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

Recently the US president said he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to address the war in Ukraine.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the administration said the two had had a "constructive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

The White House did not share further information on why the talks had been put on hold.

Background Context

Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Certain accounts suggested his meeting with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with those familiar indicating Trump had urged him to give up extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Yet, on this week Trump supported a truce plan endorsed by Kyiv and EU officials to halt the war on the present positions.

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

Moscow has frequently resisted against halting the present battle positions.

Moscow was solely focused on "enduring stability", Lavrov said on this week, implying that freezing the front line would only amount to a temporary ceasefire.

Political Perspectives

The "underlying reasons" of the war required resolution, Lavrov emphasized, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of comprehensive conditions that encompass the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of the country – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president commented talks regarding the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He also said the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the provision of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

Putin's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently preceded rumors that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.

Zelensky said it was the missile discussion that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had turned out to be a "significant input" in diplomacy", he added.