Preparations for Trump-Putin Meeting Shelved Shortly After Hungarian Capital Negotiations Announced
There are "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russia's Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has stated.
This past week Trump stated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest in the coming fortnight to discuss the ongoing hostilities.
A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the administration stated the two had had a "positive" call and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".
The administration did not share any more details on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.
Previous Developments
Trump had discussed a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a day before hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Various sources claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with those familiar indicating Trump had pressured him to give up extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Russia.
Nevertheless, on Monday the American president supported a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and European leaders to pause the war on the current front line.
"Let it be cut the way it is," he remarked.
Russia has consistently objected against freezing the current line of contact.
Moscow was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said on Tuesday, suggesting that freezing the front line would only amount to a short-term truce.
Negotiating Stances
The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities demanded attention, Lavrov emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a set of maximalist demands that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of the country – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its EU supporters.
Zelensky said conversations concerning the front line were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to evade negotiations.
He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.
Strategic Factors
Putin's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently preceded reports that the US was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.
Zelensky stated it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the missiles had proven to be a "valuable contribution" in international relations", he added.