Arrangements for Putin-Trump Summit Shelved Shortly After Hungarian Capital Talks Announced
There are "no plans" for US President President Trump to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has stated.
This past week Trump indicated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to address the ongoing hostilities.
A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the White House stated the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a meeting was not "necessary".
The administration declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.
Previous Developments
Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a day before hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Certain accounts suggested his talks with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders suggesting the president had pressured him to give up large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Russia.
However, on this week the American president endorsed a ceasefire proposal backed by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the hostilities on the present positions.
"Leave it as is where it stands," he stated.
Russia has frequently resisted against pausing the existing front lines.
Moscow was only interested in "enduring stability", Lavrov commented on this week, indicating that halting hostilities would merely represent a temporary ceasefire.
Diplomatic Positions
The "root causes" of the hostilities needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat said, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of comprehensive conditions that encompass the recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its European partners.
The Ukrainian president stated talks regarding the current lines were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.
He additionally stated the sole subject that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the provision of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.
Military Considerations
Putin's unplanned conversation with Trump last Thursday preceded rumors that the United States was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.
The Ukrainian leader stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in international relations", he added.