NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Ukraine next month, a local media report said, his first visit to the country since its war with Russia began and just weeks after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The Ukrainian embassy in New Delhi said it had no information to share immediately. There was no immediate response from India’s foreign ministry.
Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but “friendly” countries like India and China continued to trade.
India has refrained from directly blaming Russia, while urging the two countries to resolve their dispute through dialogue and diplomacy.
Modi met Putin as a Russian missile hit a hospital in Kiev, killing at least 41 people. The Indian leader told Putin that the deaths of innocent children were “painful and horrific.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his dismay at Modi’s visit, calling it a “great disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts” to see him embrace “the world’s most bloodthirsty criminal in Moscow on such a day.”
Russia denied bombing the hospital.
The US State Department has raised concerns about India’s relationship with Russia, especially as it seeks to strengthen ties with India as a potential counterweight to a rising China.
New Delhi seeks to deepen its ties with the West while maintaining its relations with Russia.
The final date for Modi’s visit has not yet been confirmed, The Print reported on Saturday.