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Indian PM Modi Arrives in Kyiv for Talks with Ukraine's Zelenskiy

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he arrives to pay his respects at the Jam Saheb of Nawanagar Memorial at the Good Maharaja Square, Poland on August 21, 2024. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he arrives to pay his respects at the Jam Saheb of Nawanagar Memorial at the Good Maharaja Square, Poland on August 21, 2024. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)
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Indian PM Modi Arrives in Kyiv for Talks with Ukraine's Zelenskiy

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he arrives to pay his respects at the Jam Saheb of Nawanagar Memorial at the Good Maharaja Square, Poland on August 21, 2024. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he arrives to pay his respects at the Jam Saheb of Nawanagar Memorial at the Good Maharaja Square, Poland on August 21, 2024. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)

India's Narendra Modi arrived in wartime Kyiv on Friday for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the first trip by an Indian prime minister to Ukraine since Kyiv gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The visit comes at a volatile juncture in the war in Ukraine, with Ukrainian forces still in Russia's western Kursk region following their incursion on Aug. 6 and Russian troops grinding out slow but steady advances in Ukraine's east.
The visit, which follows a trip by Modi to Moscow in July, is important for Western-backed Kyiv, which has been trying to nurture diplomatic relations in the Global South in its efforts to secure a fair settlement to end the war.
"I look forward to the opportunity to ... share perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing Ukraine conflict," Modi said before the trip. "As a friend and partner, we hope for an early return of peace and stability in the region."
Modi's visit to Moscow last month coincided with a heavy Russian missile strike on Ukraine that hit a children's hospital. The attack prompted Modi to use emotive language to deliver an implicit rebuke to Putin at their summit.
But the trip elicited fierce criticism from Zelenskiy who said it was a "huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world's largest democracy hug the world's most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day".
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the Ukrainian president's office, told Reuters Modi's visit to Kyiv was significant because New Delhi "really has a certain influence" over Moscow.
"It's extremely important for us to effectively build relations with such countries, to explain to them what the correct end to the war is - and that it is also in their interests," he said.
India, which has traditionally had close economic and defense ties with Moscow, has publicly criticized the deaths of innocent people in the war.
But it has also strengthened its economic ties with Moscow after Western nations imposed sanctions on Russia and cut trade relations with it over its invasion.
Indian refiners which rarely bought Russian oil in the past have emerged as Moscow's top clients for seaborne oil since Russia poured troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Russian oil accounts for over two-fifths of India's oil imports.
PEACE VISION
Ukraine has said it hopes to bring together a second international summit later this year to advance its vision of peace and involve representatives from Russia.
The first summit in Switzerland that pointedly excluded Russia in June attracted scores of delegations, including one from India, but not from China, the world's second largest economy.
"Lasting peace can only be achieved through options that are acceptable to both parties. And it can only be a negotiated settlement," Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West) in the Indian foreign ministry, told reporters.
"This is an important visit that is expected to catalyze our ties in a whole range of sectors," Lal said, listing economic and business links, agriculture, infrastructure, health and education, pharmaceuticals, defense and culture.
Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kyiv-based political analyst, said he expected no breakthrough proposals to be made to end the war during the trip by Modi, who visited Poland on Thursday.
For there to be an attempt to negotiate, the military situation has to stabilize and the presidential election must be held in the United States, a close ally of Ukraine, he said.
He said the visit was important for India to demonstrate it was "not on Russia's side" and that Kyiv wanted to normalize relations after Modi's Moscow trip.
Richard Verma, U.S. deputy secretary of state for management and resources and a former U.S. ambassador to India, said on Wednesday that the trip to Kyiv was important.
"I appreciated some of the things that the prime minister has said, that this is not the time for war, this is a time for peace, but this is a very consequential period for the defense of liberty, freedom and the rule of law," he said.

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NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New Hypersonic Missile

A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
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NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New Hypersonic Missile

A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)

NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war.

The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.”

Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday's Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro.

In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech to his nation that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Putin said Western air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up Russia's bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia.

"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined," he said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow's talking points, suggesting the use of US-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement.

“These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Orban said on state radio. “There is a strong assumption ... that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.”

Orban cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff.” “It’s not a trick... there will be consequences,” he said.

Separately in Kyiv, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský called Thursday's missile strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe.”

At a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Lipavský also expressed his full support for delivering the necessary additional air defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks.”

He underlined that the Czech Republic will impose no limits on the use of its weapons and equipment given to Ukraine.

Three lawmakers from Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday's previously scheduled session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting government buildings in central Kyiv.

In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and nongovernmental organizations "in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev, who added this is not the first time such a threat has been received.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office continued to work in compliance with standard security measures, a spokesperson said.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the Oreshnik missile, whose name in Russian means “hazelnut tree,” was fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region, and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. The missile had six nonnuclear warheads each carrying six submunitions and reached a spoeed of Mach 11, it said.

Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said. The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.

Thursday's attack struck the Pivdenmash plant that built ICBMs when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The military facility is located about 4 miles (6 1/2 kilometers) southwest of the center of Dnipro, a city of about 1 million that is Ukraine’s fourth-largest and a key hub for military supplies and humanitarian aid, and is home to one of the country’s largest hospitals for treating wounded soldiers from the front before their transfer to Kyiv or abroad.

The stricken area was cordoned off and out of public view. With no fatalities reported from the attack, Dnipro residents resorted to dark humor on social media, mostly focused on the missile’s name, Oreshnik.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia struck a residential district of Sumy overnight with Iranian-designed Shahed drones, killing two people and injuring 13, the regional administration said..

Ukraine’s Suspilne media, quoting Sumy regional head Volodymyr Artiukh, said the drones were stuffed with shrapnel elements. “These weapons are used to destroy people, not to destroy objects,” said Artiukh, according to Suspilne.