Arrangements for Putin-Trump Meeting Shelved Shortly After Budapest Negotiations Suggested
There are "no plans" for US President President Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "anytime soon", a administration representative has declared.
This past week Trump indicated he and the Russian president would hold talks in Hungary's capital within two weeks to address the ongoing hostilities.
A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was planned for recently - but the White House stated the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a meeting was no longer "required".
The White House declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.
Earlier Events
Trump had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.
Certain accounts indicated his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with those familiar claiming the president had urged him to relinquish significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Russia.
However, on this week Trump endorsed a ceasefire proposal backed by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze the hostilities on the existing battle lines.
"Freeze the lines where it stands," he said.
Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the present battle positions.
Moscow was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister stated on this week, indicating that halting hostilities would only amount to a temporary ceasefire.
Diplomatic Positions
The "fundamental issues" of the war demanded attention, Lavrov emphasized, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of maximalist demands that encompass the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.
Zelensky stated conversations concerning the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to evade negotiations.
He also said the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the provision of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.
Weapons Discussions
Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader recently preceded rumors that the US was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could possibly hit deep into Russia.
The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he remarked.