The intended summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was put on hold on Wednesday after Moscow refused to budge on its red lines for ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump said on Tuesday that he did not want to have a "wasted meeting" with Putin after officials concluded that the gap between the two sides was two big to begin negotiations.
A senior White House official told Reuters that there are “no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future". It comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a "productive call" but opted against an in-person meeting.
Hungary’s Prime Minster Viktor Orban, a key ally of Moscow in the EU, insisted that preparations for a meeting in Budapest were still ongoing on Wednesday. The date and time of this summit is still unconfirmed according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
What has Trump said about ending the war in Ukraine?
Trump announced last week that he would meet with Putin in Hungary to discuss bringing an end to the war in Ukraine. In a post on Truth Social, he suggested that his success in bringing about a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could be the catalyst to end the war in Europe.
The US President had told reporters recently that he had planned to discuss the supply of Tomahawks to Kyiv with Putin as a way to pressure him to end the war in Ukraine.
But Trump has since climbed down from his offer to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles, after Russian officials called the move “unacceptable”.
After the cancellation of the meeting, Trump said preparatory talks between senior US and Russian officials showed that the gap between the two countries was too large to begin negotiations over ending the conflict.
“I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Trump said. “I don't want to have a waste of time — so we'll see what happens.”
What is Trump’s position on ending the war?
Trump has offered mixed messages over which side he supports. At times, he has appeared to side with Putin - but has also given his backing to Kyiv.
Earlier this month, Trump stated that Putin should settle the Ukraine war, which he claimed was making Russia "look bad". He also mentioning "long lines waiting for gasoline" and predicting the Russian "economy is going to collapse". Ukraine, he claimed, was close to winning the war.
But days later, following a phone call with Putin, he appeared to change his mind, telling a Fox news anchor that he expected Ukraine to make territorial concessions in any peace deal because Putin has “won certain property”.
Trump sparked criticism when he invited Putin to a summit in Anchorage, Alaska in August in what was seen as an attempt to give Putin a platform on the world stage again. No progress on a peace deal was reached during the talks.
What is Putin's position on ending the war?
Despite rejecting Trump’s calls for a ceasefire, Russia said it was committed to a peace deal in a private communication with the US in what is known as a “non-paper”, according to US officials.
In this document, Russia demanded full control of the eastern Donbas region. Moscow already controls all of the province of Luhansk and around 75 per cent of neighbouring Donetsk, which both make up the Donbas.
Putin has previously been unwilling to consider giving up any territory it occupies, and Moscow has frequently demanded that Ukraine agree to cede more territory before any ceasefire.
The Kremlin also responded to Trump’s statement saying on Wednesday that: "No one wants to waste time, neither President Trump nor President Putin."
Regarding the summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the dates are "yet to be determined, but before that, careful preparation is necessary - it takes time”.
Russia has also blamed Kyiv and its European allies of repeatedly thwarting peace talks.
What is Zelensky’s position on ending the war?
Zelensky, during his nightly address on Tuesday, said that he and Trump have agreed a starting point for talks should be freezing the current battle lines.
The Ukrainian President has accused Russia of “once again doing everything it can to abandon diplomacy". He added that "as soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – Russia almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy” - referring to the US provision of Tomahawks.
"The greater the Ukrainian long-range capability, the greater the Russian willingness to end the war. These past few weeks have confirmed this once again."
He explained how the Tomahawks have become "a strong investment in diplomacy" and Ukraine would hold further discussions on long-range weapons with its European and U.S. allies.
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