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.

Ana Navarro of "The View" claimed first lady Melania Trump was a hypocrite for writing a “peace letter" to Russian President Vladimir Putin while ignoring her husband.

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.

Doing so would require the Russian leader to “accept the failure of sitting down with a president he considers a joke from a country that doesn’t exist”

The Kremlin has played down talk of an imminent summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, as Donald Trump renewed his call for the two leaders to meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, former NATO supreme allied commander, discusses possible future security guarantees for Ukraine that could help forge a peace agreement.

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.

The Kremlin hasn't ruled out summits but has said they could only meet in the very final stages of clinching a peace agreement.