'He's Been Played By Putin Again': Top Diplomat Mocks Trump After Ukraine Peace Talks Collapse

<div><img src="https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/68f86ce41800000e20fe3d65.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale" alt="Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August." data-caption="Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August." data-credit-link-back="" data-credit="via Associated Press" />Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August.</div><div class="content-list-component text"><p>A former top diplomat said <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/donald-trump/">Donald Trump </a>“has been played” by <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/vladimir-putin/">Vladimir Putin</a> after planned peace talks between the pair to end the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/ukraine/">Ukraine </a>war collapsed.</p><p>The US president had wanted to meet his Russian counterpart in Budapest.</p><p>But in a major humiliation for Trump, the proposed summit was dramatically called off after Moscow refused to accept America’s terms for a ceasefire.</p><p>“An immediate ceasefire in Ukraine would mean only one thing: most of it would remain under Nazi rule,” said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov following a phone call with US secretary of state Marco Rubio.</p><p>The White House admitted on Tuesday night that Trump and Putin would not be meeting “in the immediate future”.</p><p>Trump had talked up the chances of another peace summit with Putin after the pair spoke on the phone last week.</p><p>Trump, who had hinted that America could sell long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv, then had another White House bust-up with Ukraine president <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/volodymyr-zelenskyy/">Volodymyr Zelenskyy </a>in which he warned Russia could “destroy” his country if he did not agr