US President Donald Trump described the Helsinki meeting with his Russian counterpart as one of his ‘best meetings ever’ in a speech to his supporters broadcast live by US TV channels.

"One of my best meetings ever was with Vladimir Putin," he said. "We had a great meeting, we talked about Ukraine, we talked about Syria, we talked about the protection of Israel. We talked about so many great things."

Commenting on criticism of being too soft with the Russian leader, Trump said: "they wanted me to have a boxing match on a stage."

Putin and Trump held talks in Helsinki on July 16. Afterwards, Putin spoke highly of the results of the summit, but pointed out that nobody had expected to find all solutions to the crisis in the two countries’ relations during the two-hour talks.