Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia presidential meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.
Only a few days after President Trump said he intended to confer with Russian President Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.
A preliminary get-together by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, as well.
"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."
- Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
- Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky leaves White House empty-handed
The frequently changing summit is just the latest twist in the president's efforts to broker an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza.
While making remarks in the North African country recently to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.
"We have to get Russia resolved," he declared.
However, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success possible for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost four years.
Less Leverage
According to Witkoff, the key to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's move to strike Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but provided the president leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into making a deal.
Trump gained from a long record of siding with the Israeli state since his first term, including his choice to move the US embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.
The US president, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that gave him special sway over the nation's head.
Add in the president's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an agreement.
In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has much less leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.
The US leader has warned to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the war.
At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and pausing weapon deliveries to the country - then to back off in the face of worried European partners who warn a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.
Trump loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.
The Russian president may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in direct negotiations - as a means of manipulating him.
In July, Russia's leader agreed to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that the president would sign off on legislative penalties backed by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.
Recently, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the possible meeting in Hungary.
The following day, Trump welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but departed without agreements after a reportedly strained discussion.
The US leader maintained that he was not being played by Putin.
"As you are aware, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I emerged really well," he said.
But the Ukrainian leader later commented on the sequence of events.
"Once the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he said.
So, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – including territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.
He has ultimately settled on calling for a truce along present frontlines – something the Russian government has refused to accept.
During his election campaign last year, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that ending the hostilities is proving more difficult than he anticipated.
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 can afford to, cease hostilities.
