🔗 Share this article

Reports of an impending American-Russian presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said 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 meeting by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed the press at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after plan for Putin talks shelved
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again meeting is another development in Trump's efforts to mediate an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in Egypt recently to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost several years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the key to achieving a agreement was Israel's move to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided the president bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a history of siding with Israel since his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, in fact, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with special sway over the Israeli leader.

Combine the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the global economy and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly information exchange with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the country - only to then retreat in the wake of worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

The president loves to tout his skill to meet and hammer out deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to move the war any nearer a peaceful end.

The Russian president may actually be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a means of influencing him.

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

Recently, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the potential meeting in Hungary.

The following day, the president hosted Zelensky at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being played by the Russian president.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

But the president of Ukraine later made note of the sequence of events.

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – even territory Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has finally decided on calling for a ceasefire along present frontlines – something the Russian government has rejected.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that concluding the war is proving more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when both parties wants, or can afford to, cease hostilities.