During Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Kyiv, the external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, pointed to previous Indian efforts at achieving diplomatic breakthroughs not only around the world but also with Russia and Ukraine to suggest that New Delhi could help broker peace between Moscow and Kyiv. Yet, just hours later, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, made it clear, in a series of blunt statements to the Indian media, that New Delhi has a long way to go before it can win Kyiv’s trust as an honest mediator of peace. Taken together, Mr Jaishankar’s comments and Mr Zelensky’s view underscore how challenging it will be for any government, including India’s, to convince Ukraine and Russia to end the war through diplomacy. Mr Jaishankar referenced India’s role as an interlocutor between the two sides over the Black Sea grain deal that lasted for around a year starting July 2022. Under the deal, Russia agreed to not target ships ferrying Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea. Ukraine has long been one of the world’s biggest grain producers and the initiative helped calm global food prices. India has also, according to Mr Jaishankar, tried to mediate between Russia and Ukraine over stopping the fighting near the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, amidst fears that the battles there could lead to dangerous leakages. Yet the subsequent collapse of the Black Sea deal and the continuing tensions over Zaporizhzhia point to the limitations of what India and other countries trying to facilitate negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow have been able to achieve.

When it comes to steps to halt or end the broader war between Russia and Ukraine, India’s challenge is even bigger. While Mr Modi spoke of a willingness to do more to mediate peace, the Ukrainian president’s words betrayed frustration with New Delhi. Ukraine, he said, wants India on its side and not as a negotiator facilitating peace between Kyiv and Moscow. India’s mammoth oil imports from Russia, he added, were helping Moscow, and if cut, could end the war. He also criticised India’s refusal to sign onto a Ukraine-led peace plan at a Swiss summit in June in which New Delhi had participated. All of this poses tough questions for Mr Modi’s government. Was it caught off guard by Mr Zelensky’s rebukes or was it prepared for the admonition? Will not India’s efforts to negotiate peace be undermined by its traditional close ties with Russia? The answers might be difficult but the government owes the nation the truth.