Preparations for Trump-Putin Summit Delayed Days Following Hungarian Capital Negotiations Proposed
Currently exist "no plans" for US President President Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has declared.
Last Thursday Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest in the coming fortnight to address the war in Ukraine.
A planning session between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" discussion and that a meeting was no longer "necessary".
The White House withheld further information on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.
Previous Developments
The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting via telephone with the Russian leader, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.
Certain accounts suggested his meeting with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar suggesting the president had pushed him to relinquish significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.
Yet, on this week the American president supported a peace initiative backed by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the hostilities on the present positions.
"Let it be cut the way it is," he remarked.
Russia has consistently objected against pausing the existing front lines.
The Russian government was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said on Tuesday, indicating that halting hostilities would merely represent a short-term truce.
Political Perspectives
The "root causes" of the conflict demanded attention, Lavrov emphasized, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of comprehensive conditions that involve the recognition of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its Western allies.
The Ukrainian president said talks regarding the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to prevent dialogue.
He also said the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.
Weapons Discussions
Putin's unscheduled call with the US leader last Thursday preceded reports that the United States was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could potentially strike Russian territory.
Zelensky stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to enter into dialogue. The talk about the missiles had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in diplomacy", he remarked.