Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Evian at the sidelines of G7 Summit in France.
Taking to X, PM Modi said he reiterated that India will always be on the side of peace, “placing the values of humanity over everything else.”
“Met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Evian. In recent times, India and Ukraine have been engaging extensively. This has been reflected in different areas of our cooperation. Our talks today were about reviewing different aspects of our cooperation,” PM Modi said in a post on X.
“We both agree that trade ties need to be restored to what they were in the pre-war time. Also reiterated that India will always be on the side of peace, placing the values of humanity over everything else,” he added.
The meeting comes shortly after PM Modi held a meeting with US President Donald Trump and EU chiefs—European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa in Evian.
India has been consistently calling for an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
Zelensky says India and Ukraine have ‘great potential’ for cooperation
After the meeting, Volodymyr Zelensky said that India and Ukraine have “great potential for cooperation”, and are already implementing joint projects.
“Today, we discussed how to give them even more substance and expand cooperation across various sectors. Importantly, the Prime Minister is interested in developing mutually beneficial relations with Ukraine and sees that this partnership can make our people stronger.
“There are good industrial and other projects that we can implement together. We agreed that our teams would work through all the details,” he said on X.
Previous meetings
PM Narendra Modi and President Volodymyr Zelensky last held direct communication when the Ukrainian leader dialled him on August 30 last year.
After the phone conversation, Zelenskyy said India is ready to make the necessary efforts and to deliver the appropriate signal to Russia.
Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin two days after the call.
In July 2024, Modi travelled to Moscow and told Putin that a solution to the Ukraine conflict is not possible on the battlefield and peace efforts do not succeed in the midst of bombs and bullets.
The next month, Modi visited the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv and conveyed to Zelenskyy that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the war.
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