Ukraine foreign minister holds talks with Jaishankar, discusses peace formula

Describing India and Ukraine as "two big friendly nations", Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba on Friday said he had "sincere and comprehensive" talks with his Indian counterpart on bilateral ties, and they "agreed to restore" the level of their cooperation that existed prior to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Kuleba met at the Hyderabad House here as part of a bilateral engagement.

The Ukrainian foreign minister's two-day visit to India comes amid efforts to seek a peaceful resolution to the more than two-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict. He arrived here on Thursday.

In his opening remarks at the meeting, Kuleba said India and Ukraine have been "traditional friends, but I think there is much more that we can do, and should do, not only in the interest of our nations but also in the interest of global development and security architecture".

"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 cooperation. Because I do believe that this relationship has a strategic perspective," the Ukrainian foreign minister said.

After the meeting, Kuleba said on X, "We paid specific attention to the Peace Formula".

"In New Delhi, I had sincere and comprehensive talks with @DrSJaishankar about Ukrainian-Indian bilateral relations, the situation in our regions, and global security. We paid specific attention to the Peace Formula and the next steps on the path of its implementation," he said.

During the meeting, Kuleba said both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have spoken in person and on the phone "a number of times, and they always instruct us foreign ministers to push this relationship forward".

"We have a big work to do, and I am looking forward to delivering, so that we can report to our leaders, but also to the peoples of India and Ukraine, two big friendly nations," he said.

(With agency inputs)