Russian President Vladimir Putin described Monday's talks with French leader Emmanuel Macron in the Kremlin as useful, substantive and business-like, and said that some of his ideas could form a basis for further joint steps.
The French President travelled to Moscow for talks amid an East-West standoff over a Russian military buildup near Ukraine and a Kremlin campaign for security "guarantees" from Washington that would include a halt to NATO expansion.
In a joint news conference after the talks, Putin said that a number of Macron's ideas concerning security were realistic and that the two would talk again once Macron had travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukraine's leadership.
"A number of his ideas, proposals, which are probably still too early to talk about, I think it is quite possible to make the basis of our further joint steps," he said.
"We have agreed that after his trip to the Ukrainian capital we will call each other again and exchange views on this matter."
Russia has built up more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine, stirring fears that Moscow may be planning to invade. Russia has dismissed those fears.
Israel is poised to send troops into Rafah, the Gazan city it sees as the last bastion of Hamas, Israeli media reported on Wednesday, saying preparations were under way to evacuate war-displaced Palestinian civilians who have been sheltering there.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, a senior figure in the country's ruling party, met with Donald Trump on Tuesday, becoming the latest US ally seeking to establish ties with the Republican presidential candidate.
Russian missiles damaged residential buildings and injured six people in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, early on Wednesday, Governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.
Five migrants died in an attempt to cross the English Channel from France to Britain in an overcrowded small boat on Tuesday, hours after Britain passed a bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda in a move to deter the dangerous journeys.
Israel bombarded northern Gaza overnight in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, causing panic amongst residents and flattening neighbourhoods in an area from which the Israeli army had previously down its troops, residents said on Tuesday.