European leaders said on Tuesday that current battle lines in Ukraine must be the starting point for any peace talks, as preparations for a summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin appeared to have hit a snag.

Trump, who last week spoke by phone to Putin and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he aims to hold a summit with the Russian leader in the Hungarian capital Budapest within two weeks in a push to end the war in Ukraine.

But summit preparations appear to be held up after a preliminary meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov – expected to take place in Budapest on Thursday – was postponed.

Lavrov and Rubio spoke by phone on Monday. Lavrov’s deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, said on Tuesday it was premature to spe

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