The Kremlin has played down talk of an imminent summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, as Donald Trump renewed his call for the two leaders to meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

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”.

The Kremlin hasn't ruled out summits but has said they could only meet in the very final stages of clinching a peace agreement.

President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky met Monday in the White House. Trump said the United States will give "very good protection."

Broadcast and cable networks went to special reports on Monday as Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to journalists in the Oval Office in advance of talks of a peace deal to settle Ukraine ‘s war with Russia.

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.