🔗 Share this article Preparations for Putin-Trump Summit Shelved Shortly Following Hungarian Capital Negotiations Proposed Trump and Putin last met in August in the northern US state and the US president had indicated additional talks would occur in Budapest There are "no preparations" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has declared. Recently Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital within two weeks to discuss the war in Ukraine. A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the administration stated the two had had a "constructive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was no longer "needed". The White House did not share additional specifics on why the talks had been delayed. Previous Developments The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. Various sources suggested his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with sources claiming the president had pressured him to relinquish significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Moscow. Yet, on Monday the American president supported a peace initiative endorsed by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze the war on the present positions. "Let it be cut where it stands," he remarked. Russia has consistently objected against pausing the present battle positions. Moscow was exclusively seeking "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, indicating that freezing the front line would only amount to a temporary ceasefire. Political Perspectives The "root causes" of the war needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat said, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of comprehensive conditions that involve the recognition of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of the country – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies. The Ukrainian president commented discussions about the battle positions were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to evade negotiations. He further commented the sole subject that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of extended-range arms to Ukraine. Weapons Discussions The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday occurred before rumors that the United States was planning to provide extended-range cruise missiles to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike inside Russia. The Ukrainian leader stated it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had turned out to be a "significant input" in negotiations", he added.