Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to pay a historic visit to Ukraine in a few weeks, according to Sidhant Sibal, chief diplomatic correspondent for the Indian publishing house WION, citing his own sources in New Delhi. This visit, which is currently being prepared, is tentatively scheduled for the third week of August, probably on the 23rd.
Earlier this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally invited the Indian leader to visit the country during a phone conversation. Since then, the two countries have been holding active high-level talks. Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba discussed bilateral relations. National security advisors from both countries, Ajit Doval from India and Andriy Yermak from Ukraine, also held talks.
In June, Prime Minister Modi met with President Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy. Discussing the current situation in Ukraine, the Indian leader emphasized the need for dialogue and diplomacy, stressing that India is ready to support a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
This visit will be the first personal contact between the two leaders since the beginning of the war, outside the format of the G7 summits. Prime Minister Modi may travel to Ukraine via Poland, and is likely to hold talks with the Polish leadership before traveling to Kyiv.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ukraine comes almost two months after he traveled to Russia for the annual Russian summit, during which the war in Ukraine was also discussed. During his talks with Putin, Prime Minister Modi expressed regret over the deaths of innocent people and children at the Okhmatdyt hospital.
