President Donald Trump said Friday he will give Russian President Vladimir Putin “a couple of weeks,” further extending a deadline for potential consequences against Moscow after urging the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet.

President Donald Trump started the week declaring a diplomatic breakthrough in his bid to get Russia and Ukraine closer to making peace, announcing he had begun arranging for direct talks between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that there was "light at the end of the tunnel" in Russia-U.S. relations and that the two countries were discussing joint projects in the Arctic and Alaska.

Russia's leader said he was "confident that the leadership qualities" of Trump are a "good guarantee" of future agreements between global superpowers.

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is discussing with the United States the possibility of cooperation in the Arctic and in Alaska. Source: Putin at a meeting with nuclear industry workers,