New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) Ukrainian Ambassador to India, Oleksandr Polishchuk on Monday called for more Indian involvement in the peace-building process in the war-torn country. In an interview with IANS, Polishchuk called India a “growing power” and stressed that New Delhi needs to play a bigger role even as it chairs groupings like Quad and BRICS.

“India is a growing power and of course it’s difficult for India to keep the current condition — neutrality. Especially when you’re as a country rightly pretending to have a seat in the UN Security Council….You need to play a bigger role, not just follow the general trends, but the formulation of the global political agenda. This year, India is chairing the BRICS as well as chairing the Quad and we will have a summit of this organisation and we hope that India will demonstrate traditionally the willingness to keep the peace in the world. Modiji said, India is not natural. You are on the side of the peace. So, we need more involvement of India in the peace building process in Ukraine,” the diplomat told IANS.

India has repeatedly called for dialogue and diplomacy while voicing concern over the loss of lives in the conflict since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.

“If you will be more proactive, we will be very much appreciative of the Indian involvement in this process. We actually need India, who actually always demonstrated the capacity to be the peace promoter in the world,” said Polishchuk.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited India to attend the 23rd India-Russia Annual Bilateral Summit. Polishchuk stated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also looking forward to visiting India soon.

“We are looking forward to the visit of our President to India. It was mentioned in a joint statement after the historical visit of the honourable Prime Minister to Ukraine in 2024 and we hope that my President during his visit here in India will demonstrate and have the opportunity to explain to India what is the Ukrainian position in this war,” he said.

The Ukrainian Ambassador, who visited the World Book Fair in New Delhi, also highlighted the plight of Ukrainians back home.

“The situation in Ukraine is very tough because of the war. But, I am very much pleased that we have the opportunity to host here a couple of the Ukrainian authors like Lyubko and Julia who come here and who share their own expressions. They are living in a very hard condition in Ukraine without electricity, without heating,” he stated.

“But, it’s a great demonstration that the Ukrainian identity will not actually be erased by somebody. So, we will never give up. We will continue this fight. and when we win in this war, it will be a great demonstration of the enmanisification that Ukraine is a country which is actually very brave and we have history. We have those who are ready to sacrifice themselves for this country,” he added.