New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky today, government sources have said amid desperate efforts to evacuate hundreds of Indians still stranded in the warzone.
This morning, Russia said it will hold fire and open “humanitarian corridors” in several Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, at 10 AM Moscow time (12.30 PM IST). The Interfax news agency cited Russia’s defence ministry as saying that the corridors, also to be opened from Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy, are being set up at the personal request of French President Emmanuel Macron and in view of the current situation in those cities.
PM Modi is expected to speak to President Zelensky first before dialling President Putin in the afternoon.
PM Modi has spoken to the Russian President twice since the war broke out. He had spoken to President Zelensky last on February 26, days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. That conversation followed India’s abstention from a UN vote to condemn Russia’s aggression.
India is trying to move out hundreds of Indians, mainly students, still stuck in war-hit Ukraine. New Delhi has been urging Moscow to impose a ceasefire to enable the evacuation of Indian students trapped after Russian troops invaded Ukraine in late February.
