India’s Modi to visit Ukraine on Friday, weeks after trip to Russia
Al Jazeera
India’s government has sought to balance close ties with both Russia and Western allies.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ukraine this week and meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, several weeks after he met Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Modi’s visit, the first by an Indian leader in more than 30 years, will take place on Friday, the Indian foreign ministry said on Monday.
Modi’s visit will provide an opportunity for the two leaders to discuss cooperation in defence, economic and business ties, science and technology and other sectors, Tanmaya Lal, a senior official at the Ministry of External Affairs, said at a briefing in New Delhi.
Ukraine’s Presidential Office also announced Modi’s trip, saying it’s his first visit during which two leaders will sign multiple cooperation documents and discuss “matters of bilateral and multilateral cooperation”.
Modi’s trip to Ukraine comes a month after Zelenskyy criticised his two-day visit to Moscow in July, when he met with Putin on the day Russian missiles struck across Ukraine, killing scores of people.
