U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Tuesday that he expects to hear that India is beginning to cooperate more actively with Ukraine. He said this in response to a question at a Senate hearing on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Moscow this month, Reuters reports, UNN.
“I think we are likely to hear news about India's more direct involvement in Ukraine. I am grateful for that. I think India wants to play a responsible role globally,” Campbell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Modi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this month, just as a Russian missile strike hit a hospital in Kyiv and killed 44 people across the country.
Indian media report that Modi is likely to visit Ukraine in August, which will be his first visit to the country since Russia's 2022 invasion.
India's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that more needs to be done to stimulate talks to end the “conflict in Ukraine” and that India is one of the few countries that maintains contact with both sides.
“I can reasonably expect that there will be more contacts between us and Ukraine, as well as between us and Russia,” said Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar, answering a question about the possibility of Modi's visit to Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Jaishankar in Japan on Sunday and emphasized the importance of a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine.