United States President Donald Trump has said his plan for a swift meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin is on hold because he doesn't want it to be a "waste of time".
It was the latest twist in Trump's stop-and-go effort to resolve the war in Ukraine.
Putin spoke to Trump via telephone last week, ahead of the US president's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss providing US-made Tomahawk missiles that could penetrate deep into Russia.
Trump hailed the call as progress and quickly posted on social media that he would meet with Putin in Budapest within two weeks.
The decision to hold off on the meeting was made following a call between secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Trump said on Tuesday.
"I don't want to have a waste of time — so we'll see what happens."
Trump's hesitancy will likely come as a relief to European leaders, who have accused Putin of stalling for time with diplomacy while trying to gain ground on the battlefield.
The US and Russian leaders last met in Alaska in August, but the encounter did not advance Trump's stalled attempts to end the war in Ukraine.
'Preparation is needed' ahead of next summit
The Kremlin didn't seem to be in a rush to reunite Trump and Putin either.
Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said "preparation is needed, serious preparation" before a meeting.
"Listen, we have an understanding of the presidents, but we cannot postpone what has not been finalised," Peskov said.
Trump will hold talks with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte, according to a White House official who was not authorised to comment publicly.
The official did not provide any details about Trump's agenda for the talks on Wednesday.
NATO has been coordinating deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, many of them bought from the US by Canada and European countries.
A meeting of the "Coalition of the Willing" — a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine — is due to take place in London on Friday.
Separately, European countries are working with Ukraine on a 12-point proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war along current battlelines, Bloomberg News reported.
A peace board chaired by Trump would oversee the implementation of the proposed plan, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
European leaders have called on the US to hold firm in demanding an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, with the present battlelines to serve as the basis for any future talks.
The Russian government has long demanded that Ukraine agree to cede more territory before any ceasefire.
Under the proposal, Ukraine would receive security guarantees, funds to repair war damage and a pathway to rapidly join the European Union, the Bloomberg report said.
It stated that once Russia follows Ukraine in agreeing to a ceasefire and both sides commit to halting territorial advances, the proposals envisage the return of all deported children to Ukraine and the exchange of prisoners.
Both sides would enter into negotiations on the governance of occupied territories, although neither European countries nor Ukraine will legally recognise any occupied land as Russian, the report added, citing sources.
Reuters could not immediately verify the Bloomberg report.
— With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Agencia EFE, SA
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