AP Kyiv

President Zelenskyy met US Vice President JD Vance at the high-level Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday. Vance warned the US could hit Russia with economic and military “tools of leverage” if Putin doesn’t negotiate a peace deal in good faith. Meanwhile, a Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead hit the protective containment shell of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Kyiv region during the night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Radiation levels have not increased, Zelenskyy and the UN atomic agency said. Russian officials made no immediate comment, and it was not possible to independently confirm Ukraine's claim of Russian responsibility. The UN atomic agency did not attribute blame, saying only its team stationed at the site heard an explosion and were informed that a drone had struck the shell.

Zelenskyy said that the strike damaged the structure and started a fire, which has been put out. The strike came two days after US President Donald Trump said he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war, in a move that seemed to identify Putin as the only player that matters and looked set to sideline Zelenskyy, as well as European governments, in any peace talks.