New Delhi: Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Tuesday said the biggest lesson for India from the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine was to be ready to fight future wars with indigenous weapons.
"Biggest lesson is we have to be ready to fight future wars with indigenous weapons. Steps towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat in defence have to be taken more urgently. Wars of future should be fought with own weapon systems," ANI quoted the Army Chief as saying.
General Naravane also said the crisis showed that wars could happen anytime and the country needs to remain prepared for them.
"There are many lessons that can be learnt from the ongoing Ukraine-Russian war. The crisis shows that wars can happen any time and we have to remain prepared for them. The wars wouldn't just be non-kinetic and would be fought in physical domain also," he said.
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The Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its 13th day on Tuesday, with three rounds of talks not seeing a breakthrough. Russia has been shelling several key sites and residential areas in Kyiv and in the country's second-largest city, Kharkiv.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, in a video address, said at least 400 civilian deaths have been recorded due to Russian military actions. He said Russian strikes have destroyed more than 200 Ukrainian schools, 34 hospitals and 1,500 residential buildings.
He also claimed that Ukrainian forces have killed more than 11,000 Russian troops. Russia has, however, only acknowledged several hundred deaths among its forces.
The West has also increased arms shipments to Ukraine while the UK has provided the country with defensive weapons as well as military and human aid.
According to United Nation's estimate, 1.5 million refugees have sought shelter in neighbouring countries of Ukraine over the last 11 days.