Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his first visit to Kyiv on Friday to again call for a diplomatic solution to more than two years of war with Russia, saying he stood “firmly for peace” in talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Modi was in Kyiv just over a month after angering Ukraine by hugging President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Moscow.
Arriving for talks on Friday, he embraced Zelensky and the pair held a minute of silence at a memorial commemorating children killed in Russia’s invasion.
New Delhi, which has avoided explicit condemnation of Moscow’s invasion, has cast itself as a possible peacemaker between the warring neighbours.
“We were not neutral from day one, we have taken a side, and we stand firmly for peace,” he told Zelensky.
He earlier said that “no problem should be solved on the battlefield.”
His visit comes as Kyiv’s forces are mounting a major incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, while Moscow’s army is advancing in eastern Ukraine.
The Indian leader pledged humanitarian support for Kyiv, saying: “Whatever help is required from a humanitarian standpoint, India will always stand with you.”
Zelensky called Modi’s visit a “historic moment”.
But neither side showed signs of a breakthrough, with India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar later saying that it was “clearly a complex issue” and that India believes Moscow should be involved if peace efforts were to progress.
India took part in a Kyiv-led international peace summit in June, but Jaishankar said that “productive (talks) will naturally have to involve the other party concerned.”
Indian Diplomacy
Ahead of his arrival in Kyiv, Modi said he planned to “share perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict” with Zelensky.
While India has historically warm ties with Russia, it also courts closer security partnerships with Western nations as a bulwark against its regional rival China.
New Delhi has avoided explicit condemnation of Russia’s 2022 invasion and has abstained on UN resolutions that criticize the Kremlin, instead urging both sides to resolve their differences through direct dialogue.
Moscow also remains a key supplier of oil and weapons to India.
But Russia’s Ukraine invasion has also had a human cost for India, with several reports of Indian citizens being killed fighting for Russia.
In recent years, Western powers have pressured New Delhi to distance itself from Russia.
With AFP
