President Trump pledges no U.S. troops will defend Ukraine, focusing instead on arranging a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting.

Trump didn’t end the fighting in Ukraine, but he picked up some praise from Putin about the Republican’s own domestic political fights.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that he could meet with Russia's Vladimir Putin but only after Kyiv had received security guarantees as part of a settlement to end the war with Russia.

Melania Trump took the unique step of crafting a letter calling for peace in Ukraine, having her husband Donald Trump deliver it to Vladimir Putin.

In a day of diplomatic maneuvers, Europeans argued that Kyiv should not yield key cities, and Trump designated Rubio to draft security guarantees.

Under the proposed Russian deal, Kyiv would fully withdraw from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in return for a Russian pledge to freeze the front lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the sources said.

Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin could meet for the first time in six years in the hope of ending the Ukraine war - but it remains unclear just where the two leaders will come face-to-face. The White House is in the process of selecting a location for the potential meeting, that has been championed by the US president Donald Trump.

Ukraine’s Donbas region, consisting of Donetsk and Luhansk, is at the heart of Moscow’s goals. An industrial powerhouse in the Soviet era, it also has rich farmland, important rivers and a coastline on the Sea of Azov.

Ukraine can rebuild its cities, its infrastructure, and its economy. What it cannot do is reclaim the lives lost or undo the profound scars left on its youngest generation.

Russia said Wednesday attempts to resolve security issues relating to Ukraine without Moscow's participation were a "road to nowhere," and that much diplomatic work needs to be done before Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are ever in the same room.