🔗 Share this article

Reports of an impending US-Russia presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

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

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

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump told the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump says he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky departs White House without results

The on-again, off-again meeting is just the latest twist in Trump's attempts to broker an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a truce and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country last week to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

"We have to get Russia resolved," he said.

Nonetheless, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the key to achieving a deal was Israel's move to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave the president bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a long record of supporting the Israeli state since his first term, including his choice to move the US embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

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

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

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced influence. In recent months, he has swung between efforts to strong-arm Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to impose additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, halting briefly information exchange with the country and suspending arms shipments to the country - then to back off in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

Trump 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 actually be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and belief in direct negotiations - as a means of influencing him.

In July, Russia's leader agreed to a summit in Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader called the US president who then promoted the possible meeting in Budapest.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

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

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

But the president of Ukraine later commented on the sequence of events.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for Ukraine – for Ukraine – Russia almost automatically became less interested in negotiations," he stated.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to cede the entire Donbas region – including territory Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has finally settled on advocating a truce along present frontlines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that pledge, saying that ending the hostilities is proving more difficult than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when neither side desires, or is able to, cease hostilities.