🔗 Share this article

There are "no preparations" for American leader President Trump to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a White House official has stated.

This past week Trump said he and the Russian president would hold talks in Budapest soon to address the war in Ukraine.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" call and that a face-to-face session was no longer "necessary".

The White House withheld further information on why the talks had been delayed.

Background Context

The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit over the phone with the Russian leader, a day before hosting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Various sources suggested his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders suggesting Trump had urged him to cede significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Moscow.

However, on Monday Trump embraced a ceasefire proposal endorsed by Ukraine and European leaders to halt the war on the current front line.

"Freeze the lines in its current state," he remarked.

Moscow has frequently resisted against pausing the current line of contact.

The Russian government was solely focused on "enduring stability", Lavrov stated on this week, suggesting that halting hostilities would only amount to a short-term truce.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the hostilities needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a set of comprehensive conditions that include the acknowledgment of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of the country – a non-starter for Ukraine and its European partners.

Zelensky commented discussions about the front line were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to avoid diplomacy.

He further commented the only topic that could cause Russia to "pay attention" was that of the delivery of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump last Thursday came ahead of speculation that the US was planning to provide extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.

Zelensky asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had pressured the Kremlin to enter into dialogue. The talk about the weapons systems had turned out to be a "significant input" in diplomacy", he remarked.