Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a historic go to to Kyiv on Friday, assembly Ukraine’s chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a bid to discover a resolution to the continuing battle with Russia.
Modi, who turned the primary Indian premier to go to Ukraine, embraced a visibly emotional Zelenskyy on the Mariinsky Palace.
The Indian chief is positioning himself as a possible peacemaker between Moscow and Kyiv.
However, his go to comes at a vital juncture within the two-and-a-half-year battle, with a diplomatic decision seeming extra distant than ever. Kyiv’s forces are launching a big incursion into Russia’s Kursk area, whereas Moscow’s troops proceed to advance in japanese Ukraine, not too long ago claiming management of a number of cities and villages.
“No problem can be resolved on a battlefield,” Modi mentioned in Poland on Wednesday earlier than heading to Ukraine.
India, he mentioned, helps “dialogue and diplomacy for restoration of peace and stability as soon as possible.”
But it’s unclear if Modi may very well be an efficient dealmaker.
The 73-year-old has good relations with Russia and met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in July. He was criticized for hugging Putin throughout that go to, hours after a Russian strike on a Kyiv kids’s hospital. At the time, Zelenskyy referred to as it a “devastating blow” to peace efforts.
On Friday, Zelenskyy mentioned he and Modi had “honored the memory of children whose lives were taken by Russian aggression.” “Children of every country deserve to be safe. We must make it possible,” Zelenskyy mentioned in a submit on Telegram.
Indian diplomacy
During his go to to Moscow final month, Modi advised Putin that “war cannot solve problems” and that seeing “innocent children murdered… is pain that is unbearable.”
Ahead of his arrival in Kyiv, Modi mentioned he deliberate to “share perspectives on the peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict” with Zelenskyy.
While India has traditionally heat ties with Russia, it additionally seeks nearer safety partnerships with Western nations as a counterbalance to its regional rival China. New Delhi has prevented express condemnation of Russia’s 2022 invasion and has abstained on UN resolutions that criticize the Kremlin, as an alternative urging each side to resolve their variations by direct dialogue.
Moscow additionally stays a key provider of oil and weapons to India. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had a human price for India, with a number of experiences of Indian residents being killed combating for Russia. In February, New Delhi mentioned it was urgent the Kremlin to ship again a few of its residents.
In the primary yr of the invasion, Putin publicly acknowledged that Modi had “concerns” over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. Western powers have in recent times pressured New Delhi to distance itself from Russia.
Russia eyes extra Ukrainian cities
Ukraine has mentioned that one in every of its goals in launching the shock Kursk incursion on August 6 was to pressure Moscow into “fair” negotiations. While there have been no indicators of significant talks to finish the battle earlier than then, Russia has mentioned the counter-offensive now makes them unimaginable.
Putin earlier this yr mentioned Kyiv must abandon territory in 4 of its areas, which Moscow claims to have annexed, as a precondition to opening talks – a hardline demand that drew scorn in Kyiv and the West. Zelenskyy has additionally dominated out direct negotiations with Putin.
Even as Moscow scrambles to fend off the Ukrainian assault into its Western Kursk area, its forces are nonetheless advancing within the japanese Donetsk area, capturing a number of cities and villages in latest days.
Kyiv has ordered some evacuations from Pokrovsk – a key strategic and logistics hub within the area – amid fears it might fall to Russia.
As Modi arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine reported {that a} Russian strike killed two folks within the northeastern Sumy area and that two others had been pulled from rubble brought on by one other strike on the Kharkiv area additional south a day earlier.
The United Nations has verified greater than 10,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 however says the true determine is probably going a lot increased.
Source: www.dailysabah.com