External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has confirmed that India maintains continuous contact with both Ukraine and Russia as part of sustained diplomatic efforts to help bring an end to the ongoing conflict that began in February 2022. Jaishankar made the remarks during his visit to Warsaw, following a day of talks in Kyiv with senior Ukrainian leadership, underscoring New Delhi’s commitment to exploring pathways toward peace while navigating its complex relationships with both parties to the conflict.
Jaishankar arrived in the Polish capital from the Ukrainian capital, where he held meetings with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior officials. The visit marked one of the most significant diplomatic engagements by a senior Indian official with Ukrainian leadership since the Russian invasion began. Following his Kyiv meetings, Jaishankar met with Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, a discussion that touched on bilateral ties, regional security concerns, and Poland’s own experience as a frontline state in the conflict.
What happened
The External Affairs Minister’s two-day diplomatic tour across the region represents a continuation of India’s long-standing approach to the Ukraine conflict since Russia launched its full-scale invasion more than three years ago. In Kyiv, Jaishankar conveyed India’s position that dialogue and diplomacy remain the most viable paths toward resolving the dispute, while stopping short of endorsing or condemning either side’s actions.
During the Warsaw meeting with Sikorski, Jaishankar discussed India’s bilateral relationship with Poland, a NATO member state that has been profoundly affected by the conflict in neighboring Ukraine. Poland has hosted millions of Ukrainian refugees since 2022 and serves as a critical transit hub for Western military and humanitarian aid flowing into Ukraine. The two foreign ministers also addressed broader European security dynamics and their implications for international stability.
“India remains in continuous touch with both Ukraine and Russia,” Jaishankar stated during the joint press conference with Sikorski. “We believe that resolution through dialogue is possible and desirable.” The External Affairs Minister did not disclose specific proposals or frameworks discussed during his Kyiv meetings, maintaining the confidentiality that has characterized India’s diplomatic engagements on the matter.
Why it matters
The timing and scope of Jaishankar’s visit carry significant diplomatic weight. India has sought to position itself as a neutral party capable of engaging with all stakeholders in the conflict, a stance that has allowed New Delhi to maintain its traditional defense and energy partnerships with Moscow while simultaneously developing closer ties with Kyiv and its Western backers.
For Ukraine, India’s engagement represents an opportunity to cultivate support from a major non-Western power that has refrained from joining sanctions regimes against Russia. While the United States and European Union have provided substantial military and financial assistance to Kyiv, India offers a different diplomatic perspective—one that emphasizes dialogue over confrontation and maintains channels of communication that Western nations have largely closed with Moscow.
For India, the diplomatic outreach serves multiple strategic objectives. New Delhi has a vested interest in seeing the conflict resolved, given its consequences for global food and energy security, disruptions to supply chains, and inflationary pressures that have complicated India’s economic recovery. Additionally, India’s position as a potential mediator enhances its standing as a significant global player capable of contributing to international peace and security.
The visit to Poland, meanwhile, underscores India’s recognition of Central and Eastern Europe’s growing importance in global affairs. Warsaw has emerged as a key voice in European security discussions and a crucial logistical node for international support to Ukraine. Strengthening ties with Poland serves India’s broader goal of deepening engagement with the European Union and its member states.
Background and context
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India has walked a careful diplomatic line, balancing its historical relationship with Russia—which includes significant defense procurement and energy imports—against its growing strategic partnership with Western democracies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held separate conversations with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, most recently speaking with both leaders in late 2024 and early 2025.
India’s official position has remained consistent: New Delhi advocates for respect of international law, territorial integrity, and sovereignty while calling for direct negotiations between the parties. India has voted in favor of United Nations resolutions deploring the Russian invasion, but it has declined to impose sanctions on Moscow or condemn Russian actions in explicit terms.
The conflict has had tangible consequences for India. Disruptions to global commodity markets, particularly in wheat and fertilizers, have affected Indian consumers and farmers. Energy price volatility, partly stemming from reduced Russian gas flows to Europe, has complicated India’s import bills. New Delhi has also had to navigate pressure from Western countries seeking to isolate Russia economically while managing its own energy security concerns.
