Arrangements for Putin-Trump Meeting Shelved Days Following Hungarian Capital Negotiations Proposed
Currently exist "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a administration representative has declared.
Last Thursday Trump said he and the Russian president would meet in Hungary's capital soon to examine the war in Ukraine.
A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House stated the two had had a "positive" call and that a face-to-face session was not "needed".
The White House did not share additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.
Previous Developments
The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting via telephone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Various sources suggested his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with those familiar indicating Trump had pushed him to relinquish extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Russia.
However, on Monday the American president supported a peace initiative backed by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze the conflict on the current front line.
"Let it be cut where it stands," he said.
Russia has repeatedly pushed back against pausing the existing front lines.
The Russian government was solely focused on "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on this week, suggesting that halting hostilities would simply constitute a brief pause.
Diplomatic Positions
The "fundamental issues" of the war required resolution, Lavrov emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a set of maximalist demands that include the acknowledgment of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a non-starter for Ukraine and its Western allies.
Zelensky commented conversations concerning the battle positions were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue.
He further commented the only topic that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.
Military Considerations
The Russian president's unscheduled call with the US leader last Thursday came ahead of speculation that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could possibly hit inside Russia.
The Ukrainian leader stated it was the weapons consideration that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he added.