A Russian missile struck a warehouse of an Indian pharmaceutical company in Ukraine on Saturday, the Ukrainian embassy in India said.
In a social media post, the mission alleged that though Russia claimed “special friendship” with India, it was deliberately targeting Indian businesses in Ukraine.
“Today, a Russian missile struck the warehouse of Indian pharmaceutical company Kusum in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian embassy said.
“While claiming ‘special friendship’ with India, Moscow deliberately targets Indian businesses — destroying medicines meant for children and the elderly,” it said in a post on X.
No further details on the strike were immediately available.
Earlier, the UK’s ambassador to Ukraine Martin Harris said Russian strikes destroyed a major pharmaceuticals warehouse in Kyiv.
He said the attack was carried out by Russian drones.
“This morning Russian drones completely destroyed a major pharmaceuticals warehouse in Kyiv, incinerating stocks of medicines needed by the elderly and children. Russia’s campaign of terror against Ukrainian civilians continues,” Harris said on X.
On its website, Kusum Healthcare said it had a presence in 29 countries, including Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan Kenya, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Niger, Cameroon, Mali and Tanzania.
In the last few days, Russia pounded several targets in Ukraine even as the US has been pushing for a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow.
US envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Friday to discuss the ceasefire in Ukraine.
Saturday marks exactly a month since Russia refused to accept a full interim ceasefire proposed by the US.
As Russia maintained its offensive against Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha alleged that Russia was the “only obstacle to peace”.
Sybiha, referring to US-brokered talks for peace in Jeddah, said Ukraine agreed to the proposal on ceasefire.
“Russia refused to agree, instead putting forward conditions and demands,” he said.
From March 11 to April 11, Russia fired at Ukraine almost 70 missiles of various types, over 2,200 Shahed drones, and more than 6,000 guided aerial bombs, he said.
“These were Russian responses to peace proposals,” Sybiha said.
Russia and Ukraine have been fighting a war that began in February 2022 when the former launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, claiming it was protecting Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine and stopping NATO’s expansion.
Major cities like Kyiv and Kharkiv have been targeted, and millions of Ukrainians have been displaced or have become refugees since the war began.
Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry alleged Ukraine carried out five attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the past day, a violation of a US-brokered moratorium on such strikes.
Ukraine and Russia agreed to pause strikes on each other’s energy facilities last month, but both sides have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the moratorium.
While India has called for peace and an end to violence between Ukraine and Russia, it has not openly taken sides.
India has been buying a large volume of oil from Russia soon after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This is primarily because Russian oil was available at a significant discount to other international benchmarks due to Western sanctions and some European countries shunning purchases.
Russia continues to be India’s top oil source. India imported 1.48 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from Russia in February, against 1.67 million bpd in the previous month.
