Ambassadors from the UK, France and Germany have attended a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday as Europe pushes for fresh peace talks.
The ministry shared a video of the three diplomats arriving at the building in central Moscow to attend a meeting with Sergei Lavrov’s deputy. The foreign minister said on Wednesday Russia was open to hear what Europe had to say, according to reports.
The leaders of France, Germany and Britain – who head an informal security alliance called the E3 that is one of Ukraine‘s main sources of international support – met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in London last Sunday, where they said they supported his call for a ceasefire.
At the meeting in Downing Street, the four agreed that the current line of contact between Russian and Ukrainian forces should be the starting point for talks; that Ukraine should have legally binding security guarantees, including the deployment of a multinational force; and that frozen Russian financial assets would remain immobilised until Russia had compensated Ukraine for the damage caused by the war.
Talks between the E3 ambassadors and Russia’s senior diplomat come months after British and French diplomats were summoned to the Foreign Ministry after cruise missiles produced by MBDA were used in a Ukrainian strike on Bryansk.
Fuel stations in Crimea run dry after fresh night of Ukrainian drone strikes
Fuel stations on the Russian-held Crimean peninsula were out of petrol yesterday, Reuters witnesses said, as a Ukrainian campaign against supply lines to the peninsula escalates.
A Reuters witness in Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city, said that there was no fuel at most local petrol stations, with supplies struggling even to keep up with a rationing regime imposed in recent weeks.
Another, in the resort town of Yevpatoriya, said that there was a long queue outside the single working petrol station there. Ukraine has been intensifying drone strikes on supply lines to the peninsula, which Russia seized from Kyiv in 2014.
Local authorities have imposed fuel rationing regimes, with some foodstuffs also running short.
Fuel shortages in Russia have been reported by the media and on social media in around a dozen regions, according to data compiled by Reuters. Besides Russian-held Crimea, only two regions in Siberia have officially confirmed the shortages.
Most other regions have said that the situation is under control and some disruptions were caused by panic buying. Moscow has denied there were any problems with fuel supplies.
Russia’s Togliatti city under drone attack, regional governor says
Russia’s city of Togliatti, home to the country’s biggest carmaker Avtovaz, has come under drone attack, Samara region governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on Telegram.
“Attention! Drone attack regime for Togliatti,” he wrote. Togliatti is a city on the Volga River some 800km (500 miles) southeast of Moscow.
Watch: Downed Russian drone hits passenger train at Ukrainian station, sparking fire
Bryony Gooch12 June 2026 03:00
Residents in Crimea forced to ration gas after Ukrainian drone attacks
Residents in Crimea forced to ration fuel after Ukrainian drone attacks
Russia is facing almost daily Ukrainian attacks on its oil infrastructureBryony Gooch12 June 2026 02:00
Merz: Peace for Ukraine must be just and lasting and take German security interests into account
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that he envisioned a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine that “also takes Germany security interests into account.”
It comes as the leader discussed Ukraine’s application for European Union membership.
He explained: “Out goal for Ukraine remains a just and lasting peace that also takes German security interests into account.”
Ukraine is pressing for membership of the 27-member EU after more than four years of war pitting Kyiv against Moscow.
Merz explained that proposed associated European Union membership for Ukraine would mean the country would be able to participate in the EU council meetings and have an EU commissioner without voting rights.
Bryony Gooch12 June 2026 01:00
Recap: Bridges between Russian-held Ukraine and Crimea damaged in strikes
Ukraine has attacked bridges linking Russia-occupied Crimea with Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, according to Russian officials.
The Russian-installed governor of occupied Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said the strikes had caused damage, but that more information was awaited.
Earlier, Telegram channels said all bridges linking Crimea with the Ukrainian mainland were rendered unusable by the strikes, part of a major wave of Ukrainian attacks across the peninsula.
Bryony Gooch12 June 2026 00:00
Who is Putin’s ammunition chief killed in car bombing outside Moscow
Who is Damir Davydov? Putin’s ammunition chief killed in car bombing outside Moscow
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Watch: UK’s enemies ‘will be glad to see Healey go’, warns former Nato assembly chair
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Analysis: Moscow’s latest car bombing shows Putin’s generals who the real target is
Moscow’s latest car bombing shows Putin’s generals who the real target is
Ukraine has combined assassinations with bombings in a bid to break the logistical spine of Russia’s war effort, writes world affairs editor Sam KileyBryony Gooch11 June 2026 21:00
Watch: The moment British, French and German ambassadors attend the embassy in Moscow to meet Russia’s deputy foreign minister
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