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Plans for a Trump-Putin summit have been put on ice, a White House official said, despite Donald Trump’s claim last week that talks in Budapest were imminent. A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov was scrapped after a “productive” call. Growing gaps over Ukraine—Kyiv and European leaders back a front-line freeze, while Moscow demands Ukrainian withdrawal and recognition of its claims—appear to have sunk the meeting. Zelensky dismissed territorial concessions, and linked Russia’s engagement to US talk of Tomahawk missiles. Trump and Putin last met in August in Alaska, yielding no concrete results.

Prepared by Lauren Mitchell and reviewed by editorial team.