India's Narendra Modi has urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to sit down for talks with Russia to end the war and offered to act as a "friend" to help bring peace as the two leaders met in wartime Kyiv.
The first visit by an Indian prime minister in modern Ukrainian history comes at a volatile juncture in the war launched by Russia in February 2022, with Moscow making slow gains in eastern Ukraine as Kyiv presses a cross-border incursion.
During joint statements to reporters, Mr Modi said he had come to Kyiv with a message of peace and called for dialogue between Russia and Ukraine the earliest opportunity.
"The road to resolution can only be found through dialogue and diplomacy. And we should move in that direction without wasting any time. Both sides should sit together to find a way out of this crisis," Mr Modi said.
"I want to assure you that India is ready to play an active role in any efforts towards peace. If I can play any role in this personally, I will do that I want to assure you as a friend," he said.
Ukraine has seen the trip as an important opportunity for Kyiv to put across its position on Russia's invasion to a country with traditionally close economic and defence ties with Moscow.
Both leaders hailed the visit as "historic".
"This visit is very friendly and important for all Ukrainians," Mr Zelensky told reporters.
In the run-up to the trip Mr Modi said he was looking forward to sharing "perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing Ukraine conflict".
Mr Modi's visit to Moscow last month coincided with a heavy Russian missile strike on Ukraine that hit a children's hospital.
The attack prompted Mr Modi to use emotive language to deliver an implicit rebuke to Mr Putin at their summit.
But the trip elicited fierce criticism from Mr Zelensky, who said it was a "huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world's largest democracy hug the world's most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day".
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the Ukrainian president's office, told Reuters Mr Modi's visit to Kyiv was significant because India "really has a certain influence" over Russia.
"It's extremely important for us to effectively build relations with such countries, to explain to them what the correct end to the war is - and that it is also in their interests," he said.
India, which has traditionally had close economic and defence ties with Russia, has publicly criticised the deaths of innocent people in the war.
However it has also strengthened its economic ties with Russia after western nations imposed sanctions on Russia and cut trade relations with it over the invasion.
Indian refiners which rarely bought Russian oil in the past have emerged as Moscow's top clients for sea-borne oil since Russia poured troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian oil accounts for over two-fifths of India's oil imports.
Ukraine has said it hopes to bring together a second international summit later this year to advance its vision of peace and involve representatives from Russia.
The first summit in Switzerland that pointedly excluded Russia in June attracted scores of delegations, including one from India, but not from China, the world's second largest economy.
"Lasting peace can only be achieved through options that are acceptable to both parties. And it can only be a negotiated settlement," Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West) in the Indian foreign ministry, told reporters.
"This is an important visit that is expected to catalyse our ties in a whole range of sectors," Mr Lal said, listing economic and business links, agriculture, infrastructure, health and education, pharmaceuticals, defence and culture.
Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kyiv-based political analyst, said he expected no breakthrough proposals to be made to end the war during the trip by Mr Modi, who visited Poland yesterday.
For there to be an attempt to negotiate, the military situation has to stabilise and the presidential election must beheld in the United States, a close ally of Ukraine, he said.
He said the visit was important for India to demonstrate it was "not on Russia's side" and that Kyiv wanted to normalise relations after Mr Modi's Moscow trip.
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