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India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Kyiv on Friday for meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, weeks after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The visit to Kyiv is the first by an Indian leader since Ukraine left the Soviet Union in 1991. Modi's visit comes at the invitation of Zelenskyy, who was angered by Modi's visit to Moscow early last month.
In a joint statement to reporters ahead of their talks, Modi said he had come to Kyiv with a message of peace, and he called for dialogue between Russia and Ukraine at the earliest opportunity.
India and Russia have a long-standing relationship, and had been holding annual summits since 2000, although July's visit was Modi's first in five years. Modi told Zelenskyy that India was ready to play an active role in any efforts toward peace and said he would do that personally, as a friend.
"The road to resolution can only be found through dialogue and diplomacy. And we should move in that direction without wasting any time. Both sides should sit together to find a way out of this crisis," Modi said in the joint statement.
Later, as the two leaders sat before reporters, Modi said that India has not been a neutral or an indifferent bystander when it came to Ukraine's war with Russia. "We have taken a side, and we stand firmly for peace," Modi said.
Following their talks, Modi and Zelenskyy signed four bilateral agreements for cooperation in agriculture, the food industry, medicine, and culture and humanitarian assistance.
Before holding talks, the two leaders honored the memory of children killed in the conflict with Russia, at a multimedia memorial display, and then Modi greeted crowds that had gathered and paid floral tributes to a statue of revered Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.
U.S. aid
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports the U.S. will send another $125 million package of new military aid to Ukraine, which will include air defense missiles, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems - HIMARS - Javelins, and an array of other anti-armor missiles, counter-drone and counter-electronic warfare systems and artillery.
The AP cites officials with U.S. President Joe Biden's administration who spoke on condition of anonymity because the new package has not been officially announced.
Ukraine, Russian attacks
On Friday, the Russian news agency Tass reported that a cargo ferry at the port of Kavkaz in Russia's Krasnodar region had sunk following a Ukrainian attack Thursday. Tass reported 13 people were injured, with four of them hospitalized. One person was reported missing.
Kyiv's Independent newspaper reported Friday that what appeared to be a Ukrainian drone attack targeting a distant Russian airbase in its Volgograd region caused significant damage to the Marinovka airfield in the village of Oktyabrsky. The report said the attack hit a fuel warehouse and bomb storage facility.
The AP reported the airfield also was said to house glide bombs used by Moscow to target the front lines in the war.
Ukraine's military reported Friday that its forces had launched a series of counterattacks in the Kharkiv region over the last several days that have recaptured nearly two square kilometers of front-line territory from Russia.
In a post to its account on the social media platform Telegram late Thursday, Ukraine's Third Assault Brigade reported it had "seized control of Russian battalion defense positions, including platoon and company strongholds, pushing deep into enemy lines."
In the post, brigade commander Colonel Andriy Biletsky, said the operation's primary goal was to diminish the offensive capabilities of the Russian 20th Army. "For now, that objective has been achieved," he said.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.