Trump–Putin meeting in Budapest canceled over Russia’s tough demands on Ukraine

According to Ukrinform, Reuters reported this with reference to the Financial Times.

Citing informed sources, the report states that the decision to cancel the meeting was made following a tense phone conversation between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

The planned summit in Budapest between Trump and Putin, initially scheduled for this month, was postponed after Moscow refused to drop its demands — in particular, that Ukraine should cede a significant part of its territory as a precondition for a ceasefire.

The U.S. President supported Ukraine’s call for an immediate ceasefire along current front lines.

A few days after Trump and Putin agreed to meet in the Hungarian capital to discuss ways to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent Washington a memorandum reaffirming the same demands concerning what Putin calls the “root causes” of the invasion — namely, territorial concessions, a drastic reduction in Ukraine’s Armed Forces, and guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO.

The United States canceled the meeting following a phone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after which Rubio informed Trump that Moscow showed no willingness to negotiate, according to the FT report.

Reuters was unable to immediately verify the Financial Times' information. The White House and Russian government representatives declined to comment.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on October 22, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had canceled his meeting with Russian leader Putin, realizing that the talks would not achieve the outcomes he had hoped for.