"Endless war." India’s prime minister tells Putin peace is necessary

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi told Russian dictator Vladimir Putin of the need to end the war against Ukraine. The Kremlin published a translation of the remarks, delivered on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek.

Modi noted that India "supports all peace efforts in this area" and will continue to do so.

"Every day that the war continues, humanity takes a step backwards; yet every step towards peace gives humanity real hope. We must move from endless war to the end of war, to the cessation of hostilities. And we must move in precisely this direction. This is crucial for all of humanity," the Indian prime minister said.

The politician added that all problems must be resolved through peaceful means.

"The entire world demands this. And this is India’s message, among others: India is the country of Gandhi, the country of Buddha – that is our message," Modi said.

This is not the first such appeal to Putin in recent times. In late July, Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told Putin that the "conflict" with Ukraine "should already be frozen and a return made to the Istanbul Formula 2.0."

At the time, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha thanked Tokayev for those words. In turn, Russian dictator’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a "freeze" of the war was impossible.

The SCO summit in the Kyrgyz capital will run from August 31 to September 1. Putin also met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping there.