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Reports of an upcoming American-Russian presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

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

A preliminary get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves White House empty-handed

The on-again, off-again meeting is another twist in the president's attempts to mediate an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt recently to commemorate that truce deal, Trump addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

"It is essential to get Russia done," he said.

However, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump benefited from a long record of siding with the Israeli state since his initial presidency, including his choice to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than their prime minister – a situation that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

Combine the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

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

Meanwhile, the president has publicly berated Ukraine's president, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and pausing arms shipments to the nation - then to retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his skill to meet and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

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

During the summer, Putin consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it seemed probable that Trump would approve on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the US administration was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the possible summit in Budapest.

The following day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the executive residence, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

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

"You know, I have been manipulated all my life by the best of them, and I emerged successfully," he said.

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

"As soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

So, in a short period, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – including territory Russia has been unable to conquer.

He has finally settled on calling for a truce along current battle lines – something Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, Trump promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that pledge, saying that concluding the hostilities is proving more difficult than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the challenge of establishing a peace plan when neither side wants, or can afford to, cease hostilities.