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There are "no plans" for US President President Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has declared.

Recently Trump stated he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Budapest in the coming fortnight to discuss the ongoing hostilities.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the White House clarified the two had had a "positive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was not "necessary".

The administration withheld any more details on why the talks had been delayed.

Earlier Events

The US president had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with Putin, a just prior to meeting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports indicated his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with insiders claiming Trump had pushed him to cede significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Moscow.

However, on this week the American president supported a truce plan backed by Kyiv and EU officials to pause the hostilities on the existing battle lines.

"Freeze the lines in its current state," he remarked.

Moscow has consistently objected against freezing the existing front lines.

The Russian government was only interested in "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister said on this week, suggesting that halting hostilities would simply constitute a temporary ceasefire.

Negotiating Stances

The "underlying reasons" of the hostilities required resolution, Lavrov said, using Moscow's terminology for a set of maximalist demands that encompass the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of the country – a non-starter for Ukraine and its Western allies.

Zelensky stated talks regarding the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue.

He also said the only topic that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

Putin's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday came ahead of speculation that the United States was considering delivering extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike deep into Russia.

Zelensky said it was the missile discussion that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The talk about the missiles had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he commented.