RUSSIAN troops continued to advance in Ukraine today ahead of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.

The Russian military said it had “liberated” seven more villages in Donetsk over the last week, while Ukrainian officers said Russian forces were trying to slip through Ukrainian lines and establish themselves behind them in the Pokrovsk area. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky played down the Russian reports, saying Moscow was keen to give the impression that Ukraine was losing before President Vladimir Putin sits down with his US opposite number Donald Trump.

The US leader posted “HIGH STAKES!” ahead of travelling to Anchorage, Alaska’s capital. The meeting venue is seen as symbolic, both because the territory was purchased by the United States from Russia in the 19th century and because, bordering Russia across a few miles of Arctic seaway, it denotes a direct head-to-head without Europe — whose main powers have expressed anxiety at the prospect of a US-Russian deal to end the war in Ukraine — getting in between.

The summit was scheduled to begin after the Morning Star went to press last night and Mr Trump’s aims remained unclear, though he acknowledged a “25 per cent” chance of failure.

The US leader has described it as a “feel-out meeting,” which suggests a lack of precise goals, but he has also talked of “very severe consequences” for Russia should Mr Putin not take steps to end the war. Mr Trump’s talk of land swaps has been rejected by Kiev.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be watching, as Mr Trump has also suggested that he will apply even higher tariffs to imports from India should Russia not play ball — presumably because of their close trading relationship.