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There are "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "in the near term", a White House official has announced.

Last Thursday Trump said he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital soon to examine the Ukraine conflict.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the White House stated the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "required".

The administration withheld additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.

Earlier Events

The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit over the phone with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Certain accounts suggested his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar claiming Trump had pushed him to give up large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Moscow.

Yet, on this week Trump supported a ceasefire proposal backed by Ukraine and European leaders to pause the war on the present positions.

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

Moscow has consistently objected against pausing the present battle positions.

Moscow was only interested in "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would only amount to a short-term truce.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the war required resolution, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of comprehensive conditions that involve the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.

Zelensky stated discussions about the battle positions were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Russia was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue.

He also said the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "pay attention" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump last Thursday preceded reports that the US was considering delivering long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to enter into dialogue. The discussion regarding the missiles had proven to be a "valuable contribution" in diplomacy", he added.