Ukraine invite for August: Top Delhi visit to Kyiv in the works, PM Modi trip on table

If it takes place, the Prime Minister’s visit to Kyiv, after the embrace of the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, will be a balancing signal to the West.

Earlier this week, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, told the US House Foreign Affairs Committee that the US government had shared its “disappointment” about the “symbolism and timing” of Modi’s trip to Moscow and had “tough conversations” with “our Indian friends”.

Sources said that the two sides — Delhi and Kyiv — are working towards setting up the “high-level visit” in August, and officials will have to take a call on the “level of the visit”.

While Modi’s visit to Ukraine is seen as “high-hanging fruit” and Kyiv is keen to host him, there is a possibility that a senior minister or a top official may  travel on a “high-level visit” to Ukraine. In this context, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar or National Security Advisor Ajit Doval are being mentioned — both standing in for the PM.

Kyiv has proposed Ukraine’s national day — August 24 — as a possible date although there is a possibility that the visit might be unannounced in view of the security situation.

A visit that may last a few hours in August — with the release of their pictures after the PM reaches Kyiv — is also a possibility. Incidentally, this is what many Western leaders have done in the last two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Modi, who has kept his communication lines open with both Putin and Zelenskyy, had met the Ukrainian President in Italy, on the sidelines of the G20 summit. He was invited by the Ukrainian President at that meeting.

But his visit to Russia and embrace of Putin was not received well by Ukraine, as Zelenskyy expressed “huge disappointment” and called it a “devastating blow to peace efforts”.

https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1810437647581716707

“In Ukraine today, 37 people were killed, three of whom were children, and 170 were injured, including 13 children, as a result of Russia’s brutal missile strike. A Russian missile struck the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, targeting young cancer patients. Many were buried under the rubble. It is 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,” Zelenskyy had posted on X.

The US State Department spokesperson had also — for two days in a row — expressed “concerns about India’s relationship with Russia”.

In Moscow, Modi had told Putin that “the battlefield” wasn’t the place for a solution as he expressed anguish over the killing of children.

Modi has met Zelesnkyy thrice — twice after the Russia-Ukraine war started in February 2022. And they have had several telephone conversations, including one after Modi was re-elected in June this year.

Jaishankar has also kept in touch with Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba over the last few years, and had hosted him in Delhi in March this year. Doval too has attended the NSAs’ conference on Ukraine in Jeddah last year, and has had conversations with top advisor to Ukraine President, Andriy Yermak.

Since February 24, 2022, when war broke out, India has sent  at least 15 consignments of humanitarian assistance weighing about 117 metric tons which include medicines, medical equipment, blankets, tents, tarpaulin, solar lamps, dignity kits, sleeping mats, and diesel generator sets. The Indian government has also provided financial assistance for reconstruction of a school in Kyiv and helped fund training of teachers from three schools in Kyiv to support psychological health of Ukrainian children and youth.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told Chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi in Laos capital Vientiane that Russia and China should join efforts to counter interference from external forces in Southeast Asia as the strategic partners pushed for strong coordination in the region as a counterweight to the US. Jaishankar has also met with both Lavrov and Wang on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Laos.