Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is visiting Rome where he will meet political leaders and have an audience with Pope Francis.
Zelensky will meet Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, President Sergio Mattarella and travel to the Vatican later.
Report says a huge security operation has been launched, with over 1,000 police deployed and a no-fly zone over Rome.
Pope Francis has often said that the Vatican stands ready to act as a mediator in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Saturday will be the first time President Zelensky and Pope Francis have met since Russia invaded Ukraine. The pair did meet in 2020.
The visit comes after Russia carried out a new wave of air strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight.
Report says three people were injured in the southern city of Mykolaiv and in the western city of Khmelnytsky. Critical infrastructure as well as homes and government buildings were also hit.
Explosions were reported on Friday in the Russian-occupied city of Luhansk, about 90km behind the front line in eastern Ukraine. Russian-backed separatist forces in the region accused Kyiv of using Storm Shadow missiles, which the UK said it had supplied Ukraine with earlier this week.
There were also more reports of blasts in Luhansk on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces say they have made progress near the eastern city of Bakhmut.
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