Washington, Aug. 15 -- United States President Donald Trump on Friday said he had a "wonderful" conversation with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko ahead of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. He also mentioned discussing Putin's visit to Alaska during the call.

President Trump said that he telephoned Lukashenko to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners.

On Truth Social, Trump wrote, "I had a wonderful talk with the highly respected President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko. The purpose of the call was to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners. We are also discussing the release of 1,300 additional prisoners. Our conversation was a very good one."

He added that the two leaders also discussed the u...