🔗 Share this article

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

Only a few days after President Trump announced he intended to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

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

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I will observe what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs White House empty-handed

The on-again, off-again meeting is another twist in Trump's efforts to broker an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a truce and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in Egypt recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"It is essential to get Russia done," he declared.

However, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success possible for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of supporting the Israeli state since his first term, including his decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a situation that gave him unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Add in Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has significantly reduced influence. Over the past nine months, he has swung between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has threatened to impose additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing arms shipments to the country - only to then retreat in the face of worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

The president loves to tout his ability to sit down and hammer out deals, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

Putin may in fact be using Trump's desire for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a means of manipulating him.

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it appeared likely that Trump would approve on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was considering seriously shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the potential meeting in Budapest.

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

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by the best of them, and I emerged successfully," he said.

But the Ukrainian leader subsequently commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a short period, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to surrender the entire Donbas region – including territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

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

On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has subsequently discarded that pledge, admitting that concluding the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side wants, or is able to, give up the fight.