New Delhi, December 27
In a televised address, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said India can be “more active” in efforts to end aggression.
“Today I spoke with the Prime Minister of India. Next year, it will be India that will preside over the G20. I wished Mr Modi a fruitful presidency, and fruitful not for someone in particular, but for everyone in the world who values peace. India can be more active in efforts to end aggression. So I hope we can do more together for global stability in the coming year,” said Zelenskyy in the TV address.
Hours earlier he had spoken to PM Modi and sought India’s help in implementing a peace formula.
Zelenskyy’s talk with Modi comes a week after his visit to the US where the Pentagon offered him a Rs 16,000 crore military package, including Patriot missiles, to end Russia’s dominance of the skies.
The conversation between the two leaders also comes 10 days after Modi had spoken on phone to the Russian President.
PM Modi conveyed all support for “any peace effort”, and assured India’s commitment to continuing providing humanitarian assistance to the affected civilian population, said the Indian readout.
One such “peace effort” led by Ukraine will be a peace summit by February at the UN with its Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as mediator. But the UN response has been cautious as the proposal not only seeks to keep Russia out but also expelled from the UNSC. “As the Secretary-General has said many times in the past, he can only mediate if all parties want him to mediate,” responded a UN spokesperson.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded by saying that Russia “never followed conditions set by others. Only our own and common sense”. Peskov had earlier said the Ukrainian peace plan cannot succeed without taking into account “the realities of today” by which he meant recognising the breaking away from Kyiv both the Crimean Peninsula and the Donbas region.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba in an interview to AP has said Russia must face a war-crimes tribunal before Ukraine holds direct talks with Moscow.
Zelenskyy would also be aiming to address the G20 under Indian Presidency. Though he wanted to land in Bali during the G20 summit last November, he had to make do with a virtual presentation. Earlier, he was not allowed to address the Asean summit.
Kyiv’s peace formula entails return of all captured land, the release of all prisoners, prosecuting the Russians for war crimes and security guarantees for Ukraine.
