Indian PM Modi kicks off landmark Poland, Ukraine visit

India's Narendra Modi launched on Wednesday his historic trip to Poland and Ukraine, where the premier has pledged to campaign for a peaceful resolution of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Modi will be the first Indian prime minister to make a Ukraine trip and first in 45 years to travel to Poland, Kyiv's staunch ally that is a key transit for foreign leaders heading to its war-torn neighbour.

He is expected to meet with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Andrzej Duda on Thursday, as well as with Indian nationals living in the Central European country.

"This visit will add momentum to the India-Poland friendship and benefit the people of our nations," Modi said on X upon landing in Warsaw.

Modi commemorated an Indian maharaja who sheltered Polish children during World War II, before laying flowers at a war memorial and delivered a speech to the Indian community in Poland.

Poland "needs a lasting partnership with India," deputy Polish Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters before Modi's visit, adding that economic ties would also be on the agenda.

In a statement ahead of his arrival in the Nato and European Union member nation, Modi said Poland remains India's key economy partner in Central Europe.

Foreign Minister Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski said Poland hopes to sign a strategic partnership agreement with India that will lead to closer political and business relations as well as cooperation in the IT, cybersecurity and defense sectors.

The Indian leader's visit also marks 70 years of official bilateral relations between New Delhi and Warsaw, and comes 45 years after the previous visit by an Indian government leader, Morarji Desai, when Poland was a satellite of the Soviet Union, a dependence it shed in 1989.

Bartoszewski said India is aware that democratic Poland is playing in a "different league” than it was before 1989.

According to the figures cited by the Embassy of India, from 2013-2023, the total value of bilateral trade increased from $1.95 billion to $5.72 billion, with India's exports accounting for majority.

Meeting with Zelensky

Modi has trodden a delicate balance between maintaining India's historically warm ties with Russia while courting closer security partnerships with Western nations as a bulwark against regional rival China.

His government has avoided explicit condemnations of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, instead urging both sides to resolve their differences through dialogue.

"As a friend and partner, we hope for an early return of peace and stability in the region," Modi said in a statement published on Wednesday before his departure for Poland.

In Kyiv, Modi will hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky and "share perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing Ukraine conflict," the statement added.

"India has consistently advocated for diplomacy and dialogue to reach a negotiated settlement," Indian foreign ministry official Tanmaya Lal said before the visit.

Zelensky announced on Monday that "a number of documents are also expected to be signed" during the meeting with Modi, whose previous diplomatic efforts drew condemnation from Kyiv.

In July, hours after Russia pummelled multiple cities across Ukraine, Modi visited Moscow and was pictured hugging Putin at his residence.

He also visited Russia in 2019 and hosted Putin in New Delhi two years later, weeks before Moscow began its offensive against Ukraine.

India has largely shied away from explicit condemnation of Russia and abstained on UN resolutions targeting the Kremlin.

However, Russia's fight with Ukraine has also had a human cost for India.

New Delhi has pushed Moscow to return several of its citizens who signed up for "support jobs" with the Russian military but were later sent to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine.

At least five Indian soldiers have been killed in the conflict.

Agence France-Presse