Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has opened a conference in Italy on rebuilding his war-battered country, as it comes under relentless ground and air attacks from Russia.

The Rome gathering will see the Ukrainian leader hold a flurry of meetings on Thursday, including a video call with leaders from about 30 countries in the so-called “coalition of the willing“, as he seeks to secure financing to bolster his country’s air defence systems, which were this week strained by Russia’s largest missile and drone attack in more than three years of war.

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The United Kingdom and France are spearheading talks among the coalition on how to support a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, including potentially deploying peacekeeping forces to police any future peace agreement with Russia. This week, the office of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the call would cover “stepping up support for Ukraine and further increasing pressure on Russia”.

The success of the coalition’s operation hinges on United States backup with airpower or other military assistance, but the administration of President Donald Trump has made no public commitment to provide support.

Amid growing uncertainty about US commitment to Kyiv’s defence, despite Trump’s recent U-turn on pausing critical weapons deliveries, Zelenskyy had a “substantive” meeting with Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, on Wednesday. He will also talk with US officials on Thursday with the aim of adopting “the next package of US sanctions in the near future”, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

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“Sanctions must be imposed faster, and pressure on Russia must be strong enough that they truly feel the consequences of their terror,” said Zelenskyy on social media.

The conference, the fourth of its kind, hosted on this occasion by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, will ostensibly be looking to the future, pairing international investors with Ukrainian counterparts to hammer out joint partnerships that will rebuild and prime the country for European Union membership.

Italian organisers said 100 official delegations were attending, along with 40 international organisations and development banks and 2,000 businesses, with the participation of civil society and local Ukrainian governments.

While in Rome before the conference, Zelenskyy met Pope Leo on Wednesday, marking the second in-person encounter between the two leaders since the pontiff was elected as head of the global Roman Catholic Church in May.

According to a Vatican statement, the pair “discussed the ongoing conflict and the urgent need for a just and lasting peace”. Both sides raised again the possibility of the Vatican hosting peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv – an idea dismissed by Russia in May.

Ten-hour raid

As the conference got under way, Zelenskyy said Russia launched 18 missiles and about 400 drones during an overnight attack on Ukraine that primarily targeted the capital.

Officials reported two deaths, 13 injured and fires in apartment and non-residential buildings.

“The enemy’s massive night attack on Kyiv region lasted for almost 10 hours,” Mykola Kalashnyk, the Kyiv region’s military administration chief, wrote on Telegram.

Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Challands said residents of Kyiv had to spend another night in bomb shelters.

“Another night hunched over mobile phones in the dark for updates on how many drones are in your area, another night listening for that change in pitch that a Shahed [drone] engine makes when it goes into its terminal descent, and another night listening to the boom of detonations,” he added.

The attack came a day after Russia’s record barrage of 728 drones and 13 missiles, which killed at least one person. It followed Trump’s pledge earlier this week to send more defensive weapons to Kyiv.

A Russian air raid also killed three people and injured one in the front-line town of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s east, national emergency service officials said.

Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the Russian leader was throwing a lot of “bullsh*t” at US efforts to end the war that started with Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.

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Russia’s air defence units destroyed 14 Ukrainian drones overnight, RIA state news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Russian Ministry of Defence.

A five-year-old boy died of burns sustained in a Ukrainian drone attack on a beach in the Russian city of Kursk on Wednesday, regional Governor Alexander Khinshtein said on Telegram, raising the death toll in the attack to four, including a member of Russia’s National Guard.