🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no preparations" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has announced.

Recently the US president indicated he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Budapest within two weeks to address the war in Ukraine.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the administration stated the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a meeting was not "needed".

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

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 White House.

Certain accounts suggested his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with insiders indicating the president had pushed him to relinquish large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Russia.

Yet, on this week Trump supported a peace initiative backed by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze the war on the present positions.

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

Russia has frequently resisted against halting the existing front lines.

The Russian government was only interested in "enduring stability", Lavrov said on Tuesday, implying that halting hostilities would merely represent a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the hostilities needed to be addressed, Lavrov stated, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of maximalist demands that encompass the acceptance of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.

Zelensky stated talks regarding the current lines were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to avoid diplomacy.

He further commented the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the provision of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Weapons Discussions

Putin's unscheduled call with the US leader last Thursday preceded rumors that the United States was planning to provide extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had turned out to be a "significant input" in diplomacy", he commented.