U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy to Ukraine and Russia said on Friday that he had held "extensive and positive discussions" with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky about the three-year war with Russia and praised the Ukrainian leader as an "embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war."

Retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg — who traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday and whose planned news conference with Zelensky on Thursday was changed at the last minute to a simple photo opportunity — struck a positive tone after what he said on the social platform X was "a long and intense day" of talks with Ukraine's senior leadership.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he intends to tell Donald Trump that it's in the joint interest of Americans and Europeans not to "be weak" in the face of Russia's Vladimir Putin amid U.S.-led negotiations to end the almost three-year war in Ukraine.

Macron is to travel to Washington to meet with Trump on Monday, the White House said.

Days before the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainians are as somber and tense as they were right before Moscow launched the war. Only now, they aren't just worried about their longtime enemy.

Ukraine's stunning new threat comes from its once staunchest ally, the United States, whose support appears to be fading as President Donald Trump echoes the narrative of Russian President Vladimir Putin while pledging to stop the fighting between the two countries.

As the U.S. and Russia push ahead – so far without Ukraine at the table – on talks to end the war, political and military leaders in Europe are fleshing out details of a plan for European forces to help ensure Moscow does not attack again.

After months of quiet discussions, the proposal has become increasingly public. It will likely be on the agenda when British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, two major backers of the idea, visit Washington on separate days next week for talks with President Donald Trump.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he saw no appetite for peace from Russia in Ukraine after listening to a speech by Russia's top diplomat at a tense Group of 20 meeting in South Africa on Thursday.

Lammy was speaking to reporters after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed other senior diplomats in a closed-door session at the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg.

President Donald Trump's restrictions on foreign aid and targeting of a key agency funding programs around the world may be offering an opening to America's biggest adversary — China.

From the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development to quitting international groups, Trump's drastic "America First" moves have raised concerns among some lawmakers and experts about whether the U.S. is ceding global influence to its rivals, especially at a time when Washington is fretting over Beijing's growing clout at the cost to American interests.

German voters go to the polls Sunday to elect a new parliament that will determine how the country is run for the next four years.

Europe's biggest economy is the 27-nation European Union's most populous nation and a leading member of NATO, as well as the second-biggest weapons supplier to Ukraine, after the United States, following Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Germany's next government will be central to Europe's response to an assertive new U.S. administration.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in South Africa on Thursday for a two-day meeting of the Group of 20 nations, where top European diplomats are expected to reinforce their support for Ukraine and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is a high-profile absentee.

Lavrov traveled to Johannesburg for the G20 foreign ministers' meeting two days after landmark bilateral talks between the United States and Russia over ending the war in Ukraine. Those talks sidelined the U.S.'s European allies and Ukraine, who were not involved.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the leading rich and developing nations that starts on Thursday after criticizing host South Africa's policies as anti-American.

Instead, Rubio was headed back to the United States on Wednesday from his first trip to the Middle East as America's chief diplomat, and after leading a U.S. delegation in talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia over the war in Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he "better move fast" to negotiate an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine or risk not having a nation to lead.