Arrangements for Putin-Trump Summit Shelved Shortly Following Budapest Talks Announced
There are "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared.
Recently Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest soon to examine the Ukraine conflict.
A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was planned for this week - but the White House said the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a meeting was no longer "needed".
The administration declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.
Previous Developments
The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting via telephone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Certain accounts claimed his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with sources indicating Trump had urged him to cede significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.
However, on Monday the American president supported a truce plan supported by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze the war on the present positions.
"Leave it as is in its current state," he stated.
Russia has frequently resisted against freezing the existing front lines.
Moscow was solely focused on "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister stated on Tuesday, suggesting that pausing conflict would simply constitute a short-term truce.
Diplomatic Positions
The "underlying reasons" of the war needed to be addressed, Lavrov emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of comprehensive conditions that include the recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of the country – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies.
The Ukrainian president stated talks regarding the battle positions were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to prevent dialogue.
He further commented the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the supply of extended-range arms to Ukraine.
Weapons Discussions
The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday preceded speculation that the United States was considering delivering long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.
Zelensky stated it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had turned out to be a "strong investment" in negotiations", he remarked.