“India and Russia have had a relationship for a very long time. From a US perspective, India is a strategic partner with whom we continue to engage in with full and frank dialogue to include their relationship with Russia. As it relates to the NATO summit being this week, of course, like you, the world is focused on that,” Pentagon press secretary major general Pat Ryder told reporters at a news conference in New York on Tuesday.

The Joe Biden administration has already expressed its concerns during Modi’s two-day visit to Russia’s Moscow.

“But I do not think anybody will be surprised if (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin tries to represent this visit in a way that seeks to somehow show that he is not isolated from the rest of the world. And the fact of the matter is, President Putin’s war of choice has isolated Russia from the rest of the world and it has come at great cost,” Pat Ryder said responding to questions on Modi’s Russia visit.

“Their war of aggression has come at great cost and the facts bear that out. So we will continue to view India as a strategic partner. We will continue to have robust dialogue with them,” Ryder said.

When a reporter said “He (Putin) is not looking so isolated with the head of the world’s largest democracy being in Moscow, embracing him right now”, Ryder replied, “I would also note that the prime minister also met recently with the Ukrainian president and offered his assurances that India will continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine.”

“I think that we trust that India will support efforts to realise an enduring and just peace for Ukraine and will convey to Mr Putin the importance of adhering to the UN charter and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.

Ukraine mourns after Kyiv children’s hospital attack

The statement from the Pantagon comes even as rescuers searched the rubble of Ukraine’s biggest children’s hospital on Tuesday for more dead and wounded, a day after authorities say a Russian missile leveled a wing of the Kyiv facility during a massive daytime barrage that killed at least 42 people throughout the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the social platform X that 64 people were hospitalised in the capital, in addition to 28 in Kryvyi Rih and six in Dnipro — both cities in central Ukraine.

Zelensky was also critical of Modi’s visit to Russia, saying on X late Monday, “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.”