🔗 Share this article

Reports of an upcoming American-Russian leadership meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Only a few days after President Trump announced he intended to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for Putin talks shelved
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves White House without results

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest twist in the president's attempts to broker an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the conditions that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for nearing four years.

Less Leverage

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was Israel's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but gave Trump bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a long record of siding with the Israeli state since his first term, including his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter America's position on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

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

Combine Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, 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 swung between attempts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off 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 caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

The president often boasts about his skill to sit down and hammer out deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

Putin may actually be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a method of manipulating him.

In July, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it appeared likely that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That bill was afterwards delayed.

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

The following day, the president welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a reportedly tense meeting.

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

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well," he said.

However the Ukrainian leader subsequently commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less interested in negotiations," he stated.

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even territory Russia has been failed to capture.

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

On the campaign trail previously, Trump vowed that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has subsequently discarded that commitment, admitting that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a framework for peace when both parties wants, or can afford to, cease hostilities.