Plans for Trump-Putin Talks Shelved Days After Hungarian Capital Talks Suggested
There are "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a White House official has stated.
Recently the US president stated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest in the coming fortnight to examine the war in Ukraine.
A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the administration said the two had had a "constructive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was not "needed".
The White House did not share further information on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.
Earlier Events
The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.
Certain accounts claimed his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders claiming the president had urged him to cede large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Russia.
Yet, on Monday Trump endorsed a ceasefire proposal endorsed by Ukraine and EU officials to pause the war on the existing battle lines.
"Let it be cut where it stands," he stated.
Russia has frequently resisted against halting the existing front lines.
The Russian government was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov stated on this week, indicating that pausing conflict would simply constitute a brief pause.
Negotiating Stances
The "root causes" of the conflict demanded attention, the Russian diplomat stated, using Moscow's terminology for a series of maximalist demands that include the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its Western allies.
Zelensky said discussions about the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.
He additionally stated the only topic that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the provision of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.
Military Considerations
Putin's spontaneous discussion with the US leader recently occurred before speculation that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike deep into Russia.
The Ukrainian leader stated it was the missile discussion that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he added.