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There are "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has announced.

Recently the US president indicated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest in the coming fortnight to discuss the Ukraine conflict.

A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the administration stated the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a meeting was no longer "needed".

The White House withheld any more details on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.

Background Context

Trump had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.

Various sources indicated his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with sources indicating Trump had urged him to cede extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Russia.

However, on this week the American president endorsed a peace initiative backed by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the conflict on the existing battle lines.

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

Russia has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the present battle positions.

Moscow was solely focused on "permanent resolution", Lavrov commented on Tuesday, implying that pausing conflict would only amount to a short-term truce.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the war required resolution, the Russian diplomat said, using Moscow's terminology for a set of maximalist demands that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of the country – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

Zelensky commented discussions about the current lines were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to prevent dialogue.

He further commented the sole subject that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's unscheduled call with the US leader last Thursday preceded rumors that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could possibly hit deep into Russia.

Zelensky said it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he commented.