India is in talks with Russia and Ukraine ahead of the meeting in Abu Dhabi. Bloomberg. India has held high-level talks with Russia and Ukraine as New Delhi seeks to play a more active role in efforts to end the war. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday and expressed his willingness to contribute to efforts to resolve the conflict peacefully, the Indian government said in a statement. India has maintained a cautious stance on the war in Ukraine for years, in part because of its long-standing ties to Russia, but has recently stepped up diplomatic outreach to Moscow and Kiev. As reported in a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, on Monday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.