PM Modi, Ukraine President Zelensky to Meet in Hiroshima, First Meeting Since Onset of War

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Hiroshima on the sidelines of the G7 Summit. This is the first time both leaders are meeting in person since the onset of the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to join the G7 Summit and will arrive in Hiroshima on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already left for Hiroshima where he will meet with G7 leaders and also attend the Quad leadership summit.

This will be the first time that Ukrainian President Zelensky will meet PM Modi since the war began in February 2022. Earlier this year Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova visited New Delhi where she urged India to support Ukraine’s ‘peace plan’.

India on several occasions has urged both Russia and Ukraine to return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy in order to restore peace and stability in the eastern European region.

PM Modi has met Russian President Vladimir Putin once after the war in Ukraine erupted. During their meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September 2022, he told Putin that it is “not an era of war” – a statement which resonated with global leaders.

India continues to push for dialogue and diplomacy and has sought an end to hostilities and urged all parties to take concrete steps to end the war in Ukraine.

PM Modi also this February urged for peace in Ukraine. While addressing a joint press conference with Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor, in New Delhi, PM Modi said: “Since the beginning of developments in Ukraine, India has laid emphasis on resolving this dispute through dialogue and diplomacy. India is ready to contribute to any peace process.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also hold several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G7 Summit where he has been invited as a special guest. He will meet South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, G7 chair and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The informal group of leading industrialised nations consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States are meeting in Hiroshima. This year, the leaders of Australia, Brazil, Comoros, Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam are invited as G7 aims to reach out to developing countries in the so-called Global South.