A summit in Paris six years ago was the first and only time the two presidents ever met, flanked by French president Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s then-chancellor Angela Merkel. At the time, Putin and Zelensky were looking to hash out a ceasefire deal for war in Donbas in Ukraine’s east, where Russia-backed forces were fighting Ukrainian troops.

President Trump seeks to broker a meeting of the two leaders to end Europe’s most destructive war in generations.

Last month was the deadliest since Putin launched his full-scale war on Ukraine three and a half years ago. In July alone, 286 civilians were killed and another 1,388, according to official data.

Russia has yet again ignored Donald Trump’s bid to hold a summit between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky and said attempts to resolve security issues for Kyiv without Moscow’s participation was a “road to nowhere”.

Trump gave his assurance that no American soldiers would be sent to protect Ukraine as part of a peace deal with Russia

Republican lawmakers have been overwhelmingly complimentary of President Donald Trump meeting with Vladimir Putin and attempting to put the Russian leader in a room with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.