Preparations for Putin-Trump Meeting Delayed Days After Budapest Negotiations Announced

Currently exist "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russia's Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has announced.

This past week the US president said he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest in the coming fortnight to address the ongoing hostilities.

A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the White House stated the two had had a "positive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

The White House did not share any more details on why the talks had been put on hold.

Background Context

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

Certain accounts claimed his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with insiders indicating Trump had pushed him to cede extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Moscow.

Nevertheless, on Monday the American president endorsed a peace initiative supported by Kyiv and EU officials to halt the war on the present positions.

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

Russia has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the current line of contact.

Moscow was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov stated on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would simply constitute a temporary ceasefire.

Negotiating Stances

The "root causes" of the conflict needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat said, using Russian diplomatic language for a set of maximalist demands that involve the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of the country – a non-starter for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

Zelensky said discussions about the current lines were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He additionally stated the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the provision of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.

Weapons Discussions

Putin's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday occurred before reports that the United States was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could possibly hit Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the missile discussion that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The talk about the weapons systems had proven to be a "significant input" in international relations", he commented.