President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed “maximum protection" for Ukraine’s skies on Thursday during a call as the country continues to come under aerial bombardment by Russia with little progress toward peace talks in recent weeks.

Zelensky said he and the president had a “very detailed” conversation after Thursday’s meeting of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” in Paris and that Kyiv proposed a new format for protecting its skies for Washington to consider. European leaders were also on the call.

“First and foremost, we talked about how to push the situation toward real peace. We discussed different options, and the most important is pressure, using strong measures, particularly economic ones, to force an end to the war,” Zelensky said in a Thursday post on social platform X. “The key to peace is depriving Russia’s war machine of money, depriving it of resources.”

“We also spoke about maximum protection for Ukraine’s skies. Until peace comes, Ukrainians must not be at the mercy of constant Russian attacks,” the Ukrainian leader added. “Russian missiles........

© The Hill