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Accounts of an impending American-Russian presidential meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he planned to confer with Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed reporters at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump states he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest twist in the president's efforts to mediate an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to celebrate that truce deal, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation resolved," he said.

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for nearing four years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump leverage to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump gained from a long record of siding with Israel dating back to his first term, encompassing his decision to move the American embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a position that provided him with unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in the president's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, the president has significantly reduced leverage. In recent months, he has swung between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president 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.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending arms shipments to the country - only to then retreat in the wake of worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his skill to sit down and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to move the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may actually be using Trump's desire for a settlement – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in Alaska just as it seemed probable that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the US administration was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the possible meeting in Hungary.

The next day, the president hosted Zelensky at the executive residence, but left empty-handed after a reportedly tense meeting.

Trump insisted that he was not being played by Putin.

"You know, I have been manipulated all my life by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

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

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for our nation – Russia quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a short period, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and privately urging Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

During his election campaign last year, Trump vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, saying that concluding the war is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his power – and the challenge of finding a peace plan when both parties wants, or is able to, give up the fight.