Overview
- The Financial Times reported that Washington pulled the plug on the October Budapest meeting after a hardline memo from Moscow and a tense call between Sergei Lavrov and Marco Rubio.
- Rubio told Trump that Russia showed no willingness to negotiate following the call, according to the FT account.
- The Russian foreign ministry memo reiterated demands including further territorial concessions by Ukraine, sharp reductions in Ukraine’s armed forces, and a guarantee it will never join NATO.
- Reuters said it could not immediately verify the FT report, and there were no immediate comments from the White House or Russian officials.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Kyiv is open to talks but will not withdraw from more territory first, a position at odds with Moscow’s conditions.