New Delhi: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly welcomed Washigton’s proposal to impose punitive tariffs on India, among others, for importing Russian oil, describing it as the “right idea”.
According to reports, in an interview with ABC News, Zelensky was asked about President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on India.
It was pointed out that it has triggered concerns, especially after the recently concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit at Tianjin in China.
At the meeting, visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Xi Jinping of China created the image of the emergence of a strong axis in Asia. Zelensky is quoted as having responded that it is “the right idea to put tariffs on countries that continue to make deals with Russia”.
Despite PM Modi’s overtures for peace and New Delhi supplying Ukraine with humanitarian aid, even fuel, the response aptly drew surprise, also backlash.
Zelensky’s reaction was based on several issues. The most-assumed, oft-reported reason for the statement being that such punitive action against an emerging power like India will deter other nations buying oil from Russia.
Also, the President of Ukraine has not forgotten the humiliation he suffered at his first Oval Office sit-down in late February 2025 with President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.
Trump had then accused Zelensky of “disrespect” and “gambling with millions of lives”, while his deputy scolded him for failing to say “thank you” for US military aid.
Despite the verbal duel Zelensky later thanked the US for “support”, and for “this visit”.
He also thanked Trump, the Congress, and the “American people”, adding “Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that”.
Since then, Zelensky has opted for gratitude over confrontation.
He knows that White House now has to directly lean on Putin to stop the war. But the last, and yet perhaps the biggest reason of all remains the G-20 Summit’s New Delhi declaration in 2023.
The original draft of the New Delhi Declaration referred explicitly to “Russian aggression” in Ukraine, but New Delhi negotiated a shift to the more neutral term “war in Ukraine”.
This was in contrast to the 2022 G20 Bali Declaration that explicitly expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s invasion and the resulting humanitarian crisis.
This change removed direct attribution of blame and reframed the language to describe the situation as a conflict affecting global stability rather than as unilateral aggression by Russia.
Ukraine had then described it as “deeply disappointing” for omitting any explicit reference to Russia’s aggression, calling it a “missed opportunity” that “lacks clarity and courage” and risks emboldening further unprovoked uses of force.
(IANS)
