Zelenskyy, Modi speak ahead of Xi Jinping's Shanghai summit

Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg News on Aug 30, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Russia’s latest strikes on Ukraine as the Indian leader heads to China for the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

“Russia continues the war, Russia continues killing,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address to the nation on Saturday. “India’s prime minister agreed that a ceasefire is needed,” he said, adding that he hoped that sentiment will be expressed by Modi while in China.

Separately, on social media, Zelenskyy said that “Moscow has given no positive signal” it’s preparing for diplomacy to end its invasion of Ukraine, which has passed the 31/2 year mark.

Zelenskyy said he and Modi “coordinated” positions ahead of the summit in Shanghai. “The end of this war must begin with an immediate ceasefire,” he said.

In a readout, India’s news service said that Modi “reaffirmed India’s steadfast and consistent position for peaceful settlement of the conflict and support for efforts aimed at earliest restoration of peace.”

The pair reviewed progress in the India-Ukraine bilateral partnership and discussed ways to further enhance cooperation, according to the readout.

President Xi Jinping hosts China’s top annual diplomatic gathering Sunday and Monday, with attendees to include Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders from Iran, Turkey and other nations.

President Donald Trump has suggested that Zelenskyy and Putin hold talks to discuss ways to end Russia’s war in Ukraine after each met separately with the U.S. president this month.

The White House previously said it believed Putin would agree to meet with Zelenskyy, but that’s been knocked down by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and others. The meeting is unlikely to materialize, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said this week.

Russia unleashed a new wave of missile and drone strikes on Kyiv on Thursday, killing at least 25 people, including four children, in defiance of U.S. calls for an end to the fighting. Moscow launched another large-scale air attack across Ukraine on Saturday.

Those “are absolutely brazen actions by which Russia demonstrates that without world pressure on it, there will be no end to the war,” Zelenskyy said. “Putin is only confusing leaders and drawing them into his complicity.”