Talking peace with Moscow
Hindustan TimesUkrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba’s discussions with external affairs minister S Jaishankar and deputy national security adviser Vikram Misri during his first visit to India focused on reviving bilateral relations and, more significantly, seeking New Delhi’s support for a planned peace summit to be hosted by Switzerland. Kyiv also realises the importance of engaging with New Delhi given its stature in the Global South in order to ensure the success of the peace summit at a time when the Russia-Ukraine war appears to be stalemated amid growing fatigue in Europe. It is in this context that Kuleba has spoken of the possibility of India becoming the first major non-western power to support Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace formula. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has in the past emphatically spoken against using war to resolve disputes, was one of the first heads of State to congratulate President Putin on his re-election while Jaishankar has said Russia is a trusted old-time ally that India will stick with.