Preparations for Putin-Trump Meeting Postponed Days After Budapest Talks Announced

There are "no plans" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has stated.

Recently the US president said he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Hungary's capital within two weeks to address the war in Ukraine.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the administration said the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

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

Earlier Events

The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit via telephone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Some reports indicated his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with those familiar claiming Trump had pushed him to cede extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Moscow.

Yet, on this week Trump supported a ceasefire proposal backed by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the conflict on the current front line.

"Let it be cut in its current state," he remarked.

Russia has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the present battle positions.

Moscow was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov commented on Tuesday, suggesting that freezing the front line would simply constitute a short-term truce.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the conflict required resolution, Lavrov emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a range of comprehensive conditions that encompass the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of the country – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its Western allies.

Zelensky said talks regarding the battle positions were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to prevent dialogue.

He also said the only topic that could cause Russia to "pay attention" was that of the supply of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Weapons Discussions

Putin's unscheduled call with the US leader recently preceded speculation that the United States was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the missiles had emerged as a "strong investment" in negotiations", he added.