🔗 Share this article

Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia presidential summit have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced he intended to confer with Russian President Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

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

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Kyiv as President Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is another twist in the president's efforts to mediate an conclusion to hostilities in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to commemorate that truce deal, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get the Russian situation resolved," he declared.

Nonetheless, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for nearing four years.

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the key to achieving a deal was Israel's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided Trump leverage to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump benefited from a history of siding with the Israeli state since his first term, encompassing his decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

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

Add in the president's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, the president 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 additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the global economy and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending arms shipments to the nation - then to back off in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the hostilities any closer to a resolution.

The Russian president may actually be exploiting the US leader's wish for a deal – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a means of influencing him.

In July, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it appeared likely that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the possible meeting in Budapest.

The next day, Trump hosted Zelensky at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a reportedly strained discussion.

Trump maintained that he was not being played by the Russian president.

"You know, 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.

"As soon as the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for Ukraine – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.

So, in a short period, the president has bounced from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – including land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a truce along present frontlines – a proposal Russia has refused to accept.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has subsequently discarded that pledge, admitting that ending the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a framework for peace when both parties desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.