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

This past week the US president stated he and the Russian president would meet in Budapest soon to examine the war in Ukraine.

A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House clarified the two had had a "constructive" call and that a face-to-face session was not "necessary".

The White House declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.

Background Context

The US president had discussed a Budapest summit over the phone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports indicated his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders indicating the president had urged him to relinquish large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Nevertheless, on Monday the American president supported a truce plan endorsed by Kyiv and EU officials to pause the war on the present positions.

"Freeze the lines where it stands," he said.

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

The Russian government was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Lavrov stated on this week, suggesting that freezing the front line would merely represent a brief pause.

Negotiating Stances

The "underlying reasons" of the war required resolution, the Russian diplomat said, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of maximalist demands that involve the acknowledgment of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.

The Ukrainian president said talks regarding the front line were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Russia was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue.

He also said the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine.

Military Considerations

Putin's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently preceded speculation that the United States was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could possibly hit deep into Russia.

Zelensky said it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the missiles had proven to be a "strong investment" in negotiations", he added.