The much-hyped summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, set to take place in Budapest, has officially been scrapped — the latest casualty of sputtering diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. With tensions still simmering along the front lines and no breakthrough in sight, the White House now says there are “no plans” for the two presidents to meet “in the immediate future.”
The move comes after a flurry of diplomatic activity last week — including a phone call between Trump and Putin — failed to produce any concrete steps toward peace. Instead, the attempted negotiations have only underscored the widening gaps between Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington over what an acceptable end to the war would look like.
The White House’s announcement followed a Monday phone call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. According to Lavrov, Moscow’s stance hasn’t budged since the last time the two sides sat down. “I want to officially confirm: Russia has not changed its position compared to the understandings that were reached during the Alaska summit,” Lavrov said.
That uncompromising position may have been the final nail in the coffin for the Budapest talks — which were already on shaky ground after Trump and Putin’s Thursday call. During that call, Putin reportedly floated a swap: parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in exchange for full control of Donetsk, a heavily fortified region Russia has long coveted. Trump briefly entertained the idea, but ultimately dismissed it.
“Donetsk should be cut the way it is,” Trump said on Sunday from Air Force One. “They can negotiate something later on down the line. But I said cut and stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people.”
For Ukraine, even Trump’s idea of freezing the conflict at the current frontlines is a bitter pill. But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy struck a cautiously optimistic tone, saying Kyiv is “on the same page” as its Western allies. At the same time, he warned Russia’s appetite for serious negotiations seems to be fading — especially after Trump delayed a decision on whether to send Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.
The missile question loomed large during a tense meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in Washington last Friday. The White House reportedly floated the idea of territorial concessions again — which Ukraine rejected. Meanwhile, Kyiv’s push for Tomahawks hit a wall. The missiles, with their 1,000-mile range, would allow Ukraine to target military-industrial infrastructure deep inside Russia — a red line for the Kremlin.
Still, the U.S. president isn’t entirely isolated in his call for a ceasefire. Earlier Tuesday, Zelenskyy and the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, and several other European nations endorsed Trump’s proposal to halt the fighting along current battle lines. “The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations,” they said in a joint statement.
The list of signatories was a who’s who of European power: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Premier Donald Tusk, as well as the leaders of Finland, Norway, and Denmark. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonia Costa also added their names.
Behind the scenes, Ukraine and its European backers are working on a 12-point ceasefire proposal. It’s reportedly modeled after the 20-point U.S. framework aimed at resolving the Gaza conflict. Under the plan, a peace board chaired by Trump would oversee implementation — a bold move that would put the president in the center of a fragile and complex peace process.
Kyiv hasn’t given up on other demands either. Any ceasefire, Ukraine says, should also include the return of children taken into Russia, and the repatriation of prisoners of war. Meanwhile, Western allies are preparing for the day after. Thirty nations, led by the UK and France, are reportedly preparing to send a multinational stabilization force — tasked with policing airspace, guarding sea lanes, and training Ukraine’s forces.
But there’s still a long road ahead, and pressure is building on Moscow from another direction: its pocketbook. European leaders are now looking to unleash Russia’s frozen assets — a staggering €140 billion, mostly locked up at Euroclear in Belgium. In a statement, EU and G7 leaders said they were “developing measures to use the full value of Russia’s immobilised sovereign assets so that Ukraine has the resources it needs.”
Under the plan, Ukraine would receive the funds in the form of a loan backed by future reparations from Russia. G7 members would underwrite the deal to calm concerns in Brussels over legal and financial risk.
For now, though, the frontlines remain static, the diplomacy fragile, and the war grinding on.
