The White House said there are no plans for President Donald Trump to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the immediate future. The clarification follows public remarks last week in which Mr Trump proposed a Budapest meeting within a fortnight to discuss the war in Ukraine.
A preparatory session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had been pencilled in for this week. The White House said the pair held a “productive” call and that an in‑person meeting was no longer necessary, without providing further detail on the change.
Underlying differences between US proposals and Moscow’s preconditions for peace have sharpened in recent days, reducing the prospects for a presidential summit in the near term.
Mr Trump discussed the Budapest idea with Mr Putin by phone, a day before hosting Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. US reporting described that encounter as tense, with suggestions that Washington pressed Kyiv to accept concessions in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk. Mr Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out relinquishing the areas Ukraine still holds, arguing Russia could use them as a launchpad for future attacks.
On Monday, Mr Trump backed a ceasefire proposal supported by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze hostilities along the current front line, saying the priority was to stop the fighting and allow forces to stand down.
Moscow has pushed back consistently against a freeze at the existing line of contact. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the idea had been raised many times but Russia’s position had not changed, pointing to demands for the full withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from embattled eastern regions.
Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia sought “long‑term, sustainable peace”, indicating that a front‑line freeze would be only a temporary ceasefire. He again invoked the need to address the “root causes” of the conflict, widely understood as conditions that include recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas and the demilitarisation of Ukraine-terms rejected by Kyiv and its European partners.
Earlier on Tuesday, European leaders issued a statement with Mr Zelensky arguing that any talks to end the war should begin by freezing the current front line, and accusing Russia of not being serious about peace. The position aligns with Kyiv’s refusal to concede territory under fire.
Mr Trump and Mr Putin last met in Alaska in August at a hastily arranged summit that yielded no concrete results. The White House’s decision to shelve a second meeting follows that inconclusive encounter.
A senior European diplomat told Reuters that Moscow’s demands were too expansive and that it had become clear to Washington there would be no deal for Mr Trump in Budapest.
Mr Zelensky said discussion of the front line marked the beginning of diplomacy, which he accused Russia of trying to avoid. He added that the issue most likely to command the Kremlin’s attention is the supply of additional long‑range weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Putin’s unscheduled call with Mr Trump last week came amid speculation that the United States was preparing to send long‑range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv, capable of striking deep inside Russia. Mr Zelensky suggested that debate over Tomahawks helped bring Moscow to engage and called the discussion a strong investment in diplomacy.
Policy Wire analysis: The pause in leader‑level diplomacy keeps the file with foreign ministers and security advisers. With a front‑line freeze backed by Kyiv and Europe but rejected by Moscow, the near‑term test is whether decisions on long‑range strike systems shift incentives enough to reopen a viable summit track.