‘These Are Wars Without Winners’: EAM Jaishankar Calls for Dialogue to End Ukraine Conflict After Kyiv Visit

Warsaw, Poland: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday stressed the need to end the Ukraine war through dialogue and diplomacy, describing it as a conflict “without winners” that continues to inflict mounting human and economic costs.

Speaking to the media after high-level bilateral consultations with Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, Jaishankar noted that the war has entered its fifth year. He had travelled to Warsaw directly from Kyiv.

“India believes that endless war must give way to an end to war. These are wars without winners. Every additional day means more death, more destruction, more loss to the parties themselves, and more cost to the rest of the world,” he said.

He recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently voiced the same concern publicly and reiterated India’s conviction that efforts must focus on promoting dialogue and diplomacy.

“We must each do what we can, in whichever way we believe would be most effective, and support the efforts of others to bring this conflict to an end,” he said.

Addressing questions related to energy trade, Jaishankar underlined India’s responsibility to meet the energy security needs of 1.4 billion people in a challenging global environment. He rejected the notion that the conflict’s continuation hinged on purchases of oil, alumina, fertilisers or other commodities.

“This war is not going to end… because somebody chose to buy or not buy oil, alumina, fertilizers, or metals and minerals. It will end when there is diplomacy, when there is dialogue, when there is negotiation. Let’s diagnose the problem right. The issue is a conflict; it’s a war, and the solution to that is not in trade. The solution to that is in negotiations,” he said.

Jaishankar said India remains in continuous contact with both sides. He had recently visited Moscow, Prime Minister Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek a few days earlier, and he himself held talks in Kyiv.

“What we are trying to do is to see if there are ideas and suggestions that can be developed in some way in which they would contribute to the mitigation, ideally the cessation of the conflict,” India's External Affairs Minister said.

Beyond Ukraine, the two ministers discussed the ongoing conflict in the Gulf, the situation in West Asia/Middle East, and developments in the Indo-Pacific. Jaishankar observed that the world faces multiple wars alongside serious challenges of food, fuel and fertiliser availability, as well as supply-chain resilience. He highlighted the potential for India and Poland, as political democracies, market economies and open societies, to cooperate in shaping global debates, building on their tradition of close coordination at the United Nations and other multilateral forums.

Describing the talks as productive across these areas, Jaishankar stressed India’s consistent position that sustained diplomacy offers the only viable path to ending the Ukraine conflict.

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