PM Modi may visit Ukraine in August, first since war started

Under fire from the US and Europe for his recent embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin, PM Narendra Modi may visit Ukraine next month in another balancing act on the Russia-Ukraine. While a final confirmation is still awaited, the visit is tentatively scheduled to take place in the last week of August.
The visit follows outrage in the Western world over Modi’s visit to Moscow earlier this month that had Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Modi’s hug of Putin was not just a huge disappointment but also a devastating blow to peace efforts.This outrage was fuelled by the fact that Modi chose Russia for his first bilateral visit since the inauguration of his third term and also that the visit coincided with the Nato summit in Washington.
That Russia was reported to have bombed a children’s hospital in Kyiv on the day Modi landed in Kyiv also didn’t help India’s case with the West. Following the remarks by Zelenskyy, and with the US raising concerns even in the middle of the visit, Modi specifically raised the issue of violence against children with Putin the next morning.
Official sources said the PM is likely to visit Kyiv via Poland. Apart from China, India remains the only major country to have not condemned Russia explicitly for its aggression against Ukraine. While India’s position on the war has been seen by many as pro-Russia neutrality, India has maintained since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022 that it wants to be able to reach out to both sides to emphasise the significance of dialogue and diplomacy in resolving the conflict.
However, while repeatedly declaring that it will back all efforts for peace, India has stopped short of itself mediating between the 2 parties. India’s extremely nuanced approach was further highlighted at the recent Swiss peace summit in which, unlike China, it participated but didn’t endorse the outcome document because Russia wasn’t invited to the summit.