Arrangements for Trump-Putin Meeting Shelved Days Following Hungarian Capital Negotiations Announced
Currently exist "no plans" for US President President Trump to meet Russian President Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has stated.
Recently the US president said he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Hungary's capital soon to examine the ongoing hostilities.
A planning session between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the White House stated the two had had a "productive" discussion and that a meeting was not "required".
The administration did not share additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.
Earlier Events
The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Various sources claimed his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with those familiar suggesting Trump had pressured him to give up large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Russia.
Nevertheless, on Monday Trump supported a ceasefire proposal supported by Ukraine and European leaders to halt the hostilities on the present positions.
"Freeze the lines in its current state," he remarked.
Moscow has consistently objected against halting the current line of contact.
The Russian government was solely focused on "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, suggesting that halting hostilities would simply constitute a brief pause.
Diplomatic Positions
The "root causes" of the war required resolution, Lavrov stated, using Moscow's terminology for a set of maximalist demands that involve the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.
Zelensky commented talks regarding the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to avoid diplomacy.
He also said the only topic that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.
Weapons Discussions
Putin's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently came ahead of speculation that the US was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike deep into Russia.
The Ukrainian leader said it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to enter into dialogue. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had proven to be a "strong investment" in international relations", he commented.