🔗 Share this article

Accounts of an impending American-Russian leadership summit have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russian President Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves White House without results

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest twist in Trump's attempts to mediate an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a subject of increased attention for the US president after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country last week to commemorate that truce deal, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

"It is essential to get Russia done," he declared.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost several years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a agreement was Israel's decision to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but provided Trump leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump benefited from a long record of supporting Israel dating back to his first term, including his choice to move the American embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Combine the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to secure an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has significantly reduced influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and pausing arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the wake of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the entire region.

Trump loves to tout his ability to meet and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may in fact be using the US leader's wish for a deal – and faith in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Putin consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it appeared likely that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was subsequently delayed.

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

The following day, Trump hosted Zelensky at the White House, but left empty-handed after a reportedly strained discussion.

The US leader maintained that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well," he remarked.

But the Ukrainian leader later commented on the sequence of events.

"As soon as the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side almost automatically became less engaged in negotiations," he stated.

Thus, in a short period, the president has bounced from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately pressuring Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on calling for a truce along current battle lines – something the Russian government has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since abandoned that pledge, saying that ending the war is turning out harder than he expected.

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