Charles Mains

One critic said it was heavily tilted in Russia's favor, but that Lavrov claimed mirrored consensus that came out of the Putin-Trump meeting in Alaska.

Lavrov said Moscow is still waiting to hear about a newly amended version of the U.S.

plan, now with input from Ukraine and European powers.

Lavrov's comments came as Russian and American representatives are set to gather in the United Arab Emirates to discuss those very changes.

Meanwhile, fighting has continued alongside the diplomacy, with heavy Russian attacks overnight on the Ukrainian capital Kiev and Ukrainian drones striking border regions of Russia.

Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow.

The new sanctions take aim at Rosneft and Lukoil, two oil majors that make up nearly half of all Russian oil exports.

Yet reacting to the move, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova insisted Russia's economy had developed a strong immunity to years of Western sanctions and called the policy counterproductive to Trump's efforts to negotiate peace in Ukraine.

Others were less diplomatic.

Former President Dmitry Medvedev, who now sits on Russia's Security Council, said the move amounted to an act of war against Russia.

Trump announced the sanctions earlier this week, linking the move to Russian President Vladimir Putin's failure to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine in good faith.

Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow.

At stake are parliamentary seats that determine whether President Maya Sandu can continue to advance Moldova's bid for European Union membership by the end of the decade.

Sandu has accused Russia of carrying out a massive influence campaign in a bid to sway the results in a country of just 2.4 million people.

It's a charge backed by multiple independent media investigations.

Earlier in the week, Moldovan police also arrested more than 70 people in raids tied to alleged Russian-backed efforts to foment unrest.

The Kremlin denies interfering in the vote and argues Sandu's government is stoking anti-Russian sentiment to mask voter dissatisfaction over pro-EU reforms in one of Europe's poorest countries.

Charles Mains, NPR News, Moscow.

Russian authorities say air defenses downed more than 60 Ukrainian drones on approach to Moscow, forcing the temporary closure of two of the capital's main airports. The Ukrainian attacks followed Russia's deadly bombardment of Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, Saturday that also injured scores of people.

Russian authorities say air defenses downed more than 60 Ukrainian drones on approach to Moscow, forcing the temporary closure of two of the capital's main airports. The Ukrainian attacks followed Russia's deadly bombardment of Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, Saturday that also injured scores of people.