Russia announced on Monday that it had thwarted attacks by Ukraine on a city near the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, while Kiev accused Berlin of wasting time delivering Tors missiles.
RIA news agency quoted the chief executive of Russia's state nuclear power company Rosatom as saying that Ukraine launched a drone attack on Monday on the city of Enerhodar near the Zaporizhia power plant.
Lekachev added that all six drones used in the attack on the city were shot down. Ukraine has not yet commented on the news.
For his part, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged on Monday Berlin to provide his country with long-range Torres missiles, during a surprise visit by his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock to Kiev.
Kuleba stressed that Germany should speed up a decision on the delivery of the missiles.
Wasting time
Speaking at a joint news conference with Baerbock, he said: "I don't understand why we are wasting time. We could have achieved more and saved the lives of more Ukrainian soldiers and civilians if we had Tors (missiles)."
Ukrainian forces launched a counteroffensive against Russian positions in June, but progress has been slow.
Kiev has appealed to its Western allies to provide it with fighter jets and missiles that can hit deeper targets within Russian-controlled territory.
"We respect your actions, but from everything we know about Torres, there is no objective justification for not taking the step," Kuleba told his German counterpart, referring to Berlin's decision on arms delivery.
Germany is a major political and military backer of Ukraine and has previously delivered Leopard 2 armored vehicles and air defense systems.
Regarding Torres, Baerbock said, "As with our previous arms deliveries, all these issues must be resolved."
In her fourth visit since the Russian invasion in February, Baerbock said Germany "will spare no effort to support Ukraine".
Both the United Kingdom and France have supplied Ukraine with their long-range Storm Shadow and Scallp missiles, which Kiev stresses are important for disrupting Russian supply lines.
Peace endeavours
Meanwhile, Italian newspapers said the Pope's peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zubi, will travel to Beijing on Tuesday in a diplomatic effort to end the war in Ukraine.
La Repubblica reported that Cardinal Zubi was likely to meet "senior leaders in China," including Premier Li Qiang, on Wednesday.
The pope's envoy already visited Kiev and Moscow in June and later traveled to Washington as part of a Vatican-led effort to reach a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.