Russia avoiding diplomacy due to US refusal to provide Ukraine with Tomahawks - Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that russia's reluctance to continue negotiations is due to the lack of a US decision to transfer long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

In an evening address, the head of state recalled that Ukraine had agreed to US President Donald Trump's peace proposals and agreed to work to stop hostilities on the front line.

"As soon as the issue of long-range became less real for us, russia immediately lost interest in diplomacy. This shows that it is long-range weapons that can be the key to peace," Zelenskyy stressed.

He added that the discussion of the possibility of transferring Tomahawks forced Moscow to show how much these missiles are an "influence card" for it. "We will talk to the Europeans and Americans about the range, but the priority remains air defense," the President noted.

Meanwhile, Western media reports that after Donald Trump's conversation with vladimir putin, russia handed the US an unofficial document with maximalist demands for an end to the war. This has cast doubt on the planned meeting of the leaders in Budapest.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on October 16, US President Trump said that he had a phone conversation with putin. He and the russian dictator agreed to meet in Budapest.

The Kremlin also confirmed the meeting between Trump and putin and said that it could take place within two weeks.

However, on the evening of October 22, it became known that preparations for the meeting between Trump and putin in Budapest had been suspended for the time being.