KIEV (Reuters)-Russia launched on Sunday (18) its biggest drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of the war, destroying houses and killing at least one woman, a day before US President Donald Trump, discussing a proposal for ceasefire with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine’s intelligence service said it also believed Moscow intended to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile at the end of Sunday as an attempt to intimidate the West. There was no immediate response from Moscow to the prosecution.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, striving to restore ties with Washington after a disastrous White House visit in February, met with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Rome on Sunday, in parallel to Pope Leo’s inauguration.
Zelensky said the meeting was “good” and released photos of Ukrainian and American authorities sitting on a round table and smiling. The Ukrainian media said the meeting lasted 40 minutes.
“I reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to engage in real diplomacy and I stressed the importance of a total and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible,” said Zelensky.
Zelensky also met with Pope Leo after the inaugural mass of the new pontiff in the Vatican.
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Ukraine and Russia have held their first face-to-face conversations in more than three years on Friday, under Trump pressure to agree with a ceasefire in a war that he promised to end quickly.
The sides in conflict agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each, but did not reach an agreement on a truce, after Moscow presented conditions that a member of the Ukraine delegation called “non -beginners”.
