Sawt Falasteen - India's Modi urges peace ahead of Ukraine visit

Modi will be the first Indian premier to make a Ukraine trip and is the first in 45 years to visit Poland, Kyiv's loyal ally that is a key transit for foreign leaders heading to its war-torn neighbour.

The Indian government has avoided explicit condemnations of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, instead urging both sides to resolve their differences through dialogue.

"It is India's strong belief that no problem can be resolved on a battlefield," Modi said in Warsaw, adding his country supports "dialogue and diplomacy for restoration of peace and stability as soon as possible".

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk welcomed Modi and his delegation at the seat of government, with flags of both countries hoisted outside the building and their anthems played by the military band.

"History has taught our nations the importance of respecting the rules, respecting borders, territorial integrity," Tusk said as he spoke to reporters alongside the Indian leader.

Tusk also added that Modi "reaffirmed his willingness to commit himself personally to a peaceful, just, quick end to the war".

After the talks, Modi will lay a wreath at a war memorial in central Warsaw before heading for talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Later on Thursday the Indian leader is expected to leave the Polish capital to travel to neighbouring Ukraine for his first visit to the country fighting to stave off the Russian invasion.

Modi has trodden a delicate balance between maintaining India's historically warm ties with Russia while courting closer security partnerships with Western nations as a bulwark against regional rival China.

"As a friend and partner, we hope for an early return of peace and stability in the region," Modi said in a statement published Wednesday before his departure for Poland.

In Kyiv, Modi will hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky and "share perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing Ukraine conflict," the statement added.

- 'Drastic expansion' -

On Wednesday, Modi commemorated an Indian maharaja who sheltered Polish children during World War II, laying flowers at the marble lotus-crowned monument erected in Warsaw in honour of the maharaja.

In a little-known story linking the two nations, the maharaja hosted Polish children in what is now Gujarat -- Modi's home state where he was chief minister before launching national political career.

The Indian leader announced a youth exchange programme named after the maharaja, under which 20 Polish young people would be invited to India each year.

"We are finally starting to have the right level of political and diplomatic relations," Polish deputy foreign minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski said about the visit.

He said Warsaw was counting on cooperation with India in "in the agricultural sector, in the IT sector, in the security sector, in the new technology sector, especially green technology".

Modi on Wednesday delivered a speech in Hindi to the Indian community in Warsaw, promising "a drastic expansion of Indian economy in coming years".

He is expected to meet with Leszek Balcerowicz, a former Polish finance minister and free market pioneer who steered Poland's economic transition from communism to capitalism in early 1990s.

According to the Indian Embassy, Modi will also meet captains of kabaddi teams -- a tag-meets-rugby contact team sport rooted in Indian mythology and said to date back 5,000 years.

O.Mousa--SF-PST