🔗 Share this article

Accounts of an impending US-Russia presidential meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Just days after Donald Trump announced he planned to meet Russia's leader Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump informed the press at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is another twist in Trump's efforts to mediate an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a truce and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks 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 declared.

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing four years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the key to achieving a deal was Israel's decision to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but provided the president leverage to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump benefited from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is more popular among Israelis than their prime minister – a position that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Combine Trump's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, the president has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

Meanwhile, the US leader has publicly berated Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and pausing arms shipments to the country - then to back off in the wake of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

The president often boasts about his skill to meet and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to move the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president 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 consented to a summit in Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that the president would approve on legislative penalties 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 Ukraine, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then touted the possible summit in Hungary.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

"You know, I have been manipulated all my life by the best of them, and I emerged really well," he remarked.

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

"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.

So, in a short period, Trump has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on calling for a ceasefire along present frontlines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since abandoned that pledge, admitting that ending the hostilities is proving more difficult than he expected.

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