NEW DELHI:
The Indian embassy in Ukraine which was “temporarily” working out of Polish capital Warsaw will return to Kyiv from May 17, the Ministry of External Affairs announced in New Delhi on Friday.
The embassy which played a leading role in evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine during February and March, was shifted to Warsaw on March 13. India is one of the several leading nations that have ordered their diplomatic teams to return to Kyiv. Last month, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a tour to India had announced that U.K. would reopen its embassy in Kyiv.
India appointed Harsh Kumar Jain as the new envoy of India to Ukraine after the embassy was temporarily shifted. Mr Jain submitted his credentials to Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Senik on May 2. Mr Jain replaced Partha Satpathy who had played a leading role in the evacuation of Indian students from Kharkiv, Kyiv and other major cities in Ukraine.
Many countries had shifted embassies to the relative safety of the Ukrainian city of Lviv and neighbouring Poland in view of the escalating hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. India’s announcement is significant as it comes days after the May 9 Victory Day speech by Russian President Putin who did not announce any fresh escalation of the “special military operation” in that speech.
