Updates on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine: During a historic visit to Kyiv, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “as a friend” to help bring peace to Ukraine, a move many in the war-torn country hoped would pave the way for India to play a role in brokering peace.
The first visit by an Indian prime minister in modern Ukrainian history came at a turbulent time in the war started by Russia in February 2022. Russia is making slow progress in eastern Ukraine while Kyiv is pushing for a cross-border incursion.
Reuters reported that the optics were reminiscent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow last month, where he called for peace and hugged Russian President Vladimir Putin, angering Ukraine, where a Russian missile attack hit a children’s hospital the same day.
Read also | “Putin doesn’t respect you”: Zelenskyy announces trade between India and Russia amid conflict
The BBC reported that “it was surely no coincidence that the first place Mr Modi was taken on Friday was the History Museum of Ukraine, where he was invited to view an exhibition commemorating all the 570 Ukrainian children believed to have been killed since the large-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022.”
“Conflict is particularly devastating for young children,” Modi wrote on the social media platform X. “My deepest condolences go out to the families of the children who lost their lives and I pray that they find the strength to bear their grief.”
They laid teddy bears at the memorial in the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II and then observed a minute’s silence.
Read also | In Ukraine, Prime Minister Modi calls on Zelensky to hold talks with Russia
The Associated Press news agency reported, citing analysts, that the visit to Ukraine could also be an attempt by Modi to adopt a more neutral stance after his apparent stronger turn toward Russia.
He also rebuked Modi for hugging Putin during their meeting. But on Friday, Zelensky hugged Modi as well, apparently putting his criticism aside, the AP report added.
A Ukrainian analyst said the outcome of Modi’s first visit was likely to be modest as it was merely “the beginning of a complex dialogue between India, Ukraine and Europe,” the report said.
“Building relations with India will be a challenging and lengthy process,” AP quoted Yurii Bohdanov as saying on his Telegram channel.
If India supports Ukraine’s efforts to reach a peace settlement, it could increase Kyiv’s chances of receiving more support from other countries in the “global south”, where “India remains China’s biggest competitor for influence”, he said.
“This will further increase the pressure on Russia,” Bohdanov added.
In another report, the BBC, citing Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre think tank in Washington, said the trip would further strengthen India’s strategic autonomy.
“India has no intention of appeasing Western powers or anyone else. This trip is intended to advance Indian interests by reaffirming friendship with Kyiv and expressing India’s concern about the ongoing war,” Kugelman said.
“Important visit”
Ahead of the visit, Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser in Zelensky’s office, told Reuters that it was of great importance because New Delhi “really has some influence” on Moscow.
“It is extremely important for us to build effective relations with such countries and explain to them what the right end to the war is – and that it is also in their interest,” he said.
While the West imposed sanctions on Russia because of the invasion and broke off trade relations, India expanded its economic relations.
Indian refineries, which previously bought little Russian oil, have become Moscow’s main customers for crude oil by sea since Russia’s military deployment in Ukraine two and a half years ago. Russian oil accounts for more than two-fifths of India’s oil imports.
The head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, described Modi’s visit as historic and stressed Ukraine’s expectation that India could play a role in ending the war through a “just peace”, referring to the Ukrainian peace formula.
“It is important to have diplomatic evidence that the picture is more complicated and that these actors also respect Ukraine and will work with it under these circumstances,” the New York Times quoted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as saying in an interview.
According to the NYT, Indian government officials said they did not seek to play a mediating role but would transmit messages between Ukraine and Russia upon request.
“India is seen to be interested in a solution to the war to avoid further isolation of Russia in the West. Such a solution could push Moscow into closer cooperation with China, India’s rival in Asia,” it said.
Modi’s visit, Kuleba said, was a “major diplomatic breakthrough” for Ukraine in its efforts to push neutral countries to maintain a balanced relationship with the warring countries. Modi added that Ukraine was not seeking India’s mediating role in any potential talks, the report said.
