🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no preparations" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has declared.

This past week the US president said he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Budapest in the coming fortnight to discuss the Ukraine conflict.

A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was planned for this week - but the administration said the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

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

Background Context

The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Certain accounts indicated his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with sources indicating the president had pressured him to relinquish significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Russia.

Yet, on Monday the American president endorsed a peace initiative backed by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the war on the current front line.

"Let it be cut where it stands," he remarked.

Russia has repeatedly pushed back against pausing the present battle positions.

The Russian government was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, indicating that pausing conflict would merely represent a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities required resolution, the Russian diplomat stated, using Moscow's terminology for a set of extensive requirements that encompass the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

Zelensky commented talks regarding the battle positions were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Russia was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He also said the sole subject that could cause Russia to "pay attention" was that of the provision of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.

Military Considerations

The Russian president's unplanned conversation with Trump last Thursday preceded reports that the United States was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target deep into Russia.

Zelensky stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had pressured the Kremlin to engage in discussion. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "significant input" in negotiations", he remarked.