India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, during his visit to Kyiv, said the Ukraine war will not end based on whether India purchases crude oil from Russia or refrains from doing so.
The Russia–Ukraine conflict has continued into its fifth year. Since the war began in 2022, India has continued to buy Russian crude, with the government maintaining that India has the right to secure affordable energy for its people.
In Ukraine, Jaishankar met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. He later addressed reporters following the meetings.
Responding to a question on whether India would reduce Russian oil purchases if the United States imposed sanctions on countries buying Russian oil, Jaishankar said meeting the energy needs of India’s 1.4 billion people is a major challenge amid a difficult global energy situation.
He added that a war running for five years would not be decided by whether a country buys oil, aluminium, minerals, metals or fertilisers, and reiterated that only talks can resolve the conflict, with India encouraging such efforts.
