Plans for Trump-Putin Summit Delayed Shortly After Budapest Talks Announced

Currently exist "no preparations" for American leader President Trump to meet Russia's Putin "in the near term", a White House official has announced.

This past week Trump indicated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest in the coming fortnight to address the war in Ukraine.

A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the administration clarified the two had had a "productive" discussion and that a meeting was no longer "required".

The White House did not share further information on why the talks had been postponed.

Previous Developments

The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit over the phone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Various sources suggested his talks with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders indicating the president had pressured him to cede significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Russia.

However, on Monday the American president supported a peace initiative supported by Kyiv and EU officials to freeze the hostilities on the existing battle lines.

"Freeze the lines where it stands," he stated.

Moscow has consistently objected against freezing the existing front lines.

Moscow was exclusively seeking "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister stated on this week, implying that halting hostilities would merely represent a short-term truce.

Negotiating Stances

The "root causes" of the conflict needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat said, using Russian diplomatic language for a set of maximalist demands that involve the recognition of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president said talks regarding the battle positions were the "start of negotiations" 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 delivery of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unscheduled call with the US leader last Thursday occurred before reports that the US was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could possibly hit inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the missiles had proven to be a "valuable contribution" in international relations", he commented.