Plans for Trump-Putin Meeting Postponed Shortly Following Budapest Negotiations Suggested
There are "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has declared.
This past week the US president indicated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest in the coming fortnight to address the war in Ukraine.
A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "necessary".
The administration declined to provide further information on why the talks had been delayed.
Previous Developments
Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a day before hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Various sources indicated his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with sources indicating the president had urged him to cede extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.
However, on this week Trump supported a peace initiative backed by Kyiv and EU officials to halt the conflict on the present positions.
"Freeze the lines in its current state," he remarked.
Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against halting the current line of contact.
The Russian government was solely focused on "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, indicating that pausing conflict would merely represent a temporary ceasefire.
Political Perspectives
The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities required resolution, Lavrov emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of maximalist demands that involve the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.
The Ukrainian president commented talks regarding the current lines were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.
He additionally stated the only topic that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine.
Military Considerations
Putin's unplanned conversation with Trump last Thursday came ahead of rumors that the US was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike inside Russia.
The Ukrainian leader stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The talk about the missiles had emerged as a "strong investment" in negotiations", he added.