Why India stepped up Russia-Ukraine talks: Jaishankar points to attacks that killed Indian sailors

India stepped up its engagement with Russia and Ukraine after attacks on civilian shipping in July killed and injured Indian sailors, with discussions that began around maritime safety subsequently widening to grain shipments, energy and possible non-attack arrangements, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday. Jaishankar said New Delhi remains in contact with both Moscow and Kyiv, while cautioning that there was no certainty the effort would produce a breakthrough in the war. Speaking at the 5th Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi, the minister said civilian ships came under attack from both Russian and Ukrainian sides in July, prompting India to take up the issue directly with the two governments. "In the month of July, there were attacks on civilian shipping by both Russia and Ukraine. And in the course of those attacks, some Indian sailors were killed, some were injured," Jaishankar said. "We regard these attacks as completely unacceptable, whether it is in the Black Sea, the Red Sea or the Gulf. So we protested very strongly to the Russians, to the Ukrainians. I myself took it up with the foreign ministers of both countries." Four Indian seafarers were killed in July when the Guinea-Bissau-flagged Golden Leo was struck while leaving a Ukrainian port. India summoned the Russian chargé d'affaires and condemned the attack, saying strikes on commercial shipping and the loss of civilian lives were unacceptable. India subsequently reviewed security arrangements for Indian seafarers operating across conflict-affected areas of West Asia and the Black Sea. From shipping safety to grain and energy Jaishankar said the initial effort to protect shipping and seafarers developed into a broader conversation as New Delhi examined the cargo moving through the Black Sea and concerns over disruption to grain exports. The discussions expanded to whether shipping could be protected from attacks and whether movement of grain could be facilitated, with energy also becoming part of the conversation, he said. Those discussions remain underway. A day earlier, Jaishankar had said India had moved beyond simply advocating dialogue and had become "a little bit more involved", holding conversations with both sides on Black Sea shipping, grain and energy exports and possible non-attack arrangements. Jaishankar on Monday also laid out the sequence of high-level contacts behind the effort. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek on August 31 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit. The two discussed, among other issues, the Black Sea conflict and its effect on maritime trade and Indian seafarers. "After that, he asked me to go to Kyiv," Jaishankar said. Jaishankar travelled to Kyiv in early September, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. According to Ukraine's foreign ministry, the talks covered peace efforts, Black Sea security, freedom of navigation and global food security. Modi and Putin subsequently held another meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi in September. The Prime Minister's Office said the two again discussed the Black Sea and maritime safety, with Modi reiterating that India was prepared to assist peace efforts. "We still keep in touch with both sides," Jaishankar said. He cautioned against assuming that the discussions would necessarily lead to a resolution. "It is not obviously an easy situation, it is not something which anybody can say with a high degree of confidence that something is going to come out," he said. "But it seems definitely an effort worth making because, as I said, we do feel the Global South's concern." 'What is the point' if Russia is absent Jaishankar reiterated India's long-held position that the Russia-Ukraine war was unlikely to be resolved on the battlefield and would eventually require negotiations. "From the very start, we have always held that this conflict in Ukraine is unlikely to be resolved in the battlefield," he said, adding that dialogue and diplomacy offered the best pathway. He also questioned the usefulness of international peace meetings on Ukraine that did not include Russia. "There were a number of conferences where countries gathered to express their support for peace, but they would gather in the absence of Russia," Jaishankar said. "And we always felt, what is the point of having a gathering... on the Ukraine conflict, where Russia is not there."