Reuters: Russia's refusal to cease fire jeopardizes Budapest summit

Moscow's refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine has likely jeopardized the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Budapest. This was reported by Reuters, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

Information about the threat of canceling the summit came after the preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was postponed.

European leaders called on Washington to firmly demand an immediate ceasefire, with the current front lines as the basis for any future negotiations. Moscow has long demanded that Ukraine agree to cede territory before any ceasefire, according to the article.

Preparations for the summit have hit a snag, as the two sides postponed a preparatory meeting between Rubio and Lavrov that was to take place in Budapest on Thursday, October 23.

Neither side has publicly abandoned plans for a Trump-Putin meeting, and efforts to organize a summit in Hungary are likely still underway.

But two senior European diplomats said the postponement of the ministerial meeting is a sign that the Americans may not want to hold a summit at the leader level unless Moscow concedes to their demands.

"I think the Russians wanted too much, and it became obvious to the Americans that there would be no deal for Trump in Budapest," one of them said.

"The Russians have not changed their position at all and are not going to 'stay put,'" the second diplomat said, adding that Rubio heard the same tirade from Lavrov, to which he responded: "See you later.".

• On the evening of October 16, Trump had a telephone conversation with Putin. They discussed Russia's war against Ukraine and agreed that would meet within two weeks in Budapest.
• According to Reuters, Rubio and Lavrov were to meet on October 23. The Kremlin said that the Russian foreign minister and the US Secretary of State will begin to work on organizing a meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest.
• CNN reported that the ministerial meeting was postponed due to different expectations about the end of the war. According to the FT, it will still take place on October 30.