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.

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.