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Accounts of an impending US-Russia presidential meeting have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

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

A initial get-together by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

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

The on-again, off-again meeting is just the latest twist in Trump's attempts to mediate an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a truce and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, Trump turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

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

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost four years.

Less Leverage

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's move to strike Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a history of siding with Israel since his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to move the American embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, actually, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that provided him with special sway over the nation's head.

Combine the president'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.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the world's financial stability and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the wake of worried European partners who warn a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

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

In July, Putin consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would approve on legislative penalties supported by GOP senators. That bill was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the Russian leader called the US president who then promoted the potential summit in Hungary.

The following day, Trump hosted Zelensky at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

Trump maintained that he was not being played by the Russian president.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he said.

But the Ukrainian leader later made note of the sequence of events.

"As soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a less accessible for Ukraine – for Ukraine – Russia quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.

So, in a short period, the president has bounced from considering the idea of sending missiles to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to surrender the entire Donbas region – including land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – a proposal the Russian government has rejected.

On the campaign trail previously, Trump promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since discarded that commitment, admitting that ending the war is proving 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, cease hostilities.