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There are "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared.

This past week the US president indicated he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Budapest within two weeks to examine the ongoing hostilities.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the administration clarified the two had had a "positive" call and that a meeting was not "needed".

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

Background Context

Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit via telephone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Some reports claimed his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with those familiar suggesting the president had pushed him to relinquish extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Moscow.

However, on this week the American president supported a ceasefire proposal endorsed by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the hostilities on the present positions.

"Let it be cut where it stands," he said.

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

The Russian government was only interested in "permanent resolution", Lavrov stated on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would merely represent a brief pause.

Diplomatic Positions

The "fundamental issues" of the war needed to be addressed, Lavrov emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a series of extensive requirements that involve the acceptance of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its Western allies.

Zelensky said talks regarding the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "doing everything" to evade negotiations.

He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump last Thursday occurred before reports that the United States was planning to provide distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the missile discussion that had pressured the Kremlin to enter into dialogue. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had emerged as a "strong investment" in international relations", he commented.