India not planning to invite Ukraine to G20 summit in September

NEW DELHI (AP) — India is not planning to invite Ukraine to the summit of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations in September, its external affairs minister said Thursday.

“In our view, G20 participation is for members and organizations we have invited. That list we declared as soon as we assumed the G20 presidency” in December, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told reporters.

Ukraine is not a G20 member, while Russia with whom it is fighting a war is part of the grouping. India has avoided condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine and has sought to end it through diplomacy and dialogue.

“It is not something that we have reviewed and it is not something very honestly which we have discussed with anybody,” Jaishankar said.

The Ukraine war and the disruption in global food and fuel supplies are expected to be high on the agenda of the G20 summit in New Delhi.

Zelenskyy was invited to participate in last year’s G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Japan in May. It was their first meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

India hopes to deepen trade with Russia, its Cold War ally, from whom it has continued to buy record amounts of crude. It also depends on Russia for about 60% of its defense equipment.

In April, Ukraine asked India to supply medicine and medical equipment and help it rebuild war-damaged infrastructure.

The request was conveyed by Emine Dzhaparova, the deputy minister of foreign affairs and Ukraine’s most senior official to visit India since Russia’s invasion began last year. She highlighted Ukraine’s desire to build a stronger and closer relationship with India.

Responding to Ukraine’s request, India’s External Affairs Ministry said that in addition to providing medicine and medical equipment, India would also supply school buses to Ukraine.

India evacuated nearly 20,000 Indians studying in Ukraine, mostly in medical colleges, after the outbreak of the war.