🔗 Share this article Arrangements for Putin-Trump Summit Delayed Days After Budapest Talks Announced Putin and Trump previously convened in late summer in Alaska and the American leader had said additional talks would take place in Budapest Currently exist "no preparations" for American leader President Trump to meet Russian President Putin "in the near term", a White House official has announced. Last Thursday the US president indicated he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to discuss the Ukraine conflict. A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the administration said the two had had a "positive" call and that a meeting was not "needed". The White House did not share further information on why the talks had been postponed. Previous Developments Trump had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office. Various sources suggested his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders suggesting the president had pushed him to relinquish significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Russia. Yet, on this week the American president embraced a peace initiative endorsed by Kyiv and European leaders to halt the hostilities on the present positions. "Let it be cut in its current state," he stated. Moscow has consistently objected against freezing the current line of contact. The Russian government was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister stated on this week, implying that pausing conflict would merely represent a short-term truce. Political Perspectives The "underlying reasons" of the war needed to be addressed, Lavrov stated, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of comprehensive conditions that encompass the recognition of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies. Zelensky said talks regarding the battle positions were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue. He also said the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military. Military Considerations The Russian president's unplanned conversation with the US leader last Thursday preceded speculation that the US was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike Russian territory. The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had pressured the Kremlin to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had emerged as a "strong investment" in international relations", he added.