New Delhi: Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged in Kyiv that both Russia and Ukraine had to be at the negotiating table for a diplomatic settlement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed back – insisting that Vladimir Putin was not interested in peace and expressing the hope that India would endorse the joint communique from the first peace summit – a document India withheld support for, citing the absence of all key stakeholders.
Modi arrived in the Ukrainian capital early Friday morning on National Flag Day, following a 10-hour train ride from Poland. His actual time on the ground in the war-torn city was nine hours. Though this marked the first visit by an Indian prime minister since Ukraine’s independence in 1991, Modi is the 72nd head of state or head of government from around the world to visit the country since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
At the beginning of his talks with his host in the war-ravaged country, Modi recounted how, during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he “looked into his eyes” and asserted that this is not an era for war. He also emphasised that “solutions cannot be found on the battlefield” but must be achieved through dialogue and diplomacy.
These two lines, which Modi has often repeated, represent the sum total of India’s diplomatic efforts on the war and it was evident that the prime minister had nothing further to say beyond them.
“Without wasting time, both sides should sit down towards this direction and find a way out of this crisis,” he said while sitting next to Zelenskyy at the presidential palace.
On his part, Zelenskyy expressed the hope that India would endorse the joint communique of the Peace Summit on Ukraine held in Switzerland in June.
Ukraine had made a diplomatic push to secure high-level representation from India at the peace summit, with Zelenskyy raising the issue during multiple meetings. However, Modi did not attend the summit himself, choosing, instead to send a senior Indian diplomat. But India chose not to sign the final joint statement, asserting that “resolution requires a sincere and practical engagement between the two parties to the conflict”. Russia was not sent a formal invitation to the summit.
The Ukrainian president had said that he would be raising this issue during his talks. “Today, one of the topics will be the Peace Summit, how we will move forward in this direction. We very much expect that India will be able to join the joint communiqué of the summit… I will talk about this with the prime minister,” he said.
The bilateral joint statement released at the end of the visit made it clear that India and Ukraine did not see eye to eye about this as it had separate paragraphs on the position taken by the two leaders.
“The Indian side”, the statement read, “reiterated its principled position and focus on peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy, as a part of which, India has attended the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, held in Burgenstock, Switzerland, in June 2024.”
The statement highlighted that the “Ukrainian side” suggested that the Joint Communique “could serve as a foundation for further efforts to promote a just peace through dialogue, diplomacy, and international law.”
Zelenskky also invited Modi for the second peace summit, which he proposed could even be held in India. But he added the caveat that it wouldn’t be appropriate to host the summit in a country that hasn’t endorsed the communique of the first peace summit.
So wary was the Indian side of not upsetting its relations with Russia that the statement made no direct reference to the invasion and the ongoing war, even as it spoke of “upholding principles of international law, including the UN Charter, such as respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of states.” The only mention of the word ‘war’ in the joint communique came in a paragraph on the challenges India-Ukraine trade are now facing.
India’s position that Russia and Ukraine – the two stakeholders – return to the same table was also mentioned in the joint statement issued at the conclusion of the visit, although again indirectly, without reference to any specific conflict. “Prime Minister Modi reiterated the need for sincere and practical engagement between all stakeholders to develop innovative solutions that will have broad acceptability and contribute towards early restoration of peace,” it stated.
Reiterating this point during his media briefing about the talks, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar said, “Our view is that any (peace) exercise, if it has to be productive, will naturally have to involve the other party concerned”.
On July 9, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi embraced Russian President Vladimir Putin on arrival in Moscow, it was just hours after a Russian missile reportedly struck a children’s hospital in Kiev. The Ukrainian president condemned the meeting as a “huge disappointment”.
Six weeks later, Modi, alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, placed a teddy bear at an exhibition commemorating children killed by “Russia’s armed aggression,” including those from the hospital.
An exhibition commemorating children killed in Russian airstrikes in Ukraine. Photo: X (Twitter)/@ZelenskyyUa
He also told Zelenskyy that his heart was “full of sadness” at the deaths of civilians. “It is deeply painful. For any civilised society and for all who uphold humane values, this is unacceptable. In a world that values human dignity, such actions are unacceptable,” he said.
The shadow of Modi’s visit to Russia loomed large over the trip, with the Ukrainian president addressing it during the talks. “This I said to Prime Minister… You speak with him (Putin) and he is speaking how he wants peace and at that moment, he is attacking hospital. He is a killer for us, is he good for you? If during the official visit of Prime Minister, he attacked the children’s hospital… it means he doesn’t respect India. or doesn’t control his Army…It means that he doesn’t respect the Indian Prime Minister,” Zelenskyy said in a press conference after Modi’s departure on Friday evening.
The Ukrainian president also explicitly stated that Russia wasn’t interested in peace talks. “Prime Minister Modi wants peace more than Putin…The problem is that Putin doesn’t want it. I don’t know what about they spoke about when they had [their] meeting..,” he said. Zelenskyy also reiterated that while he was open to suggestions, Ukraine will not change its territory on any propositions.
Jaishankar also defended Modi’s embrace of Putin during the media briefing, asserting that any criticism was a cultural misunderstanding.
“You know, in our part of the world, when people meet people, they are given to embracing each other. It may not be part of your culture, but I assure you it’s part of ours,” he said.
Jaishankar also noted that Modi also hugged Zelenskyy in Kiev, as well as, other world leaders. “So, I think perhaps we have a slightly cultural gap here in terms of what these courtesies mean.”
As per the Ukrainian president, Modi also conveyed that he was opposed to the recruitment of Indian workers in the Russian army. “Prime Minister Modi started with that, he said that he condemns it, and he will make everything possible for the citizens of India not to be fighting in the lines of the Russian Army. I perfectly understand him. I can’t understand how you (Russia) could involve other citizens, forcefully or not. How could it happen,” said Zelensky.
The Indian readout of the meeting did not mention this issue at all.
India had asked Russia to immediately facilitate the discharge of all Indian nationals working with the Russian army during Modi’s visit. As per Indian government data, at least eight Indians have been killed at the Ukraine war frontlines, while 69 nationals are still awaiting release.
The Ukrainian side also brought up India’s purchase of Russian oil propping up Moscow’s “war economy”. Last year, Russia emerged as India’s top oil supplier pushing away traditional suppliers. India even overtook China as Russia’s largest oil buyer in July this year.
“So, he [Putin] has to feel how war is expensive, and his society has to feel it … if you [India] will stop imports of oil, Putin will have huge challenges,” said the Ukrainian president.
Jaishankar said that India explained India’s compulsions to the Ukrainians. “It is not like there is a political strategy to buy oil. There is an oil strategy to buy oil. There is a market strategy to buy oil, so the figures of where we get our oil imports go up and down,” he said.
India told the Ukrainians that it was “in the interest of the international economy as a whole that oil prices remain reasonable and stable”.
The Indian side also invited Zelenskyy to a reciprocal visit to New Delhi, which he accepted in principle.
“I need very much to find a key to your country because I very much need your country on our side … It’s not about your historical choice. But who knows? Maybe your country can be the key to this diplomatic influence. That’s why I’ll be happy to come to India as soon as your government and prime minister are ready to see me.”
Zelenskyy added that the timing of his visit would depend on two factors – “when you’ll be ready” and after “stabilising” the military battlefield.
At the end of the visit, India and Ukraine signed four agreements, including one in cooperation on agriculture. Modi also handed over four BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita & Maitri) Cubes, which can provide emergency medical facilities, including an operating room.
