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There are "no preparations" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has stated.

Last Thursday Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Budapest in the coming fortnight to examine the Ukraine conflict.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the White House clarified the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a meeting was no longer "required".

The White House declined to provide further information on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.

Background Context

The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit over the phone with Putin, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports suggested his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with sources indicating the president had pushed him to give up significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Russia.

However, on this week the American president supported a peace initiative endorsed by Kyiv and EU officials to pause the war on the present positions.

"Freeze the lines the way it is," he stated.

Moscow has frequently resisted against pausing the present battle positions.

The Russian government was only interested in "enduring stability", Lavrov stated on this week, indicating that pausing conflict would merely represent a short-term truce.

Negotiating Stances

The "fundamental issues" of the war required resolution, the Russian diplomat said, using Russian diplomatic language for a range of maximalist demands that involve the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its European partners.

Zelensky stated discussions about the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to evade negotiations.

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

Military Considerations

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump last Thursday preceded reports that the US was considering delivering extended-range cruise missiles to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike deep into Russia.

Zelensky asserted it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "significant input" in international relations", he added.