Ukraine’s intelligence service claimed it also believed Moscow intended to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile later on Sunday as an attempt to intimidate the West.
There was no immediate response from Moscow to the accusation.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, straining to restore ties with Washington after a disastrous February White House visit, met Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Rome on Sunday on the sidelines of Pope Leo’s inauguration.
Zelenskiy said the meeting was good: “I reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible.
The Ukrainian leader also met Pope Leo following the new pontiff’s inaugural Mass at the Vatican.
Ukraine and Russia held their first face-to-face talks in more than three years on Friday, under pressure from Trump to agree to a ceasefire in a war he has pledged to bring to a quick end. The warring sides agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners each but failed to agree to a truce, after Moscow presented conditions that a member of Ukraine’s delegation called “non-starters”.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland planned to speak to Trump before the US and Russian presidents speak on Monday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday.
The four European leaders jointly visited Kyiv last week where they called for new sanctions on Russia unless Moscow accepts a ceasefire, and Zelenskiy has said they joined him in phoning Trump on Friday after the Russia-Ukraine talks.
After a night of air alerts, Ukraine’s air force said that as of 8 am on Sunday Russia had launched 273 drones at Ukrainian cities, more than the previous record Moscow had set in February on the war’s third anniversary. (Reuters)
