Crucial Putin-Trump summit on hold after Russia rejects ceasefire

• Preparations for the summit appear to have stalled after the Rubio-Lavrov meeting was postponed.
• “I guess the Russians wanted too much,” says the European diplomat.
• Neither side has publicly abandoned plans to meet in Budapest.

A planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was postponed on Tuesday as Moscow’s rejection of an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine cast a cloud over efforts to negotiate.

A senior White House official said Reuters“There are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future” after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a “productive call” but chose not to meet in person.

Trump announced last week that he and Putin would soon meet in Hungary to try to end the war in Ukraine. But Putin was unwilling to consider concessions. Moscow has long demanded that Ukraine agree to cede more territory before any ceasefire.

Trump, asked by reporters about the prospect of a summit, said he didn’t want to have a “lost meeting” but suggested there could be more developments and that “we’ll let you know in the next couple of days” about them.

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy, said in a social media post that “preparations are continuing” for a summit.

Russia reiterated its long-held terms for a peace deal in a private communique known as a “non-paper” it sent to the US last weekend, according to two US officials and two people familiar with the situation.

The communique reaffirmed Russia’s demand for full control of the long-disputed eastern Donbas region, according to one official, effectively rejecting Trump’s call for a ceasefire to begin by freezing front lines in their dominant locations.

Russia controls all of Luhansk province and about 75% of neighboring Donetsk, which together make up the Donbas region.

European leaders called on Washington on Tuesday to remain steadfast in demanding an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, with today’s battle lines serving as the basis for any future talks.

NATO said Secretary General Mark Rutte traveled to Washington on Tuesday for talks with Trump that two sources familiar with the matter said would take place on Wednesday.

A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Rutte plans to present Trump with European views on the ceasefire and any subsequent peace talks.

Trump, who last week spoke by phone with Putin and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, had hoped for another high-profile meeting with the Russian leader after their August summit in Alaska failed to advance negotiations.

However, the two sides postponed a preparatory meeting between Rubio and Lavrov that was expected to take place in Budapest on Thursday.

Lavrov and Rubio spoke by phone on Monday. Lavrov said the place and timing of the next Trump-Putin summit are less important than the substance of implementing the agreements reached in Alaska.

The Kremlin said there was no clear date and that “serious preparation” was needed for a summit, which could take time.

“Listen, we understand the presidents, but we cannot postpone what has not been finalized,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Neither President Trump nor President Putin have given exact dates.”

Asked if Moscow had an understanding of a possible date for the summit, Peskov said: “No, there is no understanding.”

“I guess the Russians wanted too much”

Neither side has publicly abandoned Trump’s plans to meet Putin. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was in Washington on Tuesday, where he posted on Facebook: “We have some serious days ahead.”

But two senior European diplomats said the postponement of the Rubio-Lavrov meeting was a sign that the Americans would be reluctant to move forward with a Trump-Putin summit unless Moscow met its demands.

“I guess the Russians wanted too much and it became obvious to the Americans that there would be no deal for Trump in Budapest,” said one.

The Russians “have not changed their position at all and are not agreeing to ‘stop where they are,'” the second diplomat said. “And I guess Lavrov gave the same line and Rubio said, ‘See you later.’

Europeans worried Trump won’t get any concessions

Ukraine’s European allies worry that Trump could meet Putin a second time without getting serious concessions from the Russian leader.

In a statement on Tuesday, the leaders of European powers, including Britain, France, Germany and the EU, said they “strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting must stop immediately and that the current contact line must be the starting point for negotiations.”

Trump has often shifted his public emphasis when talking about Ukraine. But last Friday, after meeting with Zelensky at the White House, he expressly endorsed the position that a truce should begin with forces in their current positions.

Reuters and other news organizations reported that Trump’s closed-door meeting with Zelensky was contentious, with the US president repeatedly using profanity and pressuring Zelensky to accept some Russian demands.

However, Zelensky called the meeting a success because it ended with Trump publicly advocating a ceasefire along current lines, Kiev’s long-standing position.

European leaders are due to meet this week with Zelensky as their guest, first at an EU summit and then at a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” countries discussing a security force to guarantee a post-war settlement in Ukraine. Russia rejects such an international security force.

The choice of Budapest as the venue for the Putin-Trump meeting is controversial within the EU, where Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is one of the few leaders to maintain warm relations with Russia.

Any trip to Budapest would require Putin to fly through the airspace of other EU countries. Poland said on Tuesday it could force Putin’s plane down and arrest him with an international warrant if he flew over its territory, but Bulgaria said Putin could use its airspace to get to the meeting.