🔗 Share this article

There are "no plans" for US President President Trump to meet Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has stated.

This past week Trump stated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest soon to address the ongoing hostilities.

A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House said the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a meeting was not "needed".

The administration withheld any more details on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.

Earlier Events

Trump had discussed a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Various sources indicated his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with those familiar suggesting the president had pushed him to relinquish significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Yet, on Monday the American president endorsed a peace initiative supported by Kyiv and European leaders to pause the hostilities on the present positions.

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

Moscow has consistently objected against halting the current line of contact.

Moscow was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov commented on Tuesday, implying that pausing conflict would only amount to a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the war required resolution, the Russian diplomat stated, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of extensive requirements that involve the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a non-starter for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

Zelensky commented talks regarding the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "doing everything" 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 the Ukrainian military.

Military Considerations

The Russian president's unscheduled call with the US leader recently occurred before rumors that the United States was considering delivering long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike deep into Russia.

Zelensky asserted it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had emerged as a "strong investment" in negotiations", he commented.