U.S. President Donald Trump asked Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to halt strikes on Kyiv for a week "until February 1", the Kremlin said Friday, without mentioning when the request was made.

"I can say that President Trump did indeed make a personal request to President Putin to refrain from striking Kyiv for a week until February 1 in order to create favorable conditions for negotiations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that the success of diplomacy with the United States hinged on ending threating conduct after Washington's heavy military deployments in the Gulf.

"The success of any diplomatic initiative depends on the goodwill of the parties involved and the abandonment of belligerent and threatening actions in the region," said Pezeshkian in a call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to a statement by the Iranian presidency.

Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi landed in Istanbul on Friday for talks where Turkey was to offer help to mediate tensions with the United States, which has mooted a possible military strike.

Turkey Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged Washington to resist Israeli pressure to launch a military strike on Iran, warning it would cause "great harm" to a fragile region.

Teams negotiating an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine have so far failed to find a compromise on the sticking point of control over Ukraine's Donetsk region, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

"So far, we have been unable to find a compromise on the territorial issue, specifically regarding part of eastern Ukraine," Zelensky told journalists including AFP in remarks made public Friday.

Kurdish forces in Syria said they had reached a comprehensive agreement with Damascus that included their gradual integration into the state on Friday, following weeks of clashes between the two sides that led to a ceasefire.

According to a statement shared by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the agreement stipulates that government forces will enter the Kurdish-controlled cities of Hasakeh and Qamishli in the northeast, while three army brigades will be created out of SDF forces.

The Israeli military said on Friday it launched overnight strikes at "eight terrorists" in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, killing three of them, with a fragile ceasefire still in place in the Palestinian territory.

In a statement, the military said it had identified "eight terrorists" who emerged from underground and that the air force "struck and eliminated three of the terrorists".

Storm Kristin has claimed five lives and left nearly 450,000 clients without power on Thursday, more than 24 hours after it barreled through central and northern Portugal, authorities said.

The storm brought heavy downpours and strong winds, reaching speeds of up to 178 kmh (110 mph), on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Emirati counterpart Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Moscow on Thursday ahead of a second round of talks on the Ukraine war in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE has emerged as a key mediator in the nearly four-year war, brokering a number of prisoner exchanges between the two sides and most recently hosting talks between U.S., Russian and Ukrainian officials on a U.S.-drafted plan to end the fighting.

German prosecutors said Thursday they had seized assets worth around 35 million euros ($42 million) as part of a money-laundering probe targeting Lebanon's former central bank governor Riad Salameh and four other people.

Salameh headed Lebanon's central bank between 1993 and 2023 and has faced numerous accusations including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion in separate probes in Lebanon and abroad.

Iran's army on Thursday added 1,000 drones to its combat regiments as its chief vowed a "crushing response" to any attack, state television reported, after the United States moved a strike force into regional waters.

"In accordance with the threats we are facing, maintaining and enhancing strategic advantages for rapid combat and a crushing response to any invasion... is always on the army's agenda," Iran's army commander Amir Hatami said, cited by state television.