The potential summit between the US President, Donald Trump, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is facing a bumpy road ahead as an expected pre-meeting between their top diplomats has been delayed.
Trump suggested on Thursday that he would meet with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, after a phone conversation between the two leaders, adding that the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, would meet to arrange for the summit.
Preparatory Meeting Postponed
The anticipated preparatory session between Rubio and Lavrov was postponed for the time being, CNN reported citing a White House official.
Although the reasons for cancelling the meeting were not immediately clear, a source familiar with the matter told CNN that both diplomats had divergent views on a possible end to the war in Ukraine.
Rubio and Lavrov held a phone call on Monday, during which they discussed “next steps” following the call between Trump and Putin.
According to the US State Department’s readout of the call, Rubio “emphasized the importance of upcoming engagements as an opportunity for Moscow and Washington to collaborate on advancing a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war, in line with President Trump’s vision.”
On the other hand, the Kremlin said the two officials had a “constructive discussion” on the “possible concrete steps to implement the understandings” Trump and Putin reached on the call.
Budapest Summit
Following a lengthy talk on Thursday, Trump and Putin agreed to meet in Budapest in the coming weeks to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. Trump said that their high-level advisors would meet next week.
“The United States’ initial meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with various other people, to be designated,” he wrote on Truth Social.
So far, it is not clear how the delay of Rubio and Lavrov meeting will affect the Budapest summit. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that Rubio is not likely to recommend proceeding with the Putin-Trump meeting next week because officials felt that Russia has not changed its position. However, Rubio and Lavrov could speak again this week.
Trump and Putin met in Alaska in August, but their summit ended with no breakthrough. Since then, Trump has shown growing frustration with Putin for snubbing his ceasefire proposals.
Territorial Concessions
Trump on Sunday suggested that Ukraine may have to abandon the Donbas region to end the war. “It’s cut up right now, I think 78% of the land is already taken by Russia,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
“They can negotiate something later on down the line,” but for now, both sides of the conflict should “stop at the battle line — go home, stop fighting, stop killing people,” Trump added.
During Thursday phone call, Putin proposed a plan involving Ukraine surrendering the eastern Donbas region in exchange for some Russian-held parts of the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, a European official told CNN.
In an interview with Fox News, aired on Sunday, Trump echoed a similar stance, suggesting that Putin was “going to take something, he’s won certain property.”
Since the start of the war, Moscow has long adhered to certain demands, including Kyiv ceding control of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions that Russia annexed in 2022, in addition to Crimea – demands that Ukraine firmly rejects.
Following Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, Reuters reported that Russia proposed a new deal for ending the war, which includes Ukraine’s full withdrawal from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in exchange for a Russian pledge to freeze the front lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Freezing Battle Lines
After meeting the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Friday, Trump urged both Russia and Ukraine to “stop the war immediately” and freeze the battle lines.
“You go by the battle line wherever it is — otherwise it’s too complicated. You stop at the battle line and both sides should go home, go to their families, stop the killing, and that should be it. Stop right now at the battle line,” he said.
On Tuesday, Zelensky, alongside the leaders of the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and the European Union issued a joint statement supporting Trump’s position that “the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.”
Shift of Position
Trump has repeatedly shifted his position on the war in Ukraine. Most recently, he backtracked on his suggestion that Ukraine could regain all its territories from Russia.
“I never said they would win it. I said they could win. Anything can happen. You know war is a very strange thing,” he said on Monday during a White House meeting with Australia’s Prime Minister. “They could still win it. I don’t think they will, but they could still win it,” he added.
Trump had also appeared open to supplying Kyiv with Tomahawk long-range missiles, which would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territories.
However, the US President changed tone after his call with Putin, showing hesitancy on the matter. “I have an obligation also to make sure that we’re completely stocked up as a country, because you never know what’s going to happen in war and peace. We’d much rather have them not need Tomahawks. We’d much rather have the war be over to be honest,” he said.
