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Reports of an upcoming American-Russian leadership meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after President Trump said he intended to confer with Russia's leader 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' top diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky departs White House without results

The frequently changing summit is another development in the president's efforts to mediate an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in Egypt recently to celebrate that truce deal, Trump addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation done," he declared.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost four years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave the president leverage to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump benefited from a history of siding with the Israeli state since his initial presidency, including his decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with special sway over the Israeli leader.

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

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

Meanwhile, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

The president loves to tout his skill to sit down and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to move the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

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

In July, Russia's leader consented to a summit in Alaska just as it seemed probable that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then promoted the potential summit in Budapest.

The following day, Trump welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a reportedly strained discussion.

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

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

But the Ukrainian leader later commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – Russia quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately pressuring Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – even territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on advocating a ceasefire along current battle lines – something the Russian government has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has subsequently abandoned that commitment, admitting that concluding the war is proving harder than he anticipated.

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 is able to, cease hostilities.