🔗 Share this article

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

Recently Trump indicated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Hungary's capital soon to address the Ukraine conflict.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House stated the two had had a "productive" discussion and that a meeting was no longer "necessary".

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

Background Context

The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit via telephone with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Various sources claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders claiming Trump had pressured him to give up extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Russia.

Yet, on this week Trump supported a peace initiative endorsed by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the war on the present positions.

"Let it be cut the way it is," he remarked.

Moscow has frequently resisted against pausing the existing front lines.

The Russian government was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister stated on Tuesday, suggesting that pausing conflict would simply constitute a temporary ceasefire.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the hostilities demanded attention, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of comprehensive conditions that include the recognition of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.

Zelensky said talks regarding the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to evade negotiations.

He also said the only topic that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the provision of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday came ahead of rumors that the US was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had proven to be a "strong investment" in diplomacy", he commented.