Ukrainian leaders tried to lobby for India's assistance in rebuilding their country's economy at a business summit on Wednesday, which India hosted mainly to attract global investment.
During a presentation in the Indian state of Gujarat, Volodymyr Kuzyo, Kiev's deputy minister of economics and planning, laid out a recovery plan for the country, with Western supplies to Kiev focusing on military hardware rather than infrastructure.
Against this backdrop, Sputnik India spoke to some experts.
India's Response: Evaluating Ukraine's Appeal
“India, which accounts for 17.76% of the global population, is yet a developing nation with an economy worth only $3 trillion. Furthermore, India has not in the slightest assisted in the conflict. Conversely, India has been a proponent of diplomacy as a means of achieving a peaceful outcome from the outset. As a result, someone else will have to foot the bill; those who backed Ukraine's attempt to enter the war will have to pay for the country's reconstruction,” said Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia (Retd) at Gateway House Indian Council on Global Relations.
"The only rational explanation for India to enrol in reconstruction can be one of business. Also, in the aftermath of a war like this, there will always be questions about the nature of the damage caused and the weapons used. To avoid getting embroiled In such a war imbroglio India would do well to continue maintaining neutrality, particularly so, given our relations with Russia," said Lieutenant General Anil Ahuja (Retd) from the Vivekananda International Foundation.
For his part, Major General S B Asthana (Retd) of United Services Institute of India (USI) told Sputnik India that “India will undoubtedly assess this based on geopolitical considerations and cost-benefit analyses. At the moment, more infrastructure is being built inside India. India has a lot of internal work ahead of it."
Nobody should be developing infrastructure in Ukraine right now due to the ongoing war, the pundit explained. "This scenario is inappropriate to examine the reconstruction of Ukraine since the Ukrainian people are still engaged in a fierce conflict, this is merely 'wishful thinking' on their part,” he added.
Asthana asserted that “Neither the US nor any of these allies, NATO, believe that the current state of affairs in Ukraine is favorable for any additional infrastructure-building expenditures. Since there are ongoing standoff attacks, drones and missiles are being launched, this is not conducive for any infrastructure development. Ukrainians are attempting to highlight ‘an optics”.