🔗 Share this article

There are "no preparations" for US President President Trump to meet Russia's Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has stated.

This past week Trump indicated he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Budapest within two weeks to examine the Ukraine conflict.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the administration clarified the two had had a "positive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was not "required".

The administration did not share any more details on why the talks had been put on hold.

Earlier Events

The US president had discussed a Budapest summit over the phone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports indicated his talks with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with those familiar claiming the president had pushed him to relinquish extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia.

Yet, on Monday the American president supported a peace initiative endorsed by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the conflict on the present positions.

"Freeze the lines in its current state," he stated.

Russia has frequently resisted against pausing the present battle positions.

Moscow was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister stated on Tuesday, suggesting that freezing the front line would only amount to a short-term truce.

Negotiating Stances

The "underlying reasons" of the hostilities demanded attention, Lavrov emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a set of extensive requirements that include the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

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

He additionally stated the only topic that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's unscheduled call with Trump recently came ahead of reports that the United States was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he remarked.