Ukraine is committed to peace but not at the expense of giving up its territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a sit down with representatives of the Indian media that was published on Aug. 25.
Zelensky spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the need for Russia’s war to end during the latter’s historic visit to Kyiv on Aug. 23.
“When you say ‘diplomacy’, I’m all for it, but I’d like to see concrete steps that are not at the expense of 30% of our state and not at the expense of our population. If there is such a plan, we’re all for it,” Zelensky said.
Modi is in the weird place of being an elected authoritarian, and so he uses that one foot in both worlds-ness to try and be the diplomatic pivot between those spheres.
The problem, is that Modi is a terrible diplomat, and people come to India not because of his talents, but because India is a sleeping economic giant that could pop off at any instant depending on how their government and society shakes out. Keep in mind that India is still a very much under construction country. India being a collection of colonies and princedoms us still in living memory, and even if it wasn’t, America almost a quarter of a millenia old and even then it is an under construction state and society.