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.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday he had urged Kyiv's Western allies to give "a clear position" on security guarantees including about a potential foreign troop contingent on Ukrainian soil with a US backstop.
At least 10 people were killed in Missouri as a series of tornadoes hit the US Midwest and Southeast overnight, raking a path of destruction that was still being assessed early on Saturday, police said.
At least nine Palestinians were killed, including two local journalists, and others wounded on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza's northern Beit Lahiya town, the health ministry said, as Hamas' leaders hold Gaza ceasefire talks with mediators in Cairo.
The Trump administration is considering issuing sweeping travel restrictions for the citizens of 41 countries as part of a new ban, according to sources familiar with the matter and an internal memo seen by Reuters.