Russia remains a major supplier of crude oil to India, though New Delhi has diversified its energy imports significantly since the conflict began. Indian refiners have increased purchases of Russian crude at discounted prices, a policy that has drawn criticism from Western officials but has been defended by India as serving its legitimate economic interests.
The geopolitical dimensions of the conflict have also influenced India’s approach to the Indo-Pacific and its relationships with partners in the QUAD and other groupings. The war has reinforced the importance of partners sharing concerns about unilateral attempts to change borders by force, a principle central to India’s own security calculations regarding China.
What to watch next
The success of India’s diplomatic engagement will ultimately be measured by whether it contributes to any reduction in hostilities or movement toward negotiations. Neither outcome appears imminent, as battlefield conditions continue to evolve with neither side willing to accept terms unfavorable to its core interests.
Observers will monitor whether Jaishankar’s visit leads to any follow-up engagement, particularly whether there are plans for Ukrainian officials to visit New Delhi or for Prime Minister Modi to host further conversations with either Putin or Zelenskyy. India has not announced any specific peace initiative, and the External Affairs Minister did not indicate that he was presenting a formal mediation framework during his Kyiv meetings.
The broader context of potential negotiations, should they materialize, will also shape India’s role. Several countries have attempted to facilitate talks between Russia and Ukraine, with varying degrees of success. China’s envoy has visited multiple capitals pushing a peace framework, while Brazil and other Global South nations have offered their own diplomatic initiatives. India’s approach differs in its explicit engagement with both sides and its refusal to adopt a purely rhetorical stance divorced from practical engagement.
Western reaction to India’s diplomatic outreach will also be worth tracking. While the United States and European partners have generally supported India’s efforts to maintain communication channels with Moscow, they have also made clear their expectations that India use those channels to press Russia to end the conflict. How India balances those competing expectations will test its diplomatic dexterity.
For Poland, Jaishankar’s visit reinforces Warsaw’s importance as a diplomatic interlocutor between India and the broader European security architecture. Poland has emerged as a leading advocate for continued support to Ukraine within the EU and NATO, and its perspective on how the conflict might evolve will carry increasing weight as discussions about post-war arrangements begin to take shape.
India’s diplomatic push comes amid ongoing uncertainty about the conflict’s trajectory. Military operations continue along extensive frontlines, while diplomatic efforts to bring the parties together have yet to yield breakthrough results. India’s engagement reflects a calculation that quiet, sustained diplomacy may prove more effective than high-profile mediation efforts that have so far failed to produce substantive results.
The coming weeks will reveal whether Jaishankar’s visit represents a routine diplomatic check-in or the beginning of a more sustained Indian effort to contribute to conflict resolution. Regardless, New Delhi’s continued engagement with both parties signals that India intends to maintain its distinctive position in the conflict—a stance that offers both opportunities and limitations for its broader foreign policy ambitions.
Analysis:
India’s approach to the Ukraine conflict exemplifies the strategic autonomy that has long characterized New Delhi’s foreign policy, though the war has tested this framework in unprecedented ways. By maintaining relationships with both Moscow and Kyiv, India has positioned itself as a potential bridge-builder in a conflict where many Western nations have chosen clear sides. The effectiveness of this approach remains uncertain, and critics both within India and abroad have questioned whether neutrality in the face of territorial aggression constitutes moral equivalence. However, New Delhi appears to believe that its ability to speak to all parties offers value that alignment would sacrifice. The success of this strategy ultimately depends on whether the parties to the conflict—and the international community—view India’s engagement as genuinely constructive or merely as diplomatic theater. Jaishankar’s visit has kept that question open, neither confirming nor resolving it.
Sources
The Hindu (https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-in-continuous-touch-with-ukraine-and-russia-to-help-end-the-conflict-jaishankar/article71429756.ece)
Source: The Hindu – National
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Story synopsis gathered from: The Hindu – National — source
