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There are "no preparations" for US President President Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has stated.

Last Thursday the US president said he and the Russian president would meet in Budapest in the coming fortnight to address the ongoing hostilities.

A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House said the two had had a "positive" call and that a face-to-face session was no longer "necessary".

The administration declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.

Earlier Events

Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Various sources claimed his talks with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with insiders indicating Trump had pressured him to give up large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia.

However, on Monday Trump endorsed a ceasefire proposal supported by Ukraine and European leaders to halt the conflict on the current front line.

"Leave it as is the way it is," he stated.

Moscow has frequently resisted against pausing the current line of contact.

The Russian government was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, indicating that pausing conflict would merely represent a temporary ceasefire.

Political Perspectives

The "fundamental issues" of the war needed to be addressed, Lavrov emphasized, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of comprehensive conditions that involve the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a non-starter for Kyiv and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president said conversations concerning the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue.

He additionally stated the sole subject that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the supply of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

Putin's spontaneous discussion with the US leader recently preceded rumors that the US was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target deep into Russia.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "significant input" in diplomacy", he added.