🔗 Share this article Arrangements for Putin-Trump Meeting Postponed Shortly After Budapest Negotiations Suggested Putin and Trump last met in August in the northern US state and the American leader had stated additional discussions would occur in Budapest There are "no preparations" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the near term", a White House official has announced. This past week the US president stated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to examine the war in Ukraine. A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the administration stated the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required". The White House did not share any more details on why the talks had been postponed. Previous Developments The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit over the phone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. Various sources claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders claiming the president had pressured him to relinquish large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a agreement with Russia. Yet, on this week Trump supported a ceasefire proposal supported by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the hostilities on the current front line. "Freeze the lines where it stands," he stated. Russia has consistently objected against pausing the current line of contact. Moscow was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov stated on this week, implying that pausing conflict would simply constitute a short-term truce. Political Perspectives The "fundamental issues" of the war required resolution, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of maximalist demands that involve the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies. Zelensky said talks regarding the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to evade negotiations. He further commented the sole subject that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine. Military Considerations Putin's unscheduled call with Trump recently preceded reports that the US was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could potentially strike Russian territory. The Ukrainian leader said it was the missile discussion that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had proven to be a "significant input" in international relations", he added.