French President Emmanuel Macron called leaders from key European Union nations and the United Kingdom to his ornate Elysee Palace on Monday for an emergency meeting on how to react to the U.S. diplomatic blitz on Ukraine, which left the once rock-solid partner as a potential political liability.

The first visit by top U.S. officials to Europe has left the impression that the Trump administration was ready to embrace the Kremlin while it cold-shouldered many of its age-old European allies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to the United Arab Emirates late Sunday as momentum grows for potential peace talks ending Moscow's war on the country.

U.S. President Donald Trump last week suggested he would be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia. The UAE, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, long has been floated as a possible site for peace talks as well given the large population of Russian and Ukrainian expatriates who have flooded the country since the war began, and due to the Emirates' work on prisoner exchanges in the past.

Top Russian officials will hold talks with U.S. counterparts on restoring ties, negotiating a peaceful settlement to the war in Ukraine and preparing a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, the Kremlin said Monday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov will fly to the Saudi capital later in the day to take part in the talks set for Tuesday.

A senior team from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will start talks in Saudi Arabia with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators on ending the Ukraine war, U.S. officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that a Russian drone had struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, adding that "radiation levels have not increased."

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday that U.S. sanctions were depriving his people of basic necessities, vowing his government would find a way to overcome the country's challenges.

"Why are you blocking the people's access to food, water, and medicine?" Pezeshkian said of the sanctions during a visit to the southern Bushehr province.

At least 20 people have been injured after a car drove into a crowd in the southern German city of Munich, the local fire service said Thursday.

"At the moment there are 20 injured, several of them seriously and some of them in a life-threatening condition," fire service spokesman Bernhard Peschke told AFP.

The Kremlin said Thursday that a face-to-face meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin needed to be organized "promptly", after the two presidents held a lengthy phone call the day before.

"There is definitely a need to organize such a meeting quite promptly, the heads of state have a lot to talk about," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Several NATO allies stressed on Thursday that Ukraine and Europe must not be cut out of any peace negotiations as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied that the United States is betraying the war-ravaged country.

European governments are reeling after the Trump administration signaled that it is planning face-to-face talks with Russia on ending the Ukraine war without involving them, insisted that Kyiv should not join NATO, and said that it's up to Europe to protect itself and Ukraine from whatever Russia might do next.

Armenia's parliament on Wednesday approved the first reading of a bill launching the country's bid to join the European Union as the ex-Soviet state moves away from its historical ally Russia.

"Expressing the will of the people of Armenia, having set the task to make Armenia a safe, secure, developed country, Armenia announces the start of the EU accession process," the bill read. It was approved by 63 votes for, while seven deputies voted against.