🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "anytime soon", a administration representative has announced.

Recently the US president said he and the Russian president would meet in Budapest soon to discuss the ongoing hostilities.

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

The White House did not share additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.

Earlier Events

Trump had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Some reports claimed his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders claiming Trump had pressured him to cede extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Moscow.

Yet, on this week the American president supported a truce plan supported by Ukraine and EU officials to pause the conflict on the present positions.

"Leave it as is where it stands," he said.

Moscow has frequently resisted against halting the existing front lines.

Moscow was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Lavrov stated on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would merely represent a short-term truce.

Negotiating Stances

The "root causes" of the conflict needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of maximalist demands that include the recognition of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president said talks regarding the front line were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Russia was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue.

He also said the only topic that could cause Russia to "pay attention" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.

Military Considerations

Putin's spontaneous discussion with Trump last Thursday came ahead of speculation that the US was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.

Zelensky said it was the Tomahawks issue that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the missiles had turned out to be a "strong investment" in negotiations", he commented.