(CNN) — Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the Trump administration’s “energetic” efforts to stop the war in Ukraine and hinted that Moscow and Washington could strike a deal on nuclear arms control during their summit on Friday in Alaska .

In his first public comments since US President Donald Trump announced the Alaska summit, Putin on Thursday chaired a meeting of senior Russian officials at the Kremlin to brief them on the state of play in negotiations with the US on Ukraine.

“The current American administration… is making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict,” Putin said.

In his brief remarks, Putin said the summit with the US aims to

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