On January 21, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleksandr Mishchenko received the Ambassador of the Republic of India to Ukraine, Ravi Shankar.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the current state and prospects for the development of Ukraine–India relations, as well as pressing issues on the bilateral agenda. Particular attention was paid to political dialogue, cooperation in multilateral formats, and further intensification of contacts between the foreign policy agencies of the two countries.

The Deputy Minister briefed the Indian side on the security situation in Ukraine in the context of the ongoing war of aggression of the Russian Federation and emphasized the importance of international support for Ukraine’s efforts aimed at restoring a just and lasting peace.

The Ukrainian side also drew attention to the importance of a critical approach to Russian disinformation and manipulative narratives, which are deliberately used by Russia to undermine the peace process, mislead the international community, and create false pretexts for further escalation and the intensification of strikes against the territory of Ukraine.

In this context, once again, on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, attention was drawn to the inconsistency of certain public statements by India’s senior leadership with the real situation amid Russia’s ongoing criminal war against Ukraine. In this context, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, condemned the so-called “attack on Putin’s residence,” which, as has already been established, did not occur at all. At the same time, the entire international community daily witnesses large-scale missile and drone attacks by Russia against Ukraine’s civilian population and critical infrastructure. However, unfortunately, no public statement condemning these real crimes against Ukraine committed by Russia has yet been made by the Indian side.

Hope was expressed for more active interaction in both the political and economic spheres. A separate request was made to accelerate the provision by India of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in accordance with the agreements reached during the visit of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kyiv in August 2024.

The parties also discussed issues of humanitarian cooperation, in particular the implementation of joint projects, as well as prospects for cooperation in the field of recovery and support for the civilian population affected by Russian aggression.