Washington (BN24) – A planned summit between the U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was put on hold Tuesday after Moscow rejected an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, casting doubt on prospects for the high-stakes talks and shifting diplomatic momentum to European capitals pressing for a firmer line.
A senior White House official told Reuters there were no immediate plans for Trump to meet with Putin after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held what the U.S. described as a “productive call” but decided against an in-person meeting for now. Trump had announced last week that he and Putin would meet in Hungary as part of an effort to end the war in Ukraine, but Russia’s insistence that Kyiv cede additional territory undercut the centerpiece of Washington’s proposal: a ceasefire that would freeze front lines where they stand.
The Kremlin circulated a private communique, described by two U.S. officials and two people familiar with the matter, that reiterated Moscow’s demand for full control of the eastern Donbas region. That position effectively rejected a Trump idea that the truce begin with the current battle lines. Russia controls all of Luhansk province and roughly three-quarters of neighboring Donetsk, which together comprise the Donbas.
Trump, who met privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week and spoke by phone with Putin, said he did not want a “wasted meeting” but suggested developments could follow soon. “We’ll be notifying you over the next two days,” he told reporters. Kremlin officials, meanwhile, said there was no fixed date and that “serious preparation” would be required before any summit.
European leaders urged Washington on Tuesday to hold firm in demanding an immediate ceasefire based on the present lines of contact. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was in Washington to present European views to the U.S. president, European officials said, and a Western diplomat said Mr. Rutte planned to press for a ceasefire and for any future negotiations to start from current positions on the battlefield.
Two senior European diplomats said the postponement of a planned preparatory meeting between Rubio and Lavrov, expected in Budapest on Thursday, signaled U.S. reluctance to proceed unless Moscow moderated its demands. “I guess the Russians wanted too much and it became evident for the Americans that there will be no deal for Trump in Budapest,” one diplomat said, while another added that Moscow had “not at all changed their position, and are not agreeing to ‘stop where they are.’”
Russia’s apparent unwillingness to accept a freeze of front lines complicates Trump’s bid for another summit after an August meeting in Alaska produced little progress. Lavrov told reporters that the timing and place of a meeting were less important than implementing understandings reached earlier, and a Kremlin spokesman said neither leader had set exact dates.
Ukraine’s European allies have warned that any encounter between Trump and Putin without concrete concessions from Moscow would be damaging. In a joint statement Tuesday, leaders from Britain, France, Germany and the European Union said they “strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.”
The contested choice of Budapest as a venue adds diplomatic complications: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has cultivated warmer relations with Moscow than most EU peers and has said he would ensure Putin could enter and leave Hungary. But any flight to Budapest would require passage through other European airspace; Poland has warned it could be legally compelled to detain Putin on an International Criminal Court warrant if his plane crossed Polish territory, while Bulgaria indicated it might allow passage if it advanced peace efforts.
With Europeans preparing to host Zelenskiy at an EU summit and in discussions among nations considering an international stabilization force for Ukraine, the fate of the Trump-Putin summit now hinges on whether Moscow will relent on territorial demands or whether the United States and its allies will accept an alternative roadmap to talks.
