US and Russian presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had their first face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg on July 7, covering a range of topics from the Ukraine and Syria crises, to the fight against terrorism, to cybercrime and cyber security.

“It’s an honour to be with you,” Trump told Putin as the leaders finally shook hands eight months after his election as US president.

“I’m delighted to meet you personally,” Putin replied at the start of discussions that lasted more than two hours. “We have spoken on the phone with you several times on very important bilateral and international issues. But phone conversations are never enough,” Putin said.

The leaders had previously indicated that they want to repair ties damaged by numerous crises in the past few years, from the international outcry and sanctions imposed over Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, to allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

“I have had a lengthy conversation with the US president. Loads of questions have accumulated including both Ukraine and Syria along with other issues, some bilateral issues,” Putin said at his subsequent meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, apologising for keeping him waiting for about an hour. “We have returned to discussing the fight against terrorism and cyber security.”

At the beginning of the talks, Putin and Trump spoke in favour of dialogue. The meeting was held behind closed doors and was attended only by the two countries’ top diplomats.

In the run-up to their meeting the two presidents laid out their opposing views on some issues.

Outlining his own G20 agenda in the German financial newspaper Handelsblatt, Putin called for the removal of the US-led sanctions. He also argued strongly in favour of the Paris climate agreement, after Trump took the US out of it, saying the accords were a “secure basis for long-term climate regulation” and that Russia wanted to make a “comprehensive contribution to its implementation”.

Climate change and trade are set to dominate the two-day G20 meeting, the start of which was marked by violent clashes between protesters and police in the streets outside the venue, with dozens of people injured.

Trump, in turn, used his public speech in Warsaw on July 6 to “urge Russia to cease its destabilising activities in Ukraine and elsewhere, and its support for hostile regimes – including Syria and Iran – and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and in defence of civilisation itself”.