Jaishankar snubs 'western' journalist from BBC --- says "Embracing each other may not be part of your culture, but I assure you it's part of ours"

Ukraine President Zelenskyy urges PM Narendra Modi to back Ukraine’s ‘just peace’ push 

"Regarding your question, you know, in our part of the world, when people meet people, they are given to embracing each other. It may not be part of your culture, but I assure you it's part of ours," External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar told reporters when he was questioned about PM Narendra Modi's meeting with Ukraine President Zelenskyy.

"So in fact, today I think I saw the Prime Minister (Modi) also embrace President Zelenskyy, and I've seen him do it with a number of other leaders in a number of other places. So I think perhaps we have a slightly cultural gap here in terms of what these courtesies mean," he told the questioner from BBC.  

To a question, Dr Jaishankar also stated:  "The military situation, including some recent developments, did come up for discussions. And in terms of the visit, what you asked about the homage particularly to the children; look, in any conflict, obviously any death is something which is, to put it fairly mildly, regrettable; and if it is a civilian death, a humanitarian death, even more so; and if it is a child's death, even more so." 

"So I think it is something which touches everybody. And even when we were in Moscow, it is a subject on which the Prime Minister spoke publicly. So I think it was very natural for him to come and express that feeling in some kind of gesture," he remarked.   

With regarding the conversation between the prime minister and President Zelenskyy, the Minister said:

"I think it was a perfectly convivial conversation. I think it was very constructive. I think there was a lot that we said, which he heard with a great deal of attention. He knows that we mean well by Ukraine." 

"He knows that we are today very, very keen that this conflict should come to an end. And essentially what the message from our side to him, which surely would have not come as a surprise to him, is that if there is anything that we can do in any way, in sort of upfront or behind or supporting somebody, it's the objective that we are interested in, rather than the process. 

"We are willing to do whatever we can, because we do think that the continuation of this conflict is terrible, obviously for Ukraine itself and for the world as well." 

Answering questions, Dr Jaishankar also said: 

"....the peace formula, look, we've been involved with the multiple meetings of the Summit, starting from Copenhagen, as I said, at a very senior level. How to take it forward? I think there is a diversity of views." 

"I mean, there is a diversity of views, not just involving India. I think many other countries who have also taken part in the Summit have their particular views on how to take it forward. 

Now what we heard from the Ukrainian side today was their view and their expectation on how to go forward, which is understandable."

"But I think in terms of our view, our view is that any exercise, if it has to be productive, will naturally have to involve the other party concerned. I mean, it cannot be obviously, you know, a completely one-sided or a one effort which would fructify".

PM Modi and his host Ukraine President Zelenskyy witnessed signing of four agreements. 

These include (i) Agreement on Cooperation in the field of Agriculture and Food Industry; (ii) MoU on Cooperation in the field of Medical Products Regulation; (iii) MoU on Indian Humanitarian Grant Assistance for Implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects; 

and (iv) Programme for Cultural Cooperation for 2024-2028.  

Modi tells Zelenskiy he is ready to work ‘as a friend’ to bring about peace deal  

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, made a historic visit to Kyiv on Friday and told Volodymyr Zelenskiy he was ready to work “as a friend” to bring about a peace deal that would end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Modi said he respected and supported Ukraine’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”. “It is our highest priority,” he said, adding that he had told Vladimir Putin during their meeting in July that “problems cannot be resolved on the battlefield”. The war could only end through “dialogue and diplomacy”, he stressed.

The trip is the first to Ukraine by an Indian leader since the country’s 1991 independence from the Soviet Union. It follows a period of strained relations. Zelenskiy criticised Modi’s recent trip to Moscow, which came on the same day Russian missiles flattened a children’s hospital in Kyiv.  

Modi arrived in Ukraine on the eve of the country's Independence Day to deepen cooperation between India and Ukraine, and to push for a peaceful resolution to the war between Kyiv and Moscow.

Ukraine doesn't just want any old peace deal, though, says a report in politico.eu.