🔗 Share this article

There are "no preparations" for US President President Trump to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "anytime soon", a administration representative has announced.

Last Thursday Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to address the Ukraine conflict.

A planning session between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the administration said the two had had a "productive" call and that a face-to-face session was not "required".

The White House withheld any more details on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.

Previous Developments

The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting over the phone with the Russian leader, a day before meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Various sources indicated his meeting with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with sources suggesting the president had urged him to give up significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Yet, on this week Trump embraced a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the conflict on the present positions.

"Freeze the lines in its current state," he said.

Moscow has frequently resisted against pausing the current line of contact.

Moscow was only interested in "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister commented on Tuesday, suggesting that halting hostilities would only amount to a brief pause.

Diplomatic Positions

The "root causes" of the hostilities demanded attention, Lavrov stated, using Russian diplomatic language for a range of maximalist demands that encompass the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its European partners.

The Ukrainian president commented talks regarding the battle positions were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday preceded rumors that the United States was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit deep into Russia.

Zelensky said it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the missiles had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in international relations", he commented.