🔗 Share this article Plans for Putin-Trump Summit Delayed Days After Budapest Talks Announced Trump and Putin previously convened in late summer in the northern US state and the US president had said additional talks would occur in Budapest There are "no preparations" for US President President Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has announced. Recently the US president stated he and the Russian president would meet in Budapest soon to discuss the war in Ukraine. A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the White House clarified the two had had a "constructive" discussion and that a meeting was no longer "necessary". The administration declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been postponed. Previous Developments The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office. Certain accounts indicated his meeting with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with sources indicating the president had urged him to give up large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a agreement with Moscow. Yet, on Monday the American president embraced a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the war on the existing battle lines. "Leave it as is in its current state," he remarked. Moscow has consistently objected against pausing the existing front lines. The Russian government was exclusively seeking "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister said on this week, implying that halting hostilities would simply constitute a short-term truce. Negotiating Stances The "root causes" of the hostilities needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat stated, using Russian diplomatic language for a set of extensive requirements that involve the acceptance of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a non-starter for Ukraine and its EU supporters. The Ukrainian president commented conversations concerning the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue. He also said the sole subject that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military. Weapons Discussions The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently came ahead of speculation that the US was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target inside Russia. The Ukrainian leader stated it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The conversation concerning the missiles had proven to be a "significant input" in international relations", he commented.