PM Modi meets Zelensky in Japan, calls Russia-Ukraine war ’issue of humanity’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Japan's Hiroshima. This is the first time the two leaders have held a meeting since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Prime Minister's Office shared photographs of the meeting in which India's national security advisor Ajit Doval was also present.

"PM @narendramodi held talks with President @ZelenskyyUa during the G-7 Summit in Hiroshima," the prime minister's office tweeted.

Both Modi and Zelensky are attending the G7 summit following an invitation by Japan, the current chair of the powerful grouping.

At the meeting, PM Modi stressed that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine was a major issue impacting the entire world.

“But I don’t see this as a political or economic issue, for me this is an issue of humanity, an issue of human values,” the prime minister told Zelensky during his opening remarks.

"You know more than any of us what is the suffering of war but when our students came back from Ukraine last year, the description of the circumstances they gave then, I could understand the pain felt by you and Ukrainian citizens," he added.

Prime Minister Modi also held wide-ranging talks with several global leaders on the sideline of the summit of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies.

Earlier today, PM Modi and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida held talks focusing on boosting bilateral cooperation in areas of green hydrogen, high technology, semiconductors and digital public infrastructure. In the nearly 50-minute talks, Modi and Kishida also deliberated on ways to synergise efforts to combat pressing global challenges under India's G20 presidency and Japan's leadership of the G7 advanced economies.

In a tweet, Modi described his meeting with Kishida as “excellent.”

"We reviewed the full range of India-Japan relations and also discussed the focus areas of India's G-20 Presidency and Japan's G-7 Presidency towards making our planet better," the prime minister said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the two prime ministers exchanged views on a wide range of issues, including development finance, food security, climate change and energy among others.

"The leaders discussed ways to synergise efforts of their respective G-20 and G-7 presidencies. The prime minister stressed the need to highlight the concerns and priorities of the Global South," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.