European Union (EU) leaders have issued a fresh appeal to President Donald Trump on Ukraine, imploring him ahead of his crunch summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday to protect the country and Europe's security interests and not to exclude Kyiv from any agreement.

Ukraine has retaken two villages in its eastern region of Sumy, Kyiv's military said, adding to recent small territorial gains along the border with Russia.

President Donald Trump framed his Friday summit with Vladimir Putin as a moment to feel out the Russian leader’s parameters for ending the war in Ukraine and acknowledged it would take further meetings to strike a final peace deal.