Plans for Trump-Putin Talks Delayed Shortly After Budapest Talks Suggested

There are "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a administration representative has announced.

Recently the US president 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 Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the administration said the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "needed".

The White House did not share any more details on why the talks had been delayed.

Previous Developments

The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Certain accounts claimed his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with sources suggesting Trump had pushed him to relinquish significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Moscow.

However, on Monday Trump supported a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the conflict on the present positions.

"Let it be cut 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 Tuesday, suggesting that pausing conflict would only amount to a temporary ceasefire.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the conflict needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat said, using Moscow's terminology for a series of extensive requirements that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a non-starter for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

Zelensky commented talks regarding the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to avoid diplomacy.

He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the provision of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.

Military Considerations

Putin's unscheduled call with the US leader recently came ahead of speculation that the US was considering delivering extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the missile discussion that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he commented.