Modi to travel in Rail Force One during his 'first Indian PM' visit to war-torn Ukraine ::: "The visit will plug a missing link — Central Europe — in India’s European policy"

PM Narendra Modi to travel in Rail Force One during his 'first Indian PM' visit to war-torn Ukraine   

With commercial air links cancelled and the skies too dangerous to fly politicians in and out of Ukraine, this rail network has become the country’s diplomatic highway.

Modi will visit Kyiv, the capital city of war-hit Ukraine, on August 23, 2024, at the invitation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

It would be the first visit by any Indian prime minister to Ukraine in more than 30 years since New Delhi established its diplomatic relations with Kyiv. 

Modi's visit to Kyiv will involve a 20-hour train journey, during which he will board the Rail Force One overnight train.  

This specially designed high-security train offers a comfortable journey through war-torn Ukraine. Equipped with luxurious amenities, executive-level work and relaxation facilities, Rail Force One has been used in past facilitate movement of US President Joe Biden to Kyiv via Poland on a diplomatic visit in February 2023.

In addition to US President Biden, more than 200 foreign diplomatic missions have used this train service to arrive in war-hit Ukraine so far. These include former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Poland and Ukraine this week marks the continuation of an under-appreciated effort in Delhi to raise Europe’s profile in India’s foreign policy.

"Modi’s visit will plug a missing link — Central Europe — in India’s European policy at a time when Mitteleuropa has returned to the centre stage of great power conflict," writes C Raja Mohan in 'Indian Express'. 

The war for Ukraine, now in its third year, is emblematic of the new geopolitical churn in Central Europe that destabilises the entire world. 

As Halford Mackinder the British geopolitical thinker put it at the turn of the 20th century, “Who rules East Europe, commands the heartland; who rules the heartland, commands the world-island; who rules the world-island, commands the world.”

Raja Mohan also adds:

"Can India remain a passive bystander in this renewed struggle for Central and Eastern Europe? PM’s visit to Poland and Ukraine this week signals that India’s answer is a clear “no”. 

This is the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Poland since 1979, when Morarji Desai traveled to Warsaw; no Indian prime minister had visited Kyiv since Ukraine emerged from Russia’s womb after the end of erstwhile Soviet Union. 

It also comes as Kyiv changes the line of military contact with its current offensive into Russian territory that is entering its third week.

"Contrary to widespread expectations, Modi’s visit to Warsaw and Kyiv may be less about a new Indian peace initiative on Ukraine. Delhi can’t see this historic visit as a one-time event; for India this should be about setting the terms of a sustainable long-term engagement with Poland and Ukraine, and more broadly Central Europe," runs the piece.

For Ukraine, the peace offensive is about winning friends to beef its diplomatic position against Russia. 

Moscow and Kyiv are waiting for the US elections in November and jockeying to improve their military position on the ground before the next administration takes charge in Washington. 

The other powers, including China and India, may have a role in promoting peace, but only on the margins.  

Indian community in Poland estimated at around 25,000. This includes around 5,000 students. The government and people of Poland had offered valuable assistance during 'Operation Ganga' for the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine. 

More than 4,000 Indian students were evacuated via Poland in 2022.