🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no preparations" for US President Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a administration representative has stated.

Recently Trump said he and the Russian president would meet in Budapest within two weeks to address the Ukraine conflict.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for recently - but the White House clarified the two had had a "constructive" call and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

The White House did not share additional specifics on why the talks had been delayed.

Earlier Events

Trump had discussed a Hungarian meeting via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Some reports indicated his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with sources claiming Trump had urged him to relinquish extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Moscow.

Yet, on Monday Trump embraced a peace initiative backed by Kyiv and EU officials to halt the war on the present positions.

"Let it be cut the way it is," he remarked.

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

Moscow was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov commented on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would merely represent a short-term truce.

Diplomatic Positions

The "root causes" of the war needed to be addressed, Lavrov stated, using Moscow's terminology for a series of maximalist demands that encompass the recognition of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

Zelensky commented conversations concerning the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He also said the only topic that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the provision of long-range weapons to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unscheduled call with Trump last Thursday came ahead of speculation that the US was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target Russian territory.

Zelensky said it was the weapons consideration that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the missiles had turned out to be a "strong investment" in negotiations", he commented.