🔗 Share this article

There are "no plans" for US President Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has declared.

Last Thursday Trump indicated he and the Russian president would meet in Budapest soon to address the ongoing hostilities.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House said the two had had a "positive" call and that a meeting was no longer "necessary".

The White House declined to provide further information on why the talks had been postponed.

Earlier Events

Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Certain accounts suggested his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with sources claiming Trump had urged him to relinquish extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Russia.

Nevertheless, on this week the American president embraced a truce plan supported by Kyiv and EU officials to pause the conflict on the existing battle lines.

"Leave it as is the way it is," he remarked.

Moscow has frequently resisted against pausing the existing front lines.

Moscow was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister commented on Tuesday, implying that freezing the front line would merely represent a temporary ceasefire.

Negotiating Stances

The "underlying reasons" of the conflict required resolution, Lavrov said, using Kremlin shorthand for a range of maximalist demands that involve the recognition of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

Zelensky stated talks regarding the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue.

He further commented the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's unplanned conversation with the US leader recently preceded speculation that the US was planning to provide extended-range cruise missiles to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit deep into Russia.

Zelensky said it was the missile discussion that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he remarked.