The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it was Ukraine's sovereign right to decide whether it wanted to join the European Union and that Moscow did not intend to dictate to Kyiv how it should approach the question.

Russia told the United States on Tuesday that settling the war in Ukraine required a reorganisation of Europe's defence agreements, as the superpowers met in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv or the EU. Moscow has long called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from Eastern Europe,

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was serious about negotiating a settlement to end the war in Ukraine as high-level talks began in Saudi Arabia, and that Russia would prefer to achieve all its aims peacefully.