Marking a historic milestone in India’s diplomacy in Europe which has been roiled by the Russia-Ukraine war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv Friday and asked him to sit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to find a way out of the crisis. Modi, who reached the war-torn Ukrainian capital on an overnight train from Warsaw in Poland, said he told Putin last month that “solutions can’t be found on the battlefield”. He told Zelenskyy at the Mariinsky Palace that “the road to resolution can only be found through dialogue and diplomacy” and “we should move in that direction without wasting any time”. “Both sides should sit together to find a way out of this crisis," Modi said, assuring the President that India, and he personally, are willing to contribute in all possible ways to facilitate early return of peace. “We have stayed away from the war, but we are not neutral, we are in favour of peace. We come from the land of Buddha and (Mahatma) Gandhi with a message of peace. I had told President Putin on his face that this is not the era of war. I told him last month that solutions can’t be found on the battlefield.” “I want to assure you that India is ready to play an active role in any effort towards peace. If I can play any role in this personally, I will do that. I want to assure you as a friend,” he said, adding that he hoped to see the “rising sun of peace”. In a post later, Zelenskyy said, “Today, history was made. The Prime Minister of India @narendramodi made his first visit to Ukraine since our country’s independence, on the eve of our Independence Day.” “India supports Ukraine’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity. And this is critical because everyone in the world must equally respect the UN Charter,” he said. A joint statement, in a section titled ‘Ensuring a Comprehensive, Just, and Lasting Peace’, said Modi and Zelenskyy “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. They agreed on the desirability of closer bilateral dialogue in this regard.” It said “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. He reiterated India’s willingness to contribute in all possible ways to facilitate an early return of peace”. Accompanied by Zelenskyy, Modi visited the multimedia Martyrologist Exposition on children at the National Museum of History of Ukraine in Kyiv. Modi said it was “heartbreaking” to see that “innocent children are the first casualty in a war”. He said “such incidents cannot be acceptable to any person who believes in human values and in any civilised society”. A statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said that the Prime Minister was “deeply touched by the poignant exposition set up in memory of children who have lost their lives in the conflict. He expressed his sorrow at the tragic loss of young lives and as a mark of respect placed a toy in their memory”. Zelenskyy said, Modi and he “honoured the memory of the children whose lives were taken by Russian aggression. Children in every country deserve to live in safety. We must make this possible.” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who briefed on the discussions between the two leaders, said that much of the conversation was about the conflict. Calling it a “perfectly convivial conversation” and “constructive”, Jaishankar said, “I think there was a lot that we said which he (Zelenskyy) heard with a great deal of attention. He knows that we mean well by Ukraine. He knows that we are very keen that this conflict should come to an end. And essentially, what the message from our side to him is that if there is anything that we can do in any way, in sort of upfront or behind or supporting somebody… It’s the objective that we are interested in, rather than the process. We are willing to do whatever we can, because we do think that the continuation of this conflict is terrible for Ukraine itself and for the world as well.” Calling it a “fairly long and very detailed” discussion, Jaishankar said Modi sought Zelenskyy’s assessment of both the ground situation and the diplomatic scenario. In this context, without mentioning inroads by the Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of Russia, he said that the “recent developments” were discussed. He said the discussions revolved around “the military situation”, “concerns like food and energy” and and most of all, on “conceivable pathways to peace and conflict resolution”. Jaishankar said the Ukrainian side also clearly wants “continued involvement of India with the global peace summit… There was also a discussion about what could be effective ways of taking these discussions forward, not necessarily within the format of the summit. There are obviously multiple possibilities here, and multiple views about those possibilities.” “I want to emphasise that the Prime Minister and the President reiterated the readiness to further cooperation in upholding principles of international law, such as respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of states,” he said. On India’s energy trade with Russia, he said it came up during the discussions and it was explained to the Ukrainian side about the “tight energy market”. “India is a big oil consumer. It’s a big oil importer because we don’t produce oil. So, it’s not like there is a political strategy to buy oil. There is an oil strategy to buy oil. There’s a market strategy to buy oil… The fact that the market is tight, that today big suppliers like Iran and Venezuela, who used to supply India, are constrained from operating freely in the markets… This factor needs to be taken into account,” he said. Responding to a question on Modi’s embrace of Putin last month in Moscow, Jaishankar said, “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. So in fact, today, I think I saw the Prime Minister also embrace President Zelenskyy, and I have seen him do it with a number of other leaders in a number of other places. So I think perhaps we have a slight cultural gap here in terms of what these courtesies mean.” According to the joint statement, “The Indian side 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 Ukrainian side welcomed such participation by India and highlighted the importance of high-level Indian participation in the next Peace Summit.” “The Ukrainian side conveyed that the Joint Communiqué on a Peace Framework, adopted at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, could serve as a basis for further efforts to promote just peace based on dialogue, diplomacy, and international law.” It said that the leaders appreciated various efforts to ensure global food security, including the Ukrainian humanitarian grain initiative. The importance of uninterrupted and unhindered supply of agricultural products to global markets, especially in Asia and Africa, was emphasised. After the bilateral talks, Modi presented four BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita & Maitri) Cubes to the Government of Ukraine. Zelenskyy thanked the Prime Minister for the humanitarian assistance. “The Cubes will help in expeditious treatment of the injured and contribute to saving precious lives. Each BHISHM Cube consists of medicines and equipment for the first line of care for all kinds of injuries and medical situations. It also includes surgical equipment for a basic Operation Room that can manage 10-15 basic surgeries per day. The Cube has the capacity to handle about 200 cases of diverse nature in emergency situations such as trauma, bleeding, burns, fractures, etc. It can also generate its own power and oxygen in limited amounts. A team of experts from India has been deployed to provide initial training to the Ukrainian side to operate the Cube,” the statement said. Zelenskyy, in a post, said, “Today, we reached an agreement on four documents between Ukraine and India, covering the medical field, agricultural cooperation, humanitarian relations, and culture. Following the visit, we also agreed on a joint statement focusing on the development of a strategic partnership, bilateral trade, and continued military-technical cooperation.” The two leaders witnessed the signing of four agreements. These include agreement on Cooperation in the field of Agriculture and Food Industry; MoU on Cooperation in the field of Medical Products Regulation; MoU on Indian Humanitarian Grant Assistance for Implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects; and Programme for Cultural Cooperation for 2024-2028. Modi also invited Zelenskyy to visit India as per his convenience.
