🔗 Share this article

Accounts of an impending US-Russia leadership summit have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced he planned to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

A preliminary get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed the press at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The on-again, off-again meeting is another development in the president's efforts to broker an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a truce and hostage release deal in Gaza.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation resolved," he said.

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was Israel's move to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided Trump bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a long record of supporting Israel dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, actually, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a situation that provided him with unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in Trump's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has threatened to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - then to back off in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

Trump loves to tout his skill to sit down and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the war any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may in fact be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a means of influencing him.

In July, Russia's leader agreed to a summit in Alaska just as it appeared likely that the president would approve on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the US administration was considering seriously sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the Russian leader called the US president who then promoted the potential meeting in Hungary.

The next day, the president welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a reportedly tense meeting.

The US leader insisted that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

"As you are aware, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I came out really well," he remarked.

However the Ukrainian leader later made note of the timeline of developments.

"As soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – Russia quickly became less interested in negotiations," he stated.

So, in a short period, Trump has shifted from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – including territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on calling for a ceasefire along present frontlines – a proposal Russia has rejected.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that pledge, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when both parties wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.