Ukrainian member of parliament Lisa Yasko told CBS News the Russian president is using the discussions with the U.S. to push his vision of the new world order.

Vladimir Putin warned that Russia may consider striking the ships of countries supporting Ukraine if a surge in attacks on Moscow’s tanker fleet doesn’t halt.

Russia appreciated Trump’s efforts to push the talks forward but said the Kremlin would not provide running commentary, arguing that public negotiations were unlikely to help.

Fiona Hill, a Russian expert and former White House adviser, who witnessed meetings between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, tells The Independent podcast World of Trouble’s Sam Kiley that the Russian president knows how to mesmerise his US counterpart,

President Vladimir Putin warned European powers on Tuesday that if they started a war with Russia, Moscow was ready to fight and the defeat of European powers would be so absolute there would be no-one left to negotiate a peace deal.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko thus far appears to have kept his nation out of the worst of the spiraling war engulfing his neighbors to the east and south.