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.

One key party not be in attendance Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump said after his meeting with the Russian president that he would call Zelenskyy and update him on the talks.

It was a welcome tailored for a close friend, not a war criminal, and it looked to the Ukrainians like their nightmare.

The last time President Donald Trump shared a room with Vladimir Putin, their relationship — perhaps the most scrutinized association of any two people in the entire world — was enjoying an upswing.

The Trump administration sought to temper expectations around the president's meeting with Putin heading into Friday. Trump said in the past that he would end the Russia-Ukraine w

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.