INDIA on Thursday said, it was ready to extend “any help in any manner” to end the Ukraine-Russia war, which is now in its fifth year, as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha in Kyiv.“India has consistently maintained that this is not an era of war, and that solutions will not emerge from the battlefield,” Jaishankar said in a joint press statement alongside Sybiha after their talks. He recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi just two days ago declared that endless war must now give way to the end of war during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. “Every passing day of conflict only means more deaths and more destruction. Understandably, it is for the parties involved to find a way. But, if India can be of any help in any manner, we are ready,” Jaishankar said. India has been consistently calling for ending the Russia Ukraine conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

 

“In consonance with Prime Minister Modi’s call for an end to war, my visit has a focus on the prospects of dialogue and diplomacy. I will be taking back the views and positions shared today by the Ukrainian side,” he added. Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister welcomed PM Modi’s call to move from an endless war towards an end to the war, saying his country “stands ready for diplomacy.” “India is a global power and we welcome Prime Minister Modi’s call to move from an endless war towards an end to the war,” Sybiha said in a post on X. Jaishankar, who arrived here amid escalating hostilities between Moscow and Kyiv, said his trip has a bilateral purpose. “But more important, it takes place in the larger context of the war that has been underway since 2022. Only two days ago, an Indian national was also killed in an attack in Kyiv. We join in mourning every life lost and convey our deepest sympathy to every affected family,” he said. India has also been concerned over a series of attacks on merchant ships in the Black Sea in the last few weeks.