Lawmakers retreated to their partisan corners in response to the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, with Republicans praising the president and Democrats arguing he was too cozy with Putin.

Ahead of the meeting, Trump appeared to place the onus of ending the war on the Ukrainian leader, while emphasizing that Ukraine must give up Russian-annexed Crimea and its hopes of joining NATO — key Kremlin demands.

The Alaska summit between the U.S. and Russian leaders showcased their mutual animosity for the former president.

First lady Melania Trump called on Russian President Vladimir Put to protect the innocence of children in a letter made public by U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday.

"We are seeing accommodation more than we've seen in the past, certainly more than we saw in the last administration," Witkoff said. "And that's encouraging. Now we have to build on that."

President Donald Trump dismissed criticism of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska as "fake news" Sunday night on Truth Social, saying the war in Ukraine could be ended "almost immediately" but critics were making it harder to do so.

One key party who will not be in attendance Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump said Thursday he hopes the summit will lead to a second meeting that would include Zelenskyy.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, an envoy for President Trump, suggested that a peace deal was still distant.