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There are "no plans" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russia's Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has stated.

Last Thursday the US president said he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Hungary's capital within two weeks to examine the ongoing hostilities.

A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for this week - but the administration said the two had had a "constructive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was not "necessary".

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

Background Context

The US president had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a day before hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Certain accounts suggested his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with sources indicating the president had pressured him to cede extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Yet, on Monday the American president embraced a peace initiative endorsed by Kyiv and EU officials to freeze the conflict on the existing battle lines.

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

Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against pausing the present battle positions.

Moscow was exclusively seeking "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said on Tuesday, indicating that freezing the front line would merely represent a temporary ceasefire.

Political Perspectives

The "fundamental issues" of the war needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat said, using Moscow's terminology for a set of maximalist demands that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.

Zelensky stated conversations concerning the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to evade negotiations.

He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "pay attention" was that of the delivery of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently came ahead of rumors that the US was considering delivering long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike deep into Russia.

Zelensky said it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in international relations", he commented.