🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no preparations" for US President Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has announced.

Recently Trump indicated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest in the coming fortnight to discuss the ongoing hostilities.

A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House stated the two had had a "positive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was no longer "necessary".

The administration withheld further information on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.

Background Context

The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a day before hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.

Various sources suggested his talks with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders suggesting Trump had urged him to cede large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Nevertheless, on Monday Trump embraced a peace initiative backed by Ukraine and EU officials to pause the war on the present positions.

"Freeze the lines the way it is," he remarked.

Moscow has consistently objected against freezing the existing front lines.

The Russian government was only interested in "enduring stability", Lavrov said on this week, implying that halting hostilities would simply constitute a short-term truce.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the conflict demanded attention, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a set of comprehensive conditions that include the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

Zelensky commented conversations concerning the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to evade negotiations.

He additionally stated the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the provision of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Weapons Discussions

Putin's spontaneous discussion with the US leader recently occurred before speculation that the US was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target deep into Russia.

Zelensky asserted it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The talk about the weapons systems had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in international relations", he commented.