🔗 Share this article

Reports of an impending American-Russian leadership summit have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he intended to confer with Russian President Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary meeting by the both countries' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed 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 wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves White House empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest twist in the president's attempts to mediate an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country recently to celebrate that truce deal, Trump addressed Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get Russia done," he declared.

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for nearing four years.

Less Leverage

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was Israel's move to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but gave Trump leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a history of supporting the Israeli state since his initial presidency, including his choice to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a situation that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Combine the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, the president has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has swung between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to enact additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the global economy and intensify the war.

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 wake of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

The president loves to tout his ability to sit down and hammer out deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the war any nearer a resolution.

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

During the summer, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it seemed probable that the president would approve on legislative penalties backed by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the potential meeting in Budapest.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump maintained that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated all my life by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he said.

But the president of Ukraine later made note of the sequence of events.

"As soon as the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – even land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on calling for a truce along present frontlines – something Russia has refused to accept.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since abandoned that pledge, admitting that ending the war is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when both parties wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.