PM Modi Meets Ukrainian President Zelensky In Hiroshima For First Time Since Russian Invasion

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan’s Hiroshima today. This is the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year. They have earlier only spoken virtually.

“The war in Ukraine is a huge issue for the entire world. It affected the world in several ways, but I don’t consider it a political or economic issue. It is, for me, an issue of humanity, and human values. You know the suffering of war better than all of us. When our children returned from Ukraine last year and narrated the circumstances there, I could understand the anguish of your citizens very well. I assure you that India, and I personally, would definitely do whatever is in our capacity to resolve this situation,” Prime Minister Modi can be heard saying in a video clip of the meeting shared by news agency ANI.

The Prime Minister’s Office shared photographs of the meeting, in which India’s national security advisor Ajit Doval was also present.

PM Modi left for the Japanese city this morning to attend three sessions at the G7 summit as part of his three-nation tour that will also take him to Papua New Guinea and Australia.

The Ukrainian president is attending the summit following an invitation by Japan, the current chair of the powerful grouping.

Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova visited India last month, in the first high-level trip to India from Ukraine after the conflict began in the eastern European country. During her visit, Ms Dzhaparova handed over a letter — from President Zelensky to PM Modi — to Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained that the Russia-Ukraine conflict can only be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, and that “India is ready to contribute to any peace efforts.”