'Grateful': Ukraine's Zelensky meets S Jaishankar, hails India's peace push in Ukraine war

Zelensky said that he discussed “important issues” and the ongoing war with Russia with Jaishankar and highlighted India's clear position - “peace is needed”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar and thanked India for its support to end the “unjust war” that Russia started against Ukraine.

Zelensky said that Ukraine is grateful to India for its desire to end the "unjust war—the war of Russia against Ukraine". (X/@ZelenskyyUa)

Zelensky said that he discussed “important issues” with Jaishankar and also highlighted India's clear position - “peace is needed”.

“Held a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. We discussed important issues. We are grateful to India for its desire to end this unjust war—the war of Russia against Ukraine. This time must certainly not be a time of war. Peace is needed. This is India's clear position,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X and shared glimpse from their meeting.

India has for long pushed for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine and maintain peace in the region.

In the post, Zelensky also highlighted that even during Jaishankar's visit, Russia launched ‘Shaheds’ drones, which he said were not created without Iran's assistance. However, he added, that the delegation was safe due to Ukraine's combat aviation.

After India's clear position, the Ukrainian President said he hopes "other strong states in the world will also take a clear position that this war needs to end and a reliable peace is required."

Detailing what the two leaders discussed, Zelensky said that they talked about Black Sea and threat to civilian shipping there.

“We agree that it is absolutely unacceptable to block the supply of food to those regions where it is highly sensitive and people depend on the relevant sea routes. Russian actions aimed at blocking our ports, our grain corridor, and our supplies are indeed injecting major disruption into global relations,” he wrote.

Jaishankar said that the conversation between them “centered on approaches to end the ongoing conflict”.

'India ready to help end war'

While interacting with reporters in Kyiv earlier in the day alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Jaishankar said, “If India can be of any help, in any manner, we are there”.

EAM Jaishankar is currently on a visit to Ukraine. During this, the ministry of external affairs said he will hold bilateral consultations with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha and Polish Deputy Prime Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.