White House on Friday (local time) reiterated that the US would welcome any effort that could lead to an end of hostilities in Ukraine when asked if there is still time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the war or convince President Vladimir Putin.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, “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.”
Notably, PM Modi’s statement, this is not the era for war during his interaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was a statement of principle he believes is right and was welcomed by the US and resonated widely in Europe in a very positive way.
On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit, PM Modi said, “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.”
Prime Minister spoke about this during a bilateral meeting in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand.
This statement was accepted by world leaders and was praised by international media.
PM Modi’s “Today’s era is not of war” became a part of the outcome statement of the G20 joint declaration at Bali in Indonesia.
Kirby meanwhile blamed President Putin for the Russia-Ukraine war. He said, “The single person responsible for what the Ukrainian people are going through is Vladimir Putin and he could stop it right now.”
“Instead, 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,” he added.
Kirby, however, said that the end of hostilities should come, “in keeping with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s objectives and leadership, his determination of what is acceptable to the Ukrainian people. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
“So that when President Zelenskyy determines it’s time to negotiate and he’s the only one that can make that determination he can do it with the strongest hand possible,” he added.
Kirby also highlighted US President Joe Biden’s efforts to end the devastating war between Russia and Ukraine.
“So President Biden has said these gosh dozens of times. We think this war could end today, should end today,” he said.
Speaking about US military aid to Ukraine, he said, “And since he’s (President Putin) not willing to do that, clearly we’ve got to make sure we can help the Ukrainians succeed on the battlefield.