New Delhi: During a virtual G20 meeting on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the G20 leaders that it was necessary to find a solution to the ongoing war in Ukraine. He emphasized that Russia has never refused to hold peace talks with Ukraine.
Addressing G20 leaders for the first time since the start of the war, Putin said some leaders had said in their speeches that they were shocked by the ongoing "aggression" of Russia in Ukraine, reported Reuters.
"Yes, of course, military actions are always a tragedy," the Kremlin chief said during the virtual G20 Summit chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"And of course, we should think about how to stop this tragedy," Putin said, adding "By the way, Russia has never refused peace talks with Ukraine," reported the news agency.
Putin's decision to send troops into Ukraine in February 2022 triggered Europe's deadliest conflict since World War 2 and the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the depths of the Cold War.
According to Reuters, the fighting in Ukraine has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands, displaced millions more, and devastated swathes of the country's south and east.
"I understand that this war, and the death of people, cannot but shock," Putin said, before setting out the Russian case that Ukraine had persecuted people in eastern Ukraine.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, about 14,000 people were killed there between 2014 and the end of 2021, including 3,106 civilians, reported Reuters.
Notably, Putin used the word "war" to describe the conflict instead of the current Kremlin term of "special military operation".
"And the extermination of the civilian population in Palestine, in the Gaza Strip today, is not shocking?" Putin asked. He also expressed his shock over doctors in Gaza having to perform operations on children without anesthesia.
Putin skipped previous G20 summits in New Delhi and Nusa Dua, Indonesia, sending Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov instead.