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Currently exist "no plans" for US President Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has stated.

Last Thursday the US president stated he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Budapest soon to discuss the war in Ukraine.

A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House clarified the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "necessary".

The administration withheld additional specifics on why the talks had been delayed.

Background Context

Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports claimed his talks with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with those familiar suggesting the president had urged him to give up large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Moscow.

Yet, on this week the American president endorsed a truce plan backed by Kyiv and EU officials to pause the conflict on the current front line.

"Leave it as is where it stands," he stated.

Moscow has frequently resisted against freezing the present battle positions.

Moscow was exclusively seeking "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov stated on Tuesday, indicating that freezing the front line would merely represent a short-term truce.

Diplomatic Positions

The "fundamental issues" of the conflict demanded attention, Lavrov emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a range of maximalist demands that involve the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president stated discussions about the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to prevent dialogue.

He further commented the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the delivery of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's unplanned conversation with Trump recently occurred before reports that the US was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit inside Russia.

Zelensky said it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The talk about the missiles had proven to be a "valuable contribution" in international relations", he added.