🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has stated.

Last Thursday Trump indicated he and the Russian president would meet in Hungary's capital within two weeks to address the ongoing hostilities.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was planned for recently - but the administration clarified the two had had a "constructive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was no longer "necessary".

The White House declined to provide any more details on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.

Previous Developments

The US president had discussed a Budapest summit during a call with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Various sources claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with sources suggesting Trump had urged him to cede large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Yet, on this week the American president embraced a peace initiative backed by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the hostilities on the present positions.

"Freeze the lines where it stands," he stated.

Russia has frequently resisted against freezing the existing front lines.

Moscow was exclusively seeking "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister said on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would only amount to a temporary ceasefire.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the conflict required resolution, the Russian diplomat said, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of maximalist demands that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a non-starter for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president said talks regarding the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue.

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

Strategic Factors

Putin's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday preceded speculation that the United States was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had emerged as a "significant input" in international relations", he remarked.