Ukrainian envoy urges India to play ‘crucial role’ in finding peaceful solution with Russia: ‘India is powerful voice’

Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister, Iryna Borovets on Thursday said that India has to play a “crucial role” in finding a peaceful solution to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Speaking to ANI, Borovets said, “India has a crucial role. First of all, India is a global leader, it is certainly a powerful voice of the Global South countries. India respects the territorial integrity of my country. So in that sense, we have full support. But, India could be more vocal on it, could take more action towards finding a peaceful solution.”

She further said that Ukraine has invited India to the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland in March.

Also Read: Finnish foreign minister hopes India will be more vocal on Ukraine war

Borovets added that India has to be a part of the peace-finding solution. “We have invited the Indian government to be present at the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland in March. We very much expect a representative of India there,” she added.

Also Read: US to impose sanctions on over 500 targets in Russia amid war with Ukraine

Earlier, on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan last year, PM Modi had told Russian President Putin that this now is not the “era of war”.

The statement was even made to the G20 communique under the presidency of India.

Earlier on February 15, PM Modi and Russian leader Vladimir Putin held talks on the ongoing Ukraine war.

“Had a good conversation with President Putin. We discussed various positive developments in our Special & Privileged Strategic Partnership and agreed to chalk out a roadmap for future initiatives. We also had a useful exchange of views on various regional and global issues, including Russia’s Presidency of the BRICS," Modi tweeted.

Also Read: ‘Russia never hurt our interests’: EAM Jaishankar defends India's ‘stable and friendly’ ties with Moscow

Earlier this month, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Russia and held a "wide-ranging and useful" meeting with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

The EAM had said at the time that they discussed the international situation and contemporary issues and exchanged views on the Indo-Pacific, the Ukraine conflict, the Gaza situation, Afghanistan and Central Asia, BRICS, SCO, G20 and the UN.

(With inputs from agencies)