🔗 Share this article

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

Just days after Donald Trump announced he planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary meeting by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, too.

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

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

The on-again, off-again meeting is another development in Trump's attempts to broker an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a truce and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in Egypt recently to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

However, the circumstances 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.

Less Leverage

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to achieving a deal was Israel's move to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a long record of siding with the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to move the American embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

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

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, Trump has significantly reduced influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and intensify the war.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Ukraine's president, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the nation - then to retreat in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his ability to meet 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.

Putin may in fact be exploiting the US leader's wish for a deal – and belief 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 just as it seemed probable that Trump would sign off on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Recently, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the Russian leader called the US president who then touted the possible summit in Budapest.

The next day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a reportedly strained discussion.

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

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

But the president of Ukraine subsequently commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in negotiations," he stated.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and privately pressuring Zelensky to surrender the entire Donbas region – including land Russia has been failed to capture.

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

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that commitment, admitting that ending the hostilities is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the challenge of finding a peace plan when neither side wants, or is able to, give up the fight.