Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Ukraine, the first visit to the country after its independence by an Indian PM, and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid Kyiv’s fresh military offensive into Russian territory.
Modi paid floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in ‘Oasis of Peace’ park in Kyiv. Modi underscored the relevance of Mahatma’s eternal message of peace in building a harmonious society and finding solutions to present-day global challenges.
Modi will hold both one-on-one and delegation-level talks with Zelenskyy with a focus on ways to find a negotiated settlement to the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has badly impacted the world.
Indian PM also toured the country’s Martyrologist Exposition to honour the memory of the fallen children along with Zelenskyy.
“Today in Kyiv, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I honored the memory of the children whose lives were taken by Russian aggression. Children in every country deserve to live in safety. We must make this possible,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
Modi also pledged that India would provide humanitarian support for Ukraine’s conflict with Russia. “India will always stand with you and will go above and beyond to support you,” Modi said.
This meeting of Modi with Zelenskyy comes after a month and a half after he traveled to Moscow to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin. Experts believe that the visit could also be an attempt to have India strike a more neutral stance after what has been seen as a lean toward Russia, given Modi’s recent Moscow visit, his country’s historic, Cold War-era relationship with Russia and New Delhi’s avoidance of directly criticizing Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
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