Arrangements for Trump-Putin Summit Postponed Days After Hungarian Capital Negotiations Suggested
There are "no arrangements" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russian President Putin "in the immediate future", a administration representative has stated.
Recently the US president said he and the Russian president would meet in Hungary's capital within two weeks to examine the ongoing hostilities.
A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the White House stated the two had had a "positive" call and that a meeting was no longer "required".
The administration declined to provide further information on why the talks had been postponed.
Previous Developments
Trump had discussed a Hungarian meeting via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Certain accounts indicated his talks with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders suggesting Trump had pressured him to relinquish extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia.
Nevertheless, on this week Trump endorsed a peace initiative backed by Ukraine and European leaders to halt the war on the present positions.
"Leave it as is in its current state," he remarked.
Russia has consistently objected against halting the existing front lines.
Moscow was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Lavrov said on Tuesday, suggesting that freezing the front line would only amount to a temporary ceasefire.
Political Perspectives
The "root causes" of the conflict needed to be addressed, Lavrov emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of maximalist demands that involve the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.
The Ukrainian president stated discussions about the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to avoid diplomacy.
He also said the only topic that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the provision of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.
Military Considerations
Putin's unplanned conversation with Trump recently came ahead of reports that the United States was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could potentially strike Russian territory.
Zelensky said it was the missile discussion that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the missiles had emerged as a "significant input" in negotiations", he remarked.