Why Trump Secured a Breakthrough in Gaza But Faces Challenges With Vladimir Putin Concerning Ukraine

Accounts of an impending US-Russia presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Just days after President Trump said he intended to confer with Russian President Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told the press at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

• Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is another twist in Trump's efforts to broker an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in Egypt recently to commemorate that truce deal, Trump addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation done," he declared.

Nonetheless, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's move to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump leverage to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a long record of siding with the Israeli state since his initial presidency, including his decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

Add in the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has warned to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly information exchange with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then back off in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his ability to meet 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.

Putin may actually be using the US leader's wish for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a means of manipulating him.

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

Recently, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader called the US president who then touted the potential summit in Hungary.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed empty-handed after a reportedly tense meeting.

The US leader 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.

However the president of Ukraine subsequently 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 quickly became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to cede the entire Donbas region – including territory Russia has been unable to conquer.

He has finally decided on advocating a ceasefire along current battle lines – something the Russian government has rejected.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has subsequently discarded that commitment, saying that ending the hostilities is proving harder than he anticipated.

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