🔗 Share this article Arrangements for Trump-Putin Meeting Postponed Shortly After Budapest Negotiations Suggested Putin and Trump previously convened in August in Alaska and the American leader had said additional talks would take place in Budapest There are "no preparations" for US President President Trump to meet Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has stated. This past week Trump said he and the Russian president would hold talks in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to address the ongoing hostilities. A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for recently - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" call and that a face-to-face session was not "required". The White House withheld further information on why the talks had been put on hold. Previous Developments Trump had discussed a Budapest summit over the phone with the Russian leader, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. Some reports suggested his talks with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders indicating the president had urged him to give up large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Moscow. However, on this week Trump embraced a peace initiative backed by Ukraine and EU officials to freeze the war on the existing battle lines. "Freeze the lines where it stands," he remarked. Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the current line of contact. Moscow was only interested in "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on this week, indicating that halting hostilities would merely represent a brief pause. Political Perspectives The "underlying reasons" of the conflict demanded attention, the Russian diplomat stated, using Kremlin shorthand for a series of comprehensive conditions that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of the country – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its EU supporters. The Ukrainian president commented conversations concerning the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations. He further commented the sole subject that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military. Weapons Discussions Putin's unscheduled call with Trump recently occurred before reports that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike inside Russia. Zelensky stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had proven to be a "significant input" in negotiations", he added.