Moscow/Kyiv/New Delhi. After nearly two and a half years of the Russia-Ukraine war, there is hope for peace. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a big statement regarding peace talks with Ukraine. He has said that China, India and Brazil can play the role of mediators in Russia’s possible peace talks with Ukraine. Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum that however, our main objective is to capture the Donbass region of Ukraine. The Russian army is gradually pushing back the Ukrainian army from Kursk. Putin said that when the war started in 2022, Turkey had tried to broker a settlement between the two countries. However, those conditions were never implemented. Now the previous attempt can be made the basis for starting talks afresh.
Let us tell you that this statement of Putin has come at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited war-torn Ukraine and before that Russia. Both these visits of PM Modi were very important and were a topic of discussion at the global level. PM Modi visited Russia in the month of July. His visit took place in the midst of the NATO Summit. During this, the pictures of PM Modi hugging President Putin were very much discussed. During this, Modi reminded Russian President Vladimir Putin that there is no path to peace from the battlefield. During this, Putin also honored PM Modi with Russia’s highest civilian honor, the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle. But Ukrainian President Zelensky was angry with his visit and publicly expressed his displeasure.
After Russia, Prime Minister Modi visited Ukraine on 23 August. He reached Kiev by train from Poland. PM Modi reached the Ukraine National Museum with President Zelensky. Many pictures and videos of this meeting went viral, in which both the leaders were seen getting emotional. During this, PM Modi said that Ukraine should talk about peace without wasting time. He said that the way to the solution comes only through talks, through dialogue-diplomacy. And we should move forward in this direction without wasting time. Before saying this to Zelensky, Prime Minister Modi also assured him of help in getting out of this trouble. During this, PM Modi told Zelensky that some time ago when I met President Putin, I told him eye to eye in front of the media that this is not the time for war. I went to Russia for a meeting recently. There I have clearly said that no problem is solved anywhere on the battlefield.
India is constantly appealing for peace by stopping the war between Russia and Ukraine. India is constantly in favor of calming down this matter as soon as possible. During his visit to Ukraine, he also offered Zelensky that India is ready to play an active role in the efforts for peace. He told Zelensky that I want to assure you that India is ready to play its active role in every effort for peace.
A month after the war started in February 2022, several rounds of talks were held between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, the capital of Turkey. Its purpose was to stop the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin had laid down two conditions to stop the war. He had said that Ukraine would have to withdraw its troops from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. Apart from this, Ukraine will never become a part of NATO. However, Ukraine refused to accept these conditions.
It has been two and a half years since the Russia-Ukraine war started on 24 February 2022. Meanwhile, 10 thousand civilians of Ukraine have died so far, while 18,500 people have been injured. Ukraine claims that Russia has lost 3.92 lakh soldiers. Meanwhile, the US has imposed sanctions on 500 Russian companies. In the Russia-Ukraine war, for the first time on 6 August 2024, Ukraine entered Russia and captured its Kursk area. Since then Ukraine has been continuously attacking Russia. In 20 days, 31 citizens of Russia have lost their lives in Ukraine’s attacks. This is the first time since the Second World War that a foreign power has occupied Russian soil. Ukraine had captured 1263 square km of Russia’s area in two weeks. Ukraine claims that Ukraine has captured more land in 2 weeks than Russia has captured in 8 months of 2024.