🔗 Share this article

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

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

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told the press at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest twist in the president's attempts to broker an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to celebrate that truce deal, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success possible for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a deal was Israel's move to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided the president bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a long record of supporting the Israeli state since his first term, including his decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than their prime minister – a position that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

Add in the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the area, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has much less influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing arms shipments to the nation - then to retreat in the face of concerned European allies who warn a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his skill to sit down and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may actually be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and belief in direct negotiations - as a means of influencing him.

In July, Putin consented to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it appeared likely that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That bill was afterwards delayed.

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

The following day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

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

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he said.

However the Ukrainian leader later commented on 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 negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – including territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

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

During his election campaign last year, the candidate promised that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since abandoned that pledge, admitting that ending the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.