Indian PM Modi visits Kyiv for talks with Ukraine’s Zelenskiy

India’s Narendra Modi held talks with president Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a visit to wartime Kyiv on Friday, the first trip by an Indian prime minister to Ukraine since Kyiv gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Mr Modi told the Ukrainian leader he is “personally” ready to play a role “as a friend” to bring peace to Ukraine.
In a meeting Mr Modi called “friendly” and “historic”, the Indian PM said India is ready to make proactive contributions to bring about peace and told Mr Zelenskiy that dialogue should be opened without wasting any time, with both side sitting together to find a way out of the conflict.
According to Reuters, India’s leader told Mr Zelenskiy that he supported and respected territorial integrity and sovereignty but said the only way to resolve the conflict was through dialogue and diplomacy.
Earlier, Mr Zelenskiy said Mr Modi’s visit to Ukraine was ‘very friendly’ and ‘historic’. Mr Zelenskiy said he planned to discuss a summit on peace in Ukraine with India’s leader and called for strengthened trade and military co-operation with India.
The visit comes at a volatile juncture in the war in Ukraine, with Ukrainian forces still in Russia’s western Kursk region following their incursion on August 6th and Russian troops grinding out slow but steady advances in Ukraine’s east.
The visit, which follows a trip by Mr Modi to Moscow in July, is important for western-backed Kyiv, which has been trying to nurture diplomatic relations in the global south in its efforts to secure a fair settlement to end the war.
“Reached Kyiv earlier this morning. The Indian community accorded a very warm welcome,” Mr Modi wrote on X. The Ukrainian railways company showed footage of him stepping off a train carriage and being received by Ukrainian officials.
In the run-up to the trip, the Indian leader said he was looking forward to sharing “perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing Ukraine conflict”.
Mr Modi’s visit to Moscow last month coincided with a heavy Russian missile strike on Ukraine that hit a children’s hospital. The attack prompted Mr Modi to use emotive language to deliver an implicit rebuke to Mr Putin at their summit.
But the trip elicited fierce criticism from Mr Zelenskiy who said it was a “huge disappointment and 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 on such a day”.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the Ukrainian president’s office, told Reuters Mr Modi’s visit to Kyiv was significant because New Delhi “really has a certain influence” over Moscow.
“It’s extremely important for us to effectively build relations with such countries, to explain to them what the correct end to the war is – and that it is also in their interests,” he said.
India, which has traditionally had close economic and defence ties with Moscow, has publicly criticised the deaths of innocent people in the war.
But it has also strengthened its economic ties with Moscow after western nations imposed sanctions on Russia and cut trade relations with it over the invasion.
Ukraine has said it hopes to bring together a second international summit later this year to advance its vision of peace and involve representatives from Russia. – Reuters