Ukraine minister slams India for buying cheap Russian oil, counters Jaishankar's defence

A Ukrainian minister has criticised the Indian government for buying cheap oil from Russia amid the ongoing war. Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba called the India-Russia oil trade "morally inappropriate" in an interview with news outlet NDTV.

Kuleba said, "The opportunity for India to buy Russian oil at a cheap price comes from the fact that Ukrainians are suffering from Russian aggression and dying every day."

He added, "If you benefit because of our suffering, it would be good to see more of your help addressed to us."

Also watch: India will continue to buy oil from Russia, asserts S Jaishankar

The comments came a day after Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar defended Indian purchase of Russian oil, saying that it is one-sixth European purchases in the last 9 months. Kuleba said that it is not enough to point fingers at Western countries.

Kuleba also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "with his voice" can make a change, but also, India needs to call the conflict "Russian aggression against Ukraine", and not "war in Ukraine".

India has been appealing for cessation of hostilities, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that "this is not the era of war" during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.