In this photo provided by the Ukrainian emergency service, the firefighters extinguished the fire after the Russian drone attack in the kyiv region, Ukraine, Sunday, May 18, 2025.
AP / Ukrainian emergency service
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AP / Ukrainian emergency service
Kyiv, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met senior US officials and European leaders in Rome on Sunday, part of diplomatic efforts in relief before a telephone call for high challenges between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin by finishing the Ukraine war.
Zelenskyy spoke with US vice-president JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the American ambassador’s residence, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had spoken both to Zelenskyy and Rubio on the sidelines of the inauguration of the new pope.
Merz said he also agreed with the leaders of France and Great Britain “that we are going to speak again with the American president in preparation for this conversation”.
“My firm company is that Europeans and Americans are determined to work together, but now also focused on the objectives, to ensure that this terrible war ends soon,” Merz told journalists in Rome.
Trump said he was planning to speak by phone on Monday with Putin, and that he will then speak to Zelenskyy and the leaders of various NATO countries from the end of the war in Ukraine.
Intensified diplomacy has occurred while Russia has launched its greatest drone dam against Ukraine since the start of the large-scale invasion in 2022, after the first direct talks between Moscow and kyiv in the years did not give a cease-fire.
Putin has rejected Zelenskyy’s offer to meet face to face in Turkey after having proposed direct negotiations-but not at the presidential level-as an alternative to a 30-day cease-fire exhorted by Ukraine and its Western allies, including the United States
The talks in Istanbul broke up after less than two hours constantly, although the two parties agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, according to the chiefs of the two delegations. Ukraine Intelligence Head Kyrylo Budanov, said on Ukrainian television on Saturday that the exchange could occur next week.
Russia has drawn a total of 273 explosive drones and lures, the Ukraine air forces said on Sunday. Among these, 88 were intercepted and 128 others lost, having probably been stuck electronically. The attacks targeted the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions of the country.
Yuriy Ihnat, head of the Ukrainian Air Force communications department, told the Associated Press that the dam was the biggest drone attack since the start of the large -scale invasion.
The biggest attack on known drones in Russia was the day before the third anniversary of the war when Russia beat Ukraine with 267 drones.
Kyiv regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said that the 28 -year -old was killed in a drone attack on the region and that three other people, including a 4 -year -old child, were injured.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses had shot down seven Ukrainian drones overnight, and 18 others on Sunday morning.
