Plans for Putin-Trump Summit Shelved Days After Budapest Talks Suggested

There are "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russia's Vladimir Putin "anytime soon", a administration representative has announced.

Recently the US president indicated he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Budapest in the coming fortnight to examine the ongoing hostilities.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "necessary".

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

Background Context

The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Certain accounts indicated his meeting with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with sources suggesting the president had urged him to give up large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia.

However, on Monday Trump supported a peace initiative backed by Kyiv and European leaders to halt the war on the existing battle lines.

"Freeze the lines the way it is," he said.

Russia has consistently objected against freezing the current line of contact.

The Russian government was solely focused on "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister stated on this week, indicating that halting hostilities would merely represent a temporary ceasefire.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the conflict required resolution, the Russian diplomat stated, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of maximalist demands that involve the recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president stated conversations concerning the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.

He additionally stated the sole subject that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's unplanned conversation with the US leader last Thursday preceded rumors that the United States was planning to provide distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "strong investment" in international relations", he added.