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The bombardment, which Ukrainian officials said mostly targeted Kyiv, came just a day before President Trump was expected to talk with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Russia targeted Ukraine on Sunday with one of its largest drone bombardments of the war, an apparent show of force only a day before President Trump is expected to talk with President Vladimir V. Putin as he pushes Russia to accept a cease-fire deal.

The drone barrage, in which an estimated 273 exploding drones and decoys were recorded in the skies across Ukraine, killed a woman and injured several other people.

It came hours after Mr. Trump said on Saturday that he would talk with Mr. Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who has agreed to an unconditional and immediate cease-fire, as well as the leaders of the NATO alliance. Mr. Putin has dragged his feet on agreeing to any temporary truce, adding preconditions that he knows Ukraine will not accept.

On Sunday, Mr. Zelensky met in Rome with Vice President JD Vance in their first encounter since a contentious White House meeting in February. The Sunday sit-down, which also included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, took place after they had attended Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural Mass.

The meeting appeared to signal that any animosity between Mr. Vance and Mr. Zelensky had dissipated. Mr. Trump also met with Mr. Zelensky in private at the Vatican before the funeral of Pope Francis on April 26 and later spoke warmly of the Ukrainian leader.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine shaking hands with Vice President JD Vance in a crowd of people.

Ukrainian officials have argued that Russia’s relentless bombardments, like the drone attacks on Sunday, are evidence that Mr. Putin does not want to find a path to peace.

Much of the latest drone barrage was directed at Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said, and antiaircraft fire lit up the skies over the capital as air defense teams scrambled to counter the assault. Over the course of some nine hours, the Ukrainian Air Force said, it intercepted 88 drones, while 128 others vanished from radars.

A 28-year-old woman in the capital region was killed and three more people were injured, including a 4-year-old child. While the impact of the barrage appears to have been limited, it was part of a pattern of escalating aerial bombardments, with the swarms growing larger the longer the war has raged.

It is now common for waves of more than 100 drones to attack towns and cities several times a week. On Feb. 23, the Ukrainian Air Force recorded 263 drones in the skies.

Ukrainian military intelligence warned earlier in the year that Russia’s goal was to be able to attack with swarms of more than 500 long-range strike drones on a regular basis.

At the same time, Russia continues to upgrade the weapons, outfitting some with jet engines and Starlink navigation systems. That allows them to fly higher and farther while carrying deadlier payloads, including thermobaric munitions.

The relentless drone assaults are intended, in part, to exhaust Ukraine’s air defenses so that larger bombardments that often feature cruise missiles and ballistic missiles have a greater chance of inflicting maximum carnage.

The pace of Russian assaults across the eastern front in Ukraine is increasing as the Kremlin sets the stage for large-scale offensive operations this summer, according to the Ukrainian military and Western officials.