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There are "no plans" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has stated.

Last Thursday Trump said he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to address the ongoing hostilities.

A planning session between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was not "needed".

The White House declined to provide additional specifics on why the talks had been put on hold.

Background Context

Trump had discussed a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports suggested his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with sources suggesting Trump had pushed him to give up significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Moscow.

Yet, on this week Trump embraced a ceasefire proposal backed by Ukraine and European leaders to pause the conflict on the present positions.

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

Russia has consistently objected against freezing the present battle positions.

Moscow was solely focused on "permanent resolution", Lavrov said on this week, suggesting that halting hostilities would simply constitute a brief pause.

Negotiating Stances

The "underlying reasons" of the war required resolution, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a set of comprehensive conditions that encompass the recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of the country – a non-starter for Ukraine and its European partners.

The Ukrainian president stated conversations concerning the front line were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He additionally stated the only topic that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's unplanned conversation with Trump last Thursday came ahead of speculation that the US was considering delivering long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target Russian territory.

Zelensky said it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the missiles had turned out to be a "valuable contribution" in diplomacy", he commented.