The president said he had exchanged “pretty strong words” with European leaders, while Russia signaled it saw itself as increasingly on the same page as the U.S.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy met Poland's MAGA-aligned President Karol Nawrocki in Warsaw on Friday as the Ukrainian leader tries to shore up relations with a key ally at a crucial moment for Kyiv's war effort.

The news conference is taking place just hours before Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff meets with senior officials from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to discuss the next phase of the Republican president’s Gaza ceasefire plan, progress on which has moved slowly since it was announced in October.

The comments from Trump's oldest son are a sign of growing frustration over the failure of the Ukraine peace efforts to end the war

White House envoy Steve Witkoff will meet in Miami on Friday with the national security advisers of Ukraine, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, Axios reported, citing two sources.

Follow live updates from NBC News as Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at his annual year-end news conference on Ukraine, peace, war and Trump.

U.S. President Donald Trump's August summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, is looming large as the White House presses its latest effort to secure a peace deal ending Moscow's full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

President Trump signed a law late Thursday repealing a final batch of crippling economic sanctions on Syria, raising hopes for the country’s recovery a year after the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad ended the family’s half-century of autocratic rule.