Such a face-to-face meeting would be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.

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 and Ukrainian leaders. "There's a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon," Trump told reporters.

The details emerged following a meeting on Wednesday between Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff that Trump described as having achieved "great progress" in a Truth Social post, although later said he would not call it a breakthrough.