🔗 Share this article

Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia leadership summit have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Just days after Donald Trump announced he planned to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

A preliminary meeting by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Trump says he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as President Zelensky leaves White House without results

The frequently changing summit is another twist in Trump's attempts to mediate an end to hostilities in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza.

During a speech 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 said.

However, the circumstances that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost four years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's move to attack Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump benefited from a history of siding with Israel since his first term, including his decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a position that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

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

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has threatened to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

At the same time, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then retreat in the face of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.

The president often boasts about his skill to meet and negotiate agreements, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the hostilities any closer to a resolution.

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

During the summer, Putin agreed to a summit in the US state at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the Russian leader phoned Trump who then touted the potential summit in Budapest.

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

The US leader insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"As you are aware, I've been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

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

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Putin and privately pressuring Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – a proposal the Russian government has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, Trump vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the difficulty of establishing a framework for peace when both parties wants, or is able to, give up the fight.