Ukraine urges India to rethink ‘Soviet legacy’ of Russia ties

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has urged India to stand by Kyiv, saying the South Asian nation’s close ties with Russia are based on a Soviet legacy that is evaporating, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
India has traditionally had close economic and defence ties with Moscow and refrained from criticising Russia over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, instead increasing purchases of Russian oil to a record.
Kuleba, who began a two-day visit on Thursday looking to advance Kyiv’s vision of the path to peace in Ukraine and strengthen ties with India, said it had much to gain from expanding trade and technology ties with his country.
“We are interested in importing some of the heavy machinery items that India is producing,” he said, as Ukraine looks to restore trade with India, particularly of farm products such as sunflower oil and other Indian goods.
He offered Indian companies a role in postwar reconstruction.