Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said he is looking forward to visiting India as it could be an “important” step in global diplomatic efforts to end the war between his country and Russia.
“India is a very influential country, not only in the world but also among very skeptical countries. If we change India’s attitude towards this war and Russia, we will stop the war, because Putin would like to stop it,” Zelensky said in response to a question during an interaction with the Indian media during his visit to India.
The Ukrainian President described Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Kyiv as “historic”. During the bilateral talks, Prime Minister Modi invited Zelensky to visit India.
He said Modi’s visit was “historic” and added: “I need your country very much by our side, not just to be a balance between the US and Russia.” Prime Minister Modi’s nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian prime minister since Ukraine’s independence in 1991, came six weeks after his summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in July.
During the bilateral talks, PM Modi had earlier told Zelensky that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to find ways to end the ongoing war and that India has been in favour of peace since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022.
“When you start a strategic partnership, and you start some negotiations, you don’t need to waste time. So I think it would be good to meet again, and I would be glad if our meeting takes place in India,” Zelensky said.
He said, “I think to understand a country, you need to understand its people as well. It is better to live in your own country because to find the key to your country and your Prime Minister, you need to look at your people and I really need to find the key to my country because I need your country and not to balance between America and Russia.”
“It is not about your historical choice, but who knows, maybe your country can be important in this diplomatic impact,” he said, adding, “So as soon as your government, the Prime Minister (PM Modi) agrees to meet me, I will be happy to come to India.” Replying to another question, he said, “We would like him (PM Modi) to have a peace summit, and of course we will be happy to work on it and of course, if he has his own ideas, we will be happy to discuss it.”
He said, “But we do not change our territories for any proposal… We do not change our people for any proposal, we do not change our territories, our values and our freedom and democracy for any proposal… We will not change.”
“Prime Minister Modi wants peace more than Putin. The problem is that Putin doesn’t want (peace). I don’t know what they talked about during their meeting. But I…,” Zelensky said and shrugged his shoulders with a hint of exasperation.
When asked about the discussions about defence production, Zelensky said, “We basically talked about some technologies (but) we are ready for a much bigger deal if India is ready.” Responding to a question about India not supporting the UN resolution (against Russia a few months ago), Zelensky said he wanted to forget what happened in the past and “before new proposals, we have to speak out, we have to build much stronger relations between our country (and India) before new decisions.” He said, “There will not be big challenges in our relations in the future. And I will focus on this, on future relations between our countries.”
Pointing to very important contracts between India and Russia in terms of oil, the Ukrainian President said, “Putin is afraid of losing the economy, he has nothing but oil, his main currency is oil. He has a kind of energy-based economy, and he is export-oriented.” He added, “So, countries that import energy resources from the Russian Federation will help the whole world.”
Zelensky denied knowing about any Indian citizens being held in Ukrainian jails but said if there were any, he would release them and inform Prime Minister Modi immediately.
He said he read media reports about the death of some Indian citizens working for the Russian military in the war with Ukraine.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
