Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due to meet his Russian Counterpart Sergey Lavrov ahead of the summit to agree details of a potential peace deal – but that meeting has reportedly been axed
Donald Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin could be scrapped after a crunch meeting with top advisors was mysteriously cancelled. The two leaders had agreed to meet in Budapest in the coming weeks, at a summit hosted by Hungary’s far-right leader Viktor Orban.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due to meet his Russian Counterpart Sergey Lavrov ahead of the summit to agree details of a potential peace deal. But that meeting has reportedly been axed. The Kremlin described a call between the two advisors on Monday a “constructive discussion” that dealt with “possible concrete steps to implement the understandings” between Trump and Putin. But hours after the call, it seemed plans for a face to face meeting had changed, and they wouldn’t be meeting in person soon. The White House did not give a reason for the change.
It comes after reports of a dramatic showdown behind the scenes on Friday, during Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House. After speaking to Putin on the phone a day earlier, Trump is reported to have yelled at Ukraine’s leader, repeating Putin’s talking points on the conflict and claiming it was a “special operation” and not a real war. Trump reportedly demanded Zelensky give up the entire Donbas region as the price of peace with Putin – effectively rewarding the Russian dictator for illegally invading a neighbouring country.
Zelensky had been visiting the White House in the hopes of agreeing an energy storage deal with the US, in exchange for Trump agreeing to sell Ukraine Tomahawk long range missiles.
According to CNN, Rubio and Lavrov had wildly different expectations about how to end Russia’s invasion during the phone call. And sources told the broadcaster Rubio is unlikely to recommend the President attends the Budapest summit at all.
Top US officials are said to feel Putin’s stance has not evolved enough for any constructive talks to take place between the two leaders.
Zelensky and European leaders today accused Putin of stalling for time in diplomatic efforts to bring his invasion of Ukraine to an end and opposed any move to make Kyiv surrender land captured by Russian forces in return for peace
Eight European leaders as well as senior European Union officials said in a joint statement they intend to go ahead with plans to use Moscow’s billions of dollars (euros) of frozen assets abroad to help Kyiv win the war, despite some misgivings about the legality and consequences of such a step.
The statement expressed support for Trump’s peace efforts in Ukraine as he prepares to meet with Putin in Budapest, Hungary in coming weeks. But it also laid down a marker by saying the leaders “remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force.”
Trump last month reversed his long-held position that Ukraine would have to concede land and could win back all the territory it has lost to Russia. However, after his two-hour phone call with Putin last week and a subsequent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, Trump shifted his position again and called on Kyiv and Moscow to “stop where they are” in the more than three-year war.
Trump said Monday that while he thinks it is possible that Ukraine can ultimately defeat Russia, he’s now doubtful it will happen.
Ukrainian and European leaders are trying hard to keep Trump on their side. “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 statement said. “We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction.”
The dynamics of Trump’s engagement with Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II have zigzagged as he searches for a peace deal. Russia occupies about one fifth of Ukraine, but carving up their country in return for peace is unacceptable to Kyiv officials. Also, a conflict frozen on the current front line could fester, with occupied areas of Ukraine offering Moscow a springboard for new attacks in the future, Ukrainian and European officials fear.
The statement by the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Denmark and EU officials came early in what Zelenskyy said Monday would be a week that is “very active in diplomacy.”
More international economic sanctions on 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 said. On Friday, a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing — a group of 35 countries who support Ukraine — is due to take place in London.