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🇻🇳 Vietnam /Elections & Politics

India’s foreign minister makes first Kyiv visit and asks Ukraine to respect its Russian oil purchases

From Tuổi Trẻ · () Vietnamese

Translated from Vietnamese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Kyiv for the first time and said the Russia-Ukraine conflict would not end simply because countries bought or stopped buying Russian oil.
  • Jaishankar defended India’s need to secure fuel supplies for its 1.4 billion people while asking Ukraine to respect New Delhi’s position.
  • He said India was ready to help end the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy, as potential U.S. penalties over Russian energy purchases remained a concern.

India’s foreign minister used his first visit to Kyiv to defend New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, telling Ukraine that energy trade alone would not bring the war to an end.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar made the argument on Sept. 3 during talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. He said India respected Ukraine’s position on Russian oil but expected Ukraine to respect India’s position as well.

India is Russia’s second-largest crude oil buyer after China. Those purchases have provided Moscow with substantial revenue while Western sanctions have targeted the Russian economy. Jaishankar said securing fuel supplies for India’s 1.4 billion people posed a major challenge.

The conflict, now in its fifth year, will not end by itself simply because someone does or does not buy Russian oil, aluminum, minerals or metals.

· Subrahmanyam JaishankarDefending India’s Russian energy purchases during his Kyiv visit.

“The conflict, now in its fifth year, will not end by itself simply because someone does or does not buy Russian oil, aluminum, minerals or metals,” Jaishankar said.

He argued that an end to the conflict would come through negotiations rather than the battlefield. “This conflict will be resolved through dialogue, diplomacy and negotiations. That is what we encourage,” he said.

This conflict will be resolved through dialogue, diplomacy and negotiations. That is what we encourage.

· Subrahmanyam JaishankarSetting out India’s preferred path to ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

Jaishankar added that India was ready to provide “support in any form” to help end the war. He said the visit followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to end the conflict and focused on the prospects for dialogue and diplomacy. He also said he would convey the views and positions shared by Ukrainian officials.

India’s oil purchases have already drawn pressure from Washington. In August 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Indian imports over the country’s energy trade with Russia, taking the total tariff level to 50%. The rate later fell to 18% as Washington pushed India to replace Russian oil with Venezuelan crude.

The U.S. House was expected to vote in September on legislation that could impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries among the five largest buyers of Russian oil or gas, including India and China.

support in any form

· Subrahmanyam JaishankarDescribing India’s readiness to help bring the conflict to an end.
About this summary

Originally published by Tuổi Trẻ in Vietnamese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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