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Modi, Zelensky discuss contours of peace plan

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky (L) with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting in New York, on the sideline of UN General Assembly. (AFP)

PM Modi and Ukraine's Zelensky met again, discussing a ceasefire and India's role in facilitating peace amidst ongoing war concerns.

Hindustan Times

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky for the third time in three months, discussed the specifics of a possible path forward on the war against Russia, conveyed to him that there was a global consensus in favour of a ceasefire, and offered India’s support to do all it can to “facilitate” a peaceful resolution of the conflict.The two leaders met in New York on Monday evening eastern time (Tuesday IST). The meeting was the PM’s last engagement in the US after an intense 55-hour trip where he attended the Quad Leaders’ Summit, held a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden, addressed the Indian diaspora, met top tech chief executives, held bilateral meetings with other counterparts, and addressed the UN’s Summit of the Future.Modi has urged both Russia and Ukraine to engage in diplomacy and dialogue as the only way to establish peace. In response to a question from HT on whether India’s normative desire for peace has also translated into more specific discussions on empirical pathway to peace in these frequent interactions, foreign secretary Vikram Misri, at a press briefing after Modi’s meeting with Zelensky, said, “First there has to be clarity on the normative aspect. As Mahatma Gandhi, I think, said once, there is no path to peace. Peace is the path. So there needs to be agreement on that.”Misri, however, added that there had been discussions on “specifics” as well, in what marks among India’s first acknowledgements that it is involved in the details of what the path to peace may entail. “There are obviously discussions going on in multiple forums around the world. You have various processes that are underway, various formats that we have seen. And we have been involved in some of those, where the idea has been to try and see if there is something around which a consensus can develop… 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.”The war in Ukraine has been a key focus of the PM in his third term in office. Modi met Zelensky in Italy on the sidelines of the G7 summit in June. India sent a senior official to peace summit in Switzerland that month. Modi visited Moscow and met Russian President Vladimir Putin in July. He visited Ukraine in August. Modi then spoke to Biden about the visit -- a trip the US has hailed. Modi later sent NSA Ajit Doval to Moscow to brief Putin on the Ukraine visit in September. External affairs minister S Jaishankar spoke to his new Ukrainian counterpart earlier this month. Modi, in his conversation with Biden as well as during the Quad Summit over the weekend in Delaware, discussed his efforts and India’s understanding of the issue. And now, on Ukraine’s request, Modi has had his third meeting with Zelensky in as many months.The foreign secretary added that Monday’s meeting conveyed how Modi was deeply concerned at the conflict both because of the human toll it was taking and its impact on the world at large and global south in particular. “His meeting with Zelensky demonstrates his commitment to finding a way forward and to contributing in any way possible to a resolution of this conflict.” Misri also said that Modi had told Zelensky that he had been in touch with leaders of different countries on the issue. “The consensus is that we must find a way to achieve a ceasefire, and our efforts are continuing in that direction.”In an official readout of the meeting, the ministry of external affairs said that Modi had conveyed that India remains open to providing “all support within its means to facilitate a lasting and peaceful resolution of the conflict”.Zelensky, in his post on X after the meeting, said that the main focus of the conversation was enhancing Ukraine and India’s collaboration at platforms such as UN and G20 as well as “as well as implementing the Peace Formula and preparing for the second Peace Summit”. “I am grateful for the clear support of our sovereignty and territorial integrity.”In response to a question on the discussions on the second peace summit, including Zelensky’s earlier reference to India as a possible location for it if certain conditions were met, Misri said that many issues were discussed about the path forward. “A number of things came up in this, the Peace Summit that was held in Switzerland, the ideas that have been floated after that, the efforts that Ukraine is making on its own, and the possibility of a second Peace Summit that Ukraine has been talking about. But I think we are not, right now, at a stage where the second Peace Summit can be discussed in any detail. I think there is a lot of work that remains to be done before that. So there was not a great deal of discussion on that specific issue.”Asked if India had been able to persuade Ukraine that Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil did not aid its war fighting efforts — an allegation that Zelensky had made after the PM’s visit to Kyiv — Misri said that the wasn’t discussed at the meeting. “This is the third meeting between the leaders in the last three months or so. A lot of the issues have been discussed, but at this particular meeting, this particular subject was not discussed.”