By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) -In a few short hours in Alaska, Vladimir Putin managed to convince Donald Trump that a Ukraine ceasefire was not the way to go, stave off U.S. sanctions, and spectacularly shatter years of Western attempts to isolate the Russian president.

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

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.

After meeting with President Donald Trump in Alaska, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Kremlin officials the summit was "timely and very useful."

The arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday will mark a rare occasion when the Kremlin leader will set foot on American soil. Putin, who is due to arrive in Anchorage later on Friday, hasn’t visited the U.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for "new offensive operations."