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

This past week the US president said he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to discuss the ongoing hostilities.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the administration clarified the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a meeting was no longer "required".

The White House declined to provide any more details on why the talks had been delayed.

Earlier Events

Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit over the phone with the Russian leader, a day before meeting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Some reports claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with insiders suggesting the president had urged him to cede significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Moscow.

However, on Monday the American president embraced a ceasefire proposal endorsed by Ukraine and European leaders to pause the conflict on the current front line.

"Leave it as is where it stands," he stated.

Moscow has consistently objected against pausing the present battle positions.

The Russian government was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said on this week, implying that halting hostilities would only amount to a brief pause.

Diplomatic Positions

The "underlying reasons" of the conflict demanded attention, Lavrov stated, using Moscow's terminology for a series of maximalist demands that include the recognition of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of the country – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president said conversations concerning the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.

He also said the sole subject that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the provision of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's unplanned conversation with Trump recently came ahead of rumors that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike deep into Russia.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the missile discussion that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had turned out to be a "strong investment" in international relations", he commented.