Preparations for Putin-Trump Summit Postponed Shortly After Hungarian Capital Negotiations Proposed
There are "no plans" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russia's Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has stated.
Last Thursday the US president stated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital soon to address the Ukraine conflict.
A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House clarified the two had had a "productive" call and that a meeting was no longer "necessary".
The administration withheld any more details on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.
Earlier Events
Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a day before hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.
Certain accounts claimed his meeting with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with those familiar suggesting the president had urged him to cede significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.
Yet, on Monday the American president supported a truce plan backed by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the hostilities on the current front line.
"Freeze the lines in its current state," he remarked.
Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against halting the present battle positions.
Moscow was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said on this week, suggesting that freezing the front line would simply constitute a brief pause.
Diplomatic Positions
The "root causes" of the hostilities required resolution, Lavrov said, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of comprehensive conditions that encompass the recognition of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its EU supporters.
The Ukrainian president said discussions about the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to avoid diplomacy.
He additionally stated the sole subject that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.
Weapons Discussions
Putin's unplanned conversation with Trump recently occurred before speculation that the US was considering delivering extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.
Zelensky asserted it was the missile discussion that had pressured the Kremlin to engage in discussion. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "significant input" in international relations", he added.