President Donald Trump has taken an intense personal interest in ending the war between Ukraine and Russia, recently suggesting that “nothing” will happen until he has an official meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Trump arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday after delivering a campaign-style speech at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Trump's UAE visit makes him only the second serving American president to visit the country.

ISTANBUL − Russia's Vladimir Putin spurned a challenge to meet face-to-face with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey, instead sending a second-tier delegation to planned peace talks, while Ukraine's president said his defence minister would head up Kyiv's team.