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Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Just days after President Trump announced he planned to confer with 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 preliminary meeting by the both countries' leading diplomats has been cancelled, as well.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Donald Trump says he did not want a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest twist in Trump's efforts to mediate an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

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

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

Nonetheless, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a deal was Israel's move to strike Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but gave the president leverage to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a history of supporting Israel since his first term, encompassing his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that gave him unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Combine Trump's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the world's financial stability and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the face of worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

The president loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

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

In July, Putin agreed to a summit in Alaska just as it appeared likely that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader called the US president who then promoted the possible summit in Budapest.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

The US leader maintained that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by the best of them, and I emerged really well," he said.

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

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

Thus, in a short period, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately urging the Ukrainian president to cede the entire Donbas region – including land Russia has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately decided on advocating a truce along present frontlines – something Russia has rejected.

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.