Plans for Putin-Trump Talks Shelved Days After Hungarian Capital Negotiations Announced

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

Recently Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to address the ongoing hostilities.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House clarified the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "necessary".

The White House declined to provide further information on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.

Previous Developments

Trump had discussed a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a just prior to meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Certain accounts claimed his meeting with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders indicating the president had urged him to relinquish large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Russia.

Yet, on this week the American president endorsed a truce plan supported by Kyiv and EU officials to freeze the war on the existing battle lines.

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

Russia has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the existing front lines.

Moscow was only interested in "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister commented on Tuesday, suggesting that halting hostilities would simply constitute a short-term truce.

Diplomatic Positions

The "fundamental issues" of the conflict required resolution, Lavrov emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a set of comprehensive conditions that involve the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president commented discussions about the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to avoid diplomacy.

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

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's unscheduled call with the US leader last Thursday came ahead of reports that the US was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike inside Russia.

Zelensky said it was the missile discussion that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the missiles had turned out to be a "significant input" in negotiations", he added.