Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Evian, France on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, holding bilateral talks that covered the full range of India-Ukraine cooperation, including trade ties.

Context

Posting on X, Prime Minister Modi said the two leaders met in Evian and that 'in recent times, India and Ukraine have been engaging extensively,' with that engagement 'reflected in different areas of our cooperation.' He added that 'our talks today were about reviewing different aspects of our cooperation' and that both sides agree on the importance of trade ties.

The meeting was held in Evian, the French lakeside town that has served as a venue for quiet international diplomacy alongside larger multilateral gatherings. It fits a pattern of bilateral engagement that India has pursued with Ukraine even as New Delhi maintains deep defence and energy ties with Moscow.

Policy Backdrop

India and Ukraine share ties dating to Soviet-era educational exchanges and technical cooperation. The two countries held a virtual bilateral summit in April 2022, where Modi and Zelenskyy discussed humanitarian assistance and economic cooperation following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

India extended humanitarian aid — including medicines and wheat — to Ukraine in 2022. Since then, New Delhi has followed a policy of strategic autonomy, sustaining parallel engagement with Kyiv on trade and people-to-people links while not joining Western sanctions on Russia. The Evian meeting reflects this continued balancing act.

Stakeholders and Impact

Indian exporters and defence manufacturers stand to gain from any deepening of bilateral economic ties. Ukraine has historically been a destination for Indian pharmaceutical exports, and both sides have scope to expand cooperation in agriculture and technology.

For President Zelenskyy, sustained engagement with a major non-Western democracy like India carries diplomatic value as Ukraine continues to seek broad international support. For India, the relationship reinforces its multi-alignment foreign policy posture — maintaining credible channels with both sides of the Russia-Ukraine divide.

What's Next

Observers will watch for follow-up on any trade or investment facilitation mechanisms that may have been discussed during the talks, as well as the possible scheduling of reciprocal ministerial visits between New Delhi and Kyiv. The review of cooperation across 'different areas' signals that both governments are looking to institutionalise engagement beyond crisis diplomacy into a more structured bilateral framework.