PM Narendra Modi met Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine on Friday
New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday visited Ukraine on the first-ever trip to the country by an Indian PM and invited President Volodymyr Zelensky to visit India. PM Modi’s invitation to Mr Zelensky came during their wide-ranging talks in Kyiv. At a media briefing, NDTV asked Mr Zelensky about PM Modi’s invitation, to which he said that he would be “happy” to visit India.
The “sooner the better”, the Ukrainian President, whose country is fighting a war against Russia, said, suggesting that the trip would depend on the situation in Ukraine.
“When you begin a strategic partnership, and you begin some dialogue, I think that you don’t need to waste time and do a big pause and that’s why I think it will be good to meet together again. And if our meeting will be in India, I’ll be happy,” Mr Zelensky said.
Calling India a “big and great country”, he said it would be a “pity” to not have time to see India. “It’s a pity because, during the war, I won’t have time to look and to see.”
“But it’s better to be in your country because the key to your country and your prime minister is to see your people,” he added.
“I need very much to find a key to your country because I very much need your country on our side,” Mr Zelensky said.
“I will be happy to come to India as soon as your government and prime minister will be ready to see me,” he said.
“Maybe your country can be the key to this diplomatic influence. That’s why I will be happy to come to India as soon as your government and prime minister will be ready to see me,” the Ukrainian President said.
PM Modi On Russia-Ukraine War
PM Narendra Modi on Friday conveyed to Volodymyr Zelensky that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an “active role” to restore peace in the region.
In his talks with Zelensky, which came a day ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day, he said India was on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022 and that he would even like to contribute personally to a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
“We (India) are not neutral. From the very beginning, we have taken sides. And we have chosen the side of peace. We have come from the land of Buddha where there is no place for war,” PM Modi said during the talks.
“We have come from the land of Mahatma Gandhi who had given a message of peace to the entire world,” he said.
PM Modi’s nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian prime minister since its independence in 1991, came six weeks after he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.