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There are "no preparations" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "in the near term", a White House official has announced.

This past week Trump stated he and the Russian president would hold talks in Budapest within two weeks to examine the ongoing hostilities.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the administration stated the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a meeting was not "needed".

The White House did not share additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.

Earlier Events

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

Various sources indicated his meeting with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with sources claiming the president had pushed him to give up large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Moscow.

However, on this week Trump supported a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and EU officials to pause the conflict on the present positions.

"Let it be cut in its current state," he said.

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

The Russian government was only interested in "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister stated on Tuesday, indicating that freezing the front line would only amount to a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the war required resolution, Lavrov stated, using Moscow's terminology for a set of extensive requirements that encompass the acceptance of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a non-starter for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president said discussions about the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to prevent dialogue.

He further commented the only topic that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unscheduled call with Trump recently occurred before speculation that the US was planning to provide extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target deep into Russia.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he commented.