Preparations for Trump-Putin Meeting Postponed Shortly After Hungarian Capital Negotiations Announced

Currently exist "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a White House official has stated.

Last Thursday the US president said he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to address the Ukraine conflict.

A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the administration said the two had had a "positive" call and that a face-to-face session was not "required".

The administration did not share any more details on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.

Background Context

The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.

Various sources indicated his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with those familiar claiming the president had urged him to cede extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Russia.

Yet, on Monday the American president supported a truce plan supported by Kyiv and European leaders to pause the conflict on the current front line.

"Freeze the lines the way it is," he remarked.

Moscow has frequently resisted against freezing the existing front lines.

Moscow was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said on Tuesday, indicating that freezing the front line would simply constitute a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the war demanded attention, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a set of comprehensive conditions that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president said discussions about the battle positions were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue.

He further commented the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unplanned conversation with Trump recently preceded rumors that the US was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in international relations", he added.