Preparations for Putin-Trump Meeting Delayed Shortly Following Budapest Talks Suggested
Currently exist "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russia's Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has announced.
Last Thursday the US president stated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to address the Ukraine conflict.
A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House clarified the two had had a "positive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".
The administration did not share any more details on why the talks had been put on hold.
Earlier Events
The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.
Some reports claimed his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with those familiar claiming Trump had pushed him to relinquish extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Moscow.
Nevertheless, on this week Trump embraced a peace initiative supported by Kyiv and EU officials to freeze the war on the current front line.
"Leave it as is the way it is," he said.
Moscow has consistently objected against freezing the existing front lines.
Moscow was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov commented on this week, implying that halting hostilities would simply constitute a brief pause.
Political Perspectives
The "underlying reasons" of the conflict required resolution, the Russian diplomat said, using Russian diplomatic language for a range of extensive requirements that include the acknowledgment of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.
The Ukrainian president said discussions about the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to avoid diplomacy.
He also said the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the delivery of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.
Military Considerations
Putin's unscheduled call with the US leader last Thursday preceded speculation that the US was planning to provide distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could potentially strike inside Russia.
The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The discussion regarding the missiles had emerged as a "strong investment" in negotiations", he remarked.