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Reports of an impending US-Russia presidential meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Just days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russian President Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A initial meeting by the two nations' leading diplomats has been cancelled, as well.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed the press at the White House on a recent weekday. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is another development in Trump's attempts to broker an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to commemorate that truce deal, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided the president leverage to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a long record of siding with the Israeli state dating back to his first term, encompassing his decision to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, actually, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that provided him with unique influence over the nation's head.

Combine Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the area, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

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

The US leader has warned to impose additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the global economy 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 country - then to retreat in the wake of worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his skill to meet and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

The Russian president may actually be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a means of influencing him.

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on legislative penalties supported by GOP senators. That bill was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then promoted the potential meeting in Hungary.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but left empty-handed after a allegedly tense meeting.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated 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.

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

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

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – including land Russia has been unable to conquer.

He has finally settled on advocating a ceasefire along present frontlines – something Russia has refused to accept.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate promised that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that commitment, admitting that ending the hostilities is proving harder than he anticipated.

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