In the Oval Office, Trump brandished a photograph he said Vladimir Putin sent him after their summit in Alaska and said he would sign it for the Russian leader.

President Donald Trump said Friday he would “rather not” join a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though he left the door open.

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.