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Reports of an upcoming US-Russia presidential meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Only a few days after President Trump said he planned to confer with Russian President Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A initial meeting by the two nations' leading diplomats has been called off, as well.

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

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest twist in Trump's attempts to broker an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release deal in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country last week to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get the Russian situation done," he said.

Nonetheless, the conditions that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided the president bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump benefited from a history of supporting Israel dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with special sway over the nation's head.

Combine the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has threatened to impose additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the global economy and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, halting briefly information exchange with the country and pausing arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

Trump loves to tout 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 peaceful end.

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

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it appeared likely that Trump would approve on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the possible summit in Hungary.

The following day, Trump hosted Zelensky at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

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

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged really well," he remarked.

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

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – Russia quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to cede the entire Donbas region – even land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on calling for a truce along current battle lines – a proposal 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 subsequently abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the hostilities is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his authority – and the challenge of finding a framework for peace when both parties wants, or is able to, give up the fight.