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Accounts of an impending American-Russian leadership meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he intended to confer with Russia's leader Vladimir 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 don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs Washington without results

The frequently changing summit is another development in Trump's efforts to broker an end to hostilities in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release deal in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country last week to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, Trump turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

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

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the key to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's move to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but gave the president bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump gained from a long record of siding with Israel dating back to his first term, encompassing his choice to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than their prime minister – a situation that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced influence. In recent months, he has swung between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the global economy and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Ukraine's president, halting briefly information exchange with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - then to back off in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the entire region.

Trump loves to tout his skill to meet and hammer out deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to move the war any nearer a peaceful end.

Putin may in fact be using Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in the US state just as it seemed probable that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned the US president who then touted the potential summit in Hungary.

The following day, Trump hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed without agreements after a reportedly strained discussion.

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

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

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

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for Ukraine – for Ukraine – the Russian side almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.

So, in a short period, the president has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – even land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has finally settled on calling for a truce along current battle lines – a proposal Russia has refused to accept.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that commitment, admitting that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his power – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when both parties desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.