Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets CIA chief at Shannon Airport

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met US CIA chief John ​Ratcliffe at Shannon Airport in Ireland, two people ‌familiar with the matter said. Picture: AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met US CIA chief John ​Ratcliffe at Shannon Airport, two people ‌familiar with the matter said.

The meeting took place on Monday, one of the sources said. 

The other source said the ​pair spoke informally while their planes were being ​refuelled without specifying a date. 

Both sources, who ⁠requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, declined to disclose ​details of their conversation.

The meeting happened as Zelenskyy was ​traveling to New York to take part in the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. 

Ratcliffe was on his ​way back from meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah ​El-Sisi, one source said.

Ratcliffe's meeting with Zelenskyy comes less than a ‌month ⁠since the CIA chief travelled to Moscow to meet with Russia's top intelligence officials.

Neither Ratcliffe nor the CIA have publicly disclosed what was discussed in Moscow. 

One of ​the sources, ​who confirmed the Zelenskyy meeting to Reuters, said Ratcliffe had been in Moscow to discuss Ukraine, ​but they declined to elaborate.

The New York Times ​reported ⁠last month that Ratcliffe used his trip to share his bleak assessment of the state of the Russian war ⁠against ​Ukraine and to urge the ​Russians to cut a deal before their position weakens.

Overnight strikes 

Russia hit industrial sites in southeastern and central Ukraine overnight, killing three, while an attack cut power ​to thousands in the country's north, Ukrainian officials said ‌on Tuesday.

Moscow had simultaneously hit industrial enterprises in the cities of Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Pavlohrad in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, ​regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram.

Russia deployed missiles, ​drones and artillery at four districts of the ⁠region, killing three people and injuring another six in ​Dnipro, where Hanzha said a business and warehouse premises were ​badly damaged.

With fighting on the front line largely stalled more than four-and-a-half years into the war in Ukraine, Moscow and Kyiv increasingly have ​struck businesses, ports, logistics and other economic targets in ​recent months to try to damage the other's war effort.

The overnight Russian ‌barrage ⁠on Ukraine included an unspecified number of Oniks anti-ship and ballistic missiles, as well as four cruise missiles and 212 drones, Ukraine's air force said.

Businesses have also been damaged ​in Pavlohrad ​and Kryvyi Rih, ⁠Zelenskyy's hometown, Hanzha said.

A Russian attack on ​an energy facility in a neighbouring region ​left nearly ⁠100,000 consumers in the northern region of Chernihiv without power, a regional electricity distribution company said.