Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (AP photo).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Sunday that Ukraine and India are finalising a new security cooperation arrangement. The announcement comes just days after Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, held high-level talks with Indian National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy said, “We are preparing important announcements regarding our security cooperation with partners next week. We do not forget that air defense for Ukraine and support for our army remain constant priorities.”
“More security arrangements are forthcoming. We already have an arrangement on security cooperation with India, and we are finalizing it so that the documents are in place,” he posted.
“We are also preparing for further work with our European partners to unblock the already-approved support package for Ukraine, delivery of which still hasn’t begun,” Zelenskyy said.
Umerov met Doval on Friday, during which the NSA conveyed India’s “principled position and focus on peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy”.
This has been Delhi’s position for the last four years of the war between Russia and Ukraine and has been articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his past visits to Russia and Ukraine.
Umerov met the NSA and they reviewed bilateral relations and discussed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. “NSA reiterated India’s principled position and focus on peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy,” the Ministry of External Affairs’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday.
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Umerov said, “We discussed the development of bilateral relations and the assessment of the security situation. The Indian side reaffirmed its consistent position on the need for a peaceful settlement based on dialogue and diplomacy.”
“I am grateful for the shared understanding of the need to find solutions that will ensure a lasting peace,” the Ukrainian NSA said.
Jaishankar also met him and posted on X, “Glad to meet @rustem_umerov, Secretary of the National Security & Defence Council of Ukraine today. Discussed our bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on the Ukraine conflict.”
About the meeting with Jaishankar, the Ukrainian NSA said, “We discussed the current situation on the front line, the progress of negotiations, and the prospects for achieving a just, lasting, and sustainable peace for Ukraine.”
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“We also focused on the development of bilateral cooperation and the implementation of agreements outlined in the Joint Statement of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, following his visit to Ukraine in August 2024,” he said.
“I am grateful for the open and substantive dialogue. We look forward to further strengthening bilateral cooperation,” he said.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Russia-Ukraine war has now been in its fifth year and has led to massive casualties on both sides. Talks between the two sides have been brokered by the US, but there is no end in sight.
US President Donald Trump has sought to end the conflict, but the war has been in a deadlock with both sides inflicting damage on the other side.
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India has sought to walk a diplomatic tightrope over the past four years and has expressed its willingness to contribute to peace efforts.
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