Russia on Friday ruled out an immediate meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, as diplomatic tension with the Ukrainian president escalated and US mediation efforts appeared to stall. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “no meeting” between Vladimir Putin and Zelensky was planned,

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, the clearest sign yet that a summit the White House had said was imminent is nowhere close to materializing.