🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has declared.

Last Thursday the US president said he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to discuss the war in Ukraine.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the administration said the two had had a "constructive" discussion and that a meeting was no longer "necessary".

The White House did not share further information on why the talks had been delayed.

Background Context

Trump had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Some reports claimed his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders claiming the president had pushed him to give up extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a agreement with Russia.

Nevertheless, on this week the American president embraced a ceasefire proposal supported by Kyiv and EU officials to halt the war on the existing battle lines.

"Let it be cut in its current state," he said.

Russia has frequently resisted against halting the current line of contact.

The Russian government was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister commented on Tuesday, implying that freezing the front line would simply constitute a short-term truce.

Diplomatic Positions

The "root causes" of the hostilities needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a series of comprehensive conditions that encompass the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president said discussions about the front line were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He additionally stated the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's unscheduled call with the US leader recently preceded rumors that the United States was planning to provide extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike deep into Russia.

The Ukrainian leader said it was the weapons consideration that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The discussion regarding the missiles had emerged as a "significant input" in international relations", he commented.