Ukraine hopes that India will join a peace summit hosted by Switzerland this summer and also play a role in bringing Russia to the table, said its Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, ahead of a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday.
Mr. Kuleba’s visit, the first such high-level visit from Ukraine since the Russian attacks began in February 2022, is expected to focus on garnering diplomatic and mediatory support from the Modi government, as well as more technical assistance in reconstructing destroyed facilities in the country. Mr. Kuleba arrived in Delhi on Thursday morning and visited Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Rajghat. He is due to meet Mr. Jaishankar for a bilateral meeting, and will also meet with Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri on Friday.
The visit by the Ukrainian Minister indicates a shift in both New Delhi and Kiev’s positions — as Mr. Kuleba had earlier been deeply critical of India’s purchases of Russian oil, while the Modi government has not sent any Minister to Kiev since the war began, and did not invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address the G-20 in 2023, as Kiev had requested.
