Rome, Italy - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US Vice President JD Vance on Sunday, for the first time since the heated debate in the White House in February, as Russia launched a "record" drone barrage on Kyiv.

The meeting came two days after the first direct talks between Ukraine and Russia in over three years in Turkey, where a prisoner exchange was agreed, but no progress was made on securing a ceasefire.

"We discussed the talks in Istanbul, where the Russians sent a low-level delegation with no decision-making powers," Zelensky wrote on Telegram following the meeting with Vance at the US ambassador's residence in Rome after the two of them attended Pope Leo's inaugural mass in the Vatican.

"We also touched on the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defence cooperation, the situation on the battlefield and the future exchange of prisoners," Zelensky added.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Zelensky's aide Andriy Yermak were also present at the meeting, where the two sides discussed steps towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

Vance also held a meeting with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy's Prime Minister Georgia Meloni.

A senior Ukrainian official from the president's office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Zelensky and Vance also discussed preparations for Monday's highly-anticipated telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The official said that the Rome encounter went "better" than the infamous Oval Office fight three months ago, when Vance publicly accused Zelensky of being "disrespectful" towards Trump, who told the Ukrainian leader he should be more "thankful" and that he had no "cards" to play in negotiations with Russia

Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska were earlier granted an audience with Leo following his inauguration.

"We thank the Vatican for its willingness to become a platform for direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia," Ukraine's leader said after meeting the pontiff.