Zelenskiy, Modi Speak Ahead Of Xi Jinping’s Major Summit

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Russia's latest strikes on Ukraine as the Indian leader heads to China for the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

“Russia continues the war, Russia continues killing,” Zelenskiy said in his daily address to the nation on Saturday. “India's prime minister agreed that a ceasefire is needed,” he said, adding that he hoped that sentiment will be expressed by Modi while in China. 

Separately, on social media, Zelenskiy said that “Moscow has given no positive signal” it's preparing for diplomacy to end its invasion of Ukraine, which has passed the three-and-a-half year mark. 

Zelenskiy said he and Modi “coordinated” positions ahead of the summit in Shanghai. “The end of this war must begin with an immediate ceasefire,” he said. 

In a readout, India's press service said that Modi “reaffirmed India's steadfast and consistent position for peaceful settlement of the conflict and support for efforts aimed at earliest restoration of peace.”

The pair reviewed progress in the India-Ukraine bilateral partnership and discussed ways to further enhance cooperation, according to the readout. 

President Xi Jinping hosts China's top annual diplomatic gathering Sunday and Monday, with attendees to include Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders from Iran, Turkey and other nations. 

Donald Trump has suggested that Zelenskiy and Putin hold talks to discuss ways to end Russia's war in Ukraine after each met separately with the US president this month.

The White House previously said it believed Putin would agree to meet with Zelenskiy, but that's been knocked down by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and others. The meeting is unlikely to materialize, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said this week. 

Russia unleashed a new wave of missile and drone strikes on Kyiv on Thursday, killing at least 25 people, including four children, in defiance of US calls for an end to the fighting. Moscow launched another large-scale air attack across Ukraine on Saturday. 

Those “are absolutely brazen actions by which Russia demonstrates that without world pressure on it, there will be no end to the war,” Zelenskiy said. “Putin is only confusing leaders and drawing them into his complicity.”