Plans for Trump-Putin Summit Shelved Shortly After Hungarian Capital Talks Suggested
Currently exist "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "in the immediate future", a administration representative has announced.
This past week the US president indicated he and the Russian president would hold talks in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to address the ongoing hostilities.
A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the White House said the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a meeting was not "necessary".
The administration withheld any more details on why the talks had been put on hold.
Background Context
The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting via telephone with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.
Certain accounts indicated his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with sources claiming Trump had urged him to give up large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Moscow.
Yet, on this week the American president endorsed a ceasefire proposal supported by Kyiv and European leaders to pause the hostilities on the current front line.
"Freeze the lines where it stands," he remarked.
Russia has consistently objected against freezing the existing front lines.
Moscow was only interested in "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister commented on Tuesday, indicating that pausing conflict would only amount to a brief pause.
Diplomatic Positions
The "root causes" of the war demanded attention, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a range of extensive requirements that encompass the acknowledgment of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies.
Zelensky said discussions about the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to prevent dialogue.
He additionally stated the sole subject that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to Ukraine.
Strategic Factors
Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader last Thursday occurred before speculation that the US was considering delivering long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.
The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to enter into dialogue. The conversation concerning the missiles had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in diplomacy", he remarked.