Ukraine.