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 US President revealed his plans to sit down with Putin next week ahead of a trilateral where they would be joined by Zelensky. A Kremlin spokesperson later confirmed the initial meeting would indeed take place at a so-far-undisclosed location, though a question mark hovers over the latter event.