Plans for Putin-Trump Talks Postponed Days After Hungarian Capital Negotiations Suggested
There are "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has announced.
Last Thursday the US president stated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to address the war in Ukraine.
A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was planned for recently - but the White House stated the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "required".
The administration withheld any more details on why the talks had been postponed.
Earlier Events
The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Certain accounts claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with sources claiming the president had urged him to cede large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Russia.
However, on Monday the American president endorsed a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and European leaders to halt the hostilities on the existing battle lines.
"Let it be cut the way it is," he remarked.
Russia has frequently resisted against halting the current line of contact.
The Russian government was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said on Tuesday, suggesting that freezing the front line would merely represent a short-term truce.
Negotiating Stances
The "root causes" of the conflict needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat stated, using Moscow's terminology for a range 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 Kyiv and its EU supporters.
The Ukrainian president commented talks regarding the battle positions were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.
He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the provision of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.
Strategic Factors
Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader recently preceded reports that the US was planning to provide extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike deep into Russia.
The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he commented.