Ukraine latest live news – latest: Putin warns of ‘serious’ response to Kyiv’s counter-offensive

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi told Vladimir Putin that “today’s era isn’t of war”, making his first direct rebuke of the Russian leader after months where New Delhi has held a position of neutrality in the Ukraine conflict.

“Today’s era isn’t of war and I’ve spoken to you about it on the call,” Mr Modi said in his first public criticism of Mr Putin.

“Today we’ll get the opportunity to talk about how can we progress on the path of peace. India-Russia has stayed together for several decades.”

In response, Mr Putin sought to assuage India‘s concern about the conflict in Ukraine, telling Mr Modi that Moscow wants to see a quick end to the fighting and alleging that Ukrainian officials won’t negotiate.

“I know your stand on the conflict in Ukraine and the concerns that you have repeatedly voiced,” the Russian leader told Mr Modi. “We will do all we can to end that as quickly as possible. Regrettably, the other side, the leadership of Ukraine, has rejected the negotiations process and stated that it wants to achieve its goals by military means, on the battlefield.”

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Putin told the Chinese president Xi Jinping that he understands his “questions and concerns” about the Ukraine conflict.

Vladimir Putin has warned of “more serious” action against Ukraine amid intensifying questions at home and widening isolation on the world stage.

“Our offensive operation in the Donbas is not stopping. They’re moving forward – not at a very fast pace – but they are gradually taking more and more territory,” he said after a summit of authoritarian leaders in Uzbekistan.

The Russian army was forced to pull back its forces from large swathes of northeastern Ukraine last week after a swift Ukrainian counteroffensive.

In what was the largest largest military setback for Moscow since it was pushed back from the capital Kyiv early on in the invasion, Ukraine moved to reclaim control of several Russian-occupied cities and villages.

“Let’s see how it develops and how it ends,” he said referring to the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
He said Ukraine has also attacked Russian civilian infrastructure and “we so far have responded with restraint, but just yet”.

“If the situation develops this way, our response will be more serious,” Mr Putin said.

“Just recently, the Russian armed forces have delivered a couple of impactful strikes,” he said in an apparent reference to Russian attacks earlier this week on power plants in northern Ukraine and a dam in the south.

“Let’s consider those as warning strikes.”