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There are "no preparations" for US President President Trump to meet Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has stated.

Last Thursday Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to address the Ukraine conflict.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for this week - but the White House clarified the two had had a "positive" call and that a face-to-face session was no longer "necessary".

The administration declined to provide any more details on why the talks had been put on hold.

Background Context

Trump had discussed a Budapest summit over the phone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Some reports claimed his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders indicating Trump had urged him to relinquish large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Russia.

Yet, on this week Trump embraced a ceasefire proposal endorsed by Kyiv and European leaders to halt the hostilities on the current front line.

"Freeze the lines the way it is," he remarked.

Russia has repeatedly pushed back against pausing the existing front lines.

Moscow was solely focused on "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister commented on Tuesday, indicating that freezing the front line would merely represent a temporary ceasefire.

Diplomatic Positions

The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat said, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of comprehensive conditions that include the acceptance of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president said conversations concerning the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to evade negotiations.

He additionally stated the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump last Thursday occurred before speculation that the US was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit inside Russia.

Zelensky stated it was the missile discussion that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had proven to be a "significant input" in international relations", he commented.