Ukraine’s Zelenskyy reaffirms trust in PM Narendra Modi to help ‘end war’: 'He has huge value’

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has huge value and hence the power to influence the end of the Ukraine war, The Times of India reported. He said PM Modi can check Russian aggression by refusing cheap energy and hence decrease the “capacity of Moscow to wage wars.”

“PM Modi can influence the end of the Ukraine war. This is the huge value of him in any conflict. This is the huge value of India,” TOI quoted the Ukrainian President as saying. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia can be held in India.

In an interview with the news daily, Zelenskyy said that the negotiations that need to done must be "according to our format because the war is in our land" and for this the country needs to prepare itself ahead of second Global Peace Summit in November. Notably, Ukraine hosted its first peace summit in Switzerland, in which representatives of 92 countries participated, excluding Russia.

The uncertainty surrounding November 5 US elections, which will majorly influence the conflict as Republican candidate Donald Trump's victory would imply a loss of powerhouse support for Ukraine, is also a concern for Zelenskyy, apart from Russia's recent advances in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

Apprehensive of a huge setback due to the possibility of supply cut in military aid, Zelenskyy said, “The Victory Plan is not a bargaining chip or a topic of negotiations with Russia… We are not asking for quick Nato membership because that is not possible during the war." As he suggested that Ukraine has a platform for negotiations in the “third hard winter for Ukraine” which is the peace summit, he said, "What we are asking for is invitation to Nato so that in the future nobody can change their opinion,” reported TOI.

The developments come at a time when Ukraine is faced with restrictions in using American-supplied long-range weapons to strike Russian military targets in Vladimir Putin's Russia.