Currently exist "no plans" for US President Donald Trump to meet Russia's Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has announced.
Last Thursday Trump indicated he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to examine the ongoing hostilities.
A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the White House said the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "required".
The White House declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.
The US president had discussed a Budapest summit over the phone with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.
Various sources claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with sources claiming Trump had urged him to give up large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Russia.
Yet, on Monday Trump embraced a ceasefire proposal supported by Ukraine and EU officials to pause the conflict on the existing battle lines.
"Freeze the lines where it stands," he said.
Moscow has consistently objected against pausing the present battle positions.
Moscow was exclusively seeking "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister commented on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would simply constitute a short-term truce.
The "underlying reasons" of the war needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of maximalist demands that involve the recognition of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its Western allies.
The Ukrainian president said conversations concerning the current lines were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to avoid diplomacy.
He further commented the only topic that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the provision of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.
Putin's unscheduled call with the US leader last Thursday occurred before speculation that the US was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.
Zelensky asserted it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in diplomacy", he commented.
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