The US on Friday said any effort to end hostilities in Ukraine will be welcomed by the Biden administration, National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby said, when asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi can convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war.
Kirby said the US will welcome any effort that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is willing to undertake to ensure immediate cessation of hostilities on both sides.
“I think there’s still time for Putin to stop the war. I think there’s still time for it. I will let PM (PM Modi) speak to whatever efforts he’s willing to undertake. The US would welcome any effort that could lead to an end of hostilities in Ukraine,” Kirby was quoted as saying by ANI.
Ukraine and its Western allies lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks during the bilateral dialogue between him and Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) leadership summit in Samarkand.
“Today’s era is not of war and I have spoken to you about it on the call. Today we will get the opportunity to talk about how we can progress on the path of peace,” PM Modi told Putin. The phrase was also included in the joint statement released following the G20 Summit in Indonesia’s Nusa Dua later in 2022.
Kirby said that there is still time to end hostilities in Ukraine and the Russian President Putin had the ability to bring a halt to the war there.
“The single person responsible for what the Ukrainian people are going through is Vladimir Putin and he could stop it right now. He’s firing cruise missiles into energy and power infrastructure and trying to knock out the lights and knock out the heat so the Ukrainian people suffer even more than they already have,” Kirby said, criticising Russia for its attacks on Ukraine’s power grids.
Meanwhile, Russia has warned the US and its allies to not send more weapons to Kyiv saying that this will prolong the war. Earlier this week, Russia accused the West of fanning the flames and warned the United Kingdom against sending fighter jets to Ukraine, saying such a move would have serious military and political ramifications for the entire world.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to send fighter jets to Ukraine to help it fight the Russian forces.
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