NEW YORK: The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has called India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to discuss the humanitarian situation in the war-torn country on the eve of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to New Delhi, even though US Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA) Daleep Singh, who is in charge of sanctions, is already in India.

On Thursday, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will arrive in India, joining Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, who co-sponsored a UN General Assembly resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine on which India abstained.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China visited India last week, and Germany's Foreign and Security Policy Advisor Jens Plotner visited New Delhi on Wednesday. Senior diplomats from both sides in the Ukraine issue have gathered to New Delhi to seek India's support for their positions.

India has remained neutral on seven UN resolutions concerning Ukraine, including one on which the US also abstained, despite New Delhi's implicit criticism of Russia's incursion by emphasising "the need to preserve the UN Charter, international law, and states' sovereignty and territorial integrity." During their chat on Wednesday, Blinken and Jaishankar discussed "regional issues, especially the growing humanitarian situation in Ukraine," according to State Department spokesman Ned Price.

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