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There are "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russia's Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared.

Last Thursday the US president stated he and the Russian president would meet in Budapest in the coming fortnight to discuss the war in Ukraine.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the administration clarified the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a meeting was not "required".

The White House did not share additional specifics on why the talks had been postponed.

Background Context

Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Some reports suggested his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with sources indicating the president had pressured him to cede large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Yet, on this week Trump endorsed a peace initiative endorsed by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the conflict on the existing battle lines.

"Let it be cut where it stands," he remarked.

Russia has frequently resisted against freezing the current line of contact.

Moscow was solely focused on "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, indicating that pausing conflict would only amount to a brief pause.

Negotiating Stances

The "root causes" of the war required resolution, Lavrov stated, using Russian diplomatic language for a set of comprehensive conditions that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of the country – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president commented discussions about the current lines were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He also said the only topic that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the provision of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader last Thursday occurred before speculation that the United States was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had turned out to be a "significant input" in negotiations", he commented.