India’s recent push to become more involved in helping end the Russia-Ukraine war comes as the costs of the conflict continue to mount for New Delhi, amid the threat of US tariffs on major buyers of Russian energy and a recent drone attack on an Indian-owned pharmaceutical plant in Ukraine.

Sunday morning’s drone attack destroyed a large part of Kusum Group’s factory in Sumy, killing one person and injuring several others. The company, which has manufactured generic medicines in Ukraine since 2009, said the attack was particularly devastating as its warehouse had already suffered a drone strike in April last year. The Ukrainian embassy in India condemned the attack in a social media post.

“The barbarians do not care that the factory belongs to Indian owners,” it wrote. “The hypocrites continue talking about the ‘historic friendship’ between India and Muscovy. In reality, death and destruction are the true face of Russian fascism, hidden behind the mask.”The aggressor does not care that this is not a military target. It does not care that this is a pharmaceutical factory producing critically needed medicines. The barbarians do not care that the factory belongs to Indian owners.

The hypocrites continue talking about the “historic…October 4, 2026 India’s government has not issued an official statement about the attack, but External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Sunday that Delhi was in talks with both Moscow and Kyiv on issues including the safety of Black Sea shipping, grain and energy exports.

Jaishankar added that India had in recent months become “a little bit more involved beyond advocacy” as it sought to help address shared concerns.

The disclosure came weeks after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to shift from “endless war” to an “end of war”, speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan on August 31.

Both warring sides have publicly acknowledged India’s more active peacemaking role. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Friday that Kyiv had received a proposal from India aimed at helping end the conflict, calling it the “most comprehensive” of four proposals submitted by different countries, while Putin said on October 1 that Modi had some “good ideas” for finding a mutually acceptable solution.

Analysts say the longer the war continues, the higher the indirect costs will be for India – particularly as it tries to balance ties with the West and Moscow, long seen by Delhi as a trusted ally.

“The attack on the Kusum plant makes the war less distant for India because Indian commercial interests are directly affected,” said Uday Chandra, a professor of political science at India’s Ashoka University.

Washington’sg into law of a bill on September 18 that empowers US President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on major buyers of Russian oil and gas “is more consequential for India” because it raises the economic cost of large-scale purchases of Russian oil, Chandra said.

“Neither development will, of course, alter India’s relationship with Russia. Yet both give New Delhi clear material stakes in an early negotiated settlement to the war,” he said.

India has been a major importer of Russian oil in recent years, taking advantage of discounted supplies amid Western sanctions. In September, it imported around 1.75 million barrels per day, down from some 2.1 million barrels per day in August, according to vessel-tracking data from data analytic platform Kpler.

Jaishankar said on Monday that India launched the latest round of talks with Russia and Ukraine in July following attacks in the Black Sea that killed and injured Indian sailors.

That India was looking to move “beyond advocacy” was significant, Chandra said.

“India seems to be emerging as an intermediary on logistical matters in which both sides have something to gain: Black Sea shipping, grain and energy exports and defence arrangements. This pragmatic and incremental approach suits India nicely,” he said, adding that such an approach allowed India to preserve its ties with Moscow while building credibility with Kyiv and Western capitals.

The recent drone attack on another Kusum facility would make it easier for Kyiv “to present this as a pattern rather than an isolated incident”, Chandra added.

“Ukraine has a concrete example with which to argue that Russian military actions are now damaging Indian economic interests too,” he said.

Priyajit Debsarkar, a London-based author specialising in South Asia, said Delhi was likely to view such an attack on an Indian company overseas as “something very serious”, though its response would likely be confined to “diplomatic manoeuvring”.

It was too early to conclude that Russian drones had deliberately attacked the facility, which was at risk because of its location in a conflict zone, he added.

Swaran Singh, a former professor of diplomacy and disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of International Studies in Delhi, said both the drone strike on the Kusum factory and the prospect of additional US tariffs gave India incentives to act as a “facilitator” to end the conflict.

“Higher stakes do not mean India can impose a settlement; its credibility rests precisely on retaining access and trust on both sides,” he said, pointing to Jaishankar’s recent comments.

“This is essentially quiet, issue-based intermediation, rather than formal mediation in the conventional sense. India is unlikely to become a full-time peace broker with a single grand formula.”Singh added that India could not realistically tell Russia to “withdraw” or accept Ukraine’s terms, but it did have influence.

“Delhi is able to tell Moscow that the military option is increasingly producing diminishing strategic returns while imposing growing economic and diplomatic costs,” he said. “India can urge Putin to use Russia’s military position to negotiate from strength rather than continue an open-ended war.”