Ukraine situation presents a quandary for India, which is balancing between Russia and the West

          For a country seeking to emerge as a global leader, India has been unusually silent while world powers criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pledged tough action, and imposed broad sanctions in retaliation.

Following Thursday’s land, sea, and air attack, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called to Vladimir Putin and demanded “an immediate cease of aggression”, but he did not criticise Russia or its leader.

The Kremlin claimed in a statement following the call that “the prime minister of India was thankful of the explanation” about Russia’s worries over what it saw as violations of the Minsk accord, and that Mr Modi had discussed the safety of 18,000 Indian students in Kyiv.