🔗 Share this article

Accounts of an impending US-Russia leadership meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after President Trump said he planned to meet Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary meeting by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed the press at the White House on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky departs White House without results

The frequently changing summit is just the latest development in Trump's efforts to broker an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a truce and hostage release deal in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to celebrate that truce deal, the president addressed Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

"We have to get Russia done," he declared.

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was Israel's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided the president bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, including his choice to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to change US policy 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, in fact, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in Trump's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, the president has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and pausing arms shipments to the country - then to back off in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

The president often boasts about his skill to meet and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

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

In July, Russia's leader consented to a summit in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would approve on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader called Trump who then promoted the possible summit in Hungary.

The next day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he said.

But the president of Ukraine subsequently commented on the sequence of events.

"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately urging the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – including land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately decided on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – something the Russian government has refused to accept.

During his election campaign previously, Trump promised that he could end the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since discarded that pledge, admitting that ending the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when both parties wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.