Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Kyiv in August, marking his first trip to Ukraine since Russia’s all-out war began in February 2022. The visit, anticipated to occur next month around Ukraine’s Independence Day, is still being finalised, news agency PTI reported, citing diplomatic sources.
Modi’s trip, which is yet to be confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs, follows an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, extended earlier this year during a phone call. If Modi travels to Poland, it would be the first by an Indian PM minister to that country in more than four decades.
India and Ukraine are looking at Modi’s visit to Kyiv in the later half of August, the sources said, adding that there is no finality on the trip yet as massive preparations would be required in terms of logistics and related issues. The prime minister’s two-nation visit might begin around August 23-24, the sources said.
The reports of Modi’s visit come amid a series of high-level exchanges between India and Ukraine. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, along with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Yermak, recently held telephone discussions.
Jaishankar reported that the talks aimed at “further developing our bilateral relationship.” In June, Modi met with Zelenskyy at the G7 summit in Italy, where they discussed the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The Prime Minister reiterated India’s commitment to supporting a peaceful resolution and stressed the importance of “dialogue and diplomacy.” This meeting marked their second in-person encounter since the war began, the first being at last year’s G7 summit in Japan.
Earlier this month, Modi held talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow during a significant visit that reaffirmed India-Russia strategic ties. During Modi’s visit to Russia, which coincided with a missile strike on a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital that killed dozens, Modi told Putin that the death of innocent children was painful and terrifying.
(With agency inputs)
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