US President Donald Trump said Russia's Vladimir Putin does not have to agree to meet with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in order to have a meeting with him.
Mr Trump was asked by a reporter if the Russian leader would need to meet Mr Zelensky to secure a meeting with the US, and replied: "No, he doesn't. No."
The remarks come after reports emerged that Mr Trump will meet Mr Putin in the coming days with an undisclosed venue agreed by both sides in principle.
"At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement has been reached in principle to hold a bilateral summit in the coming days," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by the state RIA news agency.
He said a summit venue had been agreed, but would be announced later.
Russia's deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy, meanwhile, said Mr Putin may meet with Mr Trump next week, but said he was not aware of any planned meeting between Mr Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
"As far as I heard, there are a number of locations, but they agreed to something that they don't want to disclose. The timeline is, I think, next week, but that's again judging from what presidents said themselves," Mr Polyanskiy told reporters.
"I haven't heard about any meeting planned with President Zelensky, but I am not in the loop," he added.
Mr Putin was due to meet the president of the United Arab Emirates, which sources have previously suggested as a possible venue.
Mr Trump had threatened new sanctions against Russia and countries that buy its exports if there is no deal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had called for a face-to-face meeting with Mr Putin to end the war, after Mr Trump's special envoy held talks with the Russian leader in Moscow.
However, the Kremlin said it did not respond to a US proposal for a Trump-Putin-Zelensky meeting, according to state media.
"At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was essentially reached to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days, that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump," Mr Ushakov said.
"We are now beginning concrete preparations together with our American colleagues," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Mr Zelensky has since called for Europe to be included in any potential peace talks.
"The war is happening in Europe, and Ukraine is an integral part of Europe - we are already in negotiations on EU accession. Therefore, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes," Mr Zelensky said on social media.
Mr Trump one day earlier hailed talks between his envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr Putin as "highly productive" however, US officials still vowed to impose sanctions on Moscow's trading partners.
Mr Zelensky said later that he had spoken by phone with Mr Trump, who said he could meet with Mr Putin "very soon".
"We in Ukraine have repeatedly said that finding real solutions can be truly effective at the level of leaders," Mr Zelensky wrote on social media.
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"It is necessary to determine the timing for such a format and the range of issues to be addressed," he added.
The Ukrainian leader said that he had planned to hold "several" conversations throughout the course of the day including with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as French and Italian officials.
"There will also be communication at the level of national security advisors," Mr Zelensky added.
"The main thing is for Russia, which started this war, to take real steps to end its aggression," Mr Zelensky added.
CEO of Macro Advisory and strategist Chris Weafer said that Russia "always wanted" the first meeting to be between just Presidents Putin and Trump, "that face-to-face - I think that's always been important for the Kremlin", he said.
Speaking to RTÉ's Drivetime, he described this as the "precondition" for it is hoped a trilateral meeting after that involving President Zelensky, or a meeting between Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky.
"But the first meeting, between Putin and Trump, I think that was always critical, that needs to happen.
"I guess they will establish some ground rules between them, etcetera, and then you can move forward.
"It was never realisitc that the first meeting would be trilateral," he said.
Mr Weafer said he did not expect the meeting to "rubberstamp" anything that was discussed in the meetings between President Putin and Mr Witkoff.
"What I do expect...is that they will agree on broad outlines to move forward," he added.
World leaders take part in call
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the leaders of Britain, Germany and Finland took part in a phone call between Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump last night, a senior Ukrainian source said.
The source told AFP that Mr Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Finnish President Alexander Stubb participated in the call alongside Mr Rutte.
"There's a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon," Trump told reporters at the White House, when asked when he would meet the Ukrainian and Russian leaders.
He gave no indication where the meeting with Putin might take place. It would be the first US-Russia leadership summit since former president Joe Biden met with his counterpart in Geneva in June 2021.
"Great progress was made!" Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that afterward he had briefed some European allies.
"Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come," he said.
Minutes later, however, a senior US official said that "secondary sanctions" were still expected to be implemented in two days' time.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Mr Witkoff was returning with a ceasefire proposal from Moscow that would have to be discussed with Ukraine and Washington's European allies.
