One of Vladimir Putin’s top international allies has urged the Russian dictator to end the Ukraine war.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi told the Russian president to his face that the conflict must come to a conclusion, for humanity’s sake.

India is the second largest buyer of Russian oil after China and its support is essential to fund Putin’s war machine amid sweeping Western sanctions.

Russian crude oil accounted for more than 50% of India’s oil imports in June and July.

At the start of talks with Putin in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, Modi began by calling Putin “my friend” and welcoming the economic ties between their countries.

According to the Kremlin’s transcript, Modi then said: “As you are aware, India supports all peace efforts in this regard, and we shall continue to do so in the future.

“Every day that the war continues, humanity is in effect set back a step, whilst every step towards peace gives all of humanity real hope for peace.

“We need to move from endless war to an end to the war, to the cessation of hostilities.

“And we will need to move precisely in this direction.”

Putin, who appeared visibly annoyed, replied: “Thank you very much, prime minister. We are moving forward along this path.”

"Every single day spent in war pushes humanity backward."PM Modi directly told Putin to end his war against Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/ZtLqhYquWv

Modi’s comments came after Russia’s defence ministry confirmed on Monday that that it is planning more “massive strikes” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure just as the weather changes for autumn.

Moscow is expected to launch an intense winter assault on Ukraine in the coming months just as freezing temperatures hit the beleaguered country.

Putin’s unsuccessful land grab has now lasted for longer than World War 1 with more than 1.4 million battlefield casualties on Russia’s side.

The Kremlin has repeatedly insisted Russia will only ready to end the war on its own terms.

Source: Read the original article on www.huffingtonpost.co.uk