U.S. President Donald Trump says he has called Russian President Vladimir Putin and begun to arrange a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a critical step toward bringing a possible end to Russia's war on Ukraine.

Trump did not rule out the possibility of American troops helping to guarantee peace between Ukraine and Russia should the leaders reach an agreement.

At the Alaska summit on Friday, Russian president Vladimir Putin demanded that Ukraine withdraw from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as a condition for ending Russia’s war. He also told US president Donald Trump that he could freeze the rest of the front line if his core demands were met.

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.

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.

The net effect of the Alaska summit was to give President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a free pass to continue his war against his neighbor indefinitely without further penalty, pending talks on a broader peace deal.

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