🔗 Share this article

There are "no preparations" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has stated.

Recently the US president indicated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to discuss the Ukraine conflict.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" call and that a meeting was not "required".

The White House withheld additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.

Previous Developments

Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with the Russian leader, a day before hosting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Certain accounts indicated his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar indicating Trump had urged him to relinquish significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Moscow.

Yet, on Monday Trump supported a truce plan supported by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the hostilities on the current front line.

"Freeze the lines the way it is," he said.

Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against halting the existing front lines.

Moscow was exclusively seeking "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister commented on this week, implying that pausing conflict would simply constitute a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the war demanded attention, Lavrov emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a range of maximalist demands that encompass the acknowledgment of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its European partners.

Zelensky commented talks regarding the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to avoid diplomacy.

He additionally stated the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's unplanned conversation with the US leader recently came ahead of rumors that the US was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target deep into Russia.

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