India supports early end to Ukraine conflict: MEA

New Delhi, Sep 5 (PTI) India on Friday said it supports an early end to the Ukraine conflict and return of an enduring peace in the region.

The comments by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came amid renewed push by Washington to end the war in Ukraine.

"As far as the conflict in Ukraine is concerned, we welcome all the recent efforts towards establishing peace in Ukraine," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

"We hope that all parties will proceed ahead constructively. India supports an early end of the conflict and the establishment of an enduring peace," he said at his weekly media briefing.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday discussed the Ukraine conflict with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha.

Following his phone conversation with Jaishankar, Sybiha said he informed his Indian counterpart about the "current battlefield situation and Ukraine's efforts to achieve a just peace".

"We rely on India's authoritative voice and active role in supporting the full cessation of hostilities and broader international peace efforts," he said on social media.

The Ukrainian foreign minister said he and Jaishankar agreed to meet on the margins of the UN General Assembly later this month.

The Jaishankar-Sybiha talks came three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in China's Tianjin.

In the meeting, Modi conveyed to Putin that India welcomes all the recent efforts towards establishing peace in Ukraine and that it is humanity's call to find a way to resolve hostilities as soon as possible.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dialled Modi on Saturday, two days before Modi's meeting with the Russian president.

After the phone conversation with Modi, Zelenskyy said India is ready to make the necessary efforts and to deliver the appropriate signal to Russia.

India has been consistently calling for ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

In July last year, Modi travelled to Moscow and told Putin that a solution to the Ukraine conflict is not possible on the battlefield and peace efforts do not succeed in the midst of bombs and bullets.

The next month, Modi visited the Ukranian capital city of Kyiv and conveyed to Zelenskyy that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the war. PTI MPB ZMN