‘You have big influence, can stop Putin’: Volodymyr Zelenskyy to India on Ukraine war

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India is “ever ready” to play an active role in ensuring peace in Ukraine.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday said India will play its role, referring to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“India will play its role. I think that India began to recognise that this is not just conflict, this is real war of one man and his name is Putin against whole country whose name is Ukraine. You are a big country. You have a big influence and you can stop Putin and halt his economy, and put him really in his place,” Zelenskyy told ANI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting, at Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine. (PTI)

“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,” the prime minister told reporters with Zelenskyy seated next to him.

After the meeting, Zelenskyy in an X post spoke on four agreements signed between India and Ukraine covering the medical field, agricultural cooperation, humanitarian relations, and culture.

“India supports Ukraine's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. And this is critical because everyone in the world must equally respect the UN Charter,” he said.

Modi's visit to Ukraine is the first by any Indian prime minister since diplomatic relations were established between the two countries three decades ago. The visit comes a month after Modi visited Russia amid its raging war with Ukraine.

‘Told Putin this was not era of war’: Modi to Zelenskyy

“Some time back, when I met President Putin in Samarkand, I had told him that this was not the era of war. Last month when I went to Russia, I said in clear words that a solution to any problem is never found on the battlefield,” Modi told Zelenskyy.