Arrangements for Putin-Trump Meeting Delayed Shortly After Hungarian Capital Talks Announced
Currently exist "no preparations" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russian President Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has declared.
Recently the US president indicated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest within two weeks to address the war in Ukraine.
A planning session between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the White House stated the two had had a "positive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was not "needed".
The White House withheld further information on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.
Previous Developments
Trump had discussed a Budapest summit over the phone with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.
Various sources claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with sources suggesting Trump had urged him to relinquish extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Moscow.
Nevertheless, on this week Trump embraced a ceasefire proposal backed by Ukraine and EU officials to pause the hostilities on the present positions.
"Freeze the lines where it stands," he said.
Moscow has frequently resisted against halting the current line of contact.
Moscow was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister commented on Tuesday, suggesting that pausing conflict would only amount to a brief pause.
Negotiating Stances
The "underlying reasons" of the conflict required resolution, Lavrov emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a set of comprehensive conditions that encompass the acknowledgment of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of Ukraine β a non-starter for Kyiv and its European partners.
Zelensky commented discussions about the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to avoid diplomacy.
He also said the only topic that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the supply of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.
Military Considerations
The Russian president's unplanned conversation with Trump recently occurred before speculation that the United States was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target deep into Russia.
Zelensky said it was the weapons consideration that had forced Russia to enter into dialogue. The talk about the missiles had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he remarked.