Russia has repeatedly painted modern Ukraine as a Nazi state, in a crass distortion of history. Putin had already seized Ukraine's Crimean peninsula eight years earlier, after a revolution that ousted Ukraine's pro-Russian president and replaced him with a more pro-Western government.

Trump hints at resuming intelligence sharing with Ukraine During an exchange with a journalist, Donald Trump repeatedly sought clarification on a question about Vladimir Putin, asking, “Who? What did he do?

Vladimir Putin appeared to ignore Donald Trump’s threat to impose sanctions on Russia on Friday and launched deadly attacks across Ukraine. The US president told the Russian leader to stop “pounding” Ukraine or face serious sanctions last week,