Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid floral tribute on Friday to the statue of the iconic Indian leader in war-torn Ukraine. He underscored the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi’s eternal message of peace in building a harmonious society,

“Paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Kyiv. The ideals of Bapu are universal and give hope to millions. May we all follow the path he showed to humanity,” Modi wrote on X.

“Remembering Mahatma’s timeless message of peace. PM @narendramodi paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi in the Oasis of Peace’ park in Kyiv. PM underscored the relevance of Mahatma’s eternal message of peace in building a harmonious society and finding solutions to present-day global challenges,” Randhir Jaiswal, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson posted on X.

Modi arrived earlier in the day after a nearly seven-hour trip from Poland to hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid Kyiv’s fresh military offensive into Russian territory. The prime minister’s visit to Kyiv is expected to last for around seven hours.

Ahead of his talks with Zelenskyy, Modi also paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at his statue located in the ‘Oasis of Peace’ park in Kyiv.

Modi underscored the timeless relevance of Gandhi’s message of peace in building a harmonious society and noted that the path shown by him offered solutions to present-day global challenges, the MEA said.

“Reached Kyiv earlier this morning. The Indian community accorded a very warm welcome,” Modi said on ‘X’ shortly after reaching the Ukrainian capital.

Modi is holding both one-on-one and delegation-level talks with Zelenskyy with a focus on bringing peace and stability to Ukraine and the larger region.

The prime minister’s visit to Kyiv comes nearly six weeks after his high-profile trip to Moscow and it is seen as a balancing act as the prime minister’s trip to Russia triggered anguish among the Western countries.

Following talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Modi said on Thursday that the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia are a matter of “deep concern” and that “dialogue and diplomacy” is the way forward to restore peace.

“This is India’s firm belief that no problem can be solved on the battlefield. In any crisis, the loss of lives of innocent people has become the biggest challenge for the whole of humanity,” he said.

“We support dialogue and diplomacy for the early restoration of peace and stability. For this, India, along with its friendly countries, is ready to provide all possible support,” he said in a media statement.

Modi held talks with Zelenskyy in June on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy’s Apulia.

In the meeting, Modi conveyed to the Ukrainian President that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict and that the way to peace is through “dialogue and diplomacy”.

Modi also told Zelenskyy that India believes in a “human-centric” approach to find a solution to the conflict in Ukraine.

In the meeting, the Ukrainian president invited the prime minister to visit Kyiv.

With inputs from agencies.

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PM Modi pays tribute to Mahatma Gandhi in Ukraine ahead of talks with Zelenskyy