Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance on Sunday in Rome – their first encounter since a tense White House exchange in February – as Russia launched what Kyiv called a “record” drone attack on the capital.
The meeting came two days after the first direct talks between Ukraine and Russia in more than three years, held Friday in Türkiye. While the two sides agreed to a prisoner swap, there was no breakthrough on a cease-fire.
“We talked about the Istanbul talks, where the Russians showed up with a low-level delegation lacking any real authority,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram after the meeting, which took place at the U.S. ambassador’s residence.
Earlier in the day, both leaders attended the inaugural Mass of Pope Leo at the Vatican.
“We also touched on the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, the situation on the battlefield and the future exchange of prisoners,” Zelenskyy added.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Zelenskyy’s aide, Andriy Yermak, also attended the meeting.
In a brief statement, the White House said “the leaders discussed their shared goal of ending the bloodshed in Ukraine and provided updates on the current state of negotiations for a cease-fire and lasting peace.”
A photo accompanying the statement showed Vance and Zelenskyy smiling broadly – a sharp contrast to their bitter Oval Office clash in February.
Vance also met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in separate talks that the White House later described as “constructive.”
A senior Ukrainian official from the president’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Zelenskyy and Vance discussed preparations for Monday’s phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump wrote Saturday on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he would speak with Putin on Monday to stop the “BLOODBATH” in Ukraine.
Leaders of Britain, Germany and France also want to speak with Trump ahead of that call with Putin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.
The U.S. president has ramped up pressure on Ukraine and so far has refrained from criticizing Putin, who launched the largest conflict in Europe since World War II.
The Ukrainian official said Sunday’s meeting in Rome went “better” than the Oval Office confrontation three months ago.
At that time, Vance publicly accused Zelenskyy of being “disrespectful” toward Trump, who had told the Ukrainian leader he should be more grateful and had “no cards” to play in negotiations with Russia.
Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, were also granted an audience with Pope Leo following his inauguration.
“We thank the Vatican for its willingness to become a platform for direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia,” Zelenskyy said after meeting the pontiff.
“The martyred Ukraine is waiting for negotiations for a just and lasting peace to finally happen,” Pope Leo XIV said during his inaugural address.
Ukraine on Sunday said Russia had launched a record number of drones overnight, targeting several regions including the capital, Kyiv, where a woman was killed.
Another person – a man – was killed in the southeastern Kherson region, where a railway station, homes and cars were also hit.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 273 Shahed attack drones and other types of imitator drones. Of those, 88 were destroyed and 128 went off course “without negative consequences,” it said.
Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko called it a “record” attack. “Russia has a clear goal – to continue killing civilians,” she said.
Russia’s military said it had intercepted 25 Ukrainian drones overnight and into Sunday morning. Moscow also claimed to have captured Bahatyr, a village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as it steps up its offensive despite the Istanbul peace talks.
In an interview with Russian state television published Sunday, Putin said Moscow’s aim was to “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis, create the conditions for a lasting peace and guarantee Russia’s security,” without elaborating.
Russia’s references to the “root causes” of the war typically cite grievances with Kyiv and the West, used to justify its February 2022 invasion.
Those include promises to “de-Nazify” and demilitarize Ukraine, protect Russian speakers in the country’s east, push back against NATO expansion, and stop Ukraine’s westward drift.
Kyiv and the West say the war is nothing more than an imperial-style land grab.
Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia launched its invasion, and millions have been forced to flee their homes.
Friday’s talks in Türkiye led to an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners from each side.
