Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia presidential meeting have been overstated, apparently.
Only a few days after President Trump announced he intended to meet Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been put off without a new date.
A preliminary meeting by the both countries' leading diplomats has been called off, as well.
"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told the press at the White House on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."
The frequently changing meeting is another development in the president's efforts to broker an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a subject of increased attention for the US president after he arranged a truce and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.
During a speech in Egypt last week to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.
"It is essential to get the Russian situation resolved," he declared.
However, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for nearing four years.
According to Witkoff, the key to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to strike Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave the president leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.
Trump gained from a history of siding with the Israeli state since his first term, encompassing his decision to move the American embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support 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 Israeli leader.
Add in the president's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an agreement.
Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced influence. In recent months, he has swung between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.
Trump has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could disrupt the global economy and intensify the conflict.
Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing arms shipments to the country - then to back off in the face of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.
Trump loves to tout his skill to meet and negotiate agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the hostilities any closer to a resolution.
The Russian president may in fact be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.
In July, Putin agreed to a summit in Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on legislative penalties backed by GOP senators. That bill was subsequently delayed.
Recently, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader called the US president who then touted the possible summit in Budapest.
The following day, the president welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements after a reportedly strained discussion.
The US leader insisted that he was not being played by Putin.
"You know, I have been manipulated throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he remarked.
However the president of Ukraine later commented on the timeline of developments.
"As soon as the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.
Thus, in a short period, Trump has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russian forces has been failed to capture.
He has ultimately settled on calling for a truce along current battle lines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.
On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has subsequently discarded that pledge, saying that concluding the hostilities is proving more difficult than he anticipated.
It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his power – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when both parties desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.
Elara is a seasoned gaming journalist with a passion for slot mechanics and player strategies.
