A week after Donald Trump applauded Vladimir Putin down the red carpet in Alaska, and days after an unprecedented summit of European leaders at the White House, the American president came crashing down to earth on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump renewed a threat to impose sanctions on Russia on Friday if there is no progress toward a peaceful settlement in Ukraine in two weeks, showing frustration at Moscow a week after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

The Pentagon has been quietly blocking Ukraine from using U.S.-made long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (Atacms) to strike targets inside Russia, limiting Kyiv's ability to employ these weapons in its defense against Moscow's invasion,

Ukraine sparingly uses Western-made missiles, including UK Storm Shadow missiles, to strike inside Russia, but the weapons are vital in their defence as they continue to face Russian strikes.

Russian forces have captured two new villages along the 1000-km-long battle line in the Donetsk region in the east of Ukraine, said the Russian Ministry of Defence. Russian forces are moving along the battle line in a synchronised and coordinated manner to capture as much land as possible in order to use it as leverage in the upcoming trilateral talks between Trump,