Taking his oft-repeated allegations against India to the floor of the UN General Assembly, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday (September 23, 2025) accused India and China of being “primary funders” of the Russian war in Ukraine.

UNGA Trump address LIVE

He also claimed again that he stopped the India-Pakistan conflict in May.

Mr. Trump said he was prepared to impose “very strong tariffs” that would end the purchase of Russian oil but wanted European countries to join in the effort. He said that many NATO countries continued to purchase Russian energy, including gas.

Despite accusations against multiple countries and the fact that China imports more Russian energy than India, the U.S. has singled out India by imposing “penalty tariffs” of 25%, effectively doubling the tariffs on Indian goods.

“China and India are primary funders of war by continuing to purchase Russian oil,” Mr. Trump said in an hour-long speech at the start of the high-level week at the UN. “[It is] inexcusable that even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products,” he added. It was his first address to the UNGA in his second term in office.

Also Read | U.S. penalty risk on Russian oil may add $9-11 billion to India’s import bill, analyst say

The European Union, which announced its 19th round of sanctions last week, has not imposed tariffs on India as the U.S. has for Russian oil purchases, but has sanctioned a number of Indian entities, including the Rosneft-controlled Nayara Energy, which refines a large proportion of the Russian oil imported.

Mr. Trump also repeated the claim that he intervened to ensure a ceasefire between India and Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in May. India has consistently denied the claim.

Seven wars

Mr. Trump counted the India-Pakistan conflict among the “seven wars” he ended, claiming that “in all cases they were raging with countless, thousands of people being killed”.

“No President or Prime Minister, and for that matter, no other country has done anything close to that and I did it in just seven months,” Mr. Trump said, enumerating the conflicts between “Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, Congo and Rwanda… Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan”.

The government did not respond immediately to Mr. Trump’s speech. In August, the External Affairs Ministry had issued a statement refuting the U.S.’s characterisation of India’s Russian oil purchases, pointing out that other countries also bought the oil, and that the U.S. continued trade in other items, including critical minerals, with Russia.

It has also stated on a number of occasions, including in the readout of a Modi-Trump phone call on June 17, that the Operation Sindoor ceasefire was agreed upon between India and Pakistan alone and no other country, including the U.S., played a part.