Indian leader Narendra Modi is set to visit wartime Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, the first trip by an Indian prime minister to Ukraine since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The visit comes at a volatile juncture in the war in Ukraine, with Ukrainian forces still in Russia's western Kursk region following their incursion on Aug. 6 and Russian troops grinding out slow but steady advances in Ukraine's east.

The visit, which follows a trip by Modi to Moscow in July, is important for Western-backed Kyiv, which has been trying to nurture diplomatic relations in the Global South in its efforts to secure a fair settlement to end the war.