A screenshot of a video posted by an X user that purportedly shows India-made 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine military’s hand.
New Delhi: Russia has raised its concerns with India over reports of India-made 155mm artillery shells reaching the Ukraine military. This comes at the backdrop of several “reports” doing rounds on social media along with images of those so-called Indian shells being used by the Ukrainian army in their war against Russia.
According to an Economic Times report, Moscow raised the issue with New Delhi recently. The “reports” coming mainly from Russian and Ukrainian sources suggest that Ukraine may have received the suspected India-made 155mm ammunition during the third quarter of 2023.
Is that Indian 155-mm M1A4 ERFB/BT projectile in service with #Ukraine on Polish Self Propelled Howitzer AHS Krab ?
— ⚡ NOISE ALERTS ⚡ (@NoiseAlerts) January 2, 2024
If true, then it's the Munitions India Limited (MIL) manufactured shells, Which also exports the same to UAE and Armenia.
It can be a 3rd Party Transfer. pic.twitter.com/t7RFEd65QH
Since India is not a supplier of weapons to Ukraine and considering that some Indian artillery shells might have landed in Kyiv’s hands, the involvement of a third party operating out of Poland or Slovenia is suspected in the transfer of the shells.
Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal says that #India has not provided any sort of weapons to Ukraine. But visuals from #Ukraine tells a separate story.
— World News Hub (@WorldNewsHubWNH) January 4, 2024
Artillery shells made by Indian companies, like MIL & Nalanda Defence Complex, were seen in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/DFu2n1EYAp
India dismisses reports
India has apparently taken Russia’s concerns seriously. A statement released by the Indian foreign ministry categorically denied India supplied those shells to Ukraine.
In a media briefing on Thursday, the new foreign ministry spokesman, Randhir Jaiswal, said, “On the question regarding artillery shells, one thing is very clear. We’ve also seen some media reports in this regard. We can categorically say that we have not sent any of this artillery ammunition to Ukraine.”
He then stressed, “Not exported and not sent.”
❗🇮🇳 India categorically rejects sending artillery shells to Ukraine, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in response to a question from Sputnik India at the weekly briefing.
— Sputnik India (@Sputnik_India) January 4, 2024
| #India | #Indian | #KievRegime | #Russia | pic.twitter.com/8HBlOBepNC
Interestingly, this comes a day after India’s foreign minister, S Jaishankar, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, discussed the conflict in Ukraine and other bilateral issues. It may be noted that this was the first formal contact between New Delhi and Kyiv after a long time.
India has always stayed neutral in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and stressed on a peaceful resolution to the hostilities through talks. As India Sentinels reported in May 2023, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, told the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that India will do its best to end the Ukraine war.
