India’s Narendra Modi has been welcomed to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the first visit to the country by an Indian prime minister since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Zelenskyy embraced Modi before they started talks on Friday at the Marinskyi presidential palace, and said the Indian leader’s visit to Ukraine was “very friendly” and “historic”.
The Indian prime minister is expected to discuss economic ties and cooperation in defence, science and technology, while also broaching the contentious subject of a settlement to end the war with Russia.
The meeting kicked off with both leaders visiting a memorial commemorating hundreds of Ukrainian children who have been killed during more than two years of war.
The Ukrainian president said on X that he and Modi had honoured “the memory of the children whose lives were taken by Russian aggression”.
Modi, who told Zelenskyy that the killing of children in conflict was not acceptable, said he had come to Ukraine with a message of peace.
“We have stayed away from the war with great conviction. This does not mean that we were indifferent,” he told reporters, while seated alongside Zelenskyy.
“We were not neutral from day one, we have taken a side, and we stand firmly for peace,” he said.
Modi also pledged his country would provide humanitarian support for Ukraine’s conflict with Russia. “India will always stand with you and will go above and beyond to support you,” he said.
He stated his respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, while reiterating India’s position, set out ahead of his visit, that the conflict can be resolved only through dialogue and diplomacy.
However, it is unclear whether the Indian leader, seen by many in Ukraine as being too close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, could be an effective dealmaker.
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Alex Gatopoulos said India would have to “perform this tightrope act” between the West and Russia.
“It is a Russian client state. The vast majority of its military equipment is Russian-made, so India cannot afford to alienate Russia either,” he said.
India is the world’s largest buyer of Russian arms, and has sought to capitalise on cheaper Russian oil as the United States and European countries seek to limit the Russian energy sector’s access to the global marketplace via sanctions.
Modi’s meeting with Zelenskyy comes a month and a half after he was in Moscow for talks with Putin, a visit that coincided with Russian missile attacks on Ukraine that hit a children’s hospital, which the Indian leader implicitly criticised during the bilateral summit.
Modi and Putin agreed to increase bilateral trade to $100bn by 2030, increasing investments, eliminating nontariff trade barriers and using national currencies to circumvent sanctions.
The meeting elicited fierce criticism from Zelenskyy, who said it was a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day”.
Al Jazeera’s Gatopoulos said Modi’s visit to Moscow was intended to put himself forward as a mediator.
“Whether that’s going to be successful or not, we will tell in the coming days,” he said.
‘A certain influence’
The visit comes at a crucial juncture in the war, after Ukrainian forces mounted a lightning offensive on Russia’s Kursk region on August 6 while Russian troops continue to make advances in Ukraine’s east.
On Friday, the Ukrainian Air Force said 14 of 16 Russian attack drones had been destroyed overnight. Meanwhile, Russia accused Ukraine of trying to attack the Kursk nuclear power station in what it called an act of “nuclear terrorism”.
India has avoided explicit condemnation of Russia’s 2022 invasion and has abstained from United Nations resolutions that criticise Russia, instead urging both sides to resolve their differences through direct dialogue.
Still, India has good relations with both Russia and the West, Ukraine’s principal backer, and some analysts believe Modi could play a role in pushing the two sides towards talks.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Modi’s visit to Kyiv was significant because India “really has a certain influence” over Russia.
Peace summit
Ukraine has said it hopes to bring together a second international summit later this year to advance its vision of peace and involve representatives from Russia.
The first summit in Switzerland that excluded Russia in June attracted many delegations, including one from India, but not from China.
Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kyiv-based political analyst, said he expected no breakthrough proposals to be made to end the war during the trip by Modi, who visited Poland on Thursday.
For there to be an attempt to negotiate, the military situation has to stabilise and the presidential election must be held in the United States, a close ally of Ukraine, he said.
He said the visit was important for India to demonstrate it was “not on Russia’s side” and that Kyiv wanted to normalise relations after Modi’s Moscow trip.
