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U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a pause on plans for a swift meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing doubts over its usefulness and warning it could be a “waste of time”.
AP cited today that the proposed talks, due to be held in Budapest, were placed on hold following a call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday.
“I don’t want to have a wasted meeting,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “I don’t want to have a waste of time — so we’ll see what happens.”
The Kremlin, for its part, appeared in no hurry to proceed. “Preparation is needed, serious preparation,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov in Moscow.
Trump’s decision marks the latest twist in his inconsistent approach to the war in Ukraine, which has continued for nearly four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Lavrov, speaking publicly on Tuesday, reiterated Moscow’s opposition to an immediate ceasefire — a stance that appears to have frustrated Trump’s efforts to push for a swift halt to hostilities.
In recent months, Trump has vacillated on whether a ceasefire should come before formal peace talks, and whether Ukraine should be allowed to recover land seized by Russian forces.
Last month, he reversed a long-held position by stating Ukraine could reclaim its lost territory. However, after a phone conversation with Putin last week and a follow-up meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, Trump once again shifted his stance — urging both sides to “stop where they are” and end the fighting.
On Sunday, he went further, suggesting the heavily contested Donbas region in eastern Ukraine be “cut up”, effectively leaving much of it under Russian control.
Speaking on Monday, Trump said that while he still believes Ukraine could defeat Russia, he is now doubtful it will happen.
“We 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,” read a joint statement from European leaders, including the UK, France, Germany, and others. “We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction.”
However, Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that a ceasefire would contradict what Trump and Putin previously agreed during their last meeting in Alaska in August — which produced no breakthrough.
European leaders are concerned Trump’s overtures could lead to pressure on Ukraine to cede land in exchange for peace. Kyiv officials remain adamant that any proposal involving territorial concessions is unacceptable, and warn that freezing the conflict along current front lines could allow Russia to regroup and launch future offensives.
President Zelenskyy, writing on Telegram, urged the West to maintain pressure. “We need to end this war, and only pressure will lead to peace,” he said.
He added that Putin had returned to diplomacy last week only when the possibility of the US providing long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine was raised. “As soon as the pressure eased a little, the Russians began to try to drop diplomacy, postpone the dialogue,” Zelenskyy said.
On Wednesday, Trump is expected to host NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House, with military support for Ukraine high on the agenda.
A meeting of the Coalition of the Willing — a 35-nation group backing Ukraine — is also scheduled to take place in London on Friday, while European leaders prepare for further sanctions talks at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.
“We must ramp up the pressure on Russia’s economy and its defence industry, until Putin is ready to make peace,” said Tuesday’s joint statement from European leaders. - October 22, 2025
