Trump Suspends Hungary Meeting with Putin

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced he was postponing his planned quick meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, explaining he wanted to avoid it being a “waste of time.”

This development represents the most recent development in Trump’s intermittent push to bring the Ukraine war to an end.

The choice to postpone the Budapest, Hungary gathering, which Trump had revealed the previous week, came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday.

“I don’t want to have a wasted meeting,” Trump said.

“I don’t want to have a waste of time — so we’ll see what happens.”

In public statements on Tuesday, Lavrov indicated Russia’s opposition to an instant ceasefire.

Related: Trump Says Putin Has “Gone Absolutely Crazy” Over Attacks On Ukraine

At the same time, Trump has been changing his position throughout the year regarding critical aspects of the conflict, such as whether a ceasefire should precede long-term peace negotiations, and whether Ukraine has the ability to reclaim territory taken by Russia over nearly four years of combat.

Trump’s reluctance to meet with Putin will probably be welcomed by European leaders, who have criticized Putin for using diplomacy as a delaying tactic while attempting to make military advances.

These leaders — encompassing the British prime minister, French president, and German chancellor — expressed their opposition to any effort to force Ukraine to give up Russian-occupied territory in exchange for peace, as Trump has most recently proposed.

Additionally, they intend to proceed with strategies to utilize billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets for financing Ukraine’s military operations, despite having some concerns regarding the lawfulness and ramifications of this action.

The American and Russian presidents previously met in Alaska in August, though that meeting failed to move forward Trump’s stagnant efforts to conclude a war that started with Russia’s comprehensive invasion in February 2022.

The Kremlin also appeared to be unhurried about arranging another Trump-Putin meeting. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Tuesday that “preparation is needed, serious preparation” before a meeting.

Trump indicated that choices regarding the meeting would be determined in the upcoming days.