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Currently exist "no plans" for US President Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared.

This past week the US president said he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Budapest in the coming fortnight to examine the war in Ukraine.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was planned for this week - but the administration said the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "needed".

The administration withheld additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.

Previous Developments

Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a day before meeting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Certain accounts claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders indicating Trump had urged him to relinquish large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Moscow.

However, on Monday Trump supported a peace initiative endorsed by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze the hostilities on the existing battle lines.

"Let it be cut in its current state," he said.

Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against pausing the present battle positions.

The Russian government was only interested in "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, implying that pausing conflict would merely represent a short-term truce.

Political Perspectives

The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities required resolution, Lavrov emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a series of maximalist demands that encompass the acknowledgment of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of the country – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its Western allies.

Zelensky said discussions about the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to avoid diplomacy.

He further commented the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's unplanned conversation with the US leader last Thursday preceded speculation that the United States was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could possibly hit deep into Russia.

Zelensky asserted it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the missiles had proven to be a "significant input" in diplomacy", he commented.