New Delhi: For the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine, a minister from the country will be travelling to India. The visit will take place next week, with Kyiv hoping to secure a speaking role for Ukraine’s president at the G-20 summit in September.

Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova will be arriving on Monday, April 10, on a working visit to meet with Indian government officials. She will also give a lecture on the global nature of the Ukraine war at the Ministry of External Affairs' think-tank, the Indian Council for World Affairs, on April 11.

The senior most among Ukraine’s five deputy foreign ministers, Dzhaparova will be the first official from Kyiv to visit India since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Last month, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was in India for the G-20 foreign ministers meeting and also addressed the MEA’s flagship Raisina Dialogue.

The Ukraine minister’s visit is significant as it takes place ahead of India hosting the G-20 Leaders’ summit in September. 

Last year, Indonesian President Joko Widodo had travelled to both Moscow and Kyiv. He had also invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to speak virtually at the G-20 summit in Bali.

There has been constant pressure on India from the West to also invite the Ukrainian president. So far, New Delhi has not taken a decision.

It is understood that Dzhaparova, a former journalist, will be also suggesting to her Indian interlocutors that Zelensky be invited. In turn, she would also be carrying an invitation for PM Modi to visit Ukraine.

India has taken a neutral position on the Ukraine war and has not publicly criticised Russia for the invasion. India has also abstained on all resolutions passed against Russia in the various UN bodies, including at the UN General Assembly. The latest one was passed by the UN human rights council on April 4 which extended the mandate of the commission of inquiry into alleged war crimes by Russia for a year.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmitry Kuleba had in December 2022 panned India’s increased purchase of Russian crude as “morally inappropriate”. His criticism came after Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar had defended the Russian crude purchases on basis of Europe’s imports dwarfing that of India.  

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