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Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has urged Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to sit down for talks with Russia to end Moscow’s invasion during a visit to Kyiv a month after hugging Vladimir Putin.
Mr Modi, whose visit to Moscow last month was widely criticised, said he had come to Ukraine with a message of peace and called for dialogue at the earliest opportunity.
"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," Mr Modi said.
He urged the two countries to “move in the direction of dialogue”, calling it the “only way to resolve conflict”.
The remarks were made during joint statements, in which both leaders hailed the visit as "historic". Mr Modi spoke second and Mr Zelensky did not have an opportunity to respond to the call for dialogue. But the Ukrainian leader said in his remarks that "the matter of ending the war and a just peace are the priority for Ukraine".
Mr Modi and Mr Zelensky hugged and shook hands as they met at the National Museum of History in Kyiv.
Mr Zelensky said of the meeting that he and Mr Modi “agreed on a joint statement focusing on the development of a strategic partnership, bilateral trade, and continued military-technical cooperation... India supports Ukraine's national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“Conflict is particularly devastating for young children,” Mr Modi wrote on the social media platform X after the visit. “My heart goes out to the families of children who lost their lives, and I pray that they find the strength to endure their grief.”
They laid teddy bears at the memorial at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War before observing a moment of silence.
“Prime minister [Modi] was deeply touched by the poignant exposition set up in memory of children who have lost their lives in the conflict,” said India’s foreign ministry in a statement.
“He expressed his sorrow at the tragic loss of young lives and as a mark of respect placed a toy in their memory.”
He also paid tribute at the Mahatma Gandhi monument in Kyiv. The chief of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, emphasised Ukraine’s expectation that India could play a role in ending the war with a “just peace”. Ukraine has repeatedly said it wants the war to end but on Kyiv's terms, not Russia's. Ukraine has been pushing to hold a second international summit later this year to advance its vision of peace and involve representatives from Russia.
“We respect India as a very big democracy in the world and a powerful country,” Mr Yermak said in an interview with India Today.
“But now it’s necessary to say who is the aggressor, who is the victim.”
“Reached Kyiv earlier this morning,” the Indian prime minister had posted on X on his arrival, as he shared pictures of a reception with members of the Indian diaspora in Ukraine. “The Indian community accorded a very warm welcome,” he said.
Mr Modi’s visit comes one month after he met Putin in Moscow. It is also the first trip by any Indian prime minister to Ukraine since Kyiv gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The visit comes at a volatile juncture in the war as Ukrainian forces are still occupying swathes of Russia’s western Kursk region following an incursion that began on 6 August, while Russian troops are grinding out slow but steady advances in Ukraine’s east.
India and Ukraine have some important links in terms of migration and trade in military spare parts, but the trip is largely being seen in the context of India’s ongoing balancing act when it comes to the Ukraine war. Delhi has condemned the suffering taking place in the conflict without directly criticising Putin’s invasion, and has profited enormously from buying large volumes of discounted Russian oil.
“I look forward to the opportunity to ... share perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing Ukraine conflict,” Mr Modi had said before the trip. “As a friend and partner, we hope for an early return of peace and stability in the region.”
Mr Modi‘s visit to Moscow last month coincided with a heavy Russian missile strike on Ukraine that hit a children’s hospital.
It elicited strong criticism from Mr Zelensky, who said it was a “huge disappointment and 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 on such a day”.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the Ukrainian president’s office, told Reuters that Mr Modi‘s visit to Kyiv was significant because Delhi “really has a certain influence” over Moscow.
“It’s extremely important for us to effectively build relations with such countries, to explain to them what the correct end to the war is – and that it is also in their interests,” he said.
