The comments reportedly came during a phone call on Aug. 6, just two days before U.S. President Donald Trump's deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire or face harsher U.S. penalties.

If the meeting goes ahead as President Trump described, it will be the first in-person summit between an American and Russian president in more than four years.

The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders during a call on Wednesday that he intended to meet with Putin and then follow up with a trilateral involving the Russian leader and Mr Zelensky. “There’s a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon,” Trump told reporters.