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There are "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has declared.

This past week the US president indicated he and the Russian president would hold talks in Budapest soon to address the Ukraine conflict.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for recently - but the White House clarified the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

The administration did not share any more details on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.

Background Context

The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a day before meeting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports suggested his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with those familiar indicating the president had urged him to relinquish large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a agreement with Russia.

However, on this week the American president endorsed a truce plan supported by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the war on the current front line.

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

Russia has consistently objected against pausing the present battle positions.

The Russian government was only interested in "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, implying that pausing conflict would simply constitute a temporary ceasefire.

Diplomatic Positions

The "underlying reasons" of the conflict needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat stated, using Russian diplomatic language for a range of comprehensive conditions that involve the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president commented talks regarding the battle positions were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue.

He also said the sole subject that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Military Considerations

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently occurred before speculation that the United States was preparing to send distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike Russian territory.

Zelensky asserted it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the missiles had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he added.