🔗 Share this article

Accounts of an impending US-Russia leadership summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

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

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

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Kyiv as President Zelensky leaves White House empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is just the latest development in the president's efforts to broker an end to war in Ukraine – a subject of increased attention for the US president after he arranged a truce and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, Trump addressed Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for the negotiation team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

According to the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's decision to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but provided Trump leverage to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump gained from a history of supporting Israel since his initial presidency, including his decision to move the US embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that provided him with unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Add in Trump's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, the president has much less leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has warned to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could disrupt the world's financial stability and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the country - then to retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the entire region.

The president loves to tout his ability to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to move the war any closer to a resolution.

Putin may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a method of influencing him.

In July, Putin consented to a summit in the US state just as it seemed probable that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That bill was afterwards delayed.

Recently, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then promoted the potential summit in Budapest.

The following day, the president hosted Zelensky at the White House, but left without agreements after a reportedly tense meeting.

Trump 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 successfully," he said.

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

"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.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – even territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

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

During his election campaign last year, the candidate vowed that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that ending the hostilities is proving harder 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 wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.