The Kremlin on Tuesday praised Washington's "balanced position" after the U.S. voted with Russia at the United Nations to avoid condemnation of Moscow's campaign against Ukraine.

"The U.S. is taking a much more balanced position which is really aimed at trying to resolve the Ukraine conflict. We welcome this," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

More than a dozen Western leaders attended events in Ukraine on Monday marking the third anniversary of the country's war with Russia, many pledging more military aid in a conspicuous show of support for Kyiv as uncertainty deepened over the commitment of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to helping it fend off Russia's invasion.

The fourth year of fighting could be pivotal, as Trump uses his return to office last month to press for a peace deal. But Ukrainian and European officials have been rattled by his cordial approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his tough words for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Friedrich Merz, on course to become post-World War II Germany's 10th chancellor after the country's election, has vowed to prioritize European unity and the continent's security as it grapples with the new Trump administration and Russia's war on Ukraine.

Pulling a divided Europe together won't be easy when many leaders are too preoccupied by domestic issues to devote much energy to answers to the continent's most pressing problems. But expectations will be high for Merz to help fill a leadership vacuum and craft a united response to recent U.S. policy shifts that have strained the transatlantic alliance.

President Donald Trump welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House for talks on Monday at a moment of deep uncertainty about the future of transatlantic relations, with Trump transforming American foreign policy and effectively tuning out European leadership as he looks to quickly end Russia's war in Ukraine.

The two leaders were starting their day by taking part in a virtual meeting with fellow leaders of the Group of Seven economies to discuss the war.

Russia is ready for negotiations on the Ukraine war but will only stop fighting when a peace settlement "suits" Moscow, its foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday, the third anniversary of Russia's invasion.

"We will stop hostilities only when these negotiations produce a firm and sustainable result that suits the Russian Federation," Lavrov said in a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.

The United States has proposed a draft U.N. resolution that stops far short of a competing European-backed statement demanding an immediate withdrawal of all of Moscow's forces from Ukraine.

Both are timed to the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which falls on Monday, when the U.N. General Assembly will vote on the nonbinding resolutions.

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.