Tension between the United States and Ukraine, laid bare in the Oval Office meeting of Trump and Zelensky, is seen in Moscow as a “gift.”

Diplomats from Russia and the United States will meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss the operation of their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer flies to Washington on a trip aimed at persuading U.S. President Donald Trump to maintain military support for Ukraine. Ukraine and its European allies have been scrambling to respond after the Trump administration engaged directly with Moscow to quickly end the war in Ukraine.

The United States sided with Russia twice Monday at the United Nations, as they sought to avoid any condemnation of Moscow's invasion of its neighbor three years ago.

Influential Russian parliamentarians dismissed a summit of European leaders in London on Sunday, saying it had produced no plan to settle the war in Ukraine.

An influential Russian parliamentarian dismissed a summit of European leaders in London on Sunday for producing no plan to settle the war in Ukraine and said Kyiv's only hope for the future was an improvement in ties between Moscow and Washington.

Preparations are underway for a face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin, Russia's deputy foreign minister said Saturday, marking a dramatic shift away from Western isolation of Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

The U.S. Secretary of State's comments came after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the pair were discussing the possibility of an end to the war in Ukraine - without representatives from Kyiv present.

The negotiations in Saudi Arabia, which exclude Ukrainian officials, mark a pivotal step by the Trump Administration to reverse U.S. policy on isolating Russia.

With U.S. President Donald Trump's recent overtures toward Russia, on the streets of Moscow, many welcome what they see as a thaw in relations with Washington, and what some hope is the beginning of the end of their country's isolation from the West.

Moscow and Washington have agreed on joint measures aimed at ensuring the uninterrupted financing of diplomatic missions in both countries, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.Russian and US delegations held talks in Istanbul,