WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday suddenly canceled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled for this week’s Group of 20 industrialized nations summit in Argentina, citing the current Ukraine crisis. He added, “I look forward to a meaningful Summit again as soon as this situation is resolved!”

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Prior to leaving for his trip, Trump sounded more positive that the meeting with Putin would take place during an exchange with reporters at the White House. Roughly an hour earlier, he had told reporters he would probably meet with Putin at the summit and said it was “a very good time to have the meeting.”

But Trump had also said he would get a final report during the flight to Argentina on the tension in the region after Russia seized Ukrainian vessels near Crimea on Sunday.
After Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the summit is still on, while flying to Argentina, President Trump tweets that, after conferring with his top National Security advisers, he decided to cancel the meeting, adding that it was not a good time since Russia has not returned the ships and sailors to Ukraine. Less than an hour earlier, Trump said that he would "probably" meet Putin and that he believed it was "a good time to have the meeting."