Preparations for Putin-Trump Summit Postponed Days After Budapest Talks Proposed
Currently exist "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russia's Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has declared.
This past week Trump indicated he and the Kremlin leader would meet 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 Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a meeting was not "necessary".
The White House declined to provide any more details on why the talks had been delayed.
Background Context
The US president had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Certain accounts indicated his talks with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with those familiar claiming Trump had pushed him to relinquish large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Moscow.
Yet, on Monday the American president supported a truce plan supported by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the conflict on the present positions.
"Leave it as is in its current state," he stated.
Russia has repeatedly pushed back against halting the existing front lines.
The Russian government was only interested in "enduring stability", Lavrov commented on this week, indicating that halting hostilities would only amount to a brief pause.
Political Perspectives
The "fundamental issues" of the war needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Kremlin shorthand for a range of comprehensive conditions that encompass the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its European partners.
Zelensky stated talks regarding the battle positions were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to prevent dialogue.
He also said the sole subject that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.
Military Considerations
Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader recently came ahead of speculation that the United States was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target inside Russia.
The Ukrainian leader said it was the missile discussion that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had proven to be a "significant input" in negotiations", he remarked.