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There are "no plans" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russia's Putin "anytime soon", a administration representative has declared.

This past week Trump indicated he and the Russian president would meet in Hungary's capital soon to address the Ukraine conflict.

A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the White House stated the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

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

Background Context

The US president had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports suggested his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar suggesting the president had pressured him to cede significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Russia.

Nevertheless, on this week Trump embraced a truce plan supported by Kyiv and EU officials to freeze the conflict on the current front line.

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

Russia has repeatedly pushed back against halting the current line of contact.

The Russian government was only interested in "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, indicating that freezing the front line would only amount to a brief pause.

Diplomatic Positions

The "underlying reasons" of the hostilities required resolution, Lavrov stated, using Moscow's terminology for a set of maximalist demands that encompass the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a non-starter for Kyiv and its European partners.

The Ukrainian president stated talks regarding the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.

He additionally stated the sole subject that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's unscheduled call with Trump recently preceded speculation that the United States was planning to provide extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had emerged as a "strong investment" in negotiations", he added.