Preparations for Putin-Trump Talks Shelved Shortly Following Hungarian Capital Negotiations Proposed
Currently exist "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has stated.
Recently the US president stated he and the Russian president would hold talks in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to address the war in Ukraine.
A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for this week - but the White House stated the two had had a "productive" call and that a meeting was no longer "required".
The White House did not share further information on why the talks had been put on hold.
Earlier Events
Trump had discussed a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Certain accounts suggested his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar claiming Trump had pressured him to relinquish large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia.
Nevertheless, on Monday Trump supported a ceasefire proposal backed by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze the war on the present positions.
"Freeze the lines the way it is," he said.
Russia has repeatedly pushed back against pausing the present battle positions.
Moscow was only interested in "permanent resolution", Lavrov commented on Tuesday, indicating that halting hostilities would only amount to a brief pause.
Diplomatic Positions
The "fundamental issues" of the conflict needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat said, using Moscow's terminology for a range of comprehensive conditions that involve the acceptance of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of the country – a non-starter for Kyiv and its EU supporters.
Zelensky said talks regarding the front line were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue.
He also said the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.
Military Considerations
Putin's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday came ahead of reports that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target deep into Russia.
Zelensky stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to enter into dialogue. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in diplomacy", he added.