The announced meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest seems unlikely to happen in the near future.
It was initially the White House that announced that there were no plans for an imminent meeting between the two leaders, while later the American president himself stated that he did not want another wasted meeting.
Trump suggested that a key disagreement remained Moscow's refusal to cease fighting along the current front line. The key differences between the US and Russian peace proposals, which became even clearer this week, appear to have undermined the chances of a summit.
"No, I don't want to have a pointless meeting. I don't want to waste time. We'll see what happens. But we've made all these big deals, peace deals. They're all peace deals, strong deals, every one of them. But in this case I said: go to the front line, to the battle line. Then pull back and go home, take some time for yourself, because we have two countries that are killing each other. Two countries that are losing 5,000 to 7,000 soldiers a week. So we'll see what happens. We haven't made a decision yet."
Trump and Putin held a meeting in Alaska that produced no concrete results. The White House's decision to suspend plans for a second meeting between them could be seen as an attempt to avoid another similar scenario.
"I believe the Russians pushed too hard and it became clear to the Americans that there would be no deal for Trump in Budapest," a senior European diplomat told Reuters. A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that was due to take place this week was also called off.
The White House said the pair had a very productive call and the meeting was no longer necessary. On Monday, Trump backed a proposal backed by Kiev and European leaders to freeze the conflict on the current front line.
But Moscow has consistently rejected such an idea, seeking to take over the entire Donbas region. Foreign Minister Lavrov has said such a solution would not lead to a lasting peace.