Extending Holi wishes to everyone in India, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday announced his India visit later this week.
Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), the Ukrainian foreign minister said,” Today, India celebrates Holi, the most beautiful and colourful spring holiday. I wish everyone a happy Holi!”
He further said, “Standing here in Kyiv, in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s monument, I am also pleased to announce that this week I will pay my first-ever visit to India.”
This would be his first-ever visit to the world’s most populous democracy.
In his trip to New Delhi—by any top Ukrainian minister since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022—Kuleba aims to lobby for support for a peace summit, English daily Hindustan Times reported earlier citing sources.
The report said the Ukrainian foreign minister—accompanied by a high-level delegation—is likely to co-chair a meeting of the India-Ukraine inter-governmental commission with his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar.
It is important to note that the India-Ukraine inter-governmental commission—established in April 1994—oversees all aspects of the bilateral relationship including trade, economic, scientific, technological, industrial and cultural cooperation.
The report said a proposed peace summit by Switzerland is expected to be on top of the list of Kuleba’s agenda. The proposed peace summit is set to build on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace formula unveiled in 2022 and a series of meetings held in recent months.
Kuleba’s first phone call in 2024 was with Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar on January 3 to discuss Ukraine-India relations. In a post on X at that time, Kuleba said he had discussed Russia’s escalation of attacks and further cooperation on Zelenskyy’s peace formula.
“In this regard, I informed my counterpart of Ukraine’s vision for the Global Peace Summit of leaders,” Kuleba had said in the post. Kuleba also said both sides had agreed to hold a meeting of the India-Ukraine inter-governmental commission “in the near future”.
He said the rejuvenation of “this primary mechanism of our bilateral ties will allow us to jointly move forward in a comprehensive manner”.
Though India has refrained from publicly censuring Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. However, New Delhi has repeatedly said it supports all initiatives aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “Today’s era is not an era of war”.
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Aisha Patel is a dedicated Indian correspondent with a deep understanding of the nation’s diverse affairs. With a background in Indian culture, politics, and current events, she provides in-depth analysis and timely reporting on domestic issues within India.
