Washington, 22 October (H.S.): President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that his planned summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin is on hold, stating he doesn’t want to have a wasted meeting after Moscow rejected a ceasefire on the current front lines in Ukraine. The decision to shelve the meeting, which was slated to be held in Budapest, followed a call on Monday between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

I don’t want to have a wasted meeting, Trump told reporters at the White House. I don’t want to have a waste of time — so we’ll see what happens. His comments came after Russia dismissed a Western-backed proposal to freeze the conflict, with Foreign Minister Lavrov making it clear that a ceasefire would violate agreements made during the leaders’ last meeting in Alaska in August.

The cancellation was met with relief in European capitals, where leaders have accused Putin of using diplomacy as a stalling tactic.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, and others supported Trump’s call for an immediate halt to fighting but strongly opposed any peace deal that would require Ukraine to surrender territory.The move is the latest turn in Trump’s fluctuating strategy to end the nearly four-year-old war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded by reiterating that only pressure will lead to peace and continued his push for long-range Tomahawk missiles from the U.S.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar