President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke Friday after an unprecedented wave of Russian drone and missile strikes on Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he discussed air defences in a conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, and agreed to work on increasing Kyiv's capability to "defend the sky" as Russian attacks escalate.

It was a very important and meaningful conversation between the presidents. All details — very soon,” Yermak wrote. Journalist Barak Ravid, citing sources familiar with the discussion, reported that the two leaders talked for about 40 minutes and discussed Russia’s intensified attacks on Ukraine and the supply of air defense systems.

Dutch and German intelligence agencies have gathered evidence of widespread Russian use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine, they said on Friday.

The deputy chief of the Russian Navy has been killed by Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region, Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of the Primorsky region in Russia’s far east, said Thursday.

A view shows a scene of an explosion in which, according to Russia's investigative committee, Russian general Igor Kirillov, in charge of nuclear protection forces, and his assistant were killed, in Moscow,

Maj. Gen. Mikhail Gudkov is one of the highest-ranking Russian commanders killed in the war. His death comes as the U.S. seeks to pause military aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskiy noted the hours-long assault, the largest in the 40-month-old war with more than 500 Russian drones and missiles deployed, had been "difficult, but a significant portion were still shot down".

After his call with Putin, Trump said he did not think the Russian leader wanted a ceasefire or an end to the three-year-old conflict.