🔗 Share this article

Reports of an upcoming US-Russia leadership summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Just days after President Trump said he intended to confer with Russia's leader Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

A initial meeting by the two nations' leading diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Kyiv as President Zelensky leaves White House empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is another development in the president's attempts to broker an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

Nonetheless, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's move to attack Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave the president bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, including his decision to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The American leader, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that gave him unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Add in Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to secure an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has much less influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to enact additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off information exchange with Ukraine and pausing arms shipments to the country - only to then retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.

Trump loves to tout his ability to meet and negotiate agreements, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to move the war any closer to a resolution.

Putin may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

In July, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia called the US president who then touted the possible meeting in Budapest.

The following day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but left empty-handed after a reportedly strained discussion.

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

"You know, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I came out really well," he said.

However the president of Ukraine subsequently made note of the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – including territory Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately settled on calling for a truce along current battle lines – something Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since discarded that pledge, saying that ending the war is turning out harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his authority – and the challenge of finding a framework for peace when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.