Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, met the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, at Shannon Airport in Ireland, according to Reuters, which cited two people familiar with the matter.

One source said the meeting took place on Monday; the other said the two spoke while their planes were being refuelled, without specifying a date. Neither disclosed what was discussed, and neither the Ukrainian government nor the US agency confirmed the meeting, which comes on the eve of the high-level week of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.