Ukrainian officials are cultivating closer ties with India, pursuing mutual economic benefits while hoping to nudge the Asian giant away from its historic close ties with Kyiv's war enemy Russia.
乌克兰官员正在密切与印度的关系，寻求经济互惠，同时希望让印度放弃与俄罗斯的历史密切关系。
Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited India on March 28-29, the first visit of a top Ukrainian diplomat to the country in seven years. Days before that, the countries' presidents spoke by phone.
乌克兰外长德米特里·库列巴（Dmytro Kuleba）3月28日到29日访问了印度，是7年来首次访问印度的乌克兰外长。两国总统几天前通了电话。
The primary task for Kuleba`s visit — Ukrainian Ambassador to India Oleksandr Polishchuk said in an interview with VOA — was to restore high-level political cooperation.
乌克兰驻印度大使亚历山大·波利丘克（(Oleksandr Polishchuk)在美国之音的采访中说，库列巴的主要目的是恢复高层政治合作。
The parties agreed that a high-ranking Indian official will participate in a Global Peace Summit set for this summer in Switzerland with the goal of supporting Ukraine.
双方同意印度一名高级官员将参加今夏在瑞士举行的支持乌克兰的全球和平峰会。
India also will work on a possible visit to Ukraine by its external affairs minister and organize other top-level mutual visits, he said. The parties also agreed to resume the work of the India-Ukraine Inter-Governmental Commission, inactive since 2018.
他说，印度还在努力，让印度外长可能访问基辅，并组织其它高层互访。双方还同意恢复2018年以来没有活动的印度乌克兰政府间委员会的工作。
The two countries "agreed to restore the level of cooperation between our countries that existed prior to the full-scale war launched by Russia," Kuleba wrote on X.
库列巴在原为推特的X上写道，两国“同意恢复俄罗斯发动全面战争以前的我们国家之间的合作水平。”
"Our immediate goal is to get trade back to earlier levels," wrote his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
印度外长苏杰生（Subrahmanyam Jaishankar）写道，“我们的立即目标是恢复之前的贸易水平。”
In an interview with the Financial Times, Kuleba said that India could greatly benefit from expanding trade and technological ties with Ukraine and participate in post-war reconstruction.
库列巴在《金融时报》的采访中说，印度会极大受益于扩大同乌克兰的贸易和科技关系以及参加战后重建。
Kuleba noted that India's close ties with Russia are based on a "Soviet legacy" that is "evaporating." One such legacy is India's imports of Russian weapons, the share of which dropped from 76% in 2009-2013 to 36% in 2019-2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
库列巴说，印度同俄罗斯的密切关系是基于正在消失的“苏联遗产“。一个遗产是印度进口俄罗斯武器，但斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所说，印度进口俄罗斯武器份额2009年到2013年是76%，2019年到2023年下降到36%。
Polishchuk said that since Russia cannot fulfill all of its obligations to supply new equipment and spare parts, India is trying to establish its own military production based on Western standards.
波利丘克说，俄罗斯无法履行提供新武器和零部件的所有义务，印度因此正试图根据西方标准建立自己的军事生产。
"Ukraine can partially meet the needs of the Indian armed forces, particularly the navy, since many warships use gas turbine engines produced in Ukraine," said the ambassador.
他说，“乌克兰能够部分满足印度武装部队的需求，尤其是海军，因为很多军舰都使用乌克兰生产的燃气轮机。“
In an interview with The Times of India newspaper, Kuleba also softened Ukraine's position toward India's import of Russian oil, saying that Ukraine doesn't object to it because the deal was structured in a way that Russia can't invest the profit "in the production of tanks, missiles, and weapons."
库列巴在《印度时报》采访中还软化了乌克兰对印度进口俄罗斯石油的立场，表示乌克兰不反对，该交易的结构是俄罗斯不能将利润投资“坦克、导弹和武器的生产”。
Paradoxes of India-Ukraine relations
印度乌克兰关系的矛盾
Mridula Ghosh, a lecturer at the Ukraine National University of Kyiv-Mohyla and a native of India, pointed to two paradoxes in the relations between the two countries.
基辅乌克兰国立大学印度裔讲师米尔杜拉·高希（Mridula Ghosh）说，两国间关系有两个矛盾。
First, she told VOA that ties between India and Ukraine are strengthening while the U.S. Congress is unable to approve aid to Ukraine and the U.S. and some European countries use the assistance to Ukraine as a bargaining chip in electoral politics. In India, she said, foreign policy is not part of the electoral debates because it is of little interest to the voters.
