🔗 Share this article

There are "no preparations" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a White House official has stated.

Recently the US president said he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Hungary's capital soon to address the war in Ukraine.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the White House said the two had had a "productive" call and that a meeting was not "needed".

The White House declined to provide further information on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.

Earlier Events

Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Certain accounts indicated his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders claiming Trump had urged him to cede large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Moscow.

However, on this week Trump endorsed a peace initiative endorsed by Ukraine and EU officials to freeze the war on the present positions.

"Let it be cut where it stands," he stated.

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

The Russian government was only interested in "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister stated on Tuesday, suggesting that freezing the front line would only amount to a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the war required resolution, the Russian diplomat stated, using Kremlin shorthand for a series of comprehensive conditions that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a non-starter for Kyiv and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president commented conversations concerning the current lines were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to evade negotiations.

He further commented the only topic that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the provision of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader last Thursday came ahead of rumors that the US was planning to provide distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could possibly hit Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to engage in discussion. The talk about the missiles had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in diplomacy", he remarked.