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Accounts of an upcoming American-Russian leadership meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he intended to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary get-together by the two nations' leading diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told the press at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky departs Washington without results

The frequently changing summit is another development in the president's attempts to broker an conclusion to hostilities in Ukraine – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in the North African country last week to commemorate that truce deal, Trump addressed Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

"It is essential to get Russia done," he said.

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

Reduced Influence

According to the lead negotiator, the key to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but provided the president leverage to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a history of siding with the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, including his choice to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a position 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 secure an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has much less influence. In recent months, he has swung between efforts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the global economy and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing arms shipments to the country - then to retreat in the face of worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the entire region.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and hammer out deals, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to move the war any nearer a peaceful end.

The Russian president may actually be using the US leader's wish for a settlement – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on legislative penalties supported by GOP senators. That bill was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the US administration was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the potential meeting in Budapest.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

The US leader maintained that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he said.

However the president of Ukraine subsequently commented on the timeline of developments.

"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately urging Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – including territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on calling for a truce along present frontlines – something Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, admitting that concluding the war is proving harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the challenge of finding a framework for peace when neither side wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.