India ‘mostly with us’, believes Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy

On 24 September 2025, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed India’s position on the Russia–Ukraine war during an interview with Fox News, surprising some perhaps by emphasising New Delhi's potential alignment with Ukraine and possibly ruffling some feathers on the Subcontinent in assigning a certain degree of influence to US president Donald Trump when it comes to prime minister Narendra Modi’s position on the nation’s energy policies.

Zelenskyy's remarks — the key one being “I think India is mostly with us” — come against the backdrop of escalating international pressure on countries purchasing Russian oil, which Ukraine and its allies argue finances Moscow's invasion that began in February 2022.

India, the world's third-largest oil importer, has significantly increased its purchases of discounted Russian crude since Western sanctions redirected supplies, citing national interest and market dynamics to secure affordable energy for its growing economy — even though it is not quite the biggest purchaser as the POTUS would like to imply. India’s continued trade engagement with Russia has, however, drawn not just sharp criticism from the US, but steep, steep sanctions, with President Trump repeatedly blaming India (alongside China) for sustaining Russia’s war machine through these imports.

And so, Zelenskyy’s seemingly soothing words come just on the back of Trump’s speech to the UN General Assembly on 23 September 2025, directly accusing India and China of funding Russia's offensive by buying its energy exports, stating that “their imports were financing Moscow’s campaign”. The POTUS attempts to highlight how such purchases prop up Russia’s revenue streams did seem, to many observers, an attempt to shift blame from US diplomatic shortcomings to external enablers.

After all, not too long ago, the same Trump was blaming Zelenskyy and Ukraine for not stopping the war and was hoping to persuade Russian president Vladimir Putin to take his pound of Ukrainian flesh, keep it and pull out of further conflict (and possibly win Trump a Nobel Peace Prize with it).

For now, Putin seems to have cocked a snook at Trump and receded to his own position of considerable advantage rather than negotiate, going out of his way to bait some European neighbours like Poland with the odd drone incursion in the meantine.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has given up on diplomatic upbraidment of Russia and moved to impose an additional 25 per cent tariff on India in August 2025 — bringing the total US levies on New Delhi to 50 per cent, which it explicitly stated was a penalty for Russian oil purchases, per US secretary of state Marco Rubio on 23 September.

Zelenskyy's comments, meanwhile, also referenced his recent UN Security Council address on the same day, where he urged China to leverage its influence over Russia to end the war. These developments highlight the delicate balance in the current geopolitical relations between even strategic partners and traditional rivals — such as Russia and China, China and India, the US and China...

Zelenskyy to the UN and Fox News: His exact words

Zelenskyy was answering a question about China and India contributing to Russia’s war in Ukraine through their energy purchases.

The US has often blamed India and China for purchasing Russian oil, which President Trump has claimed funds Moscow's war against Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian premier said, “I think India mostly with us. Yes, we have these questions with energy, but I think that President Trump can manage it with Europeans, make more close and strong relations with India...”

“And I think, we have to do everything not to withdraw [from] Indians and they will change their attitude to the Russian energy sector,” the Ukrainian president continued.

He was answering a specific question by a Fox News interviewer: “China, India, they're all contributing here; European nations, the President said, need to get off oil, but need to do it with the US. Do you think that that is going to happen?”

“I'm sure with China, it’s more difficult, because it’s not for [just] today. It's not in [their] interest to not support Russia,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy had earlier, in his address to the UN Security Council, said: “China is here — a powerful nation on which Russia now depends completely.”

“If China truly wanted this war to stop, it could compel Moscow to end the invasion. Without China, Putin's Russia is nothing. Yet too often, China stays silent and distant, instead of active for peace,” Zelenskyy said.

He also added in the Fox News interview, “I think Iran will never be on our side, because [it will] never be on the side of the United States.”

India's Position

India has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics. India turned to purchasing Russian oil sold at a discount after Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and shunned its supplies over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

But for Donald Trump personally, the bigger issue seems to be China rather than Russia — that’s the one nation he can’t stomach getting close to.