President Donald Trump has sent a letter of support to Ukraine praising its courage and saying the United States believes in its future as an independent state, as the country marks the anniversary of declaring itself free of Soviet rule.

The United States supports a negotiated settlement' with Russia, President Donald Trump added in a warm letter to the Ukrainian leader.

The president, who had said a deal to end the war could be reached soon, expressed frustration over lack of progress and signaled he would pause his efforts.

Political messages don’t get much blunter than the Russian missiles that slammed into an American-owned manufacturing firm overnight Wednesday in western Ukraine, hundreds of miles away from the frontline trenches of a war with no end in sight.

President Donald Trump started the week declaring a diplomatic breakthrough in his bid to get Russia and Ukraine closer to making peace, announcing he had begun arranging for direct talks between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.