Ukraine's foreign minister on two-day visit to India

UKRAINE'S Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba will arrive in New Delhi on his maiden visit to India amid the festering Russia-Ukraine conflict.

His visit on Thursday (28) comes at the invitation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

During his two-day visit, Kuleba will have "several engagements, including official meetings with External Affairs Minister and Deputy NSA to discuss matters of the bilateral partnership and cooperation on regional and global issues of mutual interest," it said. He is also expected to interact with the business community.

On March 25, the Ukrainian foreign minister posted a video on X and said that he would pay his first-ever visit to India. The video, posted on a day India celebrated Holi, showed him standing in front of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Kyiv, and also had visuals of celebrations of Holi, along with archival footage of Gandhi.

In the video, he also said, "My visit will further strengthen our relations". Terming Ukraine and India as two "big democracies", Kuleba had said he was "ceratin that we are set to be good partners and friends".

He also mentioned about the recent telephone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Prime Minister Modi on March 20 had held separate conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and asserted that dialogue and diplomacy were the way forward for the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has been raging for over two years.

During the telephone conversation, the Ukrainian President thanked India for its support for his country's sovereignty and said that it would be important for Kyiv to see New Delhi attend the inaugural Peace Summit in Switzerland.

Zelenskyy hailed India's continued humanitarian assistance for the people of Ukraine as the two leaders had discussed ways to further strengthen their bilateral partnership in various spheres. (PTI)