🔗 Share this article Plans for Putin-Trump Summit Delayed Shortly After Budapest Negotiations Suggested Trump and Putin previously convened in late summer in the northern US state and the American leader had said further discussions would occur in the Hungarian capital Currently exist "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to meet Russia's Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared. Recently Trump stated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest soon to examine the ongoing hostilities. A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for this week - but the administration said the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a meeting was no longer "necessary". The administration withheld further information on the reason the negotiations had been delayed. Background Context Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House. Some reports suggested his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders suggesting the president had urged him to relinquish extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Russia. Nevertheless, on this week the American president supported a peace initiative supported by Kyiv and European leaders to halt the war on the existing battle lines. "Let it be cut where it stands," he remarked. Moscow has frequently resisted against freezing the present battle positions. The Russian government was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov commented on this week, indicating that freezing the front line would merely represent a short-term truce. Political Perspectives The "fundamental issues" of the conflict required resolution, Lavrov said, using Kremlin shorthand for a range of extensive requirements that involve the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its Western allies. Zelensky said discussions about the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue. He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the delivery of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military. Weapons Discussions The Russian president's unplanned conversation with the US leader last Thursday came ahead of reports that the United States was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could potentially strike Russian territory. The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to enter into dialogue. The conversation concerning the missiles had emerged as a "strong investment" in international relations", he remarked.