Plans for Putin-Trump Talks Delayed Days After Budapest Talks Proposed

There are "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has stated.

Recently Trump stated he and the Russian president would meet in Budapest within two weeks to discuss the ongoing hostilities.

A planning session between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the administration said the two had had a "positive" discussion and that a meeting was not "required".

The White House declined to provide any more details on why the talks had been delayed.

Earlier Events

Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Certain accounts indicated his meeting with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with sources indicating the president had pushed him to relinquish extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Moscow.

However, on this week the American president supported a peace initiative endorsed by Kyiv and EU officials to halt the hostilities on the present positions.

"Leave it as is where it stands," he remarked.

Moscow has frequently resisted against halting the present battle positions.

The Russian government was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, implying that halting hostilities would simply constitute a short-term truce.

Diplomatic Positions

The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities demanded attention, Lavrov stated, using Moscow's terminology for a set of comprehensive conditions that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a non-starter for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president commented conversations concerning the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to avoid diplomacy.

He further commented the only topic that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.

Military Considerations

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump last Thursday preceded rumors that the United States was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader said it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had emerged as a "significant input" in diplomacy", he remarked.