President Donald Trump said Friday he will give Russian President Vladimir Putin “a couple of weeks,” further extending a deadline for potential consequences against Moscow after urging the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet.

U.S. President Donald Trump started the week declaring a diplomatic breakthrough in his bid to prod Moscow and Kyiv closer to peace, announcing he had begun arranging for direct talks between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that there was "light at the end of the tunnel" in Russia-U.S. relations and that the two countries were discussing joint projects in the Arctic and Alaska.

Russia's leader said he was "confident that the leadership qualities" of Trump are a "good guarantee" of future agreements between global superpowers.

Uncertainty has grown in recent days about Moscow's commitment to U.S.-led peace efforts, as Russian officials have raised objections about cornerstones of the nascent proposals.

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.

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.