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There are "no preparations" for US President President Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared.

Last Thursday the US president stated he and the Russian president would hold talks in Budapest in the coming fortnight to discuss the ongoing hostilities.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the administration stated the two had had a "constructive" call and that a face-to-face session was no longer "necessary".

The White House did not share any more details on why the talks had been postponed.

Previous Developments

Trump had discussed a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Certain accounts suggested his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders claiming the president had urged him to give up significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Russia.

Nevertheless, on this week the American president embraced a truce plan endorsed by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the conflict on the current front line.

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

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

Moscow was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said on Tuesday, implying that freezing the front line would simply constitute a temporary ceasefire.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the hostilities required resolution, Lavrov emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of comprehensive conditions that encompass the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its European partners.

Zelensky commented conversations concerning the front line were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to avoid diplomacy.

He further commented the sole subject that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the delivery of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.

Weapons Discussions

Putin's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently occurred before speculation that the United States was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader said it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to enter into dialogue. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had turned out to be a "strong investment" in negotiations", he commented.