Preparations for Putin-Trump Summit Postponed Days Following Hungarian Capital Negotiations Proposed
There are "no plans" for US President Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has declared.
This past week Trump stated he and the Russian president would hold talks in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to discuss the Ukraine conflict.
A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the administration said the two had had a "positive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".
The White House withheld additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.
Earlier Events
The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Some reports suggested his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with insiders indicating the president had pushed him to give up significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia.
However, on Monday Trump embraced a peace initiative supported by Kyiv and EU officials to halt the conflict on the current front line.
"Freeze the lines where it stands," he said.
Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against pausing the present battle positions.
Moscow was only interested in "enduring stability", Lavrov stated on Tuesday, suggesting that pausing conflict would simply constitute a temporary ceasefire.
Diplomatic Positions
The "root causes" of the hostilities demanded attention, Lavrov stated, using Moscow's terminology for a set of extensive requirements that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.
Zelensky said talks regarding the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to evade negotiations.
He additionally stated the only topic that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the delivery of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.
Military Considerations
The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday came ahead of rumors that the US was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike Russian territory.
The Ukrainian leader stated it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had emerged as a "significant input" in international relations", he commented.