Moscow warns of 'titanic efforts' to disrupt Putin-Trump meeting

Certain countries will make "titanic efforts" to disrupt the meeting U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin for August 15, Russia's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Saturday.

Trump had said earlier that Russia and Ukraine were close to a ceasefire deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict. The contents of the deal have yet to be announced, but it could require Ukraine to surrender significant territory - an outcome many European nations oppose. Dmitriev accused unnamed countries of seeking to prolong the war.

"Undoubtedly, a number of countries interested in continuing the conflict will make titanic efforts to disrupt the planned meeting between President Putin and President Trump," he said in a post in his Telegram account, specifying that by efforts he meant "provocations and disinformation".

Dmitriev did not specify which countries he was referring to or what kind of "provocations" they might undertake.

The Kremlin earlier confirmed the summit. The two leaders will "focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis," Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said, adding: "This will evidently be a challenging process, but we will engage in it actively and energetically."