India PM Modi to visit Ukraine, weeks after rebuking Putin in Moscow

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ukraine, the foreign ministry said on Monday, his first trip to the war-torn country since its conflict with Russia and about a month after he met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Details of the trip will be shared later in the day, the foreign ministry said, adding that he would also be visiting Poland. Indian media have reported that Modi is expected to visit the two countries, possibly from Aug. 21 to 23.

Modi’s Kyiv visit, Indian analysts say, would aim to control the damage from his trip to Moscow, which coincided with a lethal strike on a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital, embarrassing him and drawing strong criticism from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Modi made a highly publicized trip to Moscow on July 8-9 during which old friends India and Russia sought to boost bilateral trade and cooperation in areas ranging from nuclear energy to medicine.

But the visit made headlines as it coincided with the strike on the hospital in Kyiv, prompting Modi to use emotive language to deliver an implicit, public rebuke to Putin at their summit.

Modi told Putin that the death of innocent children was painful and terrifying and reiterated New Delhi’s position that Moscow and Kyiv should resolve their conflict through dialogue and diplomacy, saying “solutions are not possible on the battleground”.

Modi’s visit also coincided with the July 9-10 NATO summit in Washington at which the allies moved to bolster Ukraine and counter Russia.

The U.S. said it raised concerns with India about its ties with Russia but also added that the relationship gives New Delhi an ability to urge Putin to end the war.

Top Indian diplomats have since held regular talks with their Ukrainian counterparts, with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar calling Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba to discuss further developing bilateral ties.

Modi met Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Italy in June and discussed trade and expanding ties. The two leaders have also spoken several times by phone since the war started in February 2022.

Ukraine has pitched for New Delhi to help rebuild its war-ravaged economy, inviting investment from Indian companies at a January business summit in India.

India has traditionally had close economic and defence ties with Moscow and has refrained from criticizing Russia over its invasion, instead increasing purchases of Russian oil to record levels saying it needs to protect its own national interest first.

Although the prospect of India mediating between Russia and Ukraine to help end the war has been raised in diplomatic circles from time to time, New Delhi has appeared cagey, merely saying that it is willing to offer any support to resolve the conflict peacefully.