RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Moscow for a two-day visit.

President Putin met Mr Modi on Monday at his residence at Novo-Ogaryovo, outside the capital, with more talks taking place at the Kremlin today. 

The Indian premier posted photos of his arrival in Moscow on social media platform X, saying, in both Russian and English, that he was “looking forward to further deepening the special and privileged strategic partnership between our nations.

“Stronger ties between our nations will greatly benefit our people,” he wrote, also sharing a picture of himself and Mr Putin hugging.

India is among countries that have ignored US and EU calls to sanction Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, increasing its imports of oil and gas from the country since 2022. It is also by far the largest customer for Russian arms exports.

Meanwhile, Russia was accused of bombing the Okhamatdyt children’s hospital in Kiev, Ukraine’s biggest medical facility for children.

At least two people were reportedly killed during the attack and about 50 injured.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian missiles slammed into the facility and, with other attacks, 64 people had been hospitalised in the capital, as well as 28 in Kryvyi Rih and six in Dnipro — both cities in central Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia was responsible for hitting the hospital.

He said that Moscow’s forces do not attack civilian targets and pointed to a Russian Defence Ministry statement blaming a Ukrainian air defence missile for partially destroying the hospital.