India ready to play active role to end war: PM Modi tells Ukrainian president

India is ready to play an “active role” in efforts to secure peace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday amid Russia’s war on the eastern European country.

“If I can play any role in this personally, I will do that,” Modi said during his seven-hour visit to Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

Modi also urged Zelenskyy to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin to find a solution to the crisis, adding that “the road to resolution can only be found through dialogue and diplomacy”.

Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

On Friday, Modi said that although India stayed away from Russia’s war on Ukraine, Delhi was not neutral and was in favour of peace. “We come from the land of Buddha and [Mahatma] Gandhi with a message of peace,” he added.

Referring to his two-day visit to Moscow in July, Modi said that he had told Putin that this was not the era of war. “I told him [Putin] last month that solutions cannot be found on the battlefield,” Modi said.

During the meeting between Modi and Putin, Zelenskyy had said last month that was a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the “world’s most bloody criminal” in Moscow.

The prime minister on Friday said: “I want to assure you and the entire global community that India is committed to respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity [of states] and it is of utmost importance to us.”

In a post on social media platform X, Zelenskyy said on Friday: “It is significant to us that India remains committed to international law and supports our sovereignty and territorial integrity – core principles.”

He added: “…it is important that as many global actors as possible clearly express their stance on the fundamental norms of international law and visit Ukraine to demonstrate their support in tangible terms.”

A joint statement by Delhi and Kyiv also said that both leaders “reiterated their readiness for further cooperation in upholding principles of international law, including the UN Charter, such as respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of states”.

It added: “They agreed on the desirability of closer bilateral dialogue in this regard.”

The war will end if India changes its attitude towards Russia: Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy on Friday said that the war will end if Delhi changed its “attitude” towards Moscow, adding that India was a “big country” with a “big influence” on the Russian economy, The Hindu reported. The Ukrainian president was referring to India’s agreement for oil from Russia.

“Because today many possibilities of Russian exports are closed, your country is open,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “If you stop import of oil, Putin will have huge challenges.”

Putin had a war economy and billions of dollars coming from India or China helped him, Zelenskyy said. “We should stop giving money in strengthening Russian arms,” he added.

Putin “never respected” Modi, the Ukrainian president said, adding that this was the reason why Russia bombed a hospital in Ukraine at the same time the Indian prime minister was in Moscow last month.

At least 38 persons, including four children, were killed and 190 others injured as Moscow launched attacks on cities across Ukraine during Modi’s visit to Russia. A children’s hospital, Okhmatdyt, was also partially damaged in Kyiv.

‘Cultural gap’: Jaishankar on criticism of Modi-Putin hug

Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar on Friday defended Modi and Putin hugging each other during their meeting in July, which had drawn criticism.

“In our part of the world, when people meet people, they are given to embracing each other,” Jaishankar said during a press conference in Kyiv, while replying to a question about the hug. “It may not be part of your culture but I assure you it is part of ours.”

The minister noted that Modi had also embraced Zelenskyy when they met earlier in the day.

“I’ve seen him do it with a number of other leaders in a number of other places,” he said. “I think perhaps we have a cultural gap in terms of what these courtesies mean.”

Also read: Hares and hounds: How India bought Russian oil without angering the US