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Wednesday, Oct 22, 2025
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White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
Planned meeting in Budapest postponed after Moscow rejects front-line cease-fire deal in Ukraine
The White House announced on Tuesday that Donald Trump will not meet with Vladimir Putin in the immediate future, effectively putting on hold a proposed summit in Budapest that was intended to advance a cease-fire in Ukraine.
A senior administration official said the decision followed a productive phone call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but noted that Moscow had shown no willingness to make key concessions.
Trump had announced last week that he and Putin would meet in Hungary within two weeks, expressing optimism about achieving progress toward ending the war.
He later hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, where discussions reportedly became tense after Trump urged Kyiv to consider difficult compromises over the Donbas region and warned that Putin could "destroy" Ukraine if the conflict continued.
During the call on Tuesday, Lavrov reaffirmed that Russia’s stance remained unchanged, insisting that any peace deal must include full Russian control of the Donetsk and Luhansk areas.
This directly opposed the front-line freeze plan that Trump had recently endorsed, under which both sides would halt hostilities along current positions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that a face-to-face meeting between the presidents was “not urgent” and would require “substantial preparation”.
Trump told reporters that he did not want a “wasted meeting” and suggested the summit should only proceed once genuine diplomatic progress was possible.
According to the White House, no new date or venue has been set for the meeting.
European leaders have cautiously supported Trump’s call to freeze the fighting but remain opposed to any settlement that would require Ukraine to cede occupied territory.
Moscow, meanwhile, continues to demand a full Ukrainian withdrawal from key eastern regions before any talks can begin.
The postponement underscores the complexity of arranging a meaningful negotiation while the war continues and both sides refuse to compromise.
Hungary, which had offered to host the summit, has expressed disappointment but remains hopeful that discussions can resume when conditions improve.
A senior administration official said the decision followed a productive phone call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but noted that Moscow had shown no willingness to make key concessions.
Trump had announced last week that he and Putin would meet in Hungary within two weeks, expressing optimism about achieving progress toward ending the war.
He later hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, where discussions reportedly became tense after Trump urged Kyiv to consider difficult compromises over the Donbas region and warned that Putin could "destroy" Ukraine if the conflict continued.
During the call on Tuesday, Lavrov reaffirmed that Russia’s stance remained unchanged, insisting that any peace deal must include full Russian control of the Donetsk and Luhansk areas.
This directly opposed the front-line freeze plan that Trump had recently endorsed, under which both sides would halt hostilities along current positions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that a face-to-face meeting between the presidents was “not urgent” and would require “substantial preparation”.
Trump told reporters that he did not want a “wasted meeting” and suggested the summit should only proceed once genuine diplomatic progress was possible.
According to the White House, no new date or venue has been set for the meeting.
European leaders have cautiously supported Trump’s call to freeze the fighting but remain opposed to any settlement that would require Ukraine to cede occupied territory.
Moscow, meanwhile, continues to demand a full Ukrainian withdrawal from key eastern regions before any talks can begin.
The postponement underscores the complexity of arranging a meaningful negotiation while the war continues and both sides refuse to compromise.
Hungary, which had offered to host the summit, has expressed disappointment but remains hopeful that discussions can resume when conditions improve.
