KIEV (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Kiev on Friday for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the first visit by an Indian premier to Ukraine since Kiev gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The visit comes at a volatile time in the war in Ukraine, with Ukrainian forces still in Russia's western Kursk region after an August 6 incursion, while Russian forces are making slow but steady advances in eastern Ukraine.
The visit, which comes after Modi's trip to Moscow in July, is important for Western-backed Kyiv, which is trying to strengthen diplomatic ties with southern countries in its efforts to secure a fair settlement to end the war.
“I arrived in Kyiv earlier this morning. I was given a very warm welcome by the Indian community,” Modi wrote on Twitter. Ukrainian Railways showed footage of him getting off a train carriage and being greeted by Ukrainian officials.
In the lead-up to the trip, he said he looked forward to sharing “views on a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.”
Modi’s visit to Moscow last month coincided with a massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine that hit a children’s hospital, prompting Modi to use emotional language to issue an implicit rebuke to Putin at their summit.
But the trip drew strong criticism from Zelensky, who said it was “a great disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloodthirsty criminal in Moscow on such a day.”
Modi's visit to Kiev was important because New Delhi “really has a certain influence” on Moscow, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president's office, told Reuters.
“It is very important for us to build effective relations with such countries, to explain to them what the right end to the war is – and that it is in their interest as well,” he said.
India, which has traditionally had close economic and defence ties with Moscow, has publicly criticised the killing of innocents in the war.
But it has also strengthened its economic ties with Moscow after Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia and cut off trade ties over the invasion.
Indian refiners, which rarely bought Russian oil in the past, have become Moscow’s biggest customers for seaborne oil since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Russian oil accounts for more than two-fifths of India’s oil imports.
vision of peace
Ukraine said it hopes to hold a second international summit later this year to promote its vision for peace and include representatives from Russia.
The first summit in Switzerland, which explicitly excluded Russia in June, attracted dozens of delegations, including one from India, but not from China, the world’s second-largest economy.
“Lasting peace can only be achieved through options acceptable to both sides. And that can only be through a negotiated settlement,” Tanmaya Lal, India's secretary for the West, told reporters.
“This visit is important and is expected to boost our relations in a whole range of sectors,” Lal said, referring to economic and trade ties, agriculture, infrastructure, health, education, pharmaceuticals, defence and culture.
Kiev-based political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said he did not expect any decisive proposals to end the war during Modi's trip, which he visited Poland on Thursday.
He said that for there to be an attempt at negotiations, the military situation must stabilize and presidential elections must be held in the United States, a close ally of Ukraine.
He said the visit was important for India to show that it was “not on Russia's side” and that Kiev wanted to normalise relations after Modi's visit to Moscow.