A July 20 memo ordered U.S. intelligence agencies not to share information about Russia-Ukraine talks with Five Eyes partners U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

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

A week after US president Donald Trump met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for an Alaska summit that the White House touted as a likely prelude to war-ending talks that would also involve Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, there was still no sign on Friday of any follow-up meeting or diplomatic breakthrough.

Russian troops currently control about 20% of Ukrainian territory, but the Ukrainian constitution forbids giving up territory or trading land.

Stephen A. Smith argued that Democratic presidents Biden, Obama and Clinton are responsible for the Russia-Ukraine war breaking out, not Trump, during his podcast on Monday.

Russia said Wednesday attempts to resolve security issues relating to Ukraine without Moscow's participation were a "road to nowhere," and that much diplomatic work needs to be done before Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are ever in the same room.

According to US data, Russia already controls roughly 88% of the Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, though the nation may even be open to handing over parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine it controls, as part of a deal, say sources.