Ukraine Foreign Minister’s Visit To India

Ruby Thakur
March 30, 2024
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In his first visit to India, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and held “sincere and comprehensive” talks on the peace process to end the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, including India’s participation at the peace summit being organised by Switzerland.

Ukraine Foreign Minister’s Visit To India

Why In News

In his first visit to India, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and held “sincere and comprehensive” talks on the peace process to end the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, including India’s participation at the peace summit being organised by Switzerland.

History

While Ukraine’s top leader was shoring support for his cause across the world, India got nothing but a volley of attacks being launched by Ukrainian leaders, including their foreign minister, Kuleba, who is in India currently for a two-day visit.

While responding to India, a developing country that was buying discounted oil to meet its energy needs, Kuleba said in August 2022, “When India purchases Russian crude oil (at a discount), they have to understand that the discount has to be paid by Ukrainian blood.”
Then again, after the G20 summit held in New Delhi, while reacting to India’s hard work in securing a declaration at the end of the summit, Ukraine responded with a cold remark, saying “it is ’nothing to be proud of’”.

In 2023, Ukraine crossed all limits when its presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said India doesn’t have an understanding of the modern world and is actually a country with ‘weak intellectual potential’.
Not just this, a senior Ukrainian lawmaker and head of the Ukrainian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Oleksandr Merezhko, even called for sanctions against India for buying Ukrainian oil.

Current Scenario

Fast forward to March 2024, and Ukraine has suddenly changed its tune with regards to India. The visiting foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has not only praised India as a global power that rightfully deserves a seat at the United Nations Security Council but also as an important ‘global voice’.
What can be the reason for this sudden change of heart if not Ukraine’s own self-interest?

Kuleba is visiting India with a broader goal to mend bridges, deepen bilateral ties, and also place a request for humanitarian aid, but the most important agenda item is to secure India’s presence at a high-level peace conference being organised by Switzerland based on Zelensky’s peace formula in the next few months.

All You Need To Know

According to a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement, FM Kuleba and EAM Jaishankar on Friday discussed fostering constructive dialogue and strengthening bilateral relations between India and Ukraine, including in areas such as trade and investment, science and technology, defence, agriculture, health, culture, and education.

Peaceful solution’ to Russia-Ukraine crisis : Both ministers also held a separate discussion on matters related to the India-Ukraine Inter-Governmental Commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical, industrial and cultural cooperation and its working groups, the statement read, adding that New Delhi and Kyiv have agreed to work towards holding the seventh Inter-Governmental Commission meeting later this year.
“The exchange of views on regional and global matters involved a comprehensive discussion on the ongoing conflict and efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement,” the MEA statement said.

India and Ukraine also acknowledged that regular interactions at various levels and meetings of bilateral mechanisms have contributed to the strong and multifaceted partnership that exists between the two nations.
Kuleba-Jaishankar meeting : Taking to X, Kuleba said he held “comprehensive talks” with EAM Jaishankar on bilateral ties and global security. The two ministers paid special attention to the Peace Formula and the next steps to be adopted for its implementation.
Kuleba said the two sides agreed to restore the level of cooperation between our countries that existed before the conflict between Russia and Ukraine started in 2022.
EAM Jaishankar stated on X that the two sides had wide-ranging conversation focussing on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and its wider ramifications. They also reiterated their commitment to strengthen the overall relationship, including bilateral cooperation.

At the meeting, Jaishankar said that he looks forward to the visit, adding that India looks forward to hearing the Ukrainian perspective on their regional situation.
“We have been looking forward to this visit…In recent months, we have had interactions at various levels, I am glad to see some of our bilateral mechanisms have also met and this has created certain momentum in our bilateral relationship.

After this discussion, we look forward also to the meeting of the intergovernmental commission,” Jaishankar said.
“Your visit gives us an opportunity to understand the situation in your own region and I look forward to hearing your perspective on that. Our teams have prepared a very substantial agenda for discussions,” he added.
The Ukrainian FM stated that Kyiv will be looking forward to discussing new areas of cooperation with New Delhi.
“We will be looking forward to restoring what had existed before the large-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine began, existed between us. We will be looking forward to discussing new areas and projects of our cooperation because I do believe that this relationship has a strategic perspective,” he said.

Two Distinct Strands Of Looking At Kuleba’s Visit

One is Ukraine’s outreach to India is part of the larger matrix of its rather successful outreach to the so-called ‘Global South’ to build bridges and conversations around the peace plan and the country’s reconstruction.

Second is that Ukraine is building a sustainable quid pro quo with India in terms of trade and other deliverables while respecting the latter’s position on Russia.

Ruby Thakur

General Studies Lecturer SSBCrackExams, BSc In PCM, Trained Students For State Services Exams. Expertise in Geography ,Polity & Current Affairs. Love Travelling.