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.

After leaving Alaska, Trump says he would prefer to "go directly to a peace agreement" to end the war in Ukraine as he prepares to meet Zelensky on Monday.

At what was billed as an “historic” presidential summit, hastily put together in Alaska on Friday afternoon, the optics were as clear and overshadowing as the vast Chugach mountains glistening over Anchorage in the summer sun.

Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014.

Melania Trump took the unique step of crafting a letter that calls for peace in Ukraine, having her husband President Donald Trump hand-deliver it to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their Friday meeting in Alaska.

In a shift, Trump now aligns more closely with Putin than allies in Europe in calling for final talks before a ceasefire

Speaking after Friday’s summit, President Putin again implied that the war is all about Russia’s diminished status since the fall of the Soviet Union.

President Trump said that he and Russia's Vladimir Putin made progress in talks to end the war in Ukraine, but the two leaders did not announce any steps toward reaching a ceasefire.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded their meeting after more than two-and-a-half hours.

In a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, first lady Melania Trump urged him to think about the future for world's children