President Donald Trump warned that "severe consequences" lie ahead for Russia if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't agree to stop the Ukraine war after they meet for a high-stakes summit in Alaska on Friday.

The talks on Friday in Alaska pull the Russian leader out of diplomatic isolation from the West, and Ukrainian and European leaders fear it gives him an opening to sway the American president.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine, more than three years after Moscow launched its invasion, as the two leaders prepared for a pivotal U.