🔗 Share this article

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

Just days after Donald Trump said he planned to meet Russian President Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

A initial get-together by the two nations' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The frequently changing summit is another development in Trump's attempts to broker an end to hostilities in Ukraine – a subject of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, the president addressed Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

However, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success possible for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing four years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the key to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a long record of siding with the Israeli state since his initial presidency, including his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a situation that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in the president's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the area, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, the president has significantly reduced leverage. In recent months, he has swung between efforts to pressure the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the country - only to then back off in the face of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the entire region.

Trump loves to tout his skill to sit down and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the war any nearer a resolution.

The Russian president may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that the president would sign off on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the potential summit in Hungary.

The next day, Trump hosted Zelensky at the executive residence, but departed empty-handed after a reportedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged really well," he remarked.

But the Ukrainian leader later commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less interested in negotiations," he said.

So, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately pressuring Zelensky to surrender the entire Donbas region – even land Russia has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a ceasefire along present frontlines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, saying that ending the hostilities is proving harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his power – and the challenge of finding a peace plan when neither side wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.