"Financial Times": Trump Cancelled Budapest Summit with Putin Due to Moscow's Stubborn Stance

SadaNews - The "Financial Times" reported today, Friday, that the United States has cancelled the Budapest summit that was scheduled to take place between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin after Moscow insisted on stubborn demands regarding Ukraine.

The newspaper stated that the decision came after a tense phone call between the foreign ministers of the two countries, according to the news agency "Reuters".

The comment on the plans for the summit in Budapest this month between Trump and Putin came after Moscow held firm to demands including that Ukraine concede more territory as a condition for a ceasefire.

Trump supported Ukraine's demand for an immediate ceasefire based on current borders.

Days after Trump and Putin agreed to meet in the Hungarian capital to discuss ways to end the Russian war in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a note to Washington reaffirming the same demands to address what Putin calls the "root causes" of his invasion of Ukraine, which include territorial concessions, a significant reduction of the Ukrainian armed forces, and guarantees that Kyiv would not join NATO, according to the newspaper.

The "Financial Times" report added that the United States cancelled the summit after a phone call between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his American counterpart Marco Rubio, during which Rubio told Trump that Moscow showed no willingness to negotiate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated this month that while Ukraine is ready for peace talks, it will not withdraw its forces from additional territories first as demanded by Moscow.