Donald Trump will meet with Vladimir Putin “one-on-one” in Alaska, the White House has confirmed.

The two leaders will not be flanked by their advisers when they come face-to-face for a highly-anticipated meeting in Anchorage on Friday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, Mr Trump’s press secretary said.

Tempering expectations of the leaders making a breakthrough, Karoline Leavitt insisted the summit was a “listening exercise” for Mr Trump.

“...the goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war,” Ms Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.

“It is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that’s involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end,” she added.

Asked if the pair were meeting one-on-one, she added: “That’s part of the plan”.