🔗 Share this article

Currently exist "no preparations" for US President President Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has stated.

This past week Trump stated he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Hungary's capital soon to address the war in Ukraine.

A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House stated the two had had a "constructive" call and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

The White House withheld additional specifics on why the talks had been put on hold.

Background Context

The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting during a call with the Russian leader, a day before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Certain accounts indicated his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with insiders suggesting the president had urged him to cede large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia.

Yet, on this week the American president endorsed a ceasefire proposal backed by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze the conflict on the current front line.

"Freeze the lines in its current state," he remarked.

Russia has frequently resisted against freezing the current line of contact.

The Russian government was only interested in "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on this week, implying that freezing the front line would merely represent a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the war demanded attention, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Kremlin shorthand for a range of maximalist demands that encompass the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a non-starter for Ukraine and its European partners.

Zelensky commented discussions about the battle positions were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to avoid diplomacy.

He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's unscheduled call with the US leader last Thursday occurred before rumors that the United States was planning to provide distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit Russian territory.

Zelensky stated it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had proven to be a "significant input" in negotiations", he added.