她对美国之音说，首先是印度和乌克兰加强关系时，美国国会无法批准对乌克兰的援助。美国和一些西方国家利用对乌克兰的援助作为选举政治的筹码。她说，印度外交关系不是选举辩论的一部分，因为选民很少关心。
Second, the warming of relations between the two countries on the highest level happened while Russia increased its propaganda and influence on Indian society.
第二是，两国关系的最高层暖化时，俄罗斯加强了对印度社会的宣传和影响。
"When the full-scale war began, society was ready to condemn this aggression," Ghosh said. "The authorities, on the contrary, reacted restrainedly. Now, many people in power and intellectual circles clearly and correctly understand what is happening in Ukraine. But the media began actively disseminating Russian propaganda."
高希解释说，“全面战争开始时，社会准备谴责入侵。当局反而谨慎反应。很多当权者和知识界人士目前清楚并正确理解乌克兰的情况。但媒体开始积极散布俄罗斯的宣传。”
Mediator between Russia and Ukraine?
俄
乌的调停者？
In New Delhi, Kuleba called on India to play a more active role in the peace process.
库列巴在新德里要求印度在和平进程上发挥更积极的作用。
"With India's more active involvement in this process, we expect that the number of countries looking at India and its role in this process will also grow," Polishchuk said.
波利丘克说，“印度更积极参与这个进程，我们期待会有更多国家看到印度在这个进程中发挥的作用。”
However, observers doubt that India could mediate between Ukraine and Russia or influence Moscow to end the war.
但观察人士怀疑印度能够在俄乌之间斡旋，或影响莫斯科停战。
While India leaned closer to the U.S. and the West in recent years, it "will not undertake steps that would significantly affect Russia strategically, just as Russia would not take an adverse position to affect India strategically in favor of China or Pakistan," Nandan Unnikrishnan, a distinguished fellow at the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, said to the South China Morning Post.
新德里观察家研究基金会研究员乌尼克里希南（Nandan Unnikrishnan）对《南华早报》说，印度虽然近年来密切同美国和西方的关系，但“不会采取会极大地战略影响俄罗斯的措施，俄罗斯也不会采取会战略影响印度的偏向中国或巴基斯坦的任何不利立场。”
Former U.S. consul general in Hyderabad, India, Katherine Hadda doubts that India would act as a mediator in a peace process where one of the parties is absent — Russia does not participate in summits based on the peace formula proposed by Ukraine.
美国前驻印度海德拉巴德总领事凯瑟琳·哈达（Katherine Hadda）怀疑印度会斡旋一方缺席的和平进程，因为俄罗斯没有参加基于乌克兰和平建议的和平峰会。
"India has stressed that it will serve as a mediator [only] at both sides' request," Hadda said in the same article.
哈达在同一篇文章中说，“印度强调只有在双方要求时才会斡旋。”
In a column for the Indian NDTV news outlet, Harsh V. Pant, a professor of international relations at King's College London, writes that achieving peace in Eurasia is not India's job.
英国国王学院国际关系教授潘特（Harsh V. Pant）在印度新德里电视台（NDTV）的专栏中写道，实现欧亚和平不是印度的工作。
"New Delhi would like to see a resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war soon. But ultimately, it is for the main protagonists in this conflict — Russia, Ukraine, and the West — to decide what kind of Eurasian security architecture they can live with."
“新德里想看到俄乌战争很快解决。但这最终是要俄罗斯、乌克兰和西方这些冲突主要角色决定他们能够接受哪种欧亚和平架构。”
Since the beginning of the full-scale aggression, India has not condemned Russia's actions, has abstained from voting for Ukrainian initiatives at the U.N., and has not joined the sanctions against Russia. Still, Ghosh believes India is moving away from Moscow.
印度在全面入侵以来没有谴责俄罗斯，在联合国的乌克兰倡议表决中弃权，没有参加对俄罗斯的制裁。但高希依然相信印度正在偏离莫斯科。
"The Indian elephant is slow but steady in reacting," said Ghosh. "At the beginning of the full-scale war, it was reluctant to make strong positional statements, but now it is reviewing many things. There is a decoupling from Russia."
“这头印度大象正在缓慢而坚定地反应。全面战争开始时，它不愿发表强烈的立场声明，可现在它正在审议很多事情。正同俄罗斯脱钩。”
