President Donald Trump walked into a summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin pressing for a ceasefire deal and threatening “severe consequences” and tough new sanctions if the Kremlin leader failed to agree to halt the fighting in Ukraine.

Republican lawmakers have been overwhelmingly complimentary of President Donald Trump meeting with Vladimir Putin and attempting to put the Russian leader in a room with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Moscow continues to throw cold water on the prospect of Putin-Zelenskyy meeting, and is insisting Russia have a role in security guarantees for Ukraine.

The president called the meetings with both leaders "very successful," despite failing to reach a ceasefire deal.

Trump's warning came following a Russian missile attack on a US factory in Ukraine, which injured at least 15 workers.

Melania Trump hadn’t been spotted at the White House for more than a month. But as her husband prepared for a high-stakes Alaska summit with his Russian counterpart in pursuit of an end to the war in Ukraine,

Russian President Vladimir Putin commended Donald Trump’s leadership qualities and said he hoped that the first steps had been taken to ensure the “full-scale restoration” of Russia-US ties.