PM Modi invites President Zelensky to visit India; he says would be happy to come to the “great” nation
The Ukrainian President also said he wants India to be on the side of his country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine.
| Photo Credit: AP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday invited President Volodymyr Zelensky to visit India and the Ukrainian leader said he would be happy to travel to the "great" country.
Mr. Modi invited Mr. Zelensky during his wide-ranging talks with the Ukrainian President.
The Indian prime minister paid a nearly nine-hour visit to Kyiv in the first-ever trip to Ukraine by an Indian prime minister since it became independent over three decades back.
India supports Ukraine’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity: President Zelenskyy
At a media briefing following the talks between the two leaders, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar confirmed that Mr. Modi invited Mr. Zelensky to visit India.
"It's significant that our prime minister has visited Ukraine for the first time since 1992. It is natural on such occasions that he extends an invitation, which he did in this case," he said.
"So we expect that at some point, as per his convenience, President Zelensky will visit India," Jaishankar added.
A joint statement also said that Mr. Modi invited Mr. Zelensky to visit India at a mutually convenient opportunity.
Asked at a media briefing on Mr. Modi's invitation, Mr, Zelensky said he would be happy to come to India.
If India changes its attitude towards Russia, the war will end: Zelensky
"Yes because 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," he said.
The Ukrainian President also said he wants India to be on the side of his country.
"I read a lot about your big and great country. It's very interesting," he said, adding "I very much need your country on our side."
"I will be happy to come to India as soon as your government and prime minister will be ready to see me," Mr. Zelensky said.
At the same time, he suggested the visit will also depend on the situation in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jaishankar, in response to a question, said that India's energy trade with Russia also came up for discussions.
"Yes, it did. I wouldn't say at great length, but what we did was to explain to the Ukrainian side what was the energy market scenario, the fact that today many energy producers are sanctioned, making the market potentially very tight; and why actually today there is a compulsion, in fact not just a compulsion, I mean why it is in the interest of the international economy as a whole, that oil prices remain reasonable and stable," he said.
India, the world's third largest oil-consuming and importing nation, in July bought $2.8 billion worth of crude oil from Russia, second only to China which remains the largest importer of Russian oil, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in a report.
Russia emerged as India's biggest supplier of crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries, after Russian oil became available at a discount following some European nations shunning purchases from Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Imports from Russia, which were less than one per cent of the total oil imported in the pre-Ukraine war period, now make up for almost 40 per cent of India's total oil purchases.
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