Happy to visit India, says Ukraine President Zelenskyy after Modi's invite

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit India, and the Ukrainian leader said he would be happy to visit the "great" country.

Modi invited Zelenskyy during his wide-ranging talks with the Ukrainian President.

The Indian prime minister paid a nearly nine-hour visit to Kyiv in the first-ever trip to Ukraine by an Indian prime minister since it became Independent over three decades back.

At a media briefing following the talks between the two leaders, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed that Modi invited Zelenskyy to visit India.

"It's significant that our prime minister has visited Ukraine for the first time since 1992. It is natural on such occasions that he extends an invitation, which he did in this case," he said.

"So we expect that at some point, as per his convenience, President Zelenskyy will visit India," Jaishankar added.

A joint statement also said that Modi invited Zelenskyy to visit India at a mutually convenient opportunity.

'Happy to visit India' 

Asked at a media briefing on Modi's invitation, Zelenskyy said he would be happy to come to India. "Yes because when you begin a strategic partnership, and you begin some dialogue, I think that you don't need to waste time and do a big pause and that's why I think it will be good to meet together again," he said.

The Ukrainian President also said he wants India to be on the side of his country.

"I read a lot about your big and great country. It's very interesting," he said, adding "I very much need your country on our side." "I will be happy to come to India as soon as your government and prime minister will be ready to see me," Zelenskyy said.

At the same time, he suggested the visit will also depend on the situation in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Jaishankar, in response to a question, said that India's energy trade with Russia also came up for discussions.

"Yes, it did. I wouldn't say at great length, but what we did was to explain to the Ukrainian side what was the energy market scenario, the fact that today many energy producers are sanctioned, making the market potentially very tight; and why actually today there is a compulsion, in fact not just a compulsion, I mean why it is in the interest of the international economy as a whole, that oil prices remain reasonable and stable," he said.

India, the world's third largest oil-consuming and importing nation, in July bought $2.8 billion worth of crude oil from Russia, second only to China which remains the largest importer of Russian oil, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in a report.

Russia emerged as India's biggest supplier of crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries, after Russian oil became available at a discount following some European nations shunning purchases from Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Imports from Russia, which were less than one per cent of the total oil imported in the pre-Ukraine war period, now make up for almost 40 per cent of India's total oil purchases.

(With Agency inputs)