A few days ago, Donald Trump announced another meeting with Vladimir Putin. “We have agreed to hold a meeting of our senior advisers next week,” the US president said on Thursday on his Truth Social platform. Then he himself was to meet the Russian leader. He even specified the time frame for the meeting – stating that it would take place in “two weeks” in Budapest, Hungary. There, Trump was to see “if it will be possible to end this 'inglorious' war between Russia and Ukraine.”
However, this will not happen for now. On Tuesday, Washington changed its mind again. Following a “productive” telephone conversation between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, there are no longer “plans” to meet in the “near future,” a U.S. official said.
This turn is once again due to Russia's tough stance.
Already at the beginning of the week in Moscow it became clear that Putin has a different idea about the meeting in Budapest than Trump. The Kremlin announced that Washington's approach of freezing the war on the current front lines is unacceptable. He added that Moscow's position remains “unchanged.” — An immediate ceasefire in Ukraine would only mean one thing: most of the country would remain under Nazi rule, Lavrov said.
Trump's words were welcomed by both Ukraine and Europeans. “We strongly support President Trump's position that fighting should stop immediately and the current line of contact should be the starting point for negotiations,” representatives of the governments of Germany, France, Britain and other countries said in a statement.
“Productive” conversation
However, Moscow is clearly not interested in this. According to information provided by Reuters on Tuesday, Moscow presented its terms of the peace agreement to the United States in an unofficial statement. She demanded, among other things, control over the entire Donbas region, even though Ukrainians still successfully defend a significant part of it.
The article continues below the video
In this context, it is possible to understand what the White House meant when it used the diplomatic term “productive” to describe Tuesday's conversation between Rubio and Lavrov. Already in the morning, Moscow announced that this telephone conversation would not be a prelude to the meeting in Budapest.
— The work ahead of us is difficult. Preparations, serious preparations are necessary, Putin's spokesman said. He added that neither the Russian president nor the US president gave a specific schedule for the meeting.
— As soon as the pressure eases a bit, the Russians abandon diplomacy and postpone any talks – said Volodymyr Zelensky. He thus referred to the fact that Trump offered his country to supply Tomahawk missiles – long-range weapons that would enable Ukrainians to carry out attacks on military targets located on Russian territory. From Kiev's point of view, this was the reason Putin asked Trump for a phone call last week. After a two-and-a-half-hour conversation with Putin, the US president again supported the Kremlin's position.
I’m Ashley Davis as an editor, I’m committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in every piece we publish. My work is driven by curiosity, a passion for truth, and a belief that journalism plays a crucial role in shaping public discourse. I strive to tell stories that not only inform but also inspire action and conversation.
