The White House said Tuesday that President Donald Trump has no plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near future," despite earlier signals from both Washington and Moscow suggesting a high-level summit could take place in Budapest.
A senior official told Fox News Digital that the decision followed a call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive call. Therefore, an additional in-person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future," the official said.
The announcement marked a sharp reversal from Trump's comments last week, when he said he planned to meet Putin "within weeks" in Budapest to explore ways to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. "President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed-upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this 'inglorious' war, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end," Trump wrote on X.
The White House shift signals recognition that the gulf between Moscow and Kyiv remains too wide for near-term progress. According to Axios, U.S. officials acknowledged that efforts to secure a cease-fire have stalled amid hardened positions from both sides.
The Kremlin appeared to downplay the diplomatic setback, saying no firm plans had ever been made. "You can't postpone what was not scheduled," a Putin spokesman told reporters Tuesday. The Russian Foreign Ministry also stressed that more preparation would be needed before any potential summit could occur.
Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House last week, where Zelenskyy urged the U.S. to supply Tomahawk missiles and other long-range weapons. The Ukrainian leader argued such weapons could shift battlefield momentum by striking deeper into Russia's energy infrastructure and military command centers.
Zelenskyy told reporters Tuesday that Ukraine had accepted Trump's cease-fire framework "based on the current line of contact," but said Moscow rejected it. "Russia is again doing everything to avoid diplomacy," he said.
Trump, meanwhile, made no mention of supplying the missiles after the meeting. Still, he reiterated his determination to broker peace. Speaking at a lunch with Republican lawmakers, Trump said he had "won peace in eight conflicts" since taking office and added, "We're working on number nine."
