The denial of a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting comes days after Donald Trump said he had begun arrangements for them to sit down together.

Russia’s top diplomat said in an interview released on Friday that “there is no meeting planned” between President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, the clearest sign yet that a summit the White House had said was imminent is nowhere close to materializing.

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday Russia was doing everything it could to stop a meeting between him and Vladimir Putin from taking place, and urged Ukraine's allies to put fresh sanctions on Moscow if it shows no interest in peace.

President Donald Trump said Friday he will give Russian President Vladimir Putin “a couple of weeks,” further extending a deadline for potential consequences against Moscow after urging the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet.

U.S. President Donald Trump renewed a threat to impose sanctions on Russia on Friday if there is no progress toward a peaceful settlement in Ukraine in two weeks, showing frustration at Moscow a week after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

President Donald Trump again threatened Russia with “massive sanctions” over the war in Ukraine unless an agreement can be reached in about two weeks, swerving back to a tougher stance after an inconclusive meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

According to US data, Russia already controls roughly 88% of the Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, though the nation may even be open to handing over parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine it controls, as part of a deal, say sources.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief says the possibility of Ukraine ceding land to Russia as part of a peace deal to end their three-year war is “a trap” set by Russian President Vladimir Putin