NEW DELHI: Days after visiting Moscow for intergovernmental talks and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Jaishankar will travel to Ukraine and Poland from September 3 to 5.
In Ukraine, Jaishankar is scheduled to hold talks with Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, while in Poland he will meet Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. The discussions are expected to cover bilateral relations, regional developments and issues of mutual interest.
The Ukraine visit comes as New Delhi continues to engage both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It also follows a meeting between Ukraine’s First Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Sergiy Kyslytsya, and India’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Anjani Kumar.
Kyslytsya said the talks covered the prospects for Ukraine-India relations and India’s potential role in efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
He also referred to Modi’s recent message to Putin that the parties must move from an “endless war” towards an “end of war”, saying Kyiv wanted to translate the shared interest in peace into concrete steps.
Modi, speaking after his meeting with Putin in Bishkek, reiterated India’s support for peaceful efforts to resolve the conflict. “We have to move from a situation of ‘endless war’ to ‘end of war’,” he said, adding that it was humanity’s wish that the conflict end at the earliest.
The remarks reinforce India’s longstanding position that the Russia-Ukraine conflict must be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy.
At the same time, the timing of Jaishankar’s Kyiv visit is significant: coming soon after his Moscow engagement and the Modi-Putin meeting, it underlines New Delhi’s effort to maintain direct channels with both capitals.