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There are "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has announced.

Last Thursday the US president indicated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest soon to address the Ukraine conflict.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was planned for this week - but the White House clarified the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a meeting was no longer "necessary".

The administration declined to provide additional specifics on why the talks had been delayed.

Earlier Events

The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit over the phone with the Russian leader, a day before meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports claimed his talks with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with sources indicating Trump had pressured him to cede large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Moscow.

Nevertheless, on this week the American president embraced a peace initiative endorsed by Ukraine and European leaders to pause the war on the existing battle lines.

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

Moscow has frequently resisted against freezing the existing front lines.

Moscow was solely focused on "enduring stability", Lavrov said on this week, indicating that halting hostilities would merely represent a temporary ceasefire.

Political Perspectives

The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a set of maximalist demands that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a non-starter for Ukraine and its Western allies.

Zelensky said talks regarding the battle positions were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to prevent dialogue.

He additionally stated the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader recently preceded speculation that the US was planning to provide distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to enter into dialogue. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had proven to be a "strong investment" in international relations", he commented.