Small groups of Russian troops have pierced parts of Ukraine’s defenses in its eastern Donetsk region, according to local officials, as Russia appears to be making an 11th-hour dash to snatch as much territory as possible ahead of the planned meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump on Friday.

President Donald Trump on Monday sought to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to secure an end to Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The purported ceasefire demand comes as Russia tries to seize more land before Trump-Putin talks on Friday in Alaska.

Russian forces have made a sudden thrust into eastern Ukraine near the coal mining town of Dobropillia, a move that may be an attempt to increase the pressure on Kyiv to give up land as the U.S. and Russian presidents prepare to meet.

After weeks of tense back-and-forths over Russia's unrelenting offensives in Ukraine, US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he could personally meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "very soon".

The U.S. president threatened tariffs on Moscow if there was no deal to end to the war within the seven-week time frame.

A service member of the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fires a 2S22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops near a front line in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine - REUTERS Russia will only agree to security ...

President Donald Trump reacted Wednesday with a degree of bemusement toward Russia's drone incursion into Poland, a NATO member that Trump has previously vowed to defend amid heightened tensions with