🔗 Share this article

Reports of an impending US-Russia leadership meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Only a few days after President Trump said he intended to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

A initial meeting by the both countries' top diplomats has been cancelled, as well.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

• Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky departs Washington without results

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest development in Trump's attempts to broker an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to commemorate that truce deal, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for nearing four years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was Israel's move to strike Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided the president bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of siding with Israel since his first term, including his decision to move the American embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, actually, is more popular among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a position that provided him with special sway over the Israeli leader.

Add in Trump's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. 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 warned to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then retreat in the face of worried European partners who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to move the war any nearer a resolution.

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

In July, Putin consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it appeared likely that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package supported 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 Russian leader phoned Trump who then touted the possible meeting in Hungary.

The following day, Trump hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

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

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by the best of them, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.

But the Ukrainian leader subsequently made note of the sequence of events.

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for Ukraine – for Ukraine – the Russian side almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately urging the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – even territory Russia has been failed to capture.

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

On the campaign trail previously, Trump promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, admitting that ending the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when both parties desires, or is able to, cease hostilities.