Geneva, Istanbul and Budapest have been put forward as potential locations - but bilateral talks still remain a long way off.

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. It was the Kremlin’s most direct declaration yet that a summit the White House suggested was imminent was nowhere close to materializing.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is ready to make “some compromise” on his demand that a ceasefire takes place before any talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin – as long as some security guarantees for Ukraine are established.