NEW DELHI: India on Saturday welcomed the upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, scheduled to take place in Alaska on August 15, expressing hope that the meeting could help bring an end to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
In a statement, the External Affairs Ministry said the meeting "holds the promise of bringing an end to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and opening up prospects for peace."
"As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said on several occasions, ‘This is not an era of war,’” the statement added.
"India, therefore, endorses the upcoming summit meeting and stands ready to support these efforts," the statement said.
The summit marks the first US-Russia meeting at the presidential level since 2021, when former US President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva. Trump confirmed on Friday that he would meet the Russian President in Alaska, aiming to push forward peace talks over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ahead of the summit, Trump hinted that any peace deal might involve “swapping some territories,” a comment likely to raise eyebrows in Kyiv and beyond.
“Nothing easy,” Trump told reporters. “But we’re gonna get some back. We’re gonna get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both.”
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed back strongly against any such proposal that excludes Ukraine from negotiations or suggests territorial concessions.
“Any decisions that are made without Ukraine are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead decisions. They will never work,” Zelensky said in a statement on Telegram.
Prime Minister Modi has previously communicated to both Putin and Western leaders that this is not an era of war, reiterating that a peaceful resolution is the only sustainable solution.