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.

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

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that there was "light at the end of the tunnel" in Russia-U.S. relations and that the two countries were discussing joint projects in the Arctic and Alaska.

Russia's leader said he was "confident that the leadership qualities" of Trump are a "good guarantee" of future agreements between global superpowers.

In the Oval Office, Trump brandished a photograph he said Vladimir Putin sent him after their summit in Alaska and said he would sign it for the Russian leader.