New Delhi (TIP)- Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Ukraine on Friday, August 23, becoming the first Indian head of government to travel to the country for a visit that is being closely watched for any steps that will be taken by New Delhi to help end the conflict triggered by Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Following his engagements in Poland on Thursday, Modi made a journey by train that lasted about 10 hours to reach Ukraine early on Friday morning. There was no official word on his arrival and the Indian side had said there would be few updates about the visit because of stringent security protocols associated with a trip to an active warzone.
Indian TV channels beamed footage of Modi’s motorcade driving through the deserted streets of Kyiv to draw up at a hotel. Modi travelled to Ukraine a little more than a month after his visit to Russia for the annual summit with President Vladimir Putin during July 8-9.
The visit coincides with Ukraine’s National Flag Day, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said his talks with Modi will focus on bilateral and multilateral cooperation. It was also expected that a number of documents would be signed by the two countries.
Ahead of his arrival in Kyiv, Modi said during a media interaction in Warsaw on Thursday that India stands ready to work with friendly countries to provide all support for early restoration of peace and stability in Ukraine.
“It is India’s firm belief that no problem can be solved on the battlefield. In any crisis, the loss of lives of innocent people has become the biggest challenge for the whole of humanity,” he said, speaking in Hindi. “We support dialogue and diplomacy for the early restoration of peace and stability. For this, India, along with friendly countries, is ready to provide all possible support”, he said.
The Ukrainian side, which has been looking to India taking on a greater role in ongoing peace efforts because of the country’s proximity to Russia, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace formula will be one of the main topics of discussion during Modi’s visit that is expected to last about seven hours.
Ukraine has also said it believes India, as the voice of the Global South, should enhance its efforts to bring about a “just and lasting peace”.
Modi joins the leaders of Indonesia, Hungary, South Africa and Turkiye in visiting both Russia and Ukraine during the war and is among the handful of Asian leaders who have travelled to Kyiv since the Russian invasion in February 2022. The visit is being seen as part of India’s attempts to balance between the country’s longstanding strategic relationship with Russia and expectation from the West, especially the US, that New Delhi should do more to back efforts aimed at bringing Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiating table.
However, India has ruled out any mediatory role and indicated it can help by passing messages between Russia and Ukraine. Source: HT