Arrangements for Trump-Putin Summit Delayed Days Following Hungarian Capital Negotiations Announced
There are "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has announced.
Recently the US president said he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Hungary's capital within two weeks to examine the Ukraine conflict.
A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was planned for this week - but the White House stated the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "needed".
The administration withheld further information on why the talks had been delayed.
Earlier Events
Trump had discussed a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a day before meeting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Various sources suggested his meeting with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar claiming the president had urged him to relinquish extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.
Nevertheless, on this week Trump embraced a ceasefire proposal supported by Kyiv and EU officials to freeze the conflict on the current front line.
"Let it be cut in its current state," he stated.
Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against halting the existing front lines.
The Russian government was exclusively seeking "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister said on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would simply constitute a temporary ceasefire.
Political Perspectives
The "underlying reasons" of the war needed to be addressed, Lavrov said, using Kremlin shorthand for a series of maximalist demands that include the recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.
The Ukrainian president commented discussions about the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.
He also said the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the delivery of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.
Military Considerations
Putin's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently came ahead of rumors that the US was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike inside Russia.
The Ukrainian leader stated it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to enter into dialogue. The discussion regarding the missiles had turned out to be a "significant input" in negotiations", he commented.