Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Ukraine in August against the backdrop of renewed global efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict with Russia, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
The visit, expected to coincide with Ukraine’s National Day on August 24, could be clubbed with a trip to Poland in view of the complex logistics involved with organising a visit to a warzone, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.
The visit is yet to be formally announced by the Indian and Ukrainian sides, though diplomats from several countries, who didn’t want to be named, said New Delhi and Kyiv are engaged in arrangements for it. This would be Modi’s first visit to Ukraine. The last visit to Poland by an Indian premier was in 1979.
Several world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have used Poland as a stopover for travelling to Ukraine by train. The logistics for Modi’s visit are expected to be finalised in the coming days when an Indian advance team travels to the region for an extensive recce, including the security aspect, the people said.
The proposed visit to Ukraine, especially after Modi’s trip to Moscow during July 8-9 for holding the annual India-Russia Summit with President Vladimir Putin, is being seen in some quarters as part of New Delhi’s balancing act on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. India hasn’t publicly criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine though Modi reminded Putin at their recent meeting that a solution can’t be found on the battlefield and peace talks can’t succeed under the shadow of the gun.
{{/usCountry}}The proposed visit to Ukraine, especially after Modi’s trip to Moscow during July 8-9 for holding the annual India-Russia Summit with President Vladimir Putin, is being seen in some quarters as part of New Delhi’s balancing act on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. India hasn’t publicly criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine though Modi reminded Putin at their recent meeting that a solution can’t be found on the battlefield and peace talks can’t succeed under the shadow of the gun.
{{/usCountry}}The people, however, said the visits to both Ukraine and Poland had been under discussion for months but had been held up because of various developments, including general elections in India and Poland. Ukraine had invited Modi for a visit some time ago and the invitation was reiterated when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met the Indian premier on the margins of the G7 Summit in Italy on June 14.
The visit also figured in a phone conversation between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on July 19, the people said. Modi also informed Putin during their meeting earlier this month about his intention to visit Kyiv, the people said.
Modi’s arrival in Moscow had coincided with a Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital and Zelenskyy had criticised the Indian leader’s visit to Russia and public images of him embracing Putin. Without naming Modi or Putin, Zelenskyy said it was a “devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow”.
There was also outrage in the West that Modi chose Russia for his first bilateral visit in his third term even as the US was hosting Zelenskyy and leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for a summit aimed at shoring up support for Ukraine.
In the face of criticism from US officials such as ambassador Eric Garcetti and assistant secretary of state Donald Lu, India has defended its relations with Russia by saying that these long-standing ties are based on “mutuality of interests” and that all countries have freedom of choice in a multipolar world.
Though India’s top leadership stayed away from the Ukraine peace summit hosted by Switzerland last month, Modi told Zelenskyy at their recent meeting that India encourages a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and will continue to do everything in its means to support a peaceful solution.