Days after claiming that India will not importing oil from Russia, US President Donald Trump has once again doubled down on his assertion, claiming that New Delhi has already "de-escalated" and "more or less stopped" its oil purchases from Moscow.
Trump made these claims while speaking to the media during a bilateral lunch with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Friday.
"India will not be buying oil from Russia, they have already de-escalated and they have more or less stopped. They are pulling back. They have bought about 38 per cent of the oil, and they won't be doing it anymore," the US President said while replying to a question.
Notably, India on Thursday pushed back saying that it is "broad-basing and diversifying" its sourcing of energy to meet market conditions, hours after Trump claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured him that New Delhi will stop procuring Russian crude oil.
Washington has maintained that India is helping Putin finance the war through its purchase of Russian crude oil — a claim New Delhi has rejected, asserting its energy independence.
Relations between both nations have remained strained after Trump doubled US tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 percent, including a 25 percent additional duty for India's purchase of Russian crude oil.
India described the US action as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable."
'Saved millions of lives'
Meanwhile, Trump has once again repeated his claims about resolving the war between India and Pakistan, adding that Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif has said, "I have saved millions of lives."
"The Prime Minister of Pakistan said I saved millions of lives by interceding... you look at Pakistan and India as an example that would have been a bad one for two nuclear nations," the US President said.
Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a "full and immediate" ceasefire after a "long night" of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim dozens of times that he "helped settle" the conflict between India and Pakistan.
India has consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.