How Trump Achieved a Major Step in the Middle East But Struggles With Putin Concerning the Ukraine Conflict

Accounts of an impending American-Russian leadership summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he planned to meet Russian President Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

A initial meeting by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, too.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed reporters at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump says he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky departs Washington without results

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest twist in Trump's efforts to broker an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country last week to commemorate that truce deal, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success possible for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost several years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but gave the president bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump gained from a history of siding with Israel since his initial presidency, including his decision to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, actually, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that provided him with special sway over the nation's head.

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

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has threatened to enact additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the wake of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the entire region.

Trump loves to tout his skill to meet and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the hostilities any nearer a peaceful end.

Putin may in fact be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a means of influencing him.

During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in the US state just as it seemed probable that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating shipping long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then promoted the possible meeting in Hungary.

The next day, the president hosted Zelensky at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

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

"You know, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I came out really well," he remarked.

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

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for Ukraine – for Ukraine – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately urging Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately decided on calling for a truce along current battle lines – something Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when both parties desires, or is able to, cease hostilities.