Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine this week is expected to last about seven hours.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine this week is expected to last about seven hours and the trip will involve spending close to 20 hours on a train that has ferried world leaders such as US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron to Kyiv, people familiar with the matter said.
Modi will be in Ukraine on August 23 for the first visit by a senior Indian leader since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. After weeks of speculation, the visit was formally announced by the external affairs ministry on Monday.
Preparations for what is perhaps the first visit to by an Indian premier to an active warzone began several weeks ago and has involved close coordination on security matters and complex logistics, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. The Indian premier is expected to travel on the overnight train that was dubbed “Rail Force One” after it carried Biden from Przemyśl Główny in Poland to Kyiv in February 2023.
Ukraine has replaced electric locomotives with diesel engines since Russia inflicted considerable damage on the country’s electricity networks and power generation facilities, thereby increasing the time taken by the train to travel from the Polish border to Kyiv, one of the people cited above said.
The journey now takes close to 10 hours and Modi is expected to leave for Ukraine on August 22, after concluding his official meetings in Poland, the first stop on his two-nation tour. He is expected to reach Kyiv in the morning on August 23 and will spend about seven hours in Ukraine, before again taking the train operated by Ukrzaliznytsia or Ukrainian Railways to return to Poland.
Modi’s visit to Ukraine is widely being seen as a balancing act following his trip to Moscow during July 8-9 for the annual India-Russia Summit with President Vladimir Putin. That visit had triggered outrage in the West as the Indian leader’s arrival in Moscow had coincided with a Russian strike on Kyiv’s largest children’s hospital.
“This landmark visit, of course, takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which will also form part of discussions,” Tanmaya Lal, secretary (West) in the external affairs ministry, told a media briefing. He declined to discuss details about the elements in the programme for Modi’s visit.
Lal sidestepped questions on whether Modi will propose a peace plan while in Ukraine and whether the visit is a balancing act in the face of pressure from the West, especially the US, and said India has consistently pushed for diplomacy and dialogue to find a negotiated settlement. In this context, he noted that India had attended the Summit for Peace in Ukraine hosted by Switzerland in June.
“Dialogue is absolutely essential. Lasting peace can only be achieved through options that are acceptable to both parties and there can only be a negotiated settlement…India continues to engage with all stakeholders,” he said.
Modi has had conversations with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, and India is willing to “provide all possible support and contributions” to help find a peaceful solution to this complex issue. “At this stage it is not for us to anticipate or prejudge what the outcome of these discussions will be between the leaders of India and Ukraine,” Lal said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Modi met on the margins of the G7 Summit in Italy in June and they also met on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Japan last year. Earlier, they met on the margins of the COP meeting in Glasgow in 2021, while Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba visited New Delhi in March to push India to take on a greater role in ongoing peace efforts.
Before the Russian invasion, bilateral trade between India and Ukraine was worth more than $3 billion. India was one of the largest importers of sunflower oil from Ukraine and there was cooperation in areas such as heavy industry, railways and defence. There were also about 18,000 students in Ukraine at the start of the conflict and most of them were evacuated through neighbouring countries. About 1,000 students are currently pursuing courses in Ukraine.
Defence cooperation and bolstering trade will figure in Modi’s discussions with Poland’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Andrzej Duda. This will be the first visit by an Indian premier to Warsaw in 45 years and comes at a time when both countries are marking the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties.