New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy in New York on Monday, second meeting between the two leaders in a month. Earlier, PM Modi had travelled to Kyiv weeks after his Russia visit as India seeks to play the peacemaker’s role between Ukraine and Russia.
Taking to X after holding bilateral with Zelenskyy, PM Modi wrote, “Met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York. We are committed to implementing the outcomes of my visit to Ukraine last month to strengthen bilateral relations. Reiterated India’s support for early resolution of the conflict in Ukraine and restoration of peace and stability.”
Speaking with respect to Russia-Ukraine War, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in a special press briefing said, “…As Mahatma Gandhi, said once, there is no path to peace, peace is the path. So there needs to be agreement on that. But in addition to that, the discussions that are ongoing today, are focused on the specifics…As a result of the Prime Minister’s visit to Kyiv, since then the Prime Minister subsequently has been in touch with President Putin and President Biden. Our National Security Advisor visited Russia recently. So there are a number of conversations that are going on. The attempt in all of these is to try and move towards some specifics. I don’t say that the specifics are available today, but the attempt is to do precisely that.”
“In a way, in the meeting with President Zelenskyy, the Prime Minister also got the opportunity to say that he has always talked about moving forward on the path of peace by proposing peace, so it is clear that if there is no peace, then in a way sustainable development cannot happen either. Will the war end, only time will tell, but everyone’s efforts are focused on finding an end to the war in some way. In his conversation with President Zelenskyy, the Prime Minister also told him that he has talked to the leaders of different countries and discussions keep happening on this subject and everyone’s opinion is that somehow we will have to find a way to ceasefire in the war and our efforts are also continuing in this regard,” Vikram Misri said.
“The meeting with President Zelenskyy was a meeting that the Ukrainian side requested and accordingly took place…This is the third meeting between the leaders in the last three months or so. A lot of the issues have been discussed but in this particular meeting, this particular subject (Russian oil) was not discussed,” Vikram Misri added.
