Trump Postpones Putin Meeting Over Ukraine Peace Negotiations: "I Don't Want a Waste of Time"

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held their last in-person meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, in August.

President Donald Trump stated Tuesday that his plan for a quick meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin was suspended because he doesn't want it to be a "waste of time." This represents the latest development in Trump's fluctuating efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

The decision to postpone the meeting in Budapest, Hungary, which Trump had announced last week, came following a Monday call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Trump explained. "I don't want to have a waste of time — so we'll see what happens."

Trump's reluctance likely reassures European leaders who have accused Putin of using diplomacy as a delaying tactic while attempting to gain battlefield advantages. These leaders — including the British prime minister, French president, and German chancellor — expressed opposition to any initiative forcing Ukraine to surrender Russian-captured territory for peace, as Trump recently suggested.

They also intend to proceed with plans to utilize billions in frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine's military efforts, despite concerns about the legality and potential consequences of such actions.

The US and Russian presidents last met in Alaska in August, but that encounter failed to advance Trump's stalled attempts to end the nearly four-year-old conflict.

The Kremlin appeared equally unhurried about arranging another Trump-Putin meeting. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov indicated Tuesday that "preparation is needed, serious preparation" before such a meeting could occur.

Trump suggested that decisions regarding the meeting would be made in the coming days.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been working to strengthen Ukraine's position by requesting long-range Tomahawk missiles from the US, though Trump has been inconsistent about whether he would provide them.

"We need to end this war, and only pressure will lead to peace," Zelensky stated Tuesday in a Telegram post.

He observed that Putin returned to diplomacy and called Trump last week when Tomahawk missiles seemed like a possibility. However, "as soon as the pressure eased a little, the Russians began to try to drop diplomacy, postpone the dialogue," Zelensky noted.

On Wednesday, Trump will meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, according to a White House official who spoke anonymously as they weren't authorized to comment publicly. The official provided no details about Trump's agenda for these talks.

The military alliance has been coordinating weapons deliveries to Ukraine, many purchased from the US by Canada and European countries. A meeting of the Coalition of the Willing — a group of 35 countries supporting Ukraine — is scheduled for Friday in London.

Trump's position on the war has evolved throughout the year. Initially focusing on pressuring Ukraine to make concessions, he later became frustrated with Putin's inflexibility. Trump frequently complains that he expected his good relationship with his Russian counterpart would have made ending the war easier.

Last month, Trump reversed his long-maintained position that Ukraine must surrender territory, suggesting instead that it could reclaim all lost land. However, following a phone call with Putin last week and a subsequent meeting with Zelensky on Friday, Trump shifted again, urging both Kyiv and Moscow to "stop where they are" in the more than three-year conflict.

On Sunday, Trump suggested the industrial Donbas region of eastern Ukraine should be "cut up," leaving most of it under Russian control.

Trump stated Monday that while he believes Ukraine could potentially defeat Russia, he's now skeptical it will happen.

Ukrainian and European leaders are making considerable efforts to maintain Trump's support.

"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," the leaders' statement declared. "We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction."

Lavrov made it clear Tuesday that Russia opposes a ceasefire, according to Russian state news agencies. He told journalists in Moscow that such an arrangement would contradict what the two presidents agreed upon in Alaska. Trump had entered that meeting hoping to convince Russia to halt fighting, but was rebuffed by Putin, who has insisted on a comprehensive settlement to end the war.

Russia occupies approximately one-fifth of Ukraine, but dividing their country in exchange for peace remains unacceptable to Kyiv officials.

Additionally, a conflict frozen along the current front line could fester, with occupied Ukrainian areas potentially serving as launching points for future Russian attacks, according to Ukrainian and European officials.

The statement by leaders of Ukraine, the UK, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Denmark, and EU officials came early in what Zelensky described Monday as a week that is "very active in diplomacy."

Further international economic sanctions against Russia are likely to be discussed at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.

"We must ramp up the pressure on Russia's economy and its defense industry, until Putin is ready to make peace," Tuesday's statement concluded.