🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no preparations" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a administration representative has stated.

Recently the US president indicated he and the Russian president would meet in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to discuss the war in Ukraine.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the administration said the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "needed".

The White House declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.

Previous Developments

The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit over the phone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports claimed his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with sources indicating the president had pressured him to give up significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Russia.

However, on this week Trump supported a truce plan endorsed by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the war on the current front line.

"Leave it as is in its current state," he said.

Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against halting the current line of contact.

Moscow was exclusively seeking "permanent resolution", Lavrov stated on Tuesday, indicating that halting hostilities would only amount to a temporary ceasefire.

Diplomatic Positions

The "fundamental issues" of the war needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat stated, using Moscow's terminology for a set of maximalist demands that involve the acknowledgment of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its European partners.

The Ukrainian president commented talks regarding the battle positions were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He additionally stated the sole subject that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the provision of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

Putin's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently came ahead of reports that the US was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader said it was the missile discussion that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "strong investment" in negotiations", he remarked.