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Reports of an impending American-Russian leadership summit have been overstated, apparently.

Just days after Donald Trump said he planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A initial meeting by the two nations' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is just the latest development in Trump's attempts to broker an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the US president after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get Russia done," he declared.

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for nearing four years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the key to achieving a agreement was Israel's move to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave the president bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a history of supporting Israel dating back to his first term, encompassing his choice to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Combine the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has swung between efforts to strong-arm Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the president has publicly berated Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the nation - then to retreat in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

The president often boasts about his ability to meet and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the war any nearer a resolution.

The Russian president may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

In July, Putin consented to a summit in the US state just as it seemed probable that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That bill was subsequently put on hold.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then touted the potential meeting in Hungary.

The following day, Trump welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but departed without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

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

"You know, I have been manipulated all my life by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he said.

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

"As soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially urging Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – including land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately settled on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that pledge, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his power – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when both parties wants, or is able to, give up the fight.