Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Ukraine on August 23 as a “harbinger of peace,” government sources said on Thursday, noting that his trip aims to vouch for a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict, which has been raging for over two years.
During the India-Russia annual summit in Moscow in July, PM Modi conveyed to President Vladimir Putin that a military solution to the Ukraine crisis is not possible and that peace talks cannot succeed amid bombs, guns, and bullets. Modi later this month will carry forward this message of peace to Ukraine as well.
His travel to Kyiv will be one of the few by world leaders who have visited both Ukraine and Russia since the conflict began in 2022. India is expected to use its diplomatic influence to counter China’s efforts to position itself as a global peacemaker in contrast to the United States’ perceived warmongering image.
According to government sources, the visit also seeks to settle the storm India kicked up in Ukraine, the United States, and Europe as a result of Prime Minister Modi’s Russia trip. Despite close ties with Russia, India has maintained that the conflict must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.
During his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in June, PM Modi conveyed India’s commitment to supporting a peaceful solution and a “human-centric” approach to finding a resolution to the conflict. PM Modi’s visit to Ukraine, if realised, would be the first by an Indian Prime Minister to the country in more than four decades.
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