🔗 Share this article

There are "no preparations" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared.

Last Thursday Trump indicated he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital within two weeks to address the Ukraine conflict.

A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for this week - but the administration said 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 put on hold.

Earlier Events

Trump had discussed a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports claimed his talks with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with insiders claiming Trump had pressured him to cede significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Russia.

Yet, on Monday the American president endorsed a ceasefire proposal backed by Ukraine and European leaders to halt the conflict on the existing battle lines.

"Leave it as is the way it is," he said.

Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against halting the current line of contact.

The Russian government was only interested in "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister stated on this week, indicating that halting hostilities would simply constitute a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "fundamental issues" of the war demanded attention, the Russian diplomat stated, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of comprehensive conditions that involve the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a non-starter for Kyiv and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president said talks regarding the front line were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.

He additionally stated the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Military Considerations

Putin's spontaneous discussion with the US leader recently came ahead of reports that the US was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit inside Russia.

Zelensky asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had emerged as a "strong investment" in negotiations", he remarked.