UN chief hopes PM Modi's visit to Ukraine will help end war

United Nations, Aug 23 : UN Secretary-General hopes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine will contribute to ending the war, his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday.

Asked for a reaction to Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ukraine amid the war, Dujarric said, “We've seen a lot of heads of state and government travel to the region (and) we hope that all of these visits will bring us closer to an end of the conflict in line with General Assembly resolutions, international law, and the territorial integrity.”

The General Assembly has demanded an end to the Russian invasion in at least three resolutions and in another to stop attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure. India has abstained on the resolutions.

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to go to Ukraine on Friday where he is to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Kyiv visit follows his trip to Russia last month, where he discussed the Ukraine situation with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

According to reports, he will convey messages between Ukraine and Russia.

An India-Russia joint statement at the end of Prime Minister Modi’s Moscow visit said that the two leaders “highlighted the imperative of peaceful resolution of the conflict around Ukraine through dialogue and diplomacy including engagement between both parties”.

The statement added cryptically, “They noted with appreciation relevant proposals of mediation and good offices aimed at peaceful resolution of the conflict in accordance with international law and on the basis of the UN Charter in its entirety and totality”.

While India has kept up a veneer of neutrality by not voting for the condemnation of Russia’s invasion at the UN, Prime Minister Modi has criticised it.

He told Putin at a 2022 meeting in Samarkand in Uzbekistan, “I know that today’s era is not of war and we have talked to you many times over the phone on the subject that democracy and diplomacy and dialogue are all these things that touch the world”.

On the day of Prime Minister Modi’s arrival in Moscow in July, Russia’s missile attack hit a children’s hospital in Ukraine.

Reacting to it, Prime Minister Modi said, “Whether it is war, conflict or a terrorist attack, any person who believes in humanity is pained when there is loss of lives. But even in that, when innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds and that pain is very terrifying.”

Prime Minister Modi and President Zelensky have spoken by phone several times since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022.

After a conversation in March, the Prime Minister posted on X that he “conveyed India's consistent support for all efforts for peace and bringing an early end to the ongoing conflict. India will continue to provide humanitarian assistance guided by our people-centric approach”.

Zelensky said in his X post that “Ukraine is interested in strengthening our trade and economic ties with India, particularly in agricultural exports, aviation cooperation, and pharmaceutical and industrial product trade”.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)