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Accounts of an impending US-Russia presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Just days after Donald Trump announced he intended to confer with Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

A initial get-together by the both countries' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed reporters at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves White House empty-handed

The on-again, off-again meeting is another development in Trump's attempts to mediate an end to hostilities in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the US president after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in Egypt recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for the negotiation team may be difficult to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost several years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump leverage to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a long record of siding with Israel since his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to relocate the US 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 Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that provided him with unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Combine Trump's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to strong-arm Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending arms shipments to the nation - then to back off in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the war any closer to a resolution.

Putin may actually be exploiting Trump's desire for a deal – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a means of manipulating him.

In July, Putin agreed to a summit in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that the president would approve on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader called Trump who then promoted the potential meeting in Budapest.

The next day, Trump hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements after a reportedly tense meeting.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"You know, I have been manipulated throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out really well," he remarked.

But the Ukrainian leader later commented on the sequence of events.

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

Thus, in a short period, the president has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately urging Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – even territory Russia has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a truce along current battle lines – something the Russian government has rejected.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since discarded that pledge, saying that concluding the hostilities is proving more difficult than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.