India proposes three-part Russia-Ukraine truce to keep grain and energy flowing

India has proposed a three-part truce between Russia and Ukraine that would halt attacks on energy facilities and other infrastructure, keep grain and energy flowing through Black Sea ports, and end strikes on commercial shipping in the strategic waterway, people familiar with the plan said, the Hindustan Times reported.

The plan was conveyed to Ukraine during External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to Kyiv on September 3 — the first stand-alone trip to Ukraine by an Indian foreign minister. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on October 2 that Kyiv had received ceasefire proposals from India, Egypt, Turkey and the United States, calling India’s the “most comprehensive”. Kyiv is ready to consider different formats if they cover attacks on energy and port infrastructure and the Black Sea, NDTV reported.

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow a day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has excellent ideas aimed at finding mutually acceptable…solutions”, adding that Modi maintained a neutral position while being committed to ending the conflict.

The Indian plan goes beyond separate Egyptian and Turkish proposals focused on grain shipments and a US proposal centred on an “energy ceasefire”. Jaishankar’s visit came three days after Modi met Putin on the margins of the SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan on August 31, when the Indian prime minister urged the Russian leader to move from “endless war to the end of war”. The responses of Russia and Ukraine to the Indian proposal could not immediately be ascertained.