Plans for Trump-Putin Meeting Shelved Days Following Hungarian Capital Talks Announced

There are "no preparations" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russian President Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared.

Recently the US president stated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital within two weeks to discuss the ongoing hostilities.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for this week - but the administration stated the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "required".

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

Previous Developments

The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a just prior to meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports suggested his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders indicating the president had pressured him to give up significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a agreement with Russia.

However, on this week the American president endorsed a truce plan backed by Kyiv and EU officials to pause the hostilities on the existing battle lines.

"Let it be cut where it stands," he stated.

Russia has frequently resisted against pausing the present battle positions.

Moscow was exclusively seeking "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov commented on this week, implying that pausing conflict would simply constitute a short-term truce.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the conflict needed to be addressed, Lavrov emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a set of maximalist demands that include the acceptance of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of the country – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president said discussions about the battle positions were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.

He also said the only topic that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unscheduled call with Trump recently came ahead of reports that the US was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to enter into dialogue. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had turned out to be a "strong investment" in international relations", he added.