Russian invasion Negotiations

Plans for meeting between Putin and Trump scrapped

Plans for a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest have been scrapped. The White House has told The Telegraph.

Trump has previously said that he believes the meeting will take place within two weeks, but statements from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have cast doubt on that in recent days.

According to The Telegraph's sources, Moscow has now canceled a preparatory meeting between Russian and American diplomats. Both AFP and BBC sources in the White House say that there are no plans for a meeting in the "immediate future".

Task: Kyiv and Europe are working on a peace plan - want Trump to have a key role

Ukraine and allied countries in Europe are developing a twelve-point peace plan, sources tell Bloomberg.

The plan includes halting offensives on the battlefield by both sides and providing Ukraine with security guarantees, war reparations and an offer of EU membership. According to the plan, Donald Trump will chair a “peace commission” to ensure that it is followed. The plan contains several elements that Russia has previously rejected.

The sources say that the plan, if it is to become a reality, must be supported by the US. Therefore, European officials may fly to Washington later this week, according to the information. 

Russian statements cast doubt on the Budapest meeting

The planned meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin may not take place as soon as many thought, if it takes place at all, writes Politico. The site points to statements made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after Monday’s talks with his American counterpart Marco Rubio.

Russia's demands remain unchanged and it has no interest in heeding Washington's "signals" that the war in Ukraine should end on current front lines. Lavrov also questioned how Putin would be able to fly to Hungary, given that Poland has threatened to enforce an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court if Putin flies through its airspace by forcing the plane down.

Trump has previously said a meeting would likely take place within two weeks, but a White House source told Reuters there were no immediate plans for a meeting.

Analysis: Putin has blown Trump's new triumph

That Donald Trump could broker peace in Ukraine is an illusion. This is what The Independent's Sam Kiley writes in an analysis after plans for a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest were canceled.

According to Kiley, the Russian president had every reason to feel supported by Trump after their conversation last week, but he writes that Russia is not backing down from its demands and that the Kremlin now seems to have rejected a new meeting.

"Trump may now even consider selling Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, in an attempt to force Putin into negotiations that are less favorable to the Kremlin."

DN's Michael Winiarski writes that it is difficult to know why the meeting has been canceled, but that it is likely that the White House's optimism was either exaggerated or that they misunderstood what concessions Putin was willing to make. This, combined with reports of a botched Ukrainian-American meeting last week, is interpreted as a sign that Trump is back to square one.

“The question we don’t yet have an answer to is how Trump will handle the fact that Putin has once again blown him a diplomatic triumph.”