Feb 26, 2022: According to a report by AFP, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “political support” at the UN after New Delhi abstained from a Security Council vote.

India is currently on the top body of the United Nations, but – along with China and the United Arab Emirates – did not vote on Friday in a resolution condemning Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine and its troops. Russia used its power as a permanent member of the council to veto the resolution. In a Twitter post on Saturday, Zelenskyy said he had spoken to Modi and told him that “there are more than 100,000 invaders on our soil.”

Spoke with 🇮🇳 Prime Minister @narendramodi. Informed of the course of 🇺🇦 repulsing 🇷🇺 aggression. More than 100,000 invaders are on our land. They insidiously fire on residential buildings. Urged 🇮🇳 to give us political support in🇺🇳 Security Council. Stop the aggressor together!

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 26, 2022

Despite being a democracy and a member of the “quad” group with Australia, Japan and the United States, India has neither explicitly condemned Moscow’s actions nor called them an attack. Instead, it has repeatedly referred to “development” in Ukraine. India’s foreign ministry issued a statement later on Saturday calling it a “conflict situation” and saying Modi had “reiterated his demand for an immediate end to the violence and return to dialogue”.

On the other hand, India asked Ukrainian authorities — who are fighting a Russian assault on the capital Kyiv and other cities — for “facilitation… to expeditiously and safely evacuate Indian citizens”, the statement added.