Reports of an impending American-Russian presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.
Only a few days after Donald Trump said he intended to confer with Russia's leader Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.
A preliminary meeting by the two nations' leading diplomats has been called off, too.
"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump informed the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."
The frequently changing meeting is just the latest development in Trump's attempts to mediate an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a subject of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza.
While making remarks in the North African country recently to commemorate that truce deal, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.
"It is essential to get the Russian situation done," he said.
However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost several years.
Per the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but gave Trump leverage to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.
The US president gained from a long record of supporting Israel since his first term, including his choice to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.
The American leader, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a situation that gave him special sway over the nation's head.
Combine the president's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.
In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. In recent months, he has swung between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.
The US leader has warned to enact new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that such actions could disrupt the world's financial stability and further escalate the conflict.
At the same time, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with Ukraine and pausing arms shipments to the country - only to then retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.
The president loves to tout his ability to sit down and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.
The Russian president may in fact be using the US leader's wish for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.
During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in the US state at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.
Recently, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the possible meeting in Hungary.
The following day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but departed without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.
Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.
"You know, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.
But the president of Ukraine later made note of the timeline of developments.
"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.
So, in a short period, the president has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – including land Russia has been unable to conquer.
He has finally settled on advocating a ceasefire along current battle lines – a proposal Russia has rejected.
On the campaign trail previously, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, saying that ending the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.
It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his authority – and the challenge of finding a peace plan when both parties wants, or is able to, give up the fight.
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