Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who arrived in India on Thursday, conveyed his commitment to enhancing the bilateral relations and sustaining the ongoing dialogue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Throughout his visit, the ministry has announced that Kuleba will partake in several activities. These include holding official meetings with Jaishankar, minister of external affairs of India and Deputy NSA to address topics related to the bilateral partnership and cooperation on regional and global matters of shared concern. Additionally, he is anticipated to engage with the business community.
India TV previously reported on the visit of the Ukrainian FM during the last week of March. This information was later verified by Kuleba in a heartfelt video shared on social media on March 25th. Earlier in the month, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and PM Narendra Modi engaged in a phone call, during which the former encouraged the Indian leader to act as a peacemaker. In response, the PM expressed his agreement with the sentiment.
Jaishankar and Kuleba discussed the conflict in Ukraine and Kyiv’s peace formula during a phone call in January. Kuleba informed his Indian counterpart about Ukraine’s plan for the ‘Global Peace Summit’ of leaders. The summit is set to take place in Switzerland in the near future, with Russia notably not being invited despite its significant role in the conflict.
It is worth mentioning that this marks the first instance of New Delhi extending an invitation to a senior Ukrainian minister following Russia’s assault on Kyiv. Initially, there were speculations that India might invite Zelenskyy to the G20 Summit held in New Delhi on September 9-10. Notable global figures such as US President Joe Biden and UK PM Rishi Sunak were in attendance. Despite this, Ukraine was not included in the guest list due to Russia’s active participation in the Group of Twenty and the presence of its foreign minister at the New Delhi summit. An official from the Ministry of External Affairs, speaking anonymously to India TV, stated that inviting Ukraine would have conflicted with the objectives outlined in India’s New Delhi declaration.
