Until September, it appeared to the eyes of the world that Russia might be retreating, leading to an end to the war; and the same was reinforced when Russian President Vladimir Putin told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the SCO that the war would soon be over and they were exploring ways through dialogue. On this, India—which has not taken a clear stand in the Russia-Ukraine War—said that it will be willing to contribute to the peace efforts between the two nations which have been at loggerheads with each other originally since 2014. But after the SCO summit, Russia has stepped up the offensive mode while the world tries to find clues on what the Kremlin is indenting next.
In a fresh assault, Russia launched an intensive attack which came a day after a key bridge to Crimea was damaged. The attack saw 75 cruise missiles shot at major cities of Ukraine, wreaking havoc, especially in Kyiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Lviv. Again the world powers have condemned the act while India has expressed its deep concern. Keeping in view what is happening on the ground in Ukraine, the world needs to understand the gravity; it needs to go beyond condemnation and make efforts to execute something that will ease up the lives of the people of Ukraine. India has a great role to play in this—if it wants to be remembered as a peacekeeper.
The time has come for India to come down from the fence it has been sitting on for a long time. It now needs to use its back channels to facilitate a dialogue process between Russia and Ukraine to walk towards the end of the ongoing conflict, whose effects are colossal. There are several options available for India that could play a key role in persuading Russia to sit down for a dialogue with Ukraine, especially Russia’s trade domain which has shrunk due to the sanctions in place. India is very well in a position to explore that option and that is very likely to make a difference. The world, including India, must not wait till one day people wake up to the news of Russia having dropped nukes on one of the most beautiful countries on earth, Ukraine. That would be an utter disaster whose repercussions would be far-reaching.
