Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said Russia launched a drone attack on Kyiv while External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was in the Ukrainian capital, claiming that the city was targeted by jet-powered Shahed drones developed with Iran’s help.Zelenskyy said Jaishankar and the Indian delegation remained safe during the attack, crediting Ukrainian combat aviation with intercepting most of the drones.“I met with India’s Minister of External Affairs @DrSJaishankar. We discussed important issues,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X, expressing gratitude to India for its commitment to efforts aimed at ending what he described as Russia’s “unjust war” against Ukraine.“Today, while the Minister was here with us in Kyiv, Russia once again launched jet-powered ‘Shaheds,’ which were developed not without Iran’s help,” he said.Zelenskyy said Ukrainian fighter jets had shot down most of the drones, ensuring the safety of the visiting Indian delegation.The alleged Russian attack came as Jaishankar was in Kyiv to hold talks with the Ukrainian leadership. He held talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and later met Zelenskyy, conveying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s greetings and good wishes.Zelenskyy said India’s position that “this certainly must not be a time of war” was important, adding that peace was needed. He called on other major powers to take a clear position that the war must end and that a reliable peace must be achieved.Jaishankar, during his talks in Kyiv, reiterated India’s long-standing position that the conflict cannot be resolved on the battlefield.“India has consistently maintained that this is not an era of war, and that solutions will not emerge from the battlefield,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Modi’s recent call for “endless war” to give way to the “end of war”.Jaishankar also made it clear that India was ready to contribute to efforts to end the conflict.“Understandably, it is for the parties involved to find a way. But, if India can be of any help in any manner, we are ready,” he said, describing this as the core of his discussion with Sybiha.The Black Sea and threats to civilian shipping also figured prominently in the discussions between Zelenskyy and Jaishankar.Zelenskyy said the two sides agreed that blocking food supplies to regions dependent on maritime routes was unacceptable. He accused Russia of seeking to block Ukrainian ports, the food corridor and supplies, warning that such actions were causing major disruption to global relations.“We must all work together to guarantee security,” he said.Jaishankar, too, raised the issue of commercial shipping, pointing out that Indian seafarers working aboard ships of several flags had been among the casualties of the conflict.Disruptions to shipping, he said, were also affecting countries across the Global South by contributing to shortages and uncertainty involving fuel, fertilisers and food.