Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised President Donald Trump for his efforts to broker an end to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia says it invaded Ukraine to halt Kyiv's ambitions to join NATO, the U.S.-led defensive alliance, which it saw as a major security threat. It also accuses Kyiv of persecuting ethnic Russians and their culture in Ukraine.

Investigators have uncovered evidence that Russia is at least in part responsible for a recent hack of the computer system that manages U.S. federal court documents. Some of the documents in the system are highly sensitive records that could reveal the sources behind evidence gathered in the prosecution of national security crimes.