🔗 Share this article Preparations for Trump-Putin Talks Postponed Shortly After Hungarian Capital Negotiations Announced Trump and Putin last met in late summer in the northern US state and the US president had stated additional discussions would occur in Budapest Currently exist "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared. This past week the US president stated he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Hungary's capital within two weeks to examine the war in Ukraine. A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for this week - but the White House clarified the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "needed". The administration declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold. Background Context Trump had discussed a Hungarian meeting over the phone with the Russian leader, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. Various sources indicated his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with those familiar suggesting the president had pushed him to cede large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia. Yet, on this week Trump supported a peace initiative endorsed by Kyiv and European leaders to halt the war on the present positions. "Freeze the lines in its current state," he remarked. Russia has consistently objected against freezing the present battle positions. The Russian government was solely focused on "enduring stability", Lavrov commented on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would simply constitute a short-term truce. Diplomatic Positions The "root causes" of the conflict demanded attention, Lavrov emphasized, using Kremlin shorthand for a series of extensive requirements that encompass the recognition of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of the country – a non-starter for Ukraine and its EU supporters. The Ukrainian president stated discussions about the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to evade negotiations. He also said the sole subject that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine. Military Considerations Putin's unplanned conversation with Trump last Thursday came ahead of speculation that the US was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit inside Russia. The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to engage in discussion. The talk about the missiles had proven to be a "significant input" in diplomacy", he remarked.