India, Ukraine explore possibility of PM Modi's visit to Kyiv next month

India and Ukraine are looking at the possibility of a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kyiv next month amid renewed global efforts to bring peace to the eastern European nation, multiple diplomatic sources said on Saturday.

Modi might visit Kyiv around the Ukrainian National Day on August 24 and is expected to travel to Poland after concluding the trip to Ukraine, the sources said.

The prime minister held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy's Apulia.

If Modi travels to Poland, it would be the first by an Indian prime minister to that country in more than four decades.

 

India and Ukraine are looking at Modi's visit to Kyiv in the later half of August, the sources said, adding that there is no finality on the trip yet as massive preparations would be required in terms of logistics and related issues.

The prime minister's two-nation visit might begin around August 23-24, the sources said.

There is no official word on the visit either from India or Ukraine.

At the meeting with Zelenskyy on June 14, Modi conveyed to the Ukrainian president that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and that the way to peace is through "dialogue and diplomacy".

Modi also told Zelenskyy that India believes in a "human-centric" approach to find a solution to the conflict in Ukraine.

At the meeting, the Ukrainian president invited the prime minister to visit Kyiv.

India has been maintaining that the conflict in Ukraine must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

Modi visited Russia on July 8-9 and it drew criticism from the United States. Many western countries are also learnt to be unhappy over the prime minister's trip to Moscow.

India on Thursday rejected Washington's concerns over Modi's trip to Moscow and asserted that all countries have the "freedom of choice" in a multipolar world and everyone should be mindful of such realities.

In his summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the prime minister delivered an unambiguous message, saying a solution to the Ukraine conflict is not possible on the battlefield and peace talks do not succeed amidst bombs, guns and bullets.