Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has offered Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the opportunity to host a peace conference aimed at ending the conflict with Russia. This comes after Modi’s recent visit to Kiev, making him the first Indian Prime Minister to do so. However, he declined to mediate between Ukraine and Russia, instead offering to “pass messages” between the two countries.
During his visit, Zelensky proposed that Modi host a “peace summit” in India before November, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. The spokesman for Kiev confirmed that the city was considering hosting a conference in a Global South country, with India being a particular focus.
Indian Prime Minister Modi has not yet responded to this proposal, and India’s Foreign Ministry has not commented on the matter. However, at a press briefing after Modi had left Kiev, Zelensky himself brought up the possibility of a peace conference in front of Indian reporters.
The Ukrainian leader said that he believed “a second summit has to take place” and suggested that it would be good if it were held in one of the Global South countries. He described India as a “big country” and “a great democracy, the largest.” However, he noted that New Delhi had not yet joined the communique of the peace summit from a failed conference in June in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The Lucerne conference sought to enlist non-Western support for Zelensky’s peace formula, which consists of a ten-point wishlist first proposed in late 2020. This blueprint effectively outlines Russia’s surrender and has been dismissed by Moscow as unrealistic. China declined to attend the Lucerne conference because Russia was not invited, while several delegations – including India, Indonesia, and South Africa – refused to sign the joint statement.
Independent journalist Swati Chaturvedi remarked that the way in which Zelensky brought up the issue after Modi left Kiev made it seem like Ukraine was conditioning India’s role on signing the communique, causing embarrassment for the Indian Prime Minister in front of an Indian audience.