🔗 Share this article

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

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced he planned to meet Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A initial meeting by the both countries' leading diplomats has been called off, too.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump informed reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves White House without results

The on-again, off-again meeting is just the latest twist in Trump's efforts to mediate an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in Egypt last week to commemorate that truce deal, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

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

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 ongoing for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's decision to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump benefited from a long record of siding with Israel dating back to his first term, including his decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a position that gave him special sway over the nation's head.

Combine the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the world's financial stability and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the country - only to then back off in the face of worried European partners who warn a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his ability to meet and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the war any closer to a peaceful end.

Putin may in fact be exploiting the US leader's wish for a deal – and faith in direct negotiations - as a means of influencing him.

During the summer, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it seemed probable that the president would sign off on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then touted the possible summit in Hungary.

The following day, Trump hosted Zelensky at the executive residence, but left empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

The US leader maintained that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

"As you are aware, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.

However the president of Ukraine subsequently made note of the sequence of events.

"Once the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for Ukraine – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in negotiations," he stated.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to cede the entire Donbas region – even land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has finally decided on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – something Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side desires, or is able to, give up the fight.