🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a administration representative has declared.

Recently Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest in the coming fortnight to examine the Ukraine conflict.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House said the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

The White House declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.

Background Context

The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Some reports suggested his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with sources claiming the president had pressured him to give up large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Moscow.

Nevertheless, on Monday the American president supported a ceasefire proposal supported by Ukraine and EU officials to freeze the conflict on the present positions.

"Leave it as is in its current state," he remarked.

Russia has consistently objected against pausing the existing front lines.

The Russian government was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov stated on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would only amount to a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the conflict demanded attention, the Russian diplomat stated, using Moscow's terminology for a range of extensive requirements that encompass the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

Zelensky stated conversations concerning the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue.

He further commented the only topic that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the provision of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader recently came ahead of reports that the United States was considering delivering extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader said it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had emerged as a "strong investment" in diplomacy", he added.