White House Photo: VCG

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday his plan for a swift meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin was on hold because he didn't want it to be a "waste of time," the AP News reported on Wednesday. The US media report said it was the latest twist in Trump's effort to resolve the war in Ukraine.

The decision to hold off on the meeting in Budapest, Hungary, which the US president had announced last week, was made following a call on Monday between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to the AP News. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the timing of a possible summit remains undecided, stressing that "serious preparation" would be required before any meeting could take place, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday. 

The summit delay followed Trump's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday, where he ruled out a trilateral summit with Russia and Ukraine, per the Xinhua News Agency. 

European leaders called on Washington on Tuesday to hold firm in demanding an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, with present battle lines to serve as the basis for any future talks, according to a joint statement released by the European leaders, Reuters reported.

NATO said Secretary General Mark Rutte travelled to Washington on Tuesday for talks with Trump that two sources familiar with the matter said would take place on Wednesday, according to Reuters. 

A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Rutte planned to present to Trump the European views on a ceasefire and any subsequent peace negotiations, per Reuters. 

In response to the joint statement issued by EU leaders, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Wednesday that China's position on the Ukraine crisis has been consistent and clear. China hopes that all parties will achieve a fair, lasting, and binding peace agreement that is acceptable to all sides through dialogue and negotiation.

However, Russian media TASS, citing Kirill Dmitriev, special presidential representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said on Wednesday that the preparations for the Russia-US summit are underway.

The Kremlin and the White House confirmed that the talks would take place in the Hungarian capital after Putin and Trump spoke by phone last Thursday.

When commenting on the latest conversation between Rubio and Lavrov, an unnamed White House official told NBC News that they had a productive call, "therefore, an additional-in-person meeting between the secretary and foreign minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future," the US media reported on Wednesday. 

On Sunday, after both a call last week with Putin and then a meeting with Zelensky in Washington, Trump said he supported the immediate halt to fighting as called for by Kiev and its European allies, NBC News said.

For now, both sides should "stop at the battle line — go home, stop fighting, stop killing people," he told reporters on Air Force One. "They can negotiate something later on down the line," according to the US media report. 

The US President reversed his long-held position in September that Ukraine would have to give up land and suggested it could win back all the territory it has lost to Russia, the AP News said. 

But after a phone call with Putin last week and a subsequent meeting with Zelensky on Friday, Trump shifted his position again and called on Kiev and Moscow to "stop where they are" and end the war, per the US media report.

The planned US-Russia summit in Budapest, Hungary, has been put on hold, reflecting deep-rooted differences among all parties over how to resolve the Ukraine crisis, Wang Xiaoquan, an expert with the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

"With neither Russia nor Ukraine willing to compromise, the postponed US-Russia summit is unlikely to produce substantive results. The suspension signals that the conflict has entered a new phase of stalemate, where both sides may continue using military means to build leverage for future negotiations, raising the risk of escalation," Wang said.