Russia has fired a record 728 drones at Ukraine, hours after US President Donald Trump pledged to send more defensive weapons to Kyiv and aimed unusually sharp criticism at Russia's president.
It was the latest in a series of escalating air assaults in recent weeks involving hundreds of drones in addition to ballistic missiles, straining Ukrainian air defences at a perilous moment in the war.
Kyiv's military downed almost all of the drones but some of the six hypersonic missiles launched by Russia caused unspecified damage, air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on Ukrainian television.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strike showed the need for "biting sanctions" on the sources of income Russia used to finance the war.
Ukraine's president was due to meet Mr Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg this week during a visit to Rome, a spokesperson said on Wednesday, local time.
It comes ahead of a conference on July 10-11 dedicated to Ukraine's recovery and long-term reconstruction following Russia's invasion.
Mr Zelenskyy met with Pope Leo on Wednesday as part of his visit, with the pontiff saying the Vatican was willing to host Russia-Ukraine talks.
The Ukrainian president later posted on X that holding talks with Russia in the Vatican would be "entirely possible", but said Moscow had rejected such proposals.
Kremlin 'calm' regarding Trump criticism
Mr Trump said on Tuesday he was considering supporting a bill that would impose steep sanctions on Russia, including 500 per cent tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports.
"We get a lot of bulls**t thrown at us by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," Mr Trump said at a cabinet meeting.
"He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless."
When asked by a reporter what action he would take against Mr Putin, Mr Trump said: "I wouldn't tell you. We want to have a little surprise."
The Kremlin said Moscow was "calm" regarding Mr Trump's criticism.
"We expect to continue our dialogue with Washington and our line on repairing the rather broken bilateral relations," spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Ukraine arrests two Chinese nationals
In a separate development, Ukraine said on Wednesday it had detained two Chinese nationals suspected of collecting data on its prized Neptune anti-ship missile.
The missile is a key part of Kyiv's growing domestic arms industry critical to its defence against Russia's invasion.
In a statement, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it had arrested a 24-year-old former student in Kyiv after the service passed him technical documents related to Neptune production.
It later detained his father, who the SBU alleged had aimed to pass the documents to Chinese special services.
The agency added that he lived in China but visited Ukraine to "personally coordinate" his son's work.
The Chinese Embassy in Kyiv did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Ukrainian official told Reuters the two men were the first Chinese spies arrested since Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion.
Reuters
