Camille Naredo

This handout photograph taken and released by Ukrainian Presidential press-service on May 18, 2025 shows the President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vice President of the United States JD Vance talking during their meeting in Rome. Handout/Ukrainian Presidential press-service via AFP

This handout photograph taken and released by Ukrainian Presidential press-service on May 18, 2025 shows the President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vice President of the United States JD Vance talking during their meeting in Rome. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS-SERVICE/ BYLINE " -  HANDOUT - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Article (news)

USA-UKRAINE

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1747587153677AFP__20250518__477Q9G2__v2__HighRes__TopshotItalyUsUkrainePolitics.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="This handout photograph taken and released by Ukrainian Presidential press-service on May 18, 2025 shows the President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vice President of the United States JD Vance talking during their meeting in Rome. Handout/Ukrainian Presidential press-service via AFP"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">This handout photograph taken and released by Ukrainian Presidential press-service on May 18, 2025 shows the President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vice President of the United States JD Vance talking during their meeting in Rome. <em>Handout/Ukrainian Presidential press-service via AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>ROME, Italy -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US Vice President JD Vance on Sunday, for the first time since the disastrous shouting match in the White House in February, as Russia launched a &quot;record&quot; drone barrage on Kyiv, after talks with Moscow which did not yield a ceasefire.</p><p>&quot;We discussed the talks in Istanbul, where the Russians sent a low-level delegation with no decision-making powers,&quot; Zelensky wrote on Telegram following the meeting with Vance.</p><p>That took place at the US ambassador&#x27;s residence in Rome -- the Villa Taverna -- after the two of them attended Pope Leo&#x27;s inaugural mass in the Vatican.</p><p>&quot;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,&quot; Zelensky added.</p><p>US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Zelensky&#x27;s aide Andriy Yermak were also present at the meeting, where the two sides discussed steps towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.</p><p>A senior Ukrainian official from the president&#x27;s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Zelensky and Vance also discussed preparations for Monday&#x27;s telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.</p><p>The official said that the encounter went &quot;better&quot; than the Oval Office row three months ago, when Vance publicly accused Zelensky of being &quot;disrespectful&quot; towards Trump, who fuelled the row by telling the Ukrainian leader he should be more &quot;thankful&quot; and that he had no &quot;cards&quot; to play in negotiations with Russia</p><p>Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska were earlier granted an audience with Leo following his inauguration.</p><p>&quot;We thank the Vatican for its willingness to become a platform for direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia,&quot; Ukraine&#x27;s leader said after meeting the pontiff.</p><p>&quot;The martyred Ukraine is waiting for negotiations for a just and lasting peace to finally happen,&quot; Leo XIV said during his inauguration.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/5/18/pope-to-meet-zelensky-recalls-martyred-ukraine-1943">READ: Pope meets Zelensky, recalls &#x27;martyred Ukraine&#x27;</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Record&#x27; drone barrage -</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nrac_QqRkzg?autoplay=1&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>Ukraine on Sunday said that Russia had launched a record number of drones at the country overnight, targeting various regions, including that of the capital Kyiv, where a woman was killed. Another man was killed in the southeastern Kherson region.</p><p>The attacks came only two days after the first direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years, which failed to produce a truce.</p><p>Putin said in an interview released on Sunday that his focus was on eradicating what he called the root causes of the Ukraine conflict and guaranteeing Russia&#x27;s security.</p><p>The Ukrainian air force said that Russia had launched &quot;273 Shahed attack drones and various types of imitator drones&quot;, of which 88 were destroyed and 128 more went astray &quot;without negative consequences&quot;.</p><p>Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said it was a &quot;record&quot; number of drones. &quot;Russia has a clear goal -- to continue killing civilians,&quot; she said.</p><p>The Russian military said it had intercepted 25 Ukrainian drones overnight and on Sunday morning. Moscow also claimed it had captured Bahatyr, another village in eastern Ukraine&#x27;s Donetsk region, as it intensifies the war effort despite the Istanbul peace talks.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/5/15/ukraine-russia-to-hold-first-direct-talks-since-2022-1038">READ: Ukraine, Russia to hold first direct talks since 2022</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/5/11/trump-urges-ukraine-to-accept-talks-with-russia-0325">READ: Trump urges Ukraine to accept talks with Russia</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Root causes&#x27; -</strong></div><p>In his interview with Russian state TV, Putin said Moscow&#x27;s aim was to &quot;eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis, create the conditions for a lasting peace and guarantee Russia&#x27;s security&quot;, without elaborating further.</p><p>Russia&#x27;s references to the &quot;root causes&quot; of the conflict typically refer to alleged grievances with Kyiv and the West that Moscow has put forward as justification for launching the invasion in February 2022.</p><p>They include pledges to &quot;de-Nazify&quot; and demilitarize Ukraine, protect Russian speakers in the country&#x27;s east, push back against NATO expansion and stop Ukraine&#x27;s westward geopolitical drift.</p><p>Kyiv and the West say that Russia&#x27;s invasion is nothing more than an imperial-style land grab.</p><p>Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia started the war, with millions forced to flee their homes.</p><p>Friday&#x27;s talks in Turkey led to an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners each.</p><p>Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday that he would speak by phone with Putin on Monday in order to stop the &quot;BLOODBATH&quot; in Ukraine.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US Vice President JD Vance on Sunday, for the first time since the disastrous shouting match in the White House in February.</p>

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US Vice President JD Vance on Sunday, for the first time since the disastrous shouting match in the White House in February.

Zelensky meets Vance as Russian drones pound Ukraine

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Zelensky meets Vance as Russian drones pound Ukraine

Agence France-Presse

Published May 19, 2025 01:21 AM PHT

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