Germany’s Friedrich Merz said this morning that the EU is always open to holding talks with Russia in an effort to end the war in Ukraine, but will not "open any parallel channels of communication."

"We are, of course, always ready to hold talks with Russia," the chancellor told reporters in Abu Dhabi.

"Currently, coordinated talks are taking place here in Abu Dhabi ... if we can contribute to making these talks even better, even more successful, then we will do so. But we will not open any parallel channels of communication."

Russian President Vladimir Putin is being briefed on the attempted assassination of a senior military intelligence official in Moscow on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev was hospitalised after being shot several times in the Russian capital.

Russian security services are working on the case, Peskov said.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev is deputy chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff at the Defence Ministry.

He was responsible for relations between the Defence Ministry and the Wagner mercenary group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, which fought in some of the fiercest battles in the early stages of the war in Ukraine.

Prigozhin was fiercely critical of the defence establishment and staged a mutiny in June 2023.

Alexeyev was one of the top officials sent to negotiate with him. The mutiny fizzled out, and Prigozhin died in a plane crash two months later.

Volodymyr Zelensky concluded two days of meetings with Russia and the US in Abu Dhabi on Thursday saying that further meetings are planned in the near future, and “likely in the United States”.

He said he was still waiting to hear from his team in person, adding: “We are ready for all workable formats that can genuinely bring peace closer and make it reliable, lasting, and such that deprives Russia of any appetite to continue the war.”

Donald Trump on Thursday rejected an offer from his Russian counterpart to voluntarily extend the caps on strategic nuclear weapons deployments after the treaty that held them in check expired.

"Rather than extend "New START ... we should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.

The post was in response to a proposal by Putin for the sides to adhere for a year to the 2010 accord's limit of 1,550 warheads on 700 delivery systems — missiles, aircraft and submarines.

Arms control advocates warn that the expiration of the treaty will fuel an accelerated nuclear arms race, while US opponents say the pact constrained the US's ability to deploy enough weapons to deter nuclear threats posed by both Russia and China.

The Moscow prosecutor's office said Alexeyev had been shot several times at a residential building in northwest Moscow by an unknown assailant who fled the scene.

Several senior Russian officers have been assassinated since the start of the war in Ukraine, with Moscow blaming the attacks on Kyiv.

In some cases, Ukrainian military intelligence has claimed responsibility.

A new wargame simulating a Russian incursion into Lithuania, carried out by ex-Nato and German officials, concluded that Moscow would “achieve most of its goals” within days.

The scenario, which plays out in October 2026, suggests that an absence of US leadership and hesitancy from Nato countries could allow Moscow to gain total control over the Baltic within days, using an initial force of only 15,000 troops.

Alex Croft has the full story:

A senior Russian general has been rushed to hospital after being shot in Moscow, state media reported on Friday.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev is deputy chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff at the Defence Ministry.

When Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin staged a short-lived mutiny in June 2023, Alexeyev was one of the top officials who were sent to negotiate with him.

The US and Russia have agreed to reestablish high level dialogue between their militaries, the US European Command said in a statement published yesterday.

In a statement, US European Command said that renewed dialogue would "provide consistent military to military contact as the parties work towards a lasting peace".

The surprise announcement, signalling a major rapprochement, followed a meeting of senior US and Russian military officers in Abu Dhabi.

The governor in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine, said today that nighttime shelling by Ukraine had inflicted "serious damage".

"The enemy has shelled the civilian city of Belgorod,” claimed Vyacheslav Gladkov in a video posted to social media.

“Everyone knows we have no military targets. There has been serious damage. I have been out to look around."

He didn't provide details of the damage. He said the authorities have not set up temporary housing.

There have so far been no comments from Ukraine.