Vladimir Putin engaged in a number of unusual activities prior to and after the Alaska summit with Donald Trump, suggesting he is preparing the ground for a peace deal.

Sergey Lavrov told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in an exclusive interview Friday that the Ukrainian leader had rejected Trump's proposed terms for a deal.

The denial of a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting comes days after Donald Trump said he had begun arrangements for them to sit down together.

Russia’s top diplomat said in an interview released on Friday that “there is no meeting planned” between President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. It was the Kremlin’s most direct declaration yet that a summit the White House suggested was imminent was nowhere close to materializing.

Donald Trump has suggested that he will give Vladimir Putin another two-week deadline to agree to peace talks with Volodymyr Zelensky. Speaking to CNN, the US president said he will “know in two weeks what I’m going to do” after Moscow appeared to reject his plea for a meeting between the two leaders.

Trump said that his decision relies on developments over the coming fortnight and advocated for talks between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine' Volodymyr Zelensky.

President Trump said in a social media post Monday that he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and set in motion arrangements for a summit at a location to be decided.

Putin is laying “a trap” for the West to walk into if Ukraine ends up giving up land to Russia as part of a potential peace deal to end the war, Kaja Kallas warns.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday Russia was doing everything it could to stop a meeting between him and Vladimir Putin from taking place, while Russia's foreign minister said the agenda for such a summit was not ready.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin could be invited to next year’s World Cup in North America, US President Donald Trump has suggested. Speaking at a press conference announcing the date and draw of the 2026 tournament on Friday, he told reporters Putin wants to be there “very badly” as he held up a picture of the two from their recent summit in Alaska.