Trump says doesn’t want ‘wasted’ meeting with Putin

US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he has postponed plans for a summit in Budapest with Russia’s Vladimir Putin regarding the Ukraine conflict, stating he did not wish to engage in a "wasted" meeting.

This decision by Trump came just days after he revealed intentions to meet Putin in the Hungarian capital within a fortnight, following what he described as a constructive phone conversation aimed at resolving Russia’s war.

During "tense" discussions last Friday in Washington, the US leader urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to relinquish the eastern Donbas region in return for peace, as reported by a senior Ukrainian official to AFP.

However, on Tuesday, a White House representative indicated that there are currently "no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future," despite the earlier announcement regarding Budapest.

“I don’t want to have a wasted meeting,” Trump remarked to reporters in the Oval Office when questioned about the postponement of the Putin meeting. “I don’t want to waste time, so I’ll see what unfolds.”

When an AFP journalist inquired about what had prompted his change of heart, Trump responded: “A lot of things are happening on the war front. And we’ll keep you informed over the next two days regarding our actions.”

Additionally, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also canceled a planned meeting to organize the Budapest summit after their phone conversation on Monday, according to the White House.

– ‘Going in circles’ –
Trump has counted on personal chemistry with Putin to reach a Ukraine peace deal, but has found himself frustrated time and again by the Russian leader.

Ukraine and its European allies, meanwhile, have been left scrambling to keep up with the mercurial US president.

Zelensky’s talks with Trump at the White House last week were “not easy,” the senior Ukrainian official told AFP, adding that diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war felt like they were being “dragged out” and “going in circles.”

But when asked if Trump urged Zelensky to pull out of land that Ukraine still controlled — one of Putin’s key demands — the Ukrainian official said: “Yes, that’s true.”

Zelensky left the meeting empty-handed after Trump, who spoke with Putin the day before, denied his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles and pressured him into making a deal.

Ukraine considers the Donbas — a largely industrial area spanning its eastern Lugansk and Donetsk regions — an inseparable part of its territory and has rejected the idea of ceding it many times.

– ‘Line of contact’ –
The Kremlin said Tuesday there was no “precise” date for any new meeting between Trump and Putin, who held talks in Alaska in August but failed to reach a breakthrough on Ukraine.

European leaders have dismissed the notion of Ukraine relinquishing territory — instead endorsing the idea that hostilities should be halted along the existing front lines.

In a collective statement released on Tuesday, leaders such as France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, and Britain’s Keir Starmer cautioned that Russia was not genuinely committed to achieving peace.

"We firmly endorse President Trump’s stance that the fighting must cease immediately, and that the current line of contact should serve as the basis for negotiations," the statement articulated.

NATO chief Mark Rutte was en route to Washington on Tuesday for discussions with Trump, as indicated by a statement from the military alliance.

Subsequently, EU leaders are expected to unite in their support for Ukraine at a summit in Brussels on Thursday — followed by a meeting of a “coalition of the willing” of European leaders in London the next day to deliberate on further assistance for Kyiv.

Putin initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, characterizing it as a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarizing the nation and curbing NATO's expansion.

Currently, Russia occupies approximately one-fifth of Ukrainian territory — much of which has been devastated by conflict — while tens of thousands of civilians and military personnel have lost their lives.