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There are "no preparations" for American leader President Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has declared.

Last Thursday the US president stated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to address the ongoing hostilities.

A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for this week - but the White House stated the two had had a "positive" discussion and that a meeting was not "needed".

The administration withheld further information on why the talks had been postponed.

Background Context

Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting via telephone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.

Various sources claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with those familiar suggesting Trump had urged him to relinquish significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Russia.

Nevertheless, on Monday the American president supported a peace initiative supported by Kyiv and European leaders to pause the conflict on the current front line.

"Freeze the lines in its current state," he stated.

Russia has consistently objected against freezing the existing front lines.

Moscow was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov commented on Tuesday, indicating that halting hostilities would only amount to a short-term truce.

Diplomatic Positions

The "underlying reasons" of the conflict required resolution, the Russian diplomat stated, using Russian diplomatic language for a range of maximalist demands that encompass the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

Zelensky said discussions about the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue.

He also said the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the provision of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader recently occurred before reports that the US was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit deep into Russia.

Zelensky stated it was the weapons consideration that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The talk about the missiles had proven to be a "significant input" in international relations", he added.