It became known why Trump canceled his meeting with Putin
31 October 2025 12:17
US President Donald Trump has canceled his planned meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Budapest after Moscow sent Washington a memorandum of demands regarding Ukraine.
This was reported by the Financial Times newspaper, citing sources, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The memorandum was sent to the American side a few days after Trump and Putin spoke on October 16. In the document, the Russian Foreign Ministry outlined its demands for resolving the war in Ukraine. They included territorial concessions by Kyiv, a sharp reduction in the number of the Armed Forces, and guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO. Earlier, Reuters also reported this, but the Russian Foreign Ministry did not confirm the memorandum.
The head of the White House, according to the FT, was “not impressed” with Moscow’s position.
In addition, the newspaper added, Washington had doubts about the productivity of negotiations with the Russian side on a settlement back in September, after a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This was influenced by the latter’s “uncompromising” statements on the war in Ukraine.
“The United States canceled President Donald Trump’s planned summit with Vladimir Putin in Budapest after a tense phone call between senior diplomats from the two countries over a Russian memorandum containing tough demands on Ukraine,” the article says.
It also refers to Rubio and Lavrov. After the conversation, the newspaper noted, the US Secretary of State told Trump that Moscow was not ready to negotiate.
At the same time, Trump remains ready to negotiate with the Russian Federation, the Financial Times writes:
“Trump remains willing to meet with the Russians when and where he thinks progress can be made.”
Attitude toward Ukraine has changed
Fox News reported that the US president has softened his stance on Ukraine – from harsh statements, Trump has moved to “non-interference.” It seems that now the Republican is much less eager to help Kyiv or force the parties to end the war, the TV channel noted.
“The reversal began quietly two weeks ago when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Washington. Many expected Trump to approve the supply of Tomahawk long-range missiles to Ukraine, but this did not happen,” the publication said.
In addition, on October 30, the Pentagon announced the withdrawal of a rotational US brigade stationed in Romania, as well as units in Hungary and Bulgaria. According to Trump, the redeployment was “minor.” However, the move raised concerns among European politicians, with one telling Fox News that it was “an invitation for Russia to step up its attacks on Ukraine” and pressure in the region.
The US president also remained soft-spoken during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Earlier, Trump demanded that India stop buying Russian oil, but did not impose the same conditions on China. Later, the head of the White House told reporters that he had not discussed this issue with the Chinese leader at all.
At the same time, the settlement of the war in Ukraine was discussed at a meeting in Beijing, but the American leader did not exert pressure on this issue, Fox News added.
