🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no arrangements" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has declared.

This past week Trump indicated he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Budapest in the coming fortnight to discuss the Ukraine conflict.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House clarified the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a meeting was not "necessary".

The White House declined to provide additional specifics on why the talks had been postponed.

Previous Developments

Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting via telephone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Certain accounts suggested his talks with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with sources claiming Trump had urged him to relinquish significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Moscow.

However, on Monday Trump supported a ceasefire proposal supported by Kyiv and EU officials to pause the hostilities on the present positions.

"Let it be cut the way it is," he said.

Moscow has frequently resisted against pausing the present battle positions.

The Russian government was solely focused on "enduring stability", Lavrov said on Tuesday, indicating that halting hostilities would merely represent a short-term truce.

Diplomatic Positions

The "fundamental issues" of the conflict required resolution, Lavrov stated, using Russian diplomatic language for a set of maximalist demands that involve the recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its Western allies.

Zelensky said talks regarding the battle positions were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue.

He further commented the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump last Thursday occurred before rumors that the US was planning to provide distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could theoretically target deep into Russia.

Zelensky said it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to enter into dialogue. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in international relations", he added.