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There are "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has stated.

This past week Trump stated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest soon to discuss the Ukraine conflict.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the administration clarified the two had had a "productive" discussion and that a meeting was not "required".

The administration declined to provide further information on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.

Background Context

The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Various sources claimed his meeting with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders claiming Trump had pressured him to give up significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Nevertheless, on Monday the American president endorsed a truce plan backed by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the hostilities on the current front line.

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

Moscow has consistently objected against freezing the current line of contact.

Moscow was solely focused on "enduring stability", Lavrov said on this week, implying that freezing the front line would only amount to a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities needed to be addressed, Lavrov stated, using Moscow's terminology for a set of maximalist demands that involve the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president commented conversations concerning the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.

He additionally stated the sole subject that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the provision of long-range weapons to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unscheduled call with Trump last Thursday preceded speculation that the United States was considering delivering extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could possibly hit inside Russia.

Zelensky said it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had turned out to be a "significant input" in international relations", he commented.