Ukraine Foreign Minister Arrives In New Delhi, Hoping To Boost Ties With Friend Of Its Nemesis Russia

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in New Delhi on Thursday for a two-day visit hoping to boost bilateral cooperation with India, which is a longstanding partner of its nemesis Russia.

Kuleba will meet with his Indian counterpart External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday, as well as the deputy national security advisor, according to an External Affairs Ministry readout. On Thursday, Kuleba will pay his respects to Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat memorial site.

“I began my visit to New Delhi upon @DrSJaishankar’s invitation. The Ukrainian-Indian cooperation is important and we will be reinvigorating ties. Building on the dialogue between @ZelenskyyUa and @NarendraModi, we will pay specific attention to the Peace Formula,” Kuleba said in a post on X.

‘Talks With Putin, Zelenskyy’

His visit comes a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. On March 25, while announcing his India visit, Kuleba evoked Mahatma Gandhi in his address. “His ideal and final goal was freedom and independence. And this is exactly what Ukrainians are fighting for today.” The visit foreign minister had said that “supporting Ukraine today means supporting freedom and independence.”

Amid the Ukraine conflict, New Delhi has stressed the need for diplomacy and dialogue on ending the war and has expressed its willingness to contribute to peace efforts. On March 20, PM Modi posted on social media platform X, to say he had expressed to Zelenskyy “India’s consistent support for all efforts for peace and bringing in an early end to the ongoing conflict,” adding that the country will continue to provide humanitarian assistance. This came after Modi spoke to Putin to congratulate him on his re-election as president.

Peace Summit

During the phone conversation, the two leaders agreed to further strengthen their relationship, while Modi reiterated that dialogue and peace was the best way forward for the Russia-Ukraine war. In his phone call with Modi last week, Zelenskyy said he encouraged India to participate in the Peace Summit that Switzerland has offered to organise. “Ukraine is interested in strengthening our trade and economic ties with India, particularly in agricultural exports, aviation cooperation, and pharmaceutical and industrial product trade,” the Ukrainian president said in a post on X.

A day before the Ukrainian foreign minister’s India visit, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said India’s position in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been that a solution cannot be found on the battlefield and New Delhi wants to find a way of bringing this conflict to an end. Responding to a question on India’s position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict during his interaction with the Indian diaspora here in the Malaysian capital, Jaishankar said that there are “no winners of a conflict”.

“We took the position from the start, that you’re not going to get a solution to this conflict on the battlefield,” he said. “At the end of the day, every party and a lot of innocent bystanders or other nations also get ruined or affected. One way or the other by conflict. So, our position has been here to find a way of bringing this conflict to an end,” he said, adding that “very honestly, in some circles, this was not a very popular position at that time”.

India’s close ties have been subject to criticism from Western media, especially over its oil purchase amid the Ukraine conflict. During his last Russia visit in December, Jaishankar noted the importance of India’s relationship with Russia. “I have written about it in my book, and I mean I said it in Moscow. I said it publicly in Moscow even before my meeting with President Putin happened, which is that we value this relationship. It is a relationship that has served India well,” he had said.

(With agency inputs)