🔗 Share this article

Accounts of an impending American-Russian leadership meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Just days after President Trump announced he intended to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

A preliminary get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told reporters at the White House 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 postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs White House without results

The frequently changing meeting is another twist in Trump's attempts to broker an conclusion to hostilities in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but gave the president bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump benefited from a long record of siding with Israel since his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to move the American embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a situation 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 region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the country - only to then retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his ability to sit down and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the war any closer to a resolution.

Putin may in fact be using the US leader's wish for a settlement – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

In July, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it seemed probable that Trump would sign off on legislative penalties supported by GOP senators. That bill was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then promoted the possible summit in Budapest.

The next day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but departed without agreements after a reportedly strained discussion.

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

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged really well," he said.

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

"Once the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for Ukraine – for Ukraine – Russia quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.

So, in a short period, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – even territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately decided on calling for a truce along present frontlines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

During his election campaign last year, Trump vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has subsequently abandoned that commitment, admitting that concluding the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when neither side desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.