US President Donald Trump said he did not want a "futile meeting" after plans for a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine were suspended.
In a statement from the White House on Tuesday, Trump said the main reason for the stalemate was Moscow's refusal to stop fighting along the current front line.
Earlier, a White House official had announced that "there are no plans for a Trump-Putin meeting in the near future," although Trump had said last week that they would meet in Budapest in two weeks.
The discrepancies between American and Russian peace proposals have become increasingly apparent this week, dampening hopes for a summit. The two leaders last met in August in Alaska, in a hastily organized summit that produced no concrete results.
The White House's decision to suspend plans for a second meeting is seen as an attempt to avoid a repeat of a similar scenario.
"I suppose the Russians asked for too much and it became clear to the Americans that there would be no deal for Trump in Budapest," a senior European diplomat told Reuters.
A preliminary meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was scheduled for this week - but the White House announced that after a "productive phone call", the meeting was no longer necessary.
On Monday, Trump backed a ceasefire proposal backed by Kiev and European leaders to freeze the conflict on the current front line.
“Let it remain as it is,” he said. “I said: stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop the fighting, stop the killing.”
Russia has consistently opposed freezing the current front. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the idea had been raised with the Russians several times, but “Russia’s position remains unchanged,” referring to the demand for the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the eastern regions.
