Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that India was ‘never neutral’ in its stance on the ongoing war between Russia-Ukraine and had chosen the side of ‘peace’ since the onset of the conflict.
“India was never neutral, we have always been on the side of peace,” PM Modi said during his meeting with Zelensky.
He reiterated to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky India’s willingness to facilitate early return to peace during his three-hour meeting with the latter and also urged the warring parties to engage with one another through dialogue and diplomacy as tools to resolve the conflict.
“I assure you that whatever the need may be from a humanitarian point of view, India will always stand with you and will be two steps ahead,” PM Modi said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine seeks India’s continued cooperation in the process to restore peace in the region through the Ukrainian Peace Summit. He said that it is important that nations respect the UN charter.
“India supports Ukraine’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity. And this is critical because everyone in the world must equally respect the UN Charter,” Zelensky said at the end of the meeting with the leader of the world’s largest democracy.
The meeting between PM Modi and Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, the first visit by an Indian leader to the country since its birth, comes at a time when Kyiv has launched an incursion in Russia’s Kursk region while Moscow’s army advances in eastern Ukraine, claiming to have seized a swathe of towns and villages in recent weeks.
Later, external affairs minister S Jaishankar held a press conference where he said the Ukrainian President updated PM Modi on the recent developments in the conflict and the deaths of children and civilians was also discussed during the meeting.
Ukraine, Russia Urged To Engage With Each Other
Jaishankar said that the incursion was also discussed, along with deaths of children in the conflict. “He (Zelensky) knows we mean well by Ukraine. We are very, very keen that the conflict comes to an end. If there is anything India can do, in any way… It is the objective we are interested in, rather than the process. We are willing to do whatever we can. The continuation of this conflict is terrible for Ukraine and the world,” Jaishankar said while addressing reporters.
He said that PM Modi told Zelensky that when he was in Russia recently in July, he told the leadership there that it was not an era of war. The Prime Minister had visited Moscow to hold a bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Jaishankar also said that PM Modi told Zelensky that Ukraine and Russia need to engage with each other to find a solution to the ongoing conflict between them.
He said there was also a discussion on what could be effective ways of taking the discussions forward.
“It is India’s view that the two sides (Ukraine and Russia) need to engage with each other to find a solution,” he said.
The meeting comes as India tries to emerge as a peacemaker in the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict which has been going on for the last two and half years.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Modi shared ‘many of the thoughts’ that were discussed during the meeting he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin with Zelensky, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said.
Putin and PM Modi met earlier this year in Moscow to hold a bilateral meeting.
When asked about India’s oil imports from Russia, Jaishankar said: “We did explain the current market scenario (to Ukraine), and why it is in the interest of the international economy for oil prices to remain stable”.
“India is a big oil consumer and importer because we do not have oil. It is not like there is a political strategy to buy oil but an ‘oil strategy’ to buy oil. The market is tight and suppliers like Venezuela and Iran, who supplied oil to India are facing constraints. These factors need to be taken into account,” Jaishankar said.
MoUs Signed, BHISHM Cubes Gifted
The external affairs ministry shared the joint statement released by the leadership of both nations after their meeting. They expressed their desire to ‘elevate bilateral relations from a comprehensive partnership to a strategic partnership in the future’.
“They reaffirmed their commitment to further developing bilateral ties for the benefit of the peoples of both countries based on mutual trust, respect, and openness,” the joint statement said.
Putin and PM Modi met earlier this year in Moscow to hold a bilateral meeting.
When asked about India’s oil imports from Russia, Jaishankar said: “We did explain the current market scenario (to Ukraine), and why it is in the interest of the international economy for oil prices to remain stable”.
“India is a big oil consumer and importer because we do not have oil. It is not like there is a political strategy to buy oil but an ‘oil strategy’ to buy oil. The market is tight and suppliers like Venezuela and Iran, who supplied oil to India are facing constraints. These factors need to be taken into account,” Jaishankar said.
MoUs Signed, BHISHM Cubes Gifted
The external affairs ministry shared the joint statement released by the leadership of both nations after their meeting. They expressed their desire to ‘elevate bilateral relations from a comprehensive partnership to a strategic partnership in the future’.
“They reaffirmed their commitment to further developing bilateral ties for the benefit of the peoples of both countries based on mutual trust, respect, and openness,” the joint statement said.
Jaishankar also said that the Indian-Ukrainian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical, Industrial and Cultural Cooperation (IGC) has been set up with him and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba as co-chairs.
The leaders have urged the co-chairs to explore all possible ways to not only restore bilateral trade and economic relations to pre-conflict levels but expand and deepen them further.
