Anjani Kumar, 2003-batch IFS officer, named India’s next Ambassador to Ukraine

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

Kumar’s diplomatic career began in August 2005 as third secretary at the Embassy of India in Madrid. He later moved to Latin America, serving as second secretary at the Embassy of India in Mexico City before a posting in Caracas, Venezuela, where he was promoted to first secretary and served until March 2014.

He returned to the ministry’s Delhi headquarters as deputy secretary between 2014 and 2015, followed by a role as director. He then served as counsellor at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York before taking up his current post as joint secretary at headquarters.

According to his social media profile, Kumar has previously served as India’s ambassador to Mali and Mauritania. The appointment comes at a sensitive time for India’s diplomatic engagement with Ukraine, which remains in the midst of its prolonged conflict with Russia. His multilateral experience at the UN and earlier bilateral postings across Europe, Latin America and Africa are expected to shape his approach to the new assignment.