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

Just days after Donald Trump announced he planned to confer with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid 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 Ukraine's capital as Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest twist in the president's attempts to broker an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get Russia resolved," he said.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost several years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the key to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to strike Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided the president bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a long record of siding with the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position 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 diplomatic muscle to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, the president has significantly reduced influence. 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 threatened 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 world's financial stability and further escalate the conflict.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and pausing arms shipments to the nation - then to back off in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the entire region.

The president loves to tout 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 peaceful end.

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

In July, Putin agreed to a summit in the US state at the time when it seemed probable that the president would sign off on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That bill was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as reports spread that the US administration was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the Russian leader called Trump who then promoted the potential summit in Hungary.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but left without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

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

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated all my life by the best of them, and I emerged really well," he said.

However the Ukrainian leader subsequently made note of the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a short period, Trump has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially urging Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even land Russia has been unable to conquer.

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

During his election campaign previously, Trump promised that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the war is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side wants, or can afford to, cease hostilities.