🔗 Share this article

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

Just days after Donald Trump announced he planned to confer with Russian President 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, as well.

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump says he did not want a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks shelved
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest development in the president's attempts to mediate an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in Egypt recently to celebrate that truce deal, the president addressed Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

Nonetheless, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success possible for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was Israel's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but gave the president bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his first term, encompassing his choice to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

Combine the president's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has significantly reduced leverage. In recent months, he has swung between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to impose additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the world's financial stability and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the nation - then to back off in the wake of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

The Russian president may actually be exploiting Trump's desire for a deal – and faith in direct negotiations - as a means of influencing him.

In July, Russia's leader agreed to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That bill was subsequently delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia called the US president who then touted the possible meeting in Hungary.

The following day, Trump welcomed Zelensky at the executive residence, but left empty-handed after a reportedly tense meeting.

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

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he said.

But the president of Ukraine subsequently made note of the timeline of developments.

"As soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in negotiations," he stated.

Thus, in a short period, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially urging Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – including land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

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

On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that pledge, saying that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

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