India’s next Ukraine envoy Anjani Kumar brings UN, Latin America experience to Kyiv posting

India’s Ministry of External Affairs announced on Wednesday that Anjani Kumar, an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 2003 batch, has been appointed as the country’s next Ambassador to Ukraine. He currently serves as Joint Secretary at the ministry’s headquarters and is expected to take up the Kyiv posting shortly.

Kumar’s career has spanned four continents. He began as third secretary at the Embassy of India in Madrid in August 2005, before moving to Latin America as second secretary at the Embassy of India in Mexico City and later first secretary in Caracas, Venezuela, a posting he held until March 2014. He returned to Delhi as deputy secretary from 2014 to 2015, served as director, and later as counsellor at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York.

His multilateral experience at the UN, combined with earlier bilateral postings across Europe, Latin America and Africa, is expected to inform his approach to the Ukraine assignment as India continues to navigate ties with both Kyiv and Moscow amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.

According to his social media profile, Kumar has previously served as India’s ambassador to Mali and Mauritania.