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Accounts of an impending American-Russian leadership summit have been overstated, it seems.

Just days after Donald Trump said he intended to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A initial get-together by the two nations' top diplomats has been cancelled, as well.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed reporters 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 did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky leaves White House empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest twist in the president's attempts to broker an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to celebrate that truce deal, the president addressed Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

"We have to get the Russian situation resolved," he declared.

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

Less Leverage

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was Israel's decision to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided the president leverage to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a long record of siding with Israel dating back to his first term, encompassing his choice to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a situation that gave him special sway over the nation's head.

Add in the president's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to secure an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, Trump has significantly reduced influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then retreat in the wake of worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

The president often boasts about his skill to meet and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to move the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

The Russian president may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a means of influencing him.

In July, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

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

The following day, Trump hosted Zelensky at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being played by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out really well," he said.

But the Ukrainian leader later made note of the sequence of events.

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for Ukraine – for our nation – Russia quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

So, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially urging Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – even territory Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has finally settled on advocating a truce along current battle lines – something Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, Trump promised that he could end the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has subsequently abandoned that commitment, saying that ending the war is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the challenge of establishing a peace plan when neither side wants, or is able to, give up the fight.