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There are "no arrangements" for US President President Trump to meet Russia's Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has stated.

This past week the US president said he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Budapest in the coming fortnight to examine the war in Ukraine.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was planned for this week - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" call and that a face-to-face session was no longer "needed".

The administration withheld any more details on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.

Previous Developments

The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a day before hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.

Various sources claimed his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with those familiar indicating the president had pushed him to relinquish significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Nevertheless, on Monday the American president endorsed a ceasefire proposal backed by Kyiv and EU officials to freeze the war on the existing battle lines.

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

Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the current line of contact.

The Russian government was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister stated on Tuesday, indicating that pausing conflict would only amount to a short-term truce.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the conflict needed to be addressed, Lavrov said, using Moscow's terminology for a set of maximalist demands that include the recognition of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a non-starter for Ukraine and its European partners.

Zelensky stated conversations concerning the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue.

He further commented the only topic that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

Putin's unscheduled call with Trump last Thursday came ahead of rumors that the United States was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could theoretically target deep into Russia.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had proven to be a "valuable contribution" in diplomacy", he remarked.