🔗 Share this article

There are "no arrangements" for US President President Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has announced.

Recently the US president said he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to address the war in Ukraine.

A planning session between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for recently - but the administration said the two had had a "positive" call and that a meeting was no longer "necessary".

The administration did not share additional specifics on why the talks had been delayed.

Previous Developments

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

Certain accounts claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with insiders claiming the president had urged him to relinquish large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Russia.

However, on Monday the American president supported a ceasefire proposal endorsed by Kyiv and EU officials to freeze the war on the existing battle lines.

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

Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against halting the current line of contact.

Moscow was solely focused on "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister commented on this week, indicating that halting hostilities would simply constitute a short-term truce.

Negotiating Stances

The "root causes" of the hostilities demanded attention, Lavrov emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a range of extensive requirements that encompass the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a non-starter for Ukraine and its European partners.

Zelensky said discussions about the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to evade negotiations.

He also said the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

Putin's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday occurred before speculation that the US was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit inside Russia.

Zelensky said it was the Tomahawks issue that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "significant input" in diplomacy", he added.