🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no preparations" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russian President Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has declared.

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

A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the administration clarified the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a meeting was no longer "needed".

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

Earlier Events

The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting via telephone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Some reports claimed his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar claiming Trump had urged him to give up extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Moscow.

However, on this week the American president supported a truce plan supported by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the hostilities on the current front line.

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

Russia has consistently objected against freezing the present battle positions.

The Russian government was exclusively seeking "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister stated on this week, indicating that halting hostilities would merely represent a temporary ceasefire.

Negotiating Stances

The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities required resolution, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a set of extensive requirements that include the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.

The Ukrainian president stated conversations concerning the battle positions were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.

He additionally stated the sole subject that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

Putin's unscheduled call with Trump last Thursday came ahead of rumors that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit inside Russia.

Zelensky asserted it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the missiles had turned out to be a "strong investment" in negotiations", he commented.