🔗 Share this article Plans for Trump-Putin Talks Delayed Days Following Budapest Negotiations Suggested Trump and Putin last met in August in the northern US state and the US president had stated additional discussions would take place in the Hungarian capital There are "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has declared. This past week Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Hungary's capital soon to examine the war in Ukraine. A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for this week - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" call and that a meeting was no longer "needed". The White House did not share any more details on why the talks had been put on hold. 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 White House. Certain accounts suggested his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with sources suggesting Trump had urged him to cede large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Russia. However, on this week the American president embraced a truce plan backed by Kyiv and European leaders to pause the conflict on the existing battle lines. "Let it be cut where it stands," he said. Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the existing front lines. Moscow was solely focused on "permanent resolution", Lavrov said on Tuesday, suggesting that freezing the front line would simply constitute a temporary ceasefire. Political Perspectives The "root causes" of the hostilities demanded attention, Lavrov stated, using Moscow's terminology for a series of maximalist demands that involve the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its Western allies. The Ukrainian president commented discussions about the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations. He further commented the sole subject that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine. Strategic Factors The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday preceded reports that the US was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could possibly hit Russian territory. The Ukrainian leader stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the missiles had proven to be a "strong investment" in diplomacy", he